The cottage was probably built by blacksmith Thomas Skinner about 1856, and a shop was added shortly afterwards. Thomas and Mary Skinner came to South Australia on the ship 'Ostrich' in 1854. They settled first at Wattle Flat but later moved to Yankalilla. Thomas set up a blacksmith business, and Mary acted as the town's midwife. Mary had some sadness in her own life in regard to babies, as she had a stillborn daughter in 1857, and another daughter died, aged six months, in 1861.

Until leased to Thomas Jones in 1884, it was presumably empty, and it is said that Rev Morse used it when he visited the area to take services at St James or on his way to Cape Jervis and Kangaroo Island. Later the house was occupied by John Thomas Cant and family.

Their son William, who was born about 1845, married Eliza Nixon in 1868, and they moved to New South Wales in 1877 for a few years. William returned to Yankalilla about 1882 and joined his father in the blacksmith business. Thomas and Mary's other child, Louisa Harriet Ellen, married storekeeper Charles Forbes in 1880. Her life was relatively short, dying in 1888 at age 30. Thomas and Mary Skinner are buried in Christ Church cemetery.