Collection Scope and Content Note

The Julius A. Skilton consist of correspondence, reports, legal papers, accounts, photographs, maps, newspaper clippings, and other printed materials, pertain chiefly to Skilton's activities as U.S. Consul General in Mexico, the western states, and elsewhere, and to other business ventures; also included are many personal letters received by Skilton, his wife, Harriet Ingersoll Skilton, an other members of the family. Included is correspondence of or about John Butler, James Eddy, John C. Evins, C. Ludlow, W. B. Odell, Henry Orth, Thomas C. Reynolds, George Schley, Frank A. Skilton, Harry Skilton, James Skilton, John Sutter, William Stoneman; Benjamin Mine, Candelaria Railroad, Cueva Santa Mine, Esperanza Mine, La Blanca Mining Company, Miners and Investors Trust Company of Pachuca, Mexico, Real del Monte Mining Company, San Juan Batista Mine, Santo Tomas Mine, and Santo Nino Refugio Mine.

Frank A. Skilton papers consist mainly of correspondence, the papers of F.A. Skilton, son of Julius A. Skilton, pertain to his partnership in Benson & Skilton, a lumber, coal, and wood business in Auburn, New York, to his work as an agent of the Abbott Machine Company, and to other business activities in which he was engaged with his father and brothers; much personal correspondence of Skilton, his first wife, Florence Hodger, and other relatives; after his second marriage in 1917, the bulk of the papers is concerned with the work of Skilton and his wife, Clara Maria Gilbert, as professional genealogists and includes many letters, a large volume of genealogical notes, cemetery records, newspaper clippings, and other materials pertaining to their research. Included is correspondence of or about H.H. Benson, C.C. Skilton, Harriet Ingersoll Skilton, Harry Skilton, Kitty Skilton, Cornelia King Osuyos, Dr. Emma T. Read, and Helena Canfield Reymon.

The Cayuga County cemetery records comprise lists alphabetized geographically by townships of tombstone inscriptions from graves in more than eighty Cayuga County, New York, cemeteries, taken from original notebooks of Clara Maria Gilbert Skilton [see 1950-1954 REPORT, p.36]; lists prepared by members of the Ithaca Chapter of the Daughters of the American Colonists.

Also, items relating to the Obsequies of General Grant, including some worn by Julius A. Skilton during the exercises in August 1885 (Box 85)