Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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Hunter Scott, b. about 1700, a party to the deed of Nov. 4, 1722; with his sister, Rebecca, he petitioned Gov. Robert Hunter (for whom he was probably named), 1718, to be allowed to purchase, from the Indians, 2600 acres out of some vacant lands three or four miles from Fort Hunter, Albany co., but the Council, Oct. 9, 1718, advised the Governor not to grant the petition; a copy of this petition is owned by Mrs. Lewis A. Scott, who also has the original of the following deed; on Sept. 26, 1740, Hunter Scott, of New York, gentleman, one of the children of John Scott, late Lieutenant of one of the independent companies of Fusileers, made an indenture with his brother- in-law, Robert Hogg, of New York, merchant, for the disposition of some of his father's lands; this gives a great many details of the family's property and affairs; refers to his mother's will and other deeds, among them that of Nov. 4, 1722, which date it erroneously recites as 1732; it is also stated in this indenture that Hunter Scott was "bound on an expedition in the service of the King"; this was no doubt the Carthagena expedition, and Hunter Scott probably held a commission in the Pro- vincial forces; whether he m. is not known; he is mentioned in the will of his brother- in-law, Robert Hogg, 1747;

Vincent Scott, m. and had issue;

Elizabeth Scott, d. unm., between 1722 and 1729;

Ann Scott, m. David Quackenboss, and d. before 1732, leaving issue; early in 18th century three brothers, named Quackenboss, emigrated from Holland to the Province of New York; one of them settled on the Scott patent, and his eldest son, David, m. Lieut. Scott's dau., Ann, and also lived on the Scott patent, on the present site of the Mont- gomery co. poorhouse ;

Rebecca Scott, in 1718 joined her brother, Hunter Scott, in the petition to the Governor, mentioned above; she m. Robert Hogg, a New York merchant, and they lived on Mill st., in that city; Robert Hogg left all his estate to his wife, Rebecca, during her life or widowhood, then to his daughter, Margaret, failing issue of whom, to Ann Quacken- boss, Hunter Scott and their heirs; Rebecca Hogg's will was made Feb. 3, 1753, and proved July 23, 1753 (N. Y. Will Book 18, p. 329) ; she left her wearing apparel to her dau., Margaret, wife of William Flanagan, and all the residue of her estate, in trust, to John Beekman and John Bard, to pay the income thereof to her said dau., and in case she d. without issue (as happened), the whole estate to go to the testator's sister, Rachel Boswell, failing whom or issue of her, the same to go to the children of Vin- cent Scott and Ann Quackenboss and their heirs; the executors were John Beekman, John Bard and Benjamin Nicholl;

Rachel Scott, m., between Nov. 28, 1729, and Oct. 3, 1740, Charles Boswell, chirurgeon; Magdalen Scott, d., unm., between 1722 and 1729.

JOHN SCOTT, JR., eldest son of Lieut. John and Magdalen (Vincent) Scott, born in 1702, was baptized August 16, of that year, in the Dutch Reformed Church of New York. He was a merchant in New York and was admitted a freeman of that city in 1726. On August 27, 1724, the Provincial Council of New York rec- ommended the Governor to grant the petition of John Scott Jr., eldest son of John Scott, Lieutenant and Commandant of Fort Hunter, for a warrant for his father's twenty-six hundred acres of land in the "Mohawk Country" about four miles above Fort Hunter. On May 20, 1725, he obtained a warrant, and on June 23 of the same year a patent for eleven hundred acres of this land on the south side of the Mohawk river ; in both warrant and patent he is named as "eldest son of John Scott," etc., as above. December 14, 1726, he mortgaged this land to John Vin- cent. Copies of all the documents in these transactions are in possession of Mrs. Lewis A. Scott, of Philadelphia, the originals being on file at Albany. Mrs. Scott

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also has copies of two letters from Sir John Scott, of Ancrum, (son and heir of Sir Patrick) to the widow of John Scott Jr., one of September 15, 1733, condoling with her on the death of her husband, and one of August 9, 1738, telling of the death of his own wife; in 1869, the original of the letter of 1733, was in possess- ion of Charles S. McKnight, of Poughkeepsie, New York, and that of 1738, was in possession of Mrs. Essex Watts, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Jolin Scott Jr., of City of New York, merchant, by his will dated March 15, 1731, proved May 8, 1733, left his house to his wife during widowhood; the residue of his estate, when his son reached the age of twenty-one years, to be equally divided between the wife and son. He made his wife sole executrix. There were various provisions in case his wife should remarry, which she did not.

John Scott, Jr., married Marian, youngest daughter of Peter Morin, formerly of La Rochelle, France, a Huguenot refugee, who was made freeman of New York City, June 11, 1691. They had but one child :

BRIG. GEN. JOHN MORIN SCOTT, born 1730, New York City, died at his resi- dence in the same city, September 14, 1784, and was buried in Trinity Church- yard. He received his early education in New York, and was graduated from Yale College, 1746. He studied law in the office of William Smith, the elder, con- temporaneously with the younger Smith, the historian, law partner of William Livingston. He then took up the practice of law in his native city, in which pro- fession he rapidly attained the first rank as a learned exponent of the statutes, and an orator of no mean powers. His license to practice was dated January 23, 1752, about fifteen months after his fellow-student, William Smith, was called to the bar, and these three, Scott, Livingston and Smith, afterwards composed the "tri- umvirate of lawyers" complained of in the correspondence of the Provincial Gov- ernor with the British authorities. To each of these three, and to them con- jointly, and also to William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, had been attributed the authorship of the very able pamphlet, published in 1757, known as "A Review of Military Observations in North America." The style does not resemble that of "Smith's History," which appeared at about the same time, and the pamphlet may have been the work of any of these men. He was the author of a variety of official reports, and took part in most of the questions of his day, in New York, so that his name is found in every history of that city covering his times, and also in more general histories.

In politics he was very ardent, ranging himself, very early, and unswervingly, on the side of his native country, and was an early opponent, with voice and pen, of the then system of government of the Colonies without representation. He was one of the founders of the "Sons of Liberty," the most extreme of the early colo- nial societies in advocating the freedom of the Colonies from English control. He was alderman of the Out Ward of the City of New York from 1757 to 1762, but soon became the acknowledged leader of those radically opposed to British rule, and his violent attitude against the governing powers repeatedly lost him election to the Provincial Assembly. In February, 1761, he became a candidate for the Assembly, receiving seven hundred and twenty-two votes, but was not elected. On March 10, 1768, he again presented himself as a candidate for the Assembly, but while he gained the highest number of votes of all the opposition candidates, the regular ticket was elected. He thereupon charged James de Lancey, one of the

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successful candidates, with corruption, but the Assembly decided against the charge by a vote of eighteen to three. A few days later, however, the Assembly framed an Act to prevent corruption in elections, one of the first in the history of that body politic. He again failed of election in 1769, when the last election under the Crown was held. These repeated defeats may be attributed to his radical attitude of opposition to the governing power and to the non-support of the con- servative element in the independent party. At this time he was held to be "one of the readiest speakers on the Continent" (see below) ; and his able and incisive pen won instant recognition in the journals of the day. On June 6, 13, and 27, in Holt's New York Gazette, the liberal organ, under the signature of "Free- man," he wrote three masterly papers upon the consequence of non-resistance, and during the Stamp-Act agitation he was one of a Committee of Twelve to present a petition to the Assembly in regard to carrying on business without stamps. Throughout the exciting period prior to the declaration of war, Mr. Scott contin- ued to maintain and urge those ideas which were finally vindicated by the success of the Revolution.

In 1774, Mr. Scott became a candidate for election to the First Continental Congress, but was defeated by the "Moderates" in the Committee of Fifty-one. On May 1, 1775, he was one of the General Committee of One Hundred for the City and County of New York, "in this alarming crisis," and gave material aid in stopping the removal of arms and ammunition by the British in this year. He also was sent as a delegate to the Provincial Congress or Convention of New York, 1775-76.

On June 9, 1776, he was appointed Brigadier-General of the New York Mili- tia, in the service of the Continental Congress. He fought with his brigade during the Revolutionary War, at the battle of Long Island, and was wounded at the battle of White Plains, October 28, 1776. He took an active part in the campaign around New York, but inflammatory rheumatism contracted while on duty caused him to retire on March 1, 1777, on the expiration of his commission. At one time there was talk of giving him a commission in the Continental Line, but Gen. Washington told him he could do more good in the New York Militia, and re- quested him to continue to hold his position in that body. The exposure incident to his military service, particularly the exposure for the two days and nights pre- ceding the retreat from Long Island, to almost incessant rains, without shelter and with but scanty food, in the lines at Brooklyn, seriously strengthened the grasp of the disease, rheumatism, to which he was already subject, and which terminated his existence within a year after the departure of the Loyalists from New York. His papers were seized by the enemy, and some of them were returned from London with a letter from Oliver De Lancey, dated February 23, 1784, which also contained the information that he had collected five boxes more in New York and had deposited them with William Walton. Ill health prevented him being present at the disbandment of the Revolutionary Army, but he was made an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati, July 6, 1784, the second person so honored, being proposed by Washington himself.

After his retirement from the military service he became a member of Council of Appointment to prepare a new form of government for New York, August I, 1777, and was also a member of the New York Council of Safety in the same year. He was a member of the New York State Senate, 1777 to 1782, and a

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member of Continental Congress, 1779-80-81-82-83. His highest office, however, was that of Secretary of State of New York, wherein he ably administered the many vexatious problems of the newly-erected government from March 13, 1778, until the day of his death, being succeeded in that office by his son, Lewis Allaire Scott.

Gen. John Morin Scott, besides filling many honorable positions in the Province and State of New York, was a prominent figure in the social life of New York City. In March, 1754, together with Philip Livingston, William Alexander, (Earl of Stirling) Robert R. Livingston, William Livingston and William Smith, all by the way except Smith of Scottish descent, he started the New York Society Library, which is still in existence, and a worthy monument to its illustrious founders. Mr. Scott adhered to the faith of his more recent Scottish progenitors, and in 1776 was made a trustee of the Presbyterian church. He was one of the forty-seven founders of the St. Andrew's Society of New York, November 19, 1756, and its third president, 1758-9. An interesting entry concerning him was made by John Adams in his diary, 1774-75: "Mr. Scott is a lawyer of about fifty years of age; a sensible man, but not very polite. He is said to be one of the readiest speakers on the continent, * * * This morning rode three miles out of town to Mr. Scott's to breakfast, a very pleasant ride. Mr. Scott has an elegant seat there, with Hudson's river just beyond the house and a rural prospect all around him. We sat in a fine, airy entry until called into a front room to break- fast. A more elegant breakfast I never saw ; rich plate, a very large silver teapot, napkins of the very finest materials, toast and bread and butter in great perfection. After breakfast a plate of beautiful peaches; another of pears, and another of plums, and a water-melon was placed before the table." This country place was located at what is now Thirty-third street and Ninth avenue, and consisted of one hundred and twenty-three acres of land.

An Obituary in the New York Packet and American Advertiser, issue of Thur day, September 16, 1784, reads as follows :

"We are sorry to acquaint the public that the Honorable John Morin Scott, Esquire, Secretary of this State, and long an eminent lawyer in this city, departed this life on the evening of the 14th instant, in the fifty-fifth year of his age, after a tedious illness, greatly regretted. By his death this State lost a most valuable citizen, and his family and friends a fender connection. The many eminent services he has rendered his country during the late contest, must endear him to every friend of the liberties of America, for which he was a decided and strenuous advocate. He served with great reputation as a member of the United States in Congress assembled, and has distinguished himself as an active and vigilant member of the Senate of this State, ever careful of its interests. At the commencement of the late war, he dared to step forth in opposition to tyranny, and took the field in the rank of Brigadier-General, where he displayed his abilities as a soldier. In a word, his country has lost in him a zealous friend, a faithful servant, a brave soldier, and an able statesman."

More or less extended mention of him is to be found in Valentine's "Manual of the Common Council of New York ;" Simm's "History of Schoharie County, New York;" "Records of the State of New York;" Wilson's "Memorial History of the City of New York;" Bancroft's "History of the United States ;" "Willett's Narrative;" "Diary of John Adams ;" "Correspondence of John Jay ;" Johnston's "Yale in the Revolution ;" Johnston's "Campaign Around New York ;" "Journals of the Continental Congress ;" "Secret Journals of the Old Congress ;" "Journal of the Provincial Congress of New York;" "New York in the Revolution ;" Schuyler's "History of the Cincinnati;" Lamb's "History of New York;" Daw-

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son's "Westchester County in the Revolution ;" Munsell's "American Ancestry ;" "History of St. Andrew's Society of the State of New York."

In his will dated September 2, 1784, proved September 28, 1784, and recorded in New York County Surrogate's office, Mr. Scott mentioned his wife Helena, his son, Lewis Allaire Scott, his daughter, Mary McKnight, his granddaughter, Eliz- abeth Litchfield, and John Litchfield, former husband of his daughter Mary McKnight ; he named as executors his wife, Helena Scott, his daughter, Mary McKnight, and Richard Varick.

In his youth Mr. Scott had kept in touch with his cousins of Ancrum, Scot- land; there is a letter to him from his cousin, Margaret Scott, dated October 13, 1739, mentioning the death of her father, Sir Patrick Scott, of Ancrum, now in possession of Mrs. Lewis A. Scott, of Philadelphia.

Gen. John Morin Scott married Helena, daughter of Petrus and Helena (Hoog- land) Rutgers, and great-great-granddaughter of Rutger Jacobsen Van Schoen- derwoerdt, who sailed from the Texel for New Netherland, October 1, 1636.

Gen. John Morin and Helena (Rutgers) Scott beside the two children named below, had two sons who died in infancy, whose names and dates of birth have not been preserved :

Mary Scott, m. (first) John Litchfield, (second) McKnight; Charles S. Mc- Knight, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and Mrs. Essex Watts, of Stockbridge, Mass., men- tioned above as having, in 1869, possessed certain family letters and papers, were her descendants ;

LEWIS ALLAIRE SCOTT, of whom further.

LEWIS ALLAIRE SCOTT, born February II, 1759, died March 17, 1798, and was buried in Trinity Churchyard, New York City. His Bible containing the entries of these dates is in possession of the widow of his grandson, Lewis Allaire Scott, of Philadelphia. He succeeded his father as Secretary of State of New York, having been commissioned to that office by Gov. Clinton, October 23, 1784. He continued to hold the position until his death. His will was dated September 28, 1793, and proved April 13, 1798.

Lewis Allaire Scott married, January 18, 1785, at Philadelphia, Juliana, daugh- ter of William and Susanna (Deshon) Sitgreaves, of Philadelphia, where she was born May 15, 1765; died there March 30, 1842, and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.

The Sitgreaves family was of English origin, and is known to have been in Lan- cashire in 1626. William Sitgreaves was born in Philadelphia, February 14, 1729-30. His will, dated Philadelphia, January 7, 1799, proved December 26, 1800, mentions his wife Susannah ; children : Samuel, William, Juliana Scott and Charlotte Cox ; his son-in-law, Janies S. Cox; his late ward, Elizabeth Kershaw, in Europe (daughter of the late Mark Freeman, of whose will William Sitgreaves was executor ;) John D. Coxe and granddaughter Hitty (daughter of James S. Cox and late daughter Hitty). The executors were his son, Samuel Sitgreaves, son-in-law, James S. Cox, and daughters, Juliana Scott and Charlotte Cox.

William Sitgreaves, in 1756, married Susanna, born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 22, 1735, died in Philadelphia, June 30, 1808, daughter of Moses Deshon, of Boston, and his wife Persis, daughter of Erasmus Stevens, a Lieutenant of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, 1739.

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William Sitgreaves was a merchant of wealth and position in his day. His son, Samuel Sitgreaves, born in Philadelphia, March 16, 1764, became a man of considerable prominence, and received his degree of A. B. at the University of Pennsylvania, 1780. After completing his course at the University, and before studying law, Samuel entered his father's counting house, where he acquired a thorough mercantile education, which was observed throughout his eventful life. He next became a student at law with Hon. James Wilson, who was one of the most able men of his day, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence, a member of the Provincial Convention of Pennsylvania in 1774, of the Continental Con- gress, and one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by President Washington, and whose fame has been recently revived by the transportation of his remains from Edenton, North Carolina, and their interment in Christ Churchyard, Philadelphia, November, 1906.

James Ashton Bayard, of Delaware, afterwards Congressman and United States Senator from that state, and one of the Commissioners for negotiating peace with Great Britain, after the war of 1812, was a fellow student with Samuel Sitgreaves. The latter was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia, September 3. 1783, being in the twentieth year of his age, with a reputation for talent and learning and ability already well established. He practiced his profession in Easton, Pennsylvania, to which town he removed. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Ratification Con- vention, 1787; of the Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention, 1790; Commis- sioner to England under Jay's treaty, 1793 ; Member of Congress, 1794-98; Presi- dent of the Easton Bank, 1815-27; and one of the Charter Trustees of Lafayette College, 1826.

Issue of Lewis Allaire and Juliana (Sitgreaves) Scott:

Maria Litchfield Scott, m. Peter Pedersen, Knight of Danenborg, Danish Consul-Gen- eral and Charge d'Affaires to the United States; she d. at Copenhagen, Denmark, Nov. 7, 1814, leaving no issue;

JOHN MORIN SCOTT, of whom presently.

JOHN MORIN SCOTT, born in New York City, October 25, 1789, died April 3. 1858; married, May 15, 1817, Mary, born October 4, 1795, youngest daughter of George and Sarah (Fishbourne) Emlen.

On the death of his father, when John Morin Scott was but nine years old, his mother removed with her two children to her native city of Philadelphia. His preliminary education was acquired in the Quaker City. In 1805 he graduated from Princeton College, and in 1811 was admitted to the Philadelphia bar. In time he became an active and successful practitioner, not, however, until after having engaged in other business enterprises, he had lost a considerable portion of the fortune inherited from his parents.

He became a member of the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry, October 17, 1808, and resigned May 11, 1812. He was re-elected, however, July 4 of the same year, and was made an honorary member, March 22, 1813. In the following year, 1814, when Philadelphia was threatened by the British army, which had partially destroyed Washington, Scott was chosen First Lientenant of the Second Troop, and was in Camp Dupont with the other Pennsylvania forces so long as existed any possibility of attack at the hands of the enemy.

He entered public life in 1816, when he served as a member of the Pennsylvania

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House of Representatives. Twenty years later, 1836, he filled a second term. He also served many years in both branches of City Councils, and was president of Select Council from 1826 to 1832. In 1836 he was nominated by the Whigs as a candidate for Congress, but declined the honor. As a delegate to the Constitu- tional Convention of 1837-38 he participated actively in the deliberations of that important body. In October, 1841, he was elected Mayor of Philadelphia, was re-elected the following year, and was chosen a third time in 1843. He was unanimously nominated for a fourth term by the Whigs, but declined the nomi- nation. The party conference-as it was then called-again placed him in the field, but he persisted in his declination.

While holding the office in question, Mayor Scott had a narrow escape from assassination at the hands of a lunatic. The latter entered the Mayor's office and fired at Mr. Scott from behind with a pistol. The ball struck the thickest portion of the Mayor's suspenders, at the crossing immediately over the spinal column. The bullet was thus deflected and Mr. Scott's life saved, though he suffered a severe shock, being knocked down by the force of the blow. His assailant was arrested and taken to prison, where he attempted to commit suicide. He died shortly afterward, partly from disease and partly from loss of blood.

The last year of Mr. Scott's incumbency of the mayoralty was marked by a series of bloody riots, which in magnitude and seriousness stand unparalleled in the history of the municipality. First occurred the fatal affray in Kensington, May 6, 1844, the chief incident of which was the killing of the fireman, George Shiffler. A reign of terror prevailed in that section until May 9, when the Roman Catholic Church of St. Michael, at Second and Jefferson streets, was fired and destroyed. These occurences, of course, were outside of the jurisdiction of the officials of the then city of Philadelphia. But in the afternoon of May 9, the mob made an attack upon the Roman Catholic Church of St. Augustine, Fourth street, below Vine, within the corporate limits of the city. Mayor Scott appeared upon the scene, backed by his full police force, which was totally inadequate for such an occasion ; but, with the First City Troop stationed not far away, the riot was quelled and the mob was dispersed. In July of the same year occurred the most disastrous outbreak of all, the special object of attack being the Roman Catholic Church of St. Philip de Neri, south side of Queen street, between Second and Third. But this, too, was outside of the limits of Philadelphia, as the city then existed, being in the district of Southwark.

Issue of John Morin and Mary (Emlen) Scott:

SARAH EMLEN SCOTT, m. Joseph Dennie Meredith; of whom later;

LEWIS ALLAIRE SCOTT, of whom presently;

George Emlen Scott, b., Phila., Oct. 30, 1820; d. at West End, Island of St. Croix, West Indies, May 9, 1852; unm .; entered the Dept. of Arts, Univ. of Pa., class of 1838, in second term of freshman year, 1835, but left before graduation; member of Philo- mæthean Society there;

MARIA LITCHFIELD SCOTT, m. John Thompson Lewis; of whom later;

JULIA SCOTT, m. Robert Waln Leaming, of whom later ;

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 68

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978