Biography - James W. Scott
JAMES W. SCOTT, a veteran of the late war, in which he fought bravely in
defense of the stars and stripes, has since done as good service as a
thrifty, intelligent farmer in aiding the development of the agricultural
resources of this country, and is now living in honorable retirement at
Shelbyville, Shelby County. He was born March 11, 1826, in one of the early
pioneer homes of Licking County, Ohio, his birthplace being eleven miles
northeast of the town of Newark. His father. Peter P. Scott, a native of New
Jersey, was one of the early settlers of Illinois, locating not far from
Peoria, and he was widely known throughout that region as a pioneer
blacksmith and farmer of that section of the State. The paternal grandfather
of subject, whose given name was Joseph, was born, according to the best
information at hand, in County Tyrone, Ireland, and was of Scotch
antecedents. On coming to America, he settled in New Jersey, and there
reared a family, two of the sons serving in the War of 1812. He was an iron
worker, and his last days were spent near Newark, N. J. His wife, a native
of Germany, whose maiden name was Mary Himyon, also spent her last years
near Newark.
Peter P. Scott was reared in the State of his nativity, and in his youth
became a practical blacksmith, learning his trade at Newark, and following
it there until about 1820. In that year he went to Ohio, going thither with
teams, and located in Licking County. He carried on his calling there until
1828, when he made another move. Starting for the wilds of Illinois with his
wife and four children, making the journey with two pairs of oxen to a
wagon, in which were conveyed all their earthly belongings, including Mr.
Scott's anvil, that he had taken with him from New Jersey, and which is now
in the possession of the son of the subject, who bears the name of his
grandsire, and is a resident of Marshall, Oklahoma. Mr. Scott located one
mile west of Washington and ten miles from Peoria, which was then known as
Ft. Clark. Indians had full sway in the northern part of the State at that
time, there were but very few settlement of whites, and Chicago was but a
hamlet.
The father of the subject traded one pair of oxen and the wagon for a
squatter's claim, and entered the land at the general land office at
Springfield. Six acres of the land cleared and fenced, and a log house,
stable and smoke house, constituted the improvements on the place. Mr. Scott
carried on his trade as a blacksmith for some years, and people came for
many miles to get work done. He was a very skillful mechanic, and besides
making all his horse-shoes and nails by hand, was of an inventive turn of
mind, and the first steel scouring plow ever used was from a patent made by
him. In his last years he devoted himself to the management of his farm
until he passed away in April, 1870 at a ripe age, in the home that he had
built thereon. His wife, a native of New York City, whose maiden name was
Catherine Murphy, went to Galesburg after his death, and there resided until
her death, when full of years in May, 1884. She was the mother of eleven
children.
The subject of this biography, although but five years of age when his
parents brought him to Illinois, clearly remembers the incidents of that
momentous journey of the pioneer life that ensued in the wild, sparsely
settled region now known as Tazewell County. Indians still lived there and
deer, wild turkeys and other game were abundant. Our subject's education was
obtained in the primitive pioneer schools of the early days of the
settlement of Illinois. The first one that he attended was taught in his
father's house. The seats, which had no backs and no desks in front, were
made of slabs or puncheons, and were supported by wooden pins. A log was
taken out of the length of the building and a row of glass inserted in its
place to admit the light. In 1832, the year of the Black Hawk war, the
inhabitants were constantly on the alert for fear of being surprised and
massacred by the Indians, and it took but very little to create a scare. Our
subject relates a rather amusing episode of this time. A man living near the
school house was out hunting squirrels. He shot one near the building and
the ball, glancing, went through the glass and hit a girl on the side of the
head, making an ugly scalp wound. The scholars, supposing the Indians to be
upon them, were very much frightened. The teacher, a young man from the
East, started with the wounded girl to assist her home, but he soon fainted
and his pupil had to make her way home alone. The frightened scholars
circulated the report that Indians fired into the schoolhouse, and the
neighbors, all armed, gathered together there, and excitement ran high until
it was found out who did the shooting.
Mr. Scott lived with his parents until he grew to manhood, in the meantime
assisting in the farm work, and he then commenced to learn the trade of a
cooper, which he followed in Tazewell County until 1850. In the spring of
that year he started with others for the gold fields of California, leaving
Pekin on the 14th of April, and making an overland journey across the plains
and mountains. At that time, there were but very few white settlers between
the Missouri River and California, except the Mormons at Salt Lake. Indians
reigned supreme on the plains, and innumerable buffaloes were encountered on
the way. The little party arrived at Weaverville, July 27, and our subject
devoted his time to mining until the spring of 1851. He then gathered
together his gains and returned home, traveling by way of the Isthmus of
Panama to New York, from that city by rail to Dunkirk, thence by the Lakes
to Chicago, and from there by the canal and the Illinois River to Peoria.
The following year Mr. Scott bought a team with the intention of returning
to California, but realizing that gold was to be obtained by tilling the
rich soil of this state as well as by getting it more directly from the
mines of the Pacific Slope, he changed his mind and came instead to Shelby
County to try farming here. He bought a tract of land in what is now Okaw
Township, a few acres of which were improved and a log cabin stood on the
place. He lived there until 1861, when he settled on a tract of land in
Todd's Point Township, which he had bought from the Government.
In August 1862, our subject threw aside his work to take part in the great
war that was then being waged between the North and South, inscribing his
name on the roll of Company G, One Hundred and Fifteenth Illinois Infantry.
In 1863 he received injuries which incapacitated him for active duties, and
he was ordered to the hospital by the surgeon, but this did not please him,
and he induced the colonel to countermand the order and he remained with his
regiment until June, 1863. After that he was a short time in Franklin,
Tenn., whence he was ordered to Nashville, where was transferred to the
invalid corps. When the Veteran Reserve Corps was organized, he was
transferred to Company G, Fifth Regiment, and was transferred at Camp
Merton, Minneapolis. On the night before the election at Chicago, he was one
of the five hundred soldiers sent to that city to guard the rebel prisoners
confined there who had made their plans to escape. He was kept on duty
forty-eight hours without relief, and returning to Indianapolis ten days
later, was soon after taken sick. He had to go to the hospital for
treatment, and was discharged from that institution in February, 1865, and
from the army, thus closing an honorable career as a soldier, wherein he had
borne the hardships and privations incident in such a life with fortitude
and true courage that he might serve his country in the time of her greatest
peril. In commemoration of those trying years, he is now connected with the
Cyrus Hall Post, No. 138, G. A. R.
Returning home after he left the army, Mr. Scott superintended the
improvement of his farm, and made his home thereon until his retirement from
active business to Shelbyville in 1882. Death had deprived him of his good
wife in April, 1879, after a wedded life of more than thirty years, they
having been married June 17, 1847. Her maiden name was Louisa Tucker, and
she was a native of Mead County, Ky., a daughter of Truman Tucker. Her
marriage with our subject was productive to them of these seven children,
James W., Esther C., Elizabeth A., Ida L., Emma D., Peter P. and Mary A.
Extracted 13 Jan 2018 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 451-453.
