Joseph Scott

Several members of the family remembered that Joseph had fiery red hair.

Joseph Scott served in what was called Wayne's War, a series of battles waged against the Indians by General Wayne from 1790 until a peace treaty was signed after the decisive Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Joseph applied for bounty land in Linn County in 1850 based on this service. His original petition stated that he served for fourteen months in Todd's brigade of Captain Richard Taylor's company in Colonel William Russell's regiment of Kentucky Volunteers. He further stated that he enlisted on or about September 1, 1793 at Georgetown, Kentucky, and that he was discharged at Cincinnati about December 25, 1794. In August of 1853 he was notified that the records of Captain Taylor were not on file and presumed destroyed, and that he would have to produce "positive testimony of those with whom he served or of credible persons whose knowledge of his service is equally unquestionable."

His brother James Scott of Mercer County, Illinois signed a declaration which said that he could personally swear that Joseph Scott did in the fall of 1793 enlist in the service of the United States in protection of the Northwest Territory under the command of General Anthony Wayne, and in the company of Captain Richard Taylor and was honorably discharged.

In a different handwriting, the following was written on the original notice that Captain Taylor's records had been lost: "2 months service in the War of 1812 is present, on which a warrant for 400 acres will issue if claimant relinquishes his claim for service under Taylor, upon notice to that effect." This paper would later be used when his application for a pension based on service in the War of 1812 was denied because the records showed that he served only 31 days.

During the War of 1812, Joseph Scott served in Captain Thomas Lewis' company of the Ohio Militia as part of Colonel Allen Trimble's regiment of the Ohio Volunteers. He enlisted in Adams County on September 28, 1812, and was honorably discharged on November 15, 1813, at St. Mary, Ohio. In1871, Joseph Scott applied for a government pension based on his military service in the War of 1812. His application was rejected for insufficient service because muster rolls indicated that his actual service lasted only one month, until October 28, 1812. He was in the process of appealing this decision based on the land grant records when he died on November 30, 1871 at the age of 98.

The following notes about Joseph Scott and his wife Mary Cain were received from Brother Xavier Werneth of Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi who is a descendant of their son John Scott:

Joseph Scott and Mary Cain were the parents of thirteen children. Joseph Scott was born September 3, 1773, in Virginia, possibly near Alderson in Greenbrier County, formerly Montgomery County and now Monroe County in West Virginia. His father is thought to be John Scott, and his mother's maiden name is thought to be Prior, a name which keeps reappearing in the Scott family, but so far we have no documentation for this.

In 1775 Judge Richard Henderson's Transylvania Company sent frontiersman Daniel Boone to cut a trail into Kentucky. Shortly after the Revolutionary War, many veterans took their families into this newly opened territory. And in 1777, when Joseph was four years old, his family was among the first to move from Virginia into Kentucky. So Joseph Scott grew up in the Bluegrass region of Bourbon County, Kentucky.

His wife, Mary Cain, was also born in Virginia on March 15, 1777. Like the Scotts, the Cains moved from Virginia to Bourbon County, Kentucky. And it was there that Joseph Scott married Mary Cain on March 28 of 1798. He was 24 and she was 21. Their marriage bond in which Joseph Scott bound himself to pay 50 pounds to the Governor of Kentucky if the marriage was not solemnized is on file in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Accompanying it was a handwritten testimony signed by Mary's parents, James and Mary Cain, on March 28, 1798, stating that: "We do hereby give from unto our hands that we are willing for marriage between Joseph Scott and Mary our daughter as witness our hands and seals." The marriage bound was signed by Mary's cousin Arnold Cain, a blacksmith known as "Iron Cain." He was the son of Edmond Cain whose family was close to that of William Custer.

Joseph and Mary Scott's first child, Prior, was born November 4, 1798, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, on a triangular piece of land on Silas Creek bordered by Scott and Harrison Counties. From Bourbon County, Kentucky, the Scotts moved to Ohio in 1799 and lived there for 20 years in Adams County and then in Scioto County.

Accompanied by several families of Cains, Scotts, Jones and Humbles, Joseph and Mary moved with their son Prior from Kentucky into the newly opened Virginia Military District of Ohio. There were many tracts of land that had been granted to veterans who had failed to make the necessary improvements for ownership. These forfeited lands were therefore on the market for a cheap price. The above mentioned pioneer families were among the very first settlers in Adams County, Ohio, in what was then known as Meigs Township, and today as Cain-Jones Hollow. Joseph and Mary Scott settled with the Cains in an area known as Brush Creek near West Union in Adams County.

Most of Joseph and Mary Scott's thirteen children were born in Ohio. After Rachel's birth in 1823, the Scott family joined the westward movement from Ohio to Indiana and settled in Montgomery County near Crawfordsville in March. Several of their older children were married while they lived in Montgomery County. Crawfordsville is situated on the south bank of Sugar Creek, 20 miles south of Lafayette and 50 miles northwest of Indianapolis. According to John Scott, author of The Indiana Gazetteer published in 1826, Crawfordsville was the seat of justice in Montgomery County, Indiana, and had a population of 200 inhabitants with 3 stores, 3 taverns, 1 grocery, and 1 doctor. The situation was described as a delightful one, possessing many advantages, among which was a large spring, affording sufficient water to supply the whole town and a large grist mill.

The federal census of 1830 for Montgomery County, Indiana, page 15, shows Joseph and Mary Scott's household consisting of 12 people. Living with them were 9 of their 12 children, and 1 male between 90-100 years old. Their son Jesse and his family lived nearby.

The Scotts stayed in Indiana about fourteen years. Then in April of 1836, the Scott clan moved from Indiana, to Mercer County, Illinois. In November of 1836, Joseph Scott bought two tracts of land consisting of 160 acres each in Township 13 for $1,000. That was quite a considerable sum of money in those days. Later the same month, he bought another 380 acres for $450.

The federal census of 1840 for Mercer County, Illinois, Township 13, page 318, shows Joseph and Mary Scott living alone except for only one of their daughters who was between 15 and 20 years old. Living on nearby farms were several of their children and their families: Notley Scott, Jesse Scott, James Scott, and Mary Scott Mann. In 1840 and 1843 Joseph and Mary bought more land in Township 13, some of it from their son Notley.

In 1839 several of their sons (John, Joseph, and Prior) had moved from Illinois to Iowa, as some of that territory's first settlers. They established Scott's Mills in 1844 where the Marion and Mount Vernon Roads cross at Big Creek in Linn County. It became the most important mill in the area. Joseph and Mary Scott's sons became large land owners and important pioneers in the development of Linn County, Iowa.

In 1845 Joseph and Mary began selling some of their land in Mercer County, and in September of 1846 they sold 110 acres for $1,300 to their son Jesse. It was probably at that time that they moved from Illinois to Linn County, Iowa, where several of their children had settled and done very well for themselves.

Thus by the time of the 1850 federal census, Joseph and Mary Scott were living in Linn County in their own house but on the same farm with their daughter, Delilah, who was then 36, and her husband Joseph Caraway, and their seven children. The census shows Joseph Scott, family #242, age 78 as a farmer whose property was valued at $3,000--half the total value of the farm. Mary Scott's age is listed as 73. The census shows that both were born in Virginia.

When they moved to Iowa, Joseph and Mary retained possession of a good part of their land in Illinois, which may indicate that they probably intended to return there. But in 1850 they sold part of it to their son James, and in 1854 they sold the remaining portion to their son Notley.

Joseph and Mary Scott were still in Linn County when their son John died in 1855. Not long afterwards, however, Joseph and Mary Scott did decide to return to Mercer County, Illinois. In 1854 Township 13 where they had once owned hundreds of acres became known as Liberty and then the following year it waw named North Henderson. Joseph's son Notley Scott was the town's first supervisor. North Henderson on the north fork of the Henderson River contained the best agricultural and timber land in the county. One of the groves in the area has been named Scott's Grove after members of Joseph and Mary Scott's family who owned 485 acres of land there.

Joseph and Mary Scott settled once more in North Henderson Township. And it was there that Mary Scott died March 2, 1857, two weeks before her 86th birthday. She was buried at Mann Cemetery in nearby Alexis.

The federal census for 1860 shows Joseph Scott still living in North Henderson in the home of his son, Jesse Scott, with his daughter-in-law and five of their nine children. Joseph is listed as 87 years old. Living nearby is his son Notley Scott and his family of 12 children. Notley was one of the best known pioneers in Mercer County, and the first supervisor of North Henderson. He owned over 465 acres of land there called Scott's Grove.

In May of 1862 Joseph Scott bought an 80 acre farm for $270 from his daughter Mary and her husband Young C Mann. He sold this farm to Young's brother Joseph Mann in 1865 for $500, and he bought a better 80-acre farm from his son in 1867 for which he paid $2,500. Evidently Joseph who was up in years was no longer able to manage by himself. By the time of the 1870 federal census, Joseph, age 97, was still living in North Henderson but in the home of his daughter Mary and her husband Young C Mann and their children.

By 1871 North Henderson was still the only village in the Township and it was located on the Rockford, Rock Island, St. Louis Railroad line. The village consisted of two general business stores, two drug stores, two hardware stores, two farm supply stores, two grain merchants, and one lumber yard as well as one restaurant, hotel, barber shop, shoe shop, furniture store and so on. It also had a Methodist Episcopal Church and school. Joseph Scott, one of its first settlers, must have been quite proud of its progress.

Joseph lived to be almost 100 years old. He died November 30, 1871, at the age of 98. He left no Will or testament. His personal wealth was about $4,000, but he also held real estate which was the subject of several probate court battles in Linn County, Iowa, and Mercer County, Illinois, among his many heirs. Joseph Scott is buried next to his wife in Mann Cemetery at Alexis, three miles from North Henderson, Illinois. 

(From the web page of Alison Newhall <coronadoalison@yahoo.com> at Roots Web)

I made this document October 25, 2003 or earlier.