My Genealogy Hound

Capt. John R. Homer Scott, a highly esteemed and respected citizen of Pope County, was born in St. Genevieve, Mo., October 16, 1813, but was taken to Arkansas in 1819, when but six years of age. He comes of one of the most distinguished families of this country, and is spoken of as a “gentleman of the old school.” Among his early friends, and some of them his schoolmates, were C. F. M. Noland, who killed William F. Pope (Capt. Scott’s college mate, and nephew of Gov. John Pope) in a duel, Judge George C. Watkins (chief justice of the Supreme Court of Arkansas), James Scull, Robert Cunningham, William E. Ashley, Thomas W. Newton (representative in Congress for Arkansas), Gordon N. Peay, C. C. Danley, B. F. Danley (sheriff of Pulaski County, Ark.), and Robert W. Johnson (United States senator). His father, Hon. Andrew Scott, who was appointed United States judge, of the Territory of Arkansas, was reared in St. Genevieve, and as judge went from there to Arkansas, at the organization of the Territory in 1819. He was a brother of John Scott, who was brother-in-law of the Hon. George W. Jones, and father of G. S. C. Scott, and father also of Mrs. Ben H. Campbell and Mrs. J. Russell Jones, of Chicago, Ill. His birth occurred on August 6, 1789, in Hanover County, Va., and he went with his father, Andrew Scott, and his brother, John Scott, to St. Genevieve, Mo., in 1808. He was married in Potosi, Washington County, Mo., to Miss Eliza Jones, sister of Gen. George W. Jones, and daughter of John Rice Jones, who was one of the judges of the Superior Court of Missouri, and who was an eminent lawyer. Her father figured largely as such, and as a purchaser of the Spanish land grants, his name being frequently found in the reports of the United States General Land Office, at Washington City. Mrs. Scott died at Scotia farm, in Pope County, Ark., where she was buried on April 5, 1835. Judge Scott died at the home of Elijah Truitt, at Norristown, on March 13, 1851, and was buried in Dover Cemetery, in Pope County. He had five sons and two daughters, the eldest being our subject, Capt. John R. H., the next Augustus W. (now deceased, formerly of Dubuque, Iowa), George S. C. (of McGregor, Iowa), Walter (lived at Modesto, Cal., but now deceased), and Henry C. Scott (residing in Chicago). His daughters are Mrs. Eliza H. Campbell (deceased wife of Ben. H. Campbell, of Chicago, who was United States marshal under Gen. Grant for eight years, and father-in-law of Gen. O. E. Babcock), and Mrs. Elizabeth A. Jones (wife of Hon. J. Russell Jones, also of Chicago). Hon. J. Russell Jones was minister to Belgium under Gen. Grant, was United States marshal for the northern district of Illinois for eight years under President Lincoln, and was also collector of customs at Chicago when Gen. Grant’s term expired. John R. H. Scott, Augustus W. Scott and Eliza Campbell were born in Missouri, the others in Arkansas, the youngest two, Elizabeth A. and Henry C, were born on Scotia farm, in Pope County, Ark. Judge Andrew Scott was well known to all the old settlers of Arkansas, having been one of the first public officers who came to the Territory of Arkansas, created by act of Congress March 2, 1819, to take effect July 4, 1819, after his appointment by President Monroe in 1819, to the office of judge of the Superior Court of the Territory. He moved with his family from St. Genevieve, Mo., to this part of Arkansas, and on July 28, 1819, assisted in putting into operation the organic law, and the first government of the territorial capital, which was temporarily established at the village known as Arkansas Post. In 1821 Little Rock became the capital, and he repaired to that place in that or the following year. April 11, 1827, he was made judge of the first district of the Circuit Court of the Territory, and in the spring of 1828 he removed again, coming up the Arkansas river to the Scotia farm, which he purchased of McKay, a Cherokee Indian. This was shortly after the time that these Indians ceded to the United States by treaty that portion of Arkansas Territory, made by Maj. Lovely, and then called Lovely’s purchase, and just before their removal to Indian Territory farther west, and now occupied by them. This farm was called Scotia farm, and at that place Judge Scott had a post-office, and named it Scotia. His son, Capt. John R. H. Scott (our subject), now owns this place, and upon a corner of it is the L. R. & F. S. flag station, Georgetown. Judge Scott was made an assessor soon after the treaty with the Indians, his duty being to assess the improvements made by the Indians upon the land ceded to the Government, and known as Lovely’s purchase, in Pope County, then embracing the counties of Pope, Yell, Franklin, Scott, Johnson, Logan, Sebastian, Crawford and Washington. His proceedings for a time created great excitement among the white settlers on those lands, many of whom had purchased their claims from the Indians, the impression among them having been that the Government intended to force them to pay to it the assessor’s estimate of the value of such improvements. He discharged this very important duty without any real trouble with the settlers, who were soon convinced that the Government intended no such injustice. Very soon after he was elected county and probate judge, afterward a member of the Legislature, and then a delegate from Pope County to the Constitutional Convention of 1836, when Arkansas was admitted into the Union as a State. He also took the United States census for Pope County, in 1850, and filled other positions of honor and profit, both State and Federal. In 1820 or 1821 Judge Scott fought a duel with Joseph Seldon, both being at that time on the territorial bench together as judges of the Superior Court, and Judge Seldon was killed at the first fire. Judge Scott was unhurt. The duel was fought on an island in the Mississippi River, near Helena, Ark. Hon. Nimrod Menifee (who was subsequently killed in a desperate re-encounter with a man named Phillips, in Conway County, after giving his adversary a pistol wound from which he also died a year later), was the second and surgeon of Judge Scott.

On June 18, 1828, at Little Rock, in an unfortunate re-encounter with Gen. E. Hogan (who was the assailant, and a man weighing over 270 pounds, and of Herculean strength, while Judge Scott did not weigh much over 130 pounds), Judge Scott was felled to the floor by Gen. Hogan. Upon regaining his feet he drew a sword (which he usually carried, it being a present from Maj. William Ball) and with it he gave Gen. Hogan four wounds, killing him almost instantly, but not before the General had taken it from Judge Scott, and made a deadly thrust at him, piercing through the cravat around the latter’s throat. Immediately surrendering to the United States marshal, Judge Scott had his case examined in the proper courts, which at once discharged him, the killing being regarded as justifiable. Judge Andrew Scott would have been a man of marked distinction at any time or in any locality in the United States, and was peculiarly so in his day and in the Western country. His history constitutes an important part of that of his adopted State, and the vigor of his intellect his calm conservatism and the clearness exhibited in his judicial opinions published in the Supreme Court reports will give him prominence, especially with the bar and bench of the State forever. Capt. John R. Homer Scott is a well-known man throughout the State of Arkansas, and is a most honorable old gentleman. He is a man of ability and modest merit, declining at two general elections calls through the newspapers from a large number of citizens, to run for Congress in the Fourth District. He has outlived nearly all his contemporaries in this State, and yet he is a man of much vigor of mind and body. Among those contemporaries in Arkansas who were his early friends and school mates, and who were not only well-known in the State, but many of them throughout the country, a few names may be found in the first part of this sketch. Such was his moral integrity and social position, that though licensed, but not a practicing lawyer, he has several times been elected special judge of the circuit court, a distinction conferred upon him purely as a matter of honor. At the trial in Pope Circuit Court of the State vs. P. O. Cheaney for the seduction of Miss Head, when the gray-haired old men, with wives and daughters, heard the young lady, as a witness, tell the truthful story of her dishonor, their honest hearts burned with indignation, and quite a number of them called upon Capt. Scott to take a fee to assist the prosecution, so anxious were they that such a monstrous crime, both legally and socially, should be punished, and female virtue and purity protected. Of course he declined to act as they desired, but who would not be proud of such evidence of respect and confidence coming from those who have known him as neighbor and friend for many years.

The North Iowa Times says: “The St. Louis Republican of a recent date publishes an interesting paper that was recently read before the St. Louis Historical Society by Gen. Truman A. Rosier, of St. Genevieve, Mo., relating to a few former residents of the latter place, viz.: Ex-Senator George W. Jones, Ex Gov. Henry Dodge, Gen. A. C. Dodge, Ex-Senator Lewis F. Linn and Judge Andrew Scott. Dr. Linn was in the United States Senate representing Missouri from 1833 to 1843. Henry Dodge, after serving as captain in the Black Hawk War and filling several minor offices, was elected to Congress from Wisconsin, was afterward governor of the State, and then United States Senator from 1851 to 1857. Augustus C. Dodge, his son, was born in St. Genevieve, Mo., in 1812, and after filling several offices of lower grade, moved to Iowa Territory, and after this became a State, was elected as United States senator, being cotemporary with his father, who, as before stated, represented in the same capacity the adjoining State of Wisconsin. Gen. Dodge was afterward sent as minister to Spain, and was the first of our ministers to address the court in the Spanish language, as he did in his valedictory to Queen Isabella. Besides the two Dodges, father and son, Dr. Linn, a half brother of Gen. Dodge and Hon. George W. Jones, above named, the little village of St. Genevieve had also the Hon. John Scott, a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Missouri, and afterward a member of the Lower House of Congress for the State of Missouri. Hon John Scott was the father of George Dodge Scott, now living in Dubuque, Iowa, and brother-in-law to Hon. George W. Jones, before mentioned. The late Hon. Lewis V. Bogy was also reared in St. Genevieve, and died some years ago while a senator in Congress from Missouri, his residence being at the time of his death in St. Louis. Hon. James H. Relf was once a resident of the same old French village, but afterward moved to Potosi, Washington County, where his death occurred. He was a member of Congress from Missouri, and a brother of Mrs. Dr. Linn. George W. Jones, the brother-in-law of Judge Andrew Scott, is still living in Iowa, and is a man of great distinction, having held with honor to himself and country many offices, both military and civil. He was born in Vincennes, Ind., in 1804, and removed to St. Genevieve in 1808 or 1809, being a drummer boy in the War of 1812, whilst a student of Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. He acted as an officer in the body-guard of Gen. La Fayette in 1824, when that famous General was on a visit to the United States. Having had the office of United States clerk tendered him without solicitation, by Judge Peck, he removed to, and was elected a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan in 1835, being that year appointed pension agent by Gen. Cass. He married at St. Genevieve Miss Josephine Gregoire, a descendant of an old and highly respected French and German family who had moved to Upper Louisiana in very early times. He was second to Jonathan Cilley of Maine, who was killed in Washington City in 1838 in a duel with Graves of Kentucky. He was surveyor-general of Wisconsin and Iowa from 1839 to 1841, and clerk of the United States Court from 1841 to 1845, after which he was reappointed surveyor-general by President Polk. When Iowa became a State in 1846 he was elevated from that office to that of United States senator, where he remained until 1859, when he was appointed minister to Bogota, United States of Columbia. He returned home after the commencement of the Civil War, and was soon after arrested by order of Secretary Seward, on an unwarranted charge and confined in Fort La Fayette until Secretary Stanton relieved him in February, 1862.”

Judge Andrew Scott, who is spoken of in the foregoing article, together with his wife, both of whom died and were buried in Pope County many years ago, have very recently been disinterred and removed to Russellville, where they have been re-interred by their son, our much-esteemed and respected fellow-citizen, John R. Homer Scott, who also removed, at the same time and to the same place, his wife and daughter from the Dover Cemetery. He had all placed in solid stone vaults, cemented, and air and water tight. Over all of them he has erected the most beautiful and costly Italian marble monument to be found in the country, with a very handsome statue of superior Italian marble, manufactured in Italy, ten feet and one inch high, and resting on the top of the monument is a figure five feet and one inch high, representing Hope, with an anchor and cord fully and elaborately chiseled and executed by a master hand, exhibiting the most superb sculptural polish of anchor, cord, drapery and life-like form and feature that can be placed upon marble. Reverence for our ancestors, living or dead, has in all ages been regarded as the greatest of all virtues; and this handsome monument erected by Capt. Scott, chiefly in honor of his father, is a most worthy tribute by a noble son to the memory of his distinguished sire. Of the late Mrs. Scott, (wife of Capt. John Scott) who sleeps beneath the same monument, and a lady greatly admired for her many excellent qualities, a prominent minister of the gospel upon reading the inscription to her memory on the monument, said: “I knew her well; all that is there said in her praise is true, especially of her boundless charity. For years I have lived a near neighbor to her, with a wife gradually dying of consumption, and as often as the day came, the good Mrs. Scott came to see her, and never did she come with her charitable hand empty. All her words were kindness and sympathy.”

Capt. Scott’s grandfather was Andrew Scott, a native of Scotland who came to New York and he and his brothers having lost their parents at sea, and being without friends or means in the new world were bound out as apprentices. He died in St. Genevieve, Mo. He was married, in Maryland to Miss Elizabeth Ferguson. Capt. Scott’s paternal uncles were John Scott (delegate in Congress from Missouri from 1816 to 1819), the prop of the family, in his father’s old age and an eminent criminal lawyer in Missouri. He married Miss Parr first, and then married a sister of Hon. George W. Jones by whom he had two children: George D. Scott of Dubuque, Iowa, and Emily, now Mrs. Wilson, wife of Samuel F. Wilson, an attorney of San Francisco, Cal. The other uncle, George W. Scott, married Miss Nancy Dodge, daughter of Gen. Henry Dodge, and was United States marshal for the Territory of Arkansas under President Monroe. Capt. Scott’s maternal uncles were George W. Jones (of Dubuque, Iowa, as above stated), Augustus Jones (lately living at La Grange, Tex. (now deceased), who was United States marshal of Missouri under President Jackson), John Rice Jones (who was the first postmaster general of the Texan republic), and Myers F. Jones (who was several times a member of the Missouri Legislature, but who removed to Texas in 1841, in which State he received his final summons). Capt. John Scott was a graduate from St. Joseph’s College, Bardstown, Ky., in 1827. Among others of his classmates at this college were Robert W. Johnson (afterward United States Senator from Arkansas and William F. Pope (who was killed in a duel in Arkansas by C. F. M. Noland). Capt. Scott read law in the office of his father at Little Rock in 1828-29, and was admitted to the bar in 1848, but has never practiced. In 1828 he moved with his father to Pope County, Ark., and there he has resided ever since, with the exception of two years, 1834-35, after his marriage, which he spent in Johnson County. He carried on a farm for several years, and from 1847 to 1853 he was engaged in merchandising at Dover. During the war he lost fifteen negroes, and from 1867 to 1872 he was again engaged in mercantile pursuits. He is the owner of two farms, one on the Arkansas River consisting of 500 acres and the other, consisting of 600 acres, near Dover. One-half of each is under cultivation. He owns lots and buildings at Eureka Springs, and is worth, all together, not less than $40,000, all the result of his own industry and perseverance. One of his first expeditions to make money was to take a flatboat, loaded with cattle and corn, down to New Orleans. In 1853 he crossed the plains to California with several hundred head of cattle, obtaining fabulous prices for them, realizing $100 per head. In 1838 Capt. Scott became a Master Mason in Franklin Lodge No. 9, Johnson County, but was a member of no other secret organization. He was a Whig in politics until the formation of the Democratic party and then became a Democrat from necessity. In 1878 he was a member of the State Democratic Central Committee. He opposed secession until it became an accepted fact. Capt. Scott has held many positions of trust and honor, and it may truthfully be said of him that the offices which he has had the honor to fill, sought the man and not the man the office. From 1842 to 1850 he was clerk of the circuit, county and probate courts and ex officio recorder of Pope County. In 1873 he was State Senator for Pope, Conway and Searcy Counties, and in 1874 he served as a member of the Constitutional Convention (of the State of Arkansas) from Pope County. He has served twice as a special judge of the circuit court at Dover. Many years previous to this (in 1830) he served as deputy United States marshal under his uncle, George W. Scott (United States marshal for the Territory of Arkansas), and in that capacity took the first census of Pope County. In 1836 Capt. Scott commanded a volunteer company of United States Cavalry under Gen. E. P. Gaines, during the Florida War, and hence his title of captain. In 1861 he raised a company for State service, which was transferred to the Confederate service, and he commanded a squadron of four companies, serving in the army until, in consequence of sickness, he was compelled to retire from the field. He participated in the battles of Elk Horn and Farmington. He was married in Johnson County, Ark., on December 11, 1834, to Miss Nancy Evans Jamison, a native of Potosi, Mo., born May 16, 1816, and the daughter of Judge George Jamison of Johnson County, Ark. Her father was a native of the Keystone State, of Scotch descent, and was a millwright by trade. Her mother, formerly Miss Mary D. Logan, was of a Kentucky family, originally from Pennsylvania. She was a cousin of James Logan, who was a member of the Legislature from Missouri and Creek agent at Verdigris, Indian Territory. Mrs. Scott was a charming, pleasant lady to meet and was remarkably handsome. She died on October 13, 1878, in full communion with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. By his marriage Capt. Scott became the father of three children: Andrew H. Scott (who was born at Dover, Ark., on December 18, 1840, taking his literary degree at Exeter College, N. H., and his medical degree from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. He is now one of the first physicians of Little Rock. He married Miss R. Kate Embry, daughter of Col. Ben T. Embry, who is a merchant and planter of Atkins, Ark. They have four children: Ben Embry, John R. Homer, Leonora and Andrew Horrace), Mary Eliza Scott (born at Dover on August 11, 1844, and died September 4, 1860, and whose birth is erroneously stated in the work of the Encyclopedia of the New West as being in 1834), and Leonora Augusta, (born at Dover on October 16, 1847, and educated at Little Rock and Fayetteville. She married H. Clabe Howell, a merchant, a member of the Legislature and a native of Kentucky. He died June 21, 1884, leaving these children: Andrew R. (a graduate of Jefferson Medical College, Pennsylvania, living at Little Rock), Emma Scott, Augustus H., Henry A., Kate E. and Mary. Mrs. Howell was married, the second time, on July 2, 1887, to George Eller Howell, a nephew of her former husband. One child, Elbert Homer, was the result of this union. Capt. Scott is not a member of any church, but is a believer in the Christian religion. Besides his own children, Capt. Scott has raised about nine orphan children.