Cumberland County, Maine - Captain Isaac Lincoln Skolfield
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Biography
Captain Isaac Lincoln Skolfield
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 515


Captain Isaac Lincoln Skolfield, a retired seaman of Brunswick, Me., for twenty
years master of sailing-vessels, was born in the adjoining town of Harpswell,
May 3, 1824, son of George and. Lydia (Doyle) Skolfield. He is of English
descent, his great-grandfather, Thomas Skolfield, having been a native of the
county of Kent in the mother country. Emigrating to America, he settled in
Brunswick in the latter part of last century, and taught school there for some
time. He died in 1796. His son Clement, Captain Skolfield's grandfather, was a
well-to-do farmer, who spent the greater part of his life in Harpswell, dying
there at an advanced age.


George Skolfield, son of Clement, was a well-known and prosperous ship-builder
of Brunswick. He died at the age of eighty-six. His wife, who was a daughter of
Lydia Doyle, of lower Brunswick, attained the advanced age of eighty-two. She
was an esteemed member of the Congregational Church of Brunswick. Thirteen
children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Skolfield, three of whom are now
living-George R., a ship-builder of Harpswell; Isaac Lincoln, the subject of
this sketch; and Samuel, a ship-master of Brunswick Isaac L. Skolfield acquired
a good common school education, in the mean time helping about the farm on which
his parents lived, When eighteen years of age he went to sea. shipping before
the mast on a vessel which was engaged in carrying cotton from southern ports to
England and France. He was at sea but four years when he was made master of a
vessel; and he remained in the cotton trade till the war caused a cessation of
that traffic. Then until 1866 he traded at different ports, carrying various
kinds of merchandise. In that year his father died, and he resigned his
position, settling in his present home. His residence, which is beautifully
situated, facing the north end of the common, is one of the handsomest in the
locality.

Captain Skolfield was married in 1850 to Frances E. Forsaith, a native of
Brunswick, Me., daughter of Rodney Forsaith, a prominent lumber man of this
town. They have two children - Lydia and George L. The daughter married S. E.
Turner, now a stevedore, of Brooklyn, N.Y., formerly master of a vessel. The
son, who is Captain of a vessel formerly in the West India trade, but now plying
between Hong-Kong and New York, married Sarah Cheney, a native of the eastern
part of Maine, and has two children - George L. and Frances L. His home is
aboard the vessel, his wife and children accompanying him on his long voyages,
the last of which, a trip to Hong Kong, consumed one hundred and ninety-seven
days. Captain I. L. Skolfield followed the sea for twenty-five years, and during
sixteen years of that time his wife was his constant companion. With him she
visited ports in nearly all parts of the globe; and their children, who were
born aboard the vessel, looked on Old World scenes which most children know but
vaguely through the pages of a geography.

Captain Skolfield votes the Democratic ticket. He is a member of Fort George
Lodge, No. 37, Knights of Pythias. With his family he attends the Hill
Congregational Church of Brunswick. The Captain has but one active business
interest at present, that of Director of the Pejepscot Bank, a position which he
has held for over thirty-five years. He is one of the most popular men in the
county, his intelligence, knowledge of the world, fund of anecdote, and talent
as a storyteller drawing to him with subtle magnetism a large circle of
admirers; and his genial disposition and fine traits of character make many
lasting friendships.