My Genealogy Hound

George Skene, Jr., a prominent farmer of Novi township, Oakland County, whose well improved farm of 80 acres in section 13 compares favorably with any in the locality, was born in 1840 in Scotland. Mr. Skene’s native land has contributed to Michigan many of her best and most successful citizens. He is a son of George and Elizabeth (Fraser) Skene, the former of whom was a farmer and blacksmith in Scotland, where he died in 1873, his widow remained in her native land until her death, February 23, 1900.

Mr. Skene is the second member of his parents’ family, namely: Urquhart, who is living in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland; George, Jr.; Elizabeth, widow of Alexander Wright, living at Ellon, Scotland; Jane, who lives in Scotland; William, who lives in Scotland on the homestead farm, “Hillhead of Esslemont”; Christina, who married George Boyne, and lives in Aberdeen; John, deceased; and Margaret, who married Mr. Durno, a landscape gardener, and resides in England.

George Skene, Jr., left Scotland in 1882 and resided for four and a half years at Toronto, Canada, removing then to Detroit. There he resumed work at his trade of blacksmith, opening a shop on Michigan avenue, where he worked for some years and then decided to locate on farming land. In 1895 he purchased his present farm of eighty acres in section 13, Novi township, and has continued to improve the same ever since. An improvement of importance is a silo, which he had built, with a capacity of 125 tons, and from this silo during the winter of 1902 he fed thirty-three head of stock, having fattened eleven steers, averaging 1,350 pounds apiece. He is a man with practical ideas and has found that they bring him success.

Mr. Skene was married in 1865 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, to Ann Manson, who is a daughter of Alexander and Margaret (White) Manson, both of whom were born in Aberdeenshire, and reared these children: Margaret, deceased; Christian and Elizabeth, who live on the old farm in Scotland; Ann (Mrs. Skene), and Jane, deceased.

A family of seven children has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Skene, as follows: Jennie, born August 23, 1865, in Scotland, who lives in New York; Margaret Ann, born in Scotland, June 16, 1867, who married Francis Beattie and lives at Iola, Kansas, where Mr. Beattie is connected with the cement works; George, born in Scotland, February 23, 1870, conducts the old blacksmith business established in Detroit by his father, keeping up a family trade, his great-grandfather, George Skene, having been the horse-shoer for Lord Aberdeen; Alexander, born June 29, 1874, who was married to Ethel Collins, and is associated with his brother George; Agnes, born in 1876, who lives in Detroit; Isabel Park, who married Albert Moco, who has been a street railway conductor in Detroit for the past twelve years; and Alice Wilhelmina, born in Canada August 8, 1883, who is still at home. Mr. and Mrs. Skene have reared a most creditable family, all being highly respected members of society. In Scotland Mr. Skene became a member of the Episcopal Church. His political sentiments make him a Republican.