Representative Thomas Gregory Skinner

Thomas Gregory Skinner (January 22, 1842 – December 22, 1907) was a U.S. Representative from North Carolina and a member of the Democratic Party who served three terms in the United States Congress between 1883 and 1891. He was the brother of Harry Skinner, who also later served in Congress. Over the course of his public career, Thomas Gregory Skinner contributed to the legislative process during a significant period in American history, representing the interests of his North Carolina constituents in the House of Representatives.

Skinner was born near Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina, on January 22, 1842. He was educated in private schools and attended Friends Academy in Belvidere, North Carolina, followed by Horner Military Academy in Oxford, North Carolina. He later enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, continuing the course of study that prepared him for a professional career. His early life in eastern North Carolina, in a largely rural and agricultural region, shaped his understanding of the concerns of the communities he would later represent.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War, Skinner entered military service in the Confederate States Army in May 1861. He served with the First Regiment, North Carolina Volunteers, remaining with that unit until the close of the war. During his service he attained the rank of lieutenant. His wartime experience, which spanned the full duration of the conflict, placed him among the many Southern veterans who would go on to play prominent roles in law and politics during the Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction eras.

After the war, Skinner turned to the study of law. He read law and was admitted to the bar in 1868. He commenced the practice of law in Hertford, North Carolina, where he established himself as an attorney and became active in local affairs. His legal practice in Hertford provided the foundation for his later political career and helped connect him with the broader Democratic Party organization in the state during a period of political realignment and the gradual restoration of Democratic control in North Carolina.

Skinner was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-eighth Congress on November 20, 1883, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Representative Walter F. Pool. He was reelected to the Forty-ninth Congress and served continuously from November 20, 1883, to March 3, 1887. After a brief interval out of office, he was again elected to the Fifty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1889, to March 3, 1891. In total, Thomas Gregory Skinner served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina between 1883 and 1891. During these years he participated in the democratic process at the federal level, contributing to the legislative work of Congress and representing the interests of his district during a transformative era marked by the aftermath of Reconstruction, economic change, and evolving national policies.

In 1890, Skinner declined to be a candidate for renomination to the Fifty-second Congress and returned to his legal practice in Hertford. Although he left the U.S. House of Representatives, he remained active in Democratic Party politics and state government. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1892 and again in 1904, taking part in the selection of the party’s national leadership and presidential nominees. At the state level, he was elected to the North Carolina State Senate, serving in 1899 and 1900, where he continued to influence legislation and public policy during the turn of the twentieth century.

Thomas Gregory Skinner died in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 22, 1907. His remains were returned to his native region, and he was interred in Holy Trinity Churchyard in Hertford, North Carolina. His career spanned military service in the Civil War, a substantial legal practice, multiple terms in the United States Congress, and continued service in state politics, reflecting the trajectory of a Southern lawyer-politician in the postbellum era.