1824. He received a classical education, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia. 3 Sept., 1783. In 1786 he settled at Easton, where he soon gained an extensive practice. He was elected a member of the State constitutional convention of 1789-'90. and was elected to congress in 1794, and again in 1796. In 1797 he conducted the impeachment of William Blount. He was one of the commissioners to settle claims under the Jay treaty. In 1799 he was retained by the government to assist in the trial of John Pries for treason. At the end of John Adams's administration he retired from politics, and resumed practice. — His son, Lorenzo, soldier, b. in Pennsylvania about 1811; d. in Washington, D. C., 14 May, 1888. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1832, and was assigned to the artillery. He resigned to engage in civil engineering, but was reappointed in the army as 2d lieutenant of topographical engineers on 18 July, 1840. and was employed in surveys of the Sault Sainte Marie, Portsmouth harbor, and the Florida reefs. During the Mexican war he took part in the march through Chihuahua and in the battle of Buena Vista, where he gained the brevet of captain for gallantry. He was in charge in 1851 of the survey of Zuñi and Colorado rivers, N. M., of which a report was published (Washington, 1853). He mustered volunteers at Albany, N. Y., in 1861-'2, being promoted major on 6 Aug., 1861. He reached the grade of lieutenant-colonel of engineers on 22 April, 1864, and subsequently had charge of harbor improvements on Lake Michigan till 10 July, 1866, when he was retired.
SITJAR, Buenaventura (seet'-har), Spanish missionary, b. in the island of Majorca, 9 Dec., 1739; d. in San Antonio, Cal., 3 Sept., 1808. He was a member of the Franciscan order, came as a missionary to America, and founded in 1771 the mission of San Antonio, and in 1797 that of San Miguel. With the assistance of Father Miguel Pieras, he composed a vocabulary of the Telamé or Sextapay language. This work forms the seventh volume of John G. Shea's “Library of American Linguistics” (New York, 1861), and was published separately under the title of “Vocabulary of the Language of the San Antonio Missions” (1863).
SITTING BULL, Sioux chief, b. in 1837; d. 15 Dec., 1890. He was a chief of the Dakota Sioux, who were driven from their reservation in the Black Hills by miners in 1876, and took up arms, against the whites and friendly Indians, refusing to be transported to the Indian territory. In June, 1876, they defeated and massacred Gen. George A. Custer's advance party of Gen. Alfred H. Terry's column, which was sent against them, on Little Big Horn river, and were pursued northward by Gen. Terry. Sitting Bull, with a part of his band, made his escape into British territory, and, through the mediation of Dominion officials, surrendered on a promise of pardon in 1880. In 1888, in a conference at Standing Rock, Dak. — where he was afterward killed — he influenced his tribe to refuse to relinquish Indian lands. See Johnson's Life (1892).
SKEAD, James, Canadian senator, b. at Calder Hall, Moresby, Cumberland, England, 31 Dec., 1817; d. in Ottawa, Canada, 5 July, 1884. He was educated in his native town, and, coming to Canada with his family in 1832, settled at Bytown (now Ottawa). Mr. Skead afterward engaged in the timber trade, and also in manufacturing. At the time of confederation in 1867 he was called to the senate. Early in 1881 he resigned, but he was reappointed on 24 Dec. of the same year. He represented Rideau division from 1862 till 1867 in the legislative council of Canada, and was an unsuccessful candidate for Carleton for the Ontario assembly in 1867. He was president of the Ottawa board of trade, of the Ottawa Liberal-Conservative association, of the Liberal-Conservative convention that met in Toronto, 23 Sept., 1874, of the Dominion board of trade, and of the Agricultural and arts association of Ontario, and was connected as president or director with various other financial or industrial institutions.
SKENANDO, Oneida chief, b. in 1706; d. in 1816. During the war of the Revolution he had command of 250 warriors of the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes of Indians, and rendered important services to the American cause. Skenando was tall and commanding in person, and his face displayed unusual intelligence. He was an intrepid warrior, and one of the noblest and wisest counsellors of the Six Nations. The first mention of his name is by Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who became acquainted with him when he first went into the Indian country in 1764. Skenando formed so strong an attachment for Mr. Kirkland that he expressed a desire to be buried by the side of his friend, which was done. He was known among the Indians as the “white man's friend.”
SKENE, Alexander Johnston Chalmers, physician, b. in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 17 June, 1837. He was educated chiefly in the schools of Aberdeen, and studied medicine at King's college, Scotland, at the University of Michigan, and at Long Island college hospital, where he was graduated in 1863. From July, 1863, till June, 1864, he was acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. army. In 1864 he settled in Brooklyn, where he has since been engaged in successful practice. Dr. Skene was adjunct physician in Long Island college hospital in 1864, appointed professor of gynecology there in 1872, and dean of the faculty in 1886. He was professor of gynecology in the Post-graduate medical school of New York in 1884, and is president of the American gynecological society. He performed the first successful operation of gastro-elytrotomy that is recorded, and also that of craniotomy, using Sims's speculum. He has invented about twelve surgical instruments, has written numerous articles for the medical journals, and published “Uro-Cystic and Urethral Diseases in Women” (New York, 1877), and “Treatise on Diseases of Women, for the Use of Students and Practitioners” (1888).
SKENE, Philip, soldier, b. in London, England, in February, 1725; d. near Stoke Goldington, England, 10 June, 1810. He was heir-male (after 1742) of Sir Andrew Skene, of Hallyards, Fife, and entered the 1st royal regiment in 1736, under the auspices of his uncle, Capt. Andrew Skene, was at the taking of Carthagena and Porto Bello, and at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy, and Culloden. He left the royal regiment in 1750, and was afterward captain in the 27th and 10th foot, and major of brigade. In the same year he married Katherine, heiress of the Heydens, of Mt. Heyden, County Wicklow, who was related to Sir William Johnson. In 1756 he came again to this country, and was engaged under Lord Howe at the attack on Ticonderoga, and afterward under Lord Amherst at its capture, with that of Crown Point. Thence he went to the attack on Martinique and Havana under Lord Albemarle, and was one of the first to enter the breach at the storming of Moro Castle. In 1759, by the desire of Lord Amherst and with a view to strengthening the British hold on Canada, he received a large grant of land on Lake Champlain, which he increased by purchases to the extent of about 60,000
