James was born in Minnigaff in 1834. He married Catherine Marr in Blackcraig in 1858 and died in 1870 in Leadhills, Dumfriesshire at the age of 37.
James and Catherine appear to have had six children.
The 1881 Census gives an address for Catherine and her children in Minnigaff.
James's occupation was that of a lead miner.
The source of this information was James's Death Certificate and the 1851 Census
A DNA match has been discovered by ancestry.co.uk between myself and another descendant of James Skimming through their daughter, Henrietta and her husband John Paterson Corson. Henrietta's grandparents Thomas Skimming and Henrietta Aitken were my great(x3) paternal grandparents.
A second DNA match has been discovered between myself and a descendant of John Paterson Corson's grandparents, William Corson and Grace Gourley. William and Grace were my great(x3) maternal grandparents