24 
Indiana University Studies 
A little over 100 years ago, this was known as the Skinner 
neighborhood. There “old man Skinner’’ reared his family 
on cornbread and whiskey. They hunted and fished most of 
the time and farmed when it was necessary. He and his 
relatives built houses in which their descendants are still 
living. They have never improved the property or built roads 
in the neighborhood. Practically the whole of Lookout Ridge 
is still owned by these descendants. 
“Old Charlie” Skinner married his own blood niece, a 
Jasper woman, by whom he had 5 children of whom we have 
some record. Charlie Jr., the third child of the old man, is 
recalled by the old inhabitants of the county as a wicked old 
scoundrel who would burn, steal, or lie. One of his favorite 
tricks was to steal meat and then set fire to the smokehouse. 
He could neither read nor write. He married Lizzie Sanders, 
by whom he had 10 children. Of these. Rose is the most 
interesting. Before her marriage she kept house for her 
father and her Uncle Bill Skinner, who was a widower. She 
was always considered queer and crazy — “just like a Skinner”. 
She would often go off from the house and sleep in hay stacks 
because she thought that people were pursuing her. She let 
her hair hang about her head and shoulders, would swear, 
fight, drink, and was loose in her sex relations. 
For years she lived as the wife of her father and uncle. 
She claims, however, that the father of her first child, Eddie, 
was a Henson man. The next 2 boys belong to her uncle 
Bill Skinner. The birth of these make the second offspring 
from uncle-niece unions in 2 successive generations. Rose 
has 2 other children, Stella and Bessie, whose father is 
thought to be Homer Alvis. Homer says, however, that she 
had them when he married her, and that he does not know 
to whom they belong. 
Rose and Homer both went to the County Poor Asylum 
about 10 years ago, and she is still there. Homer died in 
the spring of 1918 of burns resulting from the upsetting of 
a coal oil lamp. Rose is 50 years old according to 'her own 
statement. She says that Homer was lazy and that she 
always had to make the living, also that when it became 
necessary for her to come to the County Farm he followed. 
The truth is that he always was a fairly good worker 
but he spent his money foolishly. When he was in the state 
