I was born on the 9th of October, 1797, in the village of Tweedmouth, in North Durham. My father, William Skeen, was a fisherman, whose ancestors had resided near Elgin, in Morayshire, for many generations; but his father, in early life, had left the paternal 'home in Scotland and migrated to the North of England, where he married, and lived to a good old age. He died in Tweedmouth about the year 1802, highly respected by all who knew him.

My father married Margaret Nesbit, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. They had a family of six sons and four daughters; I was the oldest. To maintain so many was a severe struggle, on the scanty and precarious earnings of a fisherman. But we never suffered actual want.

It was the great desire of our parents to give us as good an education as the village schools could bestow; and this they accomplished. We were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. It was a good foundation on which to build. I was blessed with a retentive memory, and could read fluently when only five years old. The Bible was the great school-book; and the portions I committed to memory (as extra lessons) were considered proofs of unusual ability by the seniors of the village. I was a great favourite among the old fishermen, and frequently joined them when fishing on the sea-shore or at the rocks off the mouth of the Tweed. Some of them predicted that I would become a Doctor of Divinity! Two, indeed, of my village companions attained to that distinction,—the Rev. Dr. Robert Lee, of Edinburgh (whose life was published a few years ago), and the Rev. Dr. Nisbet, many years a missionary in India. Another, though younger companion, was John Wilson, author of the well-known "Tales of the Borders." All the three have been dead several years.