Rev. JOSEPH OBERLIN SKINNER was of Piermont, N. H., born there in 1816. He came into the ministry through much hard study and striving. Trained in the old theology of New England, he became a believer in Universalism by being first awakened to a consideration of its doctrines by the preaching of Rev. John Moore. In 1834 he went to Lowell, Mass., and was for a time employed in a cotton-mill. He was encouraged by Rev. T. B. Thayer, then pastor of the First Universalist Church in that city, to enter the ministry, and was afterwards a student of theology in the family of Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, of Malden, Mass. He was minister in Holliston, Framingham, Dudley, and Concord, Mass.; in Ludlow and Chester, Vt.; in Nashua, N. H.; in Malone, N. Y.; in Montpelier and St. Albans, Vt.; and in Waterville, Me., where he died of paralysis, in 1879. He was for a time associate editor of the "Christian Repository," published at Montpelier, Vt. His labors were many and successful. His literary accomplishments were of a high order, and he was a faithful and impressive preacher. At the last of life he was confined to his bed for more than eleven months, helpless, but in quiet resignation to the Divine will. When asked if the faith with which he had comforted others was sufficient for himself in this great trial, he answered in the affirmative, adding, "I do not want any _new_ revelation; I am satisfied with what we now have." He was a frequent contributor to the denominational and secular papers, wrote many articles for the "Universalist Quarterly," and prepared a history of the Masonic lodge of Waterville, which was very highly appreciated by the members of that order. He was for many years the accurate and able editor of the yearly "Universalist Register." In recognition of his scholarly attainments, Colby University, in 1872, conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M.