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A favorite pastor of the church, who served in that capacity for ten years, was
Rev. Charles A. Skinner.
He was born in
Brownville, Jefferson county, N. Y., on April 19, 1824, but before he was a year old his parents moved to
Langdon, N. H., and then shortly afterward to
Cavendish, Vt., and
Mr. Skinner never saw his birthplace again until he was called there to his first pastorate many years later.
When he was still a mere boy, he left home and went to live at his grandfather's home in
Westmoreland, near
Keene, N. H., where he worked on the farm for four and a half years; and working on a farm then didn't mean running a mowing machine and a power churn.
It meant hard, back-breaking work; and from it
Mr. Skinner got the splendid physique that distinguishes him today in his eightieth year.
After the farming life, he went back to
Vermont, where he worked in a factory, and then went back to school.
First at the
Black River Academy in
Ludlow, then at the
Lebanon Liberal Institute,
Lebanon, N. H., and last in the
Clinton Liberal Institute,
Clinton, N. Y., he supplemented the common school and theological training which his minister-father had given him, and emerged ready to preach.
His first charge was at
Dexter, in
Brownville, his native place, as has been said.
He worked there several years, and found there his wife,
Cornelia Bartholomew, whom he married in 1850.
For fifteen years he was pastor of the First Universalist Church of
Cambridge.
In 1867 he accepted a call to
Hartford, Conn., where he
