His name appears as the 27th listed in one of the oldest written records of Freemasons, the Mark Book of Aberdeen Lodge#1 (1670), as "Merchand and Meason".
[12]: 35 According to The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America (NSCDA), Skene purchased a 300 arce property in 1674 (though there is no evidence that he came to Jersey before 1682) that he named Peachfield.
[15]: 324 It has been said that he died before he had chartered a single lodge and that there is no evidence that Coxe ever did any Masonic work whatsoever while serving as Grand Master,[2]: 51 but certain records indicate differently.
His authority would have been brought to practical operation for the forming of a Lodge in Philadelphia, which the press of the day indicates existed in 1732 with William Allen as the Master.
[16]: IX Franklin later went on to form another Lodge in Philadelphia, seeking authority from Henry Price, the Grand Master of Masons for New England.