Josiah Lawson Scott

As printed in 1910

JOSIAH LAWSON SCOTT.

As a man and citizen, Josiah Lawson Scott occupies a high place in the estimation of the people of Polk township, — in fact, all Nodaway county. He is a man of the people and a representative of the best type of American citizenship, being the descendant of ancestors of sterling worth, who figured prominently in various walks of life from an early day. He has refused to be cast down by any adverse circumstances, and, taking an optimistic view of life, has made his presence felt for good wherever his lot has been cast. He has always been interested in every enterprise for the general welfare of the community and liberally supports every movement calculated to benefit his fellow-men in any way.

In view of the prominence of his ancestors, several paragraphs will be devoted to them before proceeding with his individual career. His father. Alexander Foster Scott, was the youngest of eleven children born to Rev. Abraham and Rebecca (McDowrell) Scott, the latter the daughter of Judge McDowell and wife. He was born March 11, 1819, and on May 26, 1850. he married Eleanor Barnes, who was born September 1, 1826, and was of

Scotch-Irish parentage, her mother’s father, a soldier in the American Revolution, having fought at Valley Forge, and he heard George Washington make his memorable farewell address. Eleanor Barnes was a native of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. To the union of Alexander F. Scott and Eleanor Barnes were born eight children, namely: Maggie R. died at Mary ville, Missouri, September 15, 1883; William B. lives in Polk township, Nod away county; Josiah Lawson, of this review; David Mitchell died in his youth, September 17, 1872, at New Athens, Ohio; John McDowell died at Maryville, Missouri, in May, 1897; Mrs. Ella B. Mcjimsey and Nannie M., wife of Rev. J. K. Sawyers, both live at Maryville; Martha E., wife of Rev. Henry A. Sawyers, lives in St. Joseph.

Alexander Foster Scott died at Cadiz, Ohio, November 25, 1865. His wife, Eleanor Barnes, was killed by being run over by a train at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on the morning of September 10, 1894. Alexander Scott came to Nodaway county in an early day and entered twenty-one hundred acres of land near Maryville, which has become quite valuable and which is still owned by his heirs. He was a good business man and was admired for his integrity and generosity.

Rev. Abraham Scott, father of Alexander Foster Scott, was born in York county, Pennsylvania, June 19, 1763. On June 18, 1793, he married Rebecca McDowell, daughter of the Hon. John and Jane (Bradford) McDowell. The paternal grandfather of the subject was a noted Presbyterian minister and a missionary in eastern Ohio as early as 1804, when the country was a wild stretch of woodlands, abounding in wild beasts and Indians. He was a brave and good man and accomplished much for the early settlers in the way of moral reform and material aid. He was the father of the following children: William M., Violet, Nancy, Josiah, John, James, Rebecca, Abraham, Abraham Park, Samuel and Alexander Foster. The eighth, Abraham, died in infancy and John died at the age of fifteen. The first son, Hon. William M. Scott, was born March 22, 1794, in Washington county, Pennsylvania. After his marriage he settled in Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1815, which county he served several times in the General Assembly, and he served in the State Senate in 1835 and 1836, also in 1839 and 1840. He was also a justice of the peace for thirty-three consecutive years. His death occurred on June 24, 1864. He had a hand in framing the constitution of the state of Ohio, as did also his brother, the Hon. Josiah Scott, who was born April 3, 1802. The latter was a lawyer and lived at Cadiz, Ohio, and was chosen to represent his district in the General Assembly and in the convention which framed the constitution. The Hon. William Scott, of

Guernsey county, his brother, Hon. Josiah Scott, of Cadiz, and their cousin, Hon. Josiah Scott, of Bucyrus, all had seats in the General Assembly of Ohio at the same time. Josiah Scott, of Cadiz, was a law partner of the Hon. Chancey Dewey and later of the Hon. John A. Bingham, the latter being the famous and able member of Congress and afterwards minister to the Celestial empire. He was also appointed and prosecuted the slayers of Abraham Lincoln. Hon. Josiah Scott, of Bucyrus, was noted for his great memory. He had, perhaps, no superior in mathematics in his day and generation in America, and it is especially worthy of mention that a mathematical problem that had been declared in Great Britain and on the continent of Europe to be insolvable, was solved by him, for which he received the highest commendation of one of the most celebrated mathematical journals of the world, published in London.

Judge McDowell, father of Mrs. Abraham Scott, was born September 23, 1736, in the north of Ireland, near Belfast. His father was a judge and a man of prominence and came from Scotland. In 1781 Judge McDowell was chosen as one of the first commissioners of Washington county, Pennsylvania, and in 1783 he was chosen one of the council of censors for the state. These censors were chosen every seven years, and it was made their duty to inquire if the constitution had been preserved inviolate, whether the different branches of government had performed their duty faithfully and whether the taxes were justly laid, etc.; also to call a convention to amend any article of the constitution which might be defective. In 1798 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives in the State Legislature and was successively re-elected in 1799, 1800 and 1801. On April 8, 1802, Governor Thomas McKean commissioned him as one of the associate judges of the court of common pleas for Washington county, Pennsylvania. He took the oath of office on May 31st following, and continued in office until October, 1808, when he resigned on account of failing health.

Josiah Scott, third, father of Abraham Scott, was born in 1735, and was the father of twelve children, eight by his first marriage and four by his last. After learning the blacksmith’s trade he married Violet Foster, in 1760, and settled at Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania, where he lived until 1773; he removed to Washington county, Pennsylvania, near Washington, where he worked at his trade and farmer until old age. His death occurred in 1819, at the age of eighty-four years.

Abraham Scott, second, father of Josiah Scott, third, was born in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1677, and his death occurred in 1760. He left three sons, Hugh, josiah and Thomas, probably others. Thomas Scott was elected as the first member to Congress from Washington county, Pennsylvania, after its organization. His death occurred in 1796. Hugh Scott, the patriarch, came to this country from the north of Ireland, according to a fairly reliable tradition, and settled in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, probably about two hundred and twenty years ago. His brother, josiah, came to America at the same time. The Scott ancestors were they who, under the Acts of Settlement, took states in the north of Ireland, carrying from Scotland the religion of the covenant, and maintaining it amidst the desolation caused by fire, sword and famine, alternately conquering and being conquered for two hundred years. The savage character of these wars was intensified by the animosity of race and religion. It was amid such experiences that the foundation of the Scott family was laid and an intense longing for civil and religious liberty drove old Hugh, the first, and Josiah to the shores of the Delaware, even before the grant to William Penn. When, in 1610, the crown confiscated the estate of turbulent chiefs in the north of Ireland, and offered the wasted lands for settlement to the Scottish Presbyterians, they accepted the invitation, in the hope and under a promise that they would not be prosecuted for non-conformity to the rights of the established church. Emigration offered a prospect of religious liberty. This plantation of Ulster was in a measure the counterpart of the emigration of the Puritans to Holland, the latter finding their way to Plymouth Rock. Massachusetts, in 1620. becoming the Pilgrim Fathers of New England. They were transformed in name into Scotch-Irish and fitted to be leaders in the founding of the great American republic whose corner-stone is civil and religious liberty.

When persecution in Ireland became unbearable, only the oldest of those who were in the most imminent danger dared the perils of the deep and still greater supposed perils and known dangers and hardships that lay beyond.

We read with interest of the treaty of William Penn with the Indians; but prior to that time the banks of the Delaware were covered with illimitable forests and behind each tree was said to lurk a brave and implacable foe, that spared neither mother nor the babe in her arms. But when Francis McKenzie, the first Scotch-Irish minister, arrived, he found the people already widely scattered; some on the plains of New Jersey, some on the banks of the Delaware and along the rivers of Virginia and the Carolinas. At this time the population of Pennsylvania was not more than twelve thousand souls. Even in 1699. when Annie, granddaughter of Hugh Scott, was born, the entire population was less than twenty thousand; thus it is seen that Hugh and Josiah Scott were pioneers of our race in America, and from this time on it seems as if Ireland made an effort to send the major part of her population to the New World. In 1701 the population was still twenty thousand, and in 1849 it was two hundred and fifty thousand. From this small start less than three hundred years ago, this nation has grown to the greatest of the earth; and the Scotts have done their part, not only through this one branch of the family, but through the many different branches.

Josiah Lawson Scott, the immediate subject of this review, was born October 17, 1854, in Jefferson county, Ohio, and he was quite young when his parents moved to Harrison county, Ohio, first living near Cadiz and later at New Athens, Ohio, the town in which Franklin College is situated at which he and his brothers and sisters attended school, and he remained there until he was twenty-six years old, assisting with the general work about the homestead. On March 24, 1880. he married Rachael A. Dunlap, daughter of Joshua and Nancy Dunlap. Her parents were of Scotch-Irish blood. In May, 1880, soon after his marriage, Mr. Scott came to Nodaway county, settling in Polk township, and he has resided here ever since, a period of thirty years, during which time he has seen and taken part in great changes. He is today one of the leading farmers and stock men of Polk township, his farm consisting of four hundred and eighty acres, all improved. He has a beautifully located and commodious home, in Maryville, which is surrounded by an excellent variety of fruit and shade trees and good outbuildings. Politically, he is a Republican and while he takes more or less interest in all local political issues, he has not been an office seeker himself, although always ready to do what he deemed necessary to advance the interests of his party and the general good of the community. Mrs. Scott is an active member of the Presbyterian church, and, like her husband, is popular with a large circle of friends. Three children have graced their union, namely: Jessie B., born January 9, 1881, died January 13, 1883; Emmet Foster, born March 17, 1883, and Clark Ray. born February 28, 1888.

As printed in Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.