Sash Box of General W.W. Skiddy / SOLD

Sash Box of General W.W. Skiddy - Inventory Number: UNI 040 / SOLD

A multimillionaire and father of the Yale Rowing team, Skiddy is listed as a Commissary General.  This box once held the regulation gold sash manufactured for him by Baker and McKinney of New York.   Box measures 5 1/2" x 9 1/4" x 3 1/2". 

The title of general was for William W. Skiddy a righteous one for the same title had been held by his father, Gen. William Skiddy, a prominent naval architect and builder and outstanding participant in the War of 1812.

William W. Skiddy was born in New York on April 26, 1845, but came to Stanford when he was not quite 30. His death occurred on Oct. 27, 1929. At the time he was the oldest living graduate of the Yale Scientific School.

For 25 years General Skiddy, who obtained his military title in 1883 when he was appointed commissary general of the Connecticut National Guard, was treasurer of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the United States. He attended all the Yale-Harvard boat races for 50 years and was known to every Yale oarsman during that time.

He pointed with pride to the fact that while he was graduate-advisor of rowing at Yale from 1900 to 1905 the crew did not lose a race.

In 1887 he became president of the Stamford Manufacturing Company, originally known as Cove Mills, located at Pound Rocks and Cove Pond, following in line with a prominent list of names who had headed the firm, including Ex-Governor Minor. He married the daughter of William Gay, a former president of the company."

Laura Baker Sherwood was a manufacturer of Civil War equipment, including Union uniforms, headgear, , and accoutrements.  Laura Sherwood Baker's husband began the business of manufacturing military headgear in the early 1840s.  In 1859, the business was located at 63 Walker Streett in Manhattan.  While serving in the Union Army John Baker died from heart failureon June 1862.  Laura Baker then took over her husband's business.  Her mark L.S. Baker and business were listed under her name from 1862-1864, at which time she sold the enterprise to James McKenney and the firm was renamed Baker & McKenney on January 9, 1874.  After moving to a new address at 141 Grand Street, they were awarded a contract from the Union Army on September 17, 1864, for 10,000 sets of infantry accoutrements.  In 1871, Baker withdrew her interest in the company.  

 Inventory Number: UNI 040 / SOLD