Carlton SKINNER
1913 - 2004 (91 years)-
Name Carlton SKINNER Birth 8 Apr 1913 Mayfield, Santa Clara, California 
[1, 2] Gender Male Census 1920 Julien, Dubuque, Iowa [3] Census 1940 Washington, District of Columbia [4] Census 1950 Asan, Guam [5] Death 22 Jun 2004 Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts [6, 7, 8, 9] Burial Y [10] 
Siblings1 brother and 1 sister Person ID I6 bmds Last Modified 7 Jul 2022
Father Macy Millmore SKINNER, b. 10 Dec 1871, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts d. 9 Feb 1964, Ohio (Age 92 years) Mother Marian Weymouth JUNKINS, b. 30 Jul 1880, Lawrence, Essex, Massachusetts d. 25 Apr 1966, Belvedere, Marin, California (Age 85 years) Family ID F5 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 1 Jeanne Dorothy ROWE, b. 1 Apr 1917, Marshalltown, Marshall, Iowa d. 19 Apr 1988, Palo Alto, Santa Clara, California (Age 71 years) Marriage 4 May 1943 Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio [11, 12] Age at Marriage Carlton : 30 years old | Jeanne : 26 years old. Divorce Filed Feb 1967 California [13] Divorce Aft Feb 1967 California Children 1 son and 2 daughters + 1 . Franz Carlton SKINNER, b. 5 Apr 1945, Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska (Age 79 years)2 
. Andrea Weymouth SKINNER, b. 12 Apr 1948, Washington, District of Columbia d. 19 Apr 1982, Los Angeles, California (Age 34 years)+ 3 . Barbara McDuffee SKINNER, b. 4 Sep 1957, San Rafael, Marin, California (Age 67 years)Family ID F2 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family 2 Solange R. PETIT, b. 23 Oct 1928, Meheri-Zebbeus, Tunisia d. 29 Jul 2023, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts (Age 94 years) Marriage 6 Apr 1970 San Francisco, California Age at Marriage Carlton : 57 years old | Solange : 41 years old. Family ID F4 Group Sheet | Family Chart
-
Event Map 
Birth - 8 Apr 1913 - Mayfield, Santa Clara, California 
Census - 1920 - Julien, Dubuque, Iowa 
Census - 1940 - Washington, District of Columbia 
Marriage - 4 May 1943 - Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio 
Census - 1950 - Asan, Guam 
Divorce Filed - Feb 1967 - California Divorce - Aft Feb 1967 - California 
Marriage - 6 Apr 1970 - San Francisco, California 
Death - 22 Jun 2004 - Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts Pin Legend 
: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
: State/Province
: Country
: Not Set
-
Notes - From “Marblehead Community” — December 14, 2000.
Marblehead man not afraid to make waves at sea
By Stephen Decatur, Special to the reporter
We who live in Marblehead are fortunate to be surrounded by a fascinating universe. But never mind the harbor, the boats, the wonderful architecture and the myriad other things: one of the most important aspects of this town is its people.
Today we meet a man who has demonstrated a wide range of talents: captain of the world’s largest sailing yacht (though it had no masts at the time), friend of one of this country’s great black artists, governor of the island of Guam, resident of Paris every summer, and owner of a good measure of social conscience.
Carlton Skinner is our man. Born in California and educated at a venerable New England prep school, he now resides in Marblehead. After college he went to work for the Wall Street Journal. Later he almost joined the Republicans in Spain fighting the fascists during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. He decided against it, however, because he disapproved of the behavior of the Communists who had infiltrated the anti-fascist forces allied against Franco. Then along came the beginnings of World War II.
As a sailor and boat racer, Skinner’s preference was the Navy or Coast Guard. He was commissioned a lieutenant, junior grade, in the Coast Guard Reserve and ordered to sea as executive officer aboard the cutter “Northland”. Just several months before the Pearl Harbor attack, the “Northland” landed a shore party on the coast of Greenland. Young Lt. Skinner was in command.
It seems the Nazis had set up a weather station there. We were not at war with Germany at the time, of course, but the United States had very friendly and “cordial” relations with the Danish government in exile. (Denmark had been overrun by the Germans in 1940.) The weather station was captured and put out of operation with no shots fired or casualties.
Thus ended what could be considered the first land action by U.S. forces in the coming war, although technically we were still at peace. America had by this time become extremely pro-British and extremely anti-German, even to the extent of our warships protecting Britain-bound convoys. In fact, we had several skirmishes with U-boats, including a most serious one when one of our destroyers was actually sunk.
After a short stint as commander of an LST landing craft, Skinner became captain of the USS Sea Cloud. She was (and still is) an interesting ship, indeed. Officially a U.S. Navy ship, she was manned by the U.S. Coast Guard. Sea Cloud was owned by the cereal heiress Marjorie Post Hutton Davies and her husband, Joseph Davies, the ambassador to the Soviet Union and later to Belgium.
The ship was the largest privately owned sailing yacht in the world. Built in Germany as a four-masted bark, she’s 316 feet long and displaces 3,600 tons. (She is still active to this day as a cruise ship in the Mediterranean.) Sea Cloud’s masts had been removed, only enough remaining for radio and communication purposes. Armaments were two 3-inch guns, depth charges and a slew of antiaircraft weapons. Her duties were weather and anti-submarine patrols between Greenland, Iceland and Bermuda, with home ports in Boston or Newfoundland.
USS Sea Cloud was decommissioned out of the service in late 1944. The Navy fixed her up somewhat and returned the ship to Mrs. Davies, along with $750,000 to complete the restoration. The U.S. government had paid $1 per year to use the ship in the first place.
After the war Sea Cloud passed through several owners, one of whom was Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo, dictator of the Dominican Republic. When he was assassinated in 1964 she was resold to a consortium which eventually converted her to a cruise ship.
Long before boarding the Sea Cloud, Skinner had become aware of the terrible waste of manpower and talent in the Coast Guard and Navy. While aboard any ship at sea, African-American seamen were relegated to being stewards waiting upon white officers, or were mess mates or cooks. This was true no matter what a man’s potential and abilities were.
Not only that, but the unfairness of it all bothered Skinner, now a lieutenant commander. Skinner wrote to many higher-ups in Washington and finally was allowed to experiment with some of his black crew. Men were at last allowed to study and to achieve ratings such as machinist’s mates, quartermasters, gunner’s mates, or whatever their bent may have been.
Along the way this would mean a further integration between the black and white crews aboard ship. Skinner had “found the artificial distinction between race and color can disappear,” he said.
One of the stewards aboard Sea Cloud was Jacob Lawrence. Skinner learned immediately that Lawrence was one of America’s great “social realist” painters. Born in 1917 in Harlem, he had already become famous with his narrative and thematic series of paintings telling of the black experience. Using representational imagery and brilliant colors, his works are reminiscent of the mural and wall paintings so popular in the 1930s. Lawrence is particularly noted for his monumental 41 paintings titled “The Migration Series” of 1940-41. Another series portrayed the lives of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass.
In keeping with Skinner’s plans to integrate his crew, Lawrence was put to painting the wartime activities of the Coast Guard. Those works served a valuable function in bringing the war to the American public. Many still survive today in museums and private collections.
Lawrence painted only two portraits. One is of Carlton Skinner and is now at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. Incidentally, Jacob Lawrence died this past June at age 82. His memorial service at the Riverside Church in New York City was attended by 2,500 people.
So it was that the Navy and Coast Guard fully integrated their ships by 1945, due in major part to Carlton Skinner’s efforts. As a result of his leadership, Skinner was asked to be the first post-war governor of the island of Guam in the Pacific.
Guam had at that time about 30,000 indigenous people, along with thousands of temporary American civilian and military personnel. Guam was a major wartime base in the Pacific during the war. Few problems arose during Skinner’s leadership of the transition from a military to a civil government between 1949 and 1953.
After that, Skinner worked in the shipping business and for corporations in the eastern United States. Now retired, he appears still to have a lot of salt in his veins. These days he regularly enjoys the best of two worlds: he and his wife divide their time between Paris in the summers and Marblehead the rest of the year.
This is one of a series of occasional articles about Marblehead people, past and present, and their relationship with the sea.
In June 1943 Lieutenant Commander Carlton Skinner’s proposal that the U.S. Coast Guard establish an entirely integrated force eventually led to the commissioning of the first integrated ship in the armed forces, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sea Cloud. Skinner commanded a 200-man crew that included 4 African-American officers and 100 black enlisted men. Decommissioned in November 1944, this ship’s crew helped break down military segregation at sea.
After World War II, he was a public relations officer in the Department of Interior, and was selected by the Interior Department, nominated by the Navy Department and then appointed by the President to serve as Guam’s first civilian Governor. He took the oath of office on September 17, 1949. (Picture1, Picture2 taken during the 50 years celebration).
Belvedere Man Is Appointed to Tourist Commission By Brown
Cartlon Skinner, of Belvedere, was named today by Governor Edmund G. Brown as chairman of the Tourism and Visitor Services Commision. The Commission, which was created by the 1964 Legislature, has a total of 15 members. Skinner was named as a general public representative to the Commission. The appointment requires Senate confirmation.
“Carlton Skinner, a man of international reputation, is highly qualified for this new post.” the Governor said. “I am proud that the State of California can attract men of his talent, knowledge and ability as our new tourism and visitor services program begins to move into high gear. With an agressive and imaginative program we can help attract new tourist spending in our state and new tourist industries that can provide a major stimulus fo our state economy.”
A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, Skinner presently heads Skinner and Company, a management consultant firm in San Francisco. He was director of the Virgin Islands Corporation and was formerly employed by the United States Maritime Commision. Skinner is a former trustee of the United Seaman’s Service.
A former governor of Guam (1949-1953), Skinner was appointed by the late President Kennedy as senior commissioner for the United States on the South Pacific Commission. This Commission is responsible for non-selfgoverning territories in the Pacific. He was formerly executive assistant to the President of the American President Lines, and was vice president of the Fairbanks-Whitney Corporation. (source : Sausalito News, 23 Februray 1966)
Nauru Appoints Honorary Consul
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An airline official has been named honorary consul to the United States by one of the smallest independant nations in the world – Nauru. The government of the South Pacific island Monday named Carlton Skinner, 57, as its consul in San Francisco. Skinner is board chairman here of Air Micronesia and the title was given him as a courtesy. Nauru is 1,300 miles north-east of Australia, measures eight miles square, has a population of 7,000 and is rich in phosphates. (source : Charleston Daily Mail, Tuedsay, December 7, 1971).
Sources:
— WorId War II: The Marine Corps and the Coast Guard
— USS Sea Cloud, IX 99, Racial Integration for Naval Efficiency
— Justice on Guam Post-World War II
— The Explorers Club – Northern California Chapter (p. 3)
— Sea Cloud
— Biographical sketch of Mr. Skinner
— Carlton Skinner Appointed Governor of Guam
— Portrait of Carlton Skinner
— Guampedia - Governor Carlton Skinner
— New Coast Guard facility bears Commander Skinner’s proud name, legacy
— Is Your Ancestor on this list?
— The Long Blue Line: Cutters Sea Cloud and Hoquiam
— Flying Into The Eye of The Storm
— In memoriam Carlton Skinner (1913-2004), par Christian Coiffier
— Governor Carlton Skinner
Carlton resided in Alexandria, VA about 1935.
-
Sources - [S3] California Birth Records.
- [S1] Birth Certificate.
- [S6] 1920 US Census, 18 Jun 1920, Dubuque (Julien Twsp), Family #448.
Skinner Carlton | Son | age: 6 | birthplace: California | father’s bp: Mass. | mother’s bp: Mass | occupation: none
- [S7] 1940 US Census.
Head: Carlton Skinner, 27y | Sister: Barbara Gilmore, 32y.
- [S8] 1950 US Census.
Carlton Skinner | age: 36 | bp: USA | occupation: Governor of Guam
- [S4] Obituary.
Carlton Skinner, 91, the first appointed civilian governor of Guam under the United States, died June 22 in Hagatna, Guam. Skinner, once called the George Washington of Guam, was appointed governor by President Harry Truman in 1949. He held the position until 1953, overseeing the shift from Navy control of the U.S. territory to a civilian representative government.
— The Minneapolis Star Tribune, 4 Sep 2004
- [S4] Obituary.
HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Carlton Skinner, the first appointed civilian governor of Guam under the United States, has died. He was 91. Skinner died in his native Boston on June 22.
“We mourn the passing of Gov. Carlton Skinner and pray for his family in their time of need,” Gov. Felix Camacho said upon learning of Skinner’s death.
Skinner, once called the George Washington of Guam, was appointed governor by President Harry S. Truman in 1949. He held the position until 1953, overseeing the shift from Navy control of the U.S. territory to a civilian representative government.
During that time, Skinner established the Territorial College of Guam, now the University of Guam, and turned two buildings at Oka, Tamuning, into a hospital which he named Guam Memorial Hospital.
In 2000, Skinner returned to the island to serve as grand marshal for the 2000 Liberation Day parade, and to sign his book chronicling the establishment of civilian government, called After Three Centuries: Representative Democracy and Civilian Government for Guam.
“He used to come to Guam every few years, and he had a great fondness for Guam and the people,” said Joe Murphy, a former Pacific Daily News editor and friend of Skinner. “And I think he made a major contribution to the island and to the Pacific.”
— The Milford Daily News (MA), 4 Sep 2004
- [S4] Obituary.
Carlton Skinner; helped integrate Coast Guard
By Jessica Tanenbaum, Globe Correspondent, July 7, 2004.
During World War II, the US Coast Guard struggled to preserve racial segregation while rotating officers and crew between sea and shore duty. Then, Lieutenant Carlton Skinner proposed a fully integrated ship to provide African-Americans with experience at sea. In 1943, he assumed command of USS Sea Cloud, formerly a lavish yacht. Of the 173 men on board, 54 were African-American.
Mr. Skinner, a native Bostonian who was a financier and served as the first civilian governor of Guam, died from heart failure on June 22 in Boston. He was 91.
Intended as a weather patrol ship in the North Atlantic, the USS Sea Cloud helped sink a German submarine and narrowly escaped a collision with an iceberg. Inspections showed that the pioneering ship was as efficient as all-white ships. In his memoir, Mr. Skinner said that neither the Navy nor the Coast Guard publicized the integration, causing him to wonder whether “I should not have evangelized for my theories, put on a campaign for their general adoption.” In 1944, Mr. Skinner commanded the USS Hoquiam, another integrated ship.
As part of the Truman Human Rights Program of 1948, Mr. Skinner drafted the Organic Act, the constitution of the Territory of Guam. President Truman appointed him the first civilian governor of Guam and he was sworn in on Sept. 17, 1949.
The act provided natives of Guam with US citizenship and powers of self-government.
Mr. Skinner also worked in New York as vice president of Fairbanks Whitney Corporation and in San Francisco for his own company, a proxy solicitation service.
In 1970, he married French anthropologist Solange Petit.
Born in the Back Bay, Mr. Skinner graduated from Wesleyan University and studied finance at University of California, Los Angeles. In 1997, he published After Three Centuries: Representative Democracy and a Civilian Government for Guam.
He leaves his wife. A memorial service was held.
— The Boston Globe, 8 Jul 2004
- [S2] Newspaper.
Carlton Skinner’s survivors include son, daughter
Sep. 2, 2004
Carlton Skinner, who died June 22 in Boston after an illustrious life as the first civilian governor of Guam, as the first captain to fully integrate a U.S. naval ship during World War II and as a successful entrepreneur, is survived by a son, daughter and five grandchildren.
Mr. Skinner’s obituary that ran in The Chronicle on Sunday listed only his wife, Solange Petit, as a survivor. In addition to his wife, he is survived by his son, Franz, of Bolinas; his daughter, Barbara, of Paris; and five grandsons.
— SFGate, Sep. 2, 2004.
- [S5] Find A Grave, → Memorial ID 140504988.
- [S2] Newspaper.
Ensign Rowe is Bride of Lieut. Skinner
The marriage of Ensign Jeanne Rowe. U.S.N.R. to Lieut. Carlton Skinner, U.S.C.G.R., took place Saturday in Dayton, Ohio.
Only members of the immediate families attended the ceremony that was performed at the home of the bride’s sister, Mrs. Harvison Catlin Holland. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis Rowe, of Lincoln, Nebr., and Lieutenant Skinner is the son of Mrs. Marian W. Skinner Beach, of Milford, Conn., and Prof. Macy M. Skinner of the University of Washington in Seattle.
The bride is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and took her graduate work there. She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Lambda Theta and Psi Chi. At present she is with the Navy Department here.
Lieutenant Skinner attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and was graduated from the University of California, where he was affiliated with Delta Upsilon fraternity. A Washington newspaperman before entering the service, he was formerly Director of Information for the United States Maritime Commision. He is a member of the National Press Club and the Capital Yacht Club.
— The Washington Post, 4 May 1943
- [S2] Newspaper.
Ensiqn Jeanne Rowe Bride Of Lieut. Carleton Skinner
The marriage of Ensign Jeanne Rowe, U. S. N. R., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Lewis Rowe of Lincoln, to Lieut. Carleton Skinner of the United States coast guard reserve, was solemnized on Saturday, May 1, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Harvison C. Holland in Dayton, Ohio.
Mrs. Holland was her sister’s only attendant. The bride was given in marriage by her father, and wore her white summer uniform.
Ensign Skinner is a graduate of the University of Nebraska where she took her post-graduate work. She is a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, and Pi Lambda Theta, honorary. At present, as an officer in the WAVES she is in the navy department, division of public relations, Washington, D. C.
Lieut Skir.ner attended Wesleyan university, Middletown, Conn., and was graduated from the University of Southern California, at Los Angeles, where he is a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity. Before entering the service Lieut. Skinner was director of information for the United States maritime commission. He has been on sea duty in the north Atlantic and Arctic waters for the past year and a half. His present assignment is for public relations duty at the coast guard headquarters, Washington, D. C. He is a member of the National Press club and the Capital Yacht club, Washing-jl ton, D. C. He is the son of Mrs. Marian W. Skinner Beach, president of the Weylister secretarial junior college, Milford, Conn., and of Prof. Macy M. Skinner of the University of Washington, Seattle.
Lieut. Skinner and his bride left for a honeymoon trip late in the afternoon after which they will return to Washington, D. C, where they will reside at 2458 Twentieth street, N. W., Apt. 503.
Out of town guest s at the wedding were Mr. and Mrs. George Rowe, parents of the bride, and Mrs. Marian Beach, mother of the bridegroom.
— The Lincoln Star (Lincoln, Nebraska). 1 May 1943.
- [S2] Newspaper.
Mrs. Carlton Skinner Asks For Divorce – Carlton Skinner of Belvedere, prominent management consultant and expert on South Pacific government, has been sued for divorce by his wife, Jeanne, in Marin Superior Court. She charges cruelty. The couple has been separated since Dec. 29, the complaint states. Mrs. Skinner seeks custody of their three children, support, and a portion of the family property, which includes a sailboat. Their rented home is at 80 Beach Road, Belvedere. The Skinners have been married 23 years. He is president of a San Francisco management firm bearing his name. He served for a time last year as chairman of the State Tourism and Visitors Commission. He was the first civilian governor of Guam from 1949 to 1953, and later was appointed by the late President Kennedy to the South Pacific Commission, which is responsible for non-selfgoverning territories in the Pacific.
— Daily Independent Journal from San Rafael, California, Thursday, February 16, 1967 - page 10
- [S7] 1940 US Census.
- [S3] California Birth Records.
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}