Joshua Thayer Skidmore, traveling salesman

His death certificate lists his occupation as traveling salesman, but perhaps Joshua Thayer Skidmore (b. 1869, d. 1931) was his family’s historian. He was certainly proud of his Skidmore heritage: His red granite gravestone features the Skidmore family crest.

1869 — 1931
Joshua Thayer
Skidmore 

According to “The Skidmore Family and College Seals,” an article on the Skidmore College website,

The family that would eventually be called Skidmore came to England from Normandy sometime before 1071. The surname is first recorded as “de Scudemer.” Scudemer/Scudamore gave way to Skydmore/Skidmore by the mid-14th century, though the Norman spelling enjoyed a renaissance during the reign of the Tudors, and still survives.

Joshua Skidmore died in Chillicothe, Missouri on February 22, 1931. Thirty years later his widow, Nina W. Skidmore (b. 1863, d. 1951), was buried in the plot beside him at Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio.

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Oak Grove Cemetery, Delaware County, Ohio