James Scott
One of the well kept and highly cultivated farms of Paradise township is the property of James Scott, who has been a resident of Crawford county for more than forty years.
He is a native of Canada but is of Irish extraction, his grandparents having come from Counties Carlow and Kilkenny, Ireland. His paternal grandfather, John Scott, crossed the ocean in 1822, and his maternal grandfather, William Garland, in 1815, and both located in Canada. The eldest child of William and Mary Ann (Garland) Scott, also natives of Canada, our subject, was born near Ottawa on the 28th of April, 1858.
The parents migrated from Canada, where the father had followed farming, and located on a farm in Union township. this county, in December, 1869, and for thirty years Mr. Scott engaged in general farming and stock-raising. He had been married previously, his first wife being Emily Davis, also a Canadian, and they became the parents of the following children: Mary Jane, the wife of A. P. Hardy, of Mitchell, South Dakota; John, deceased; and Sarah, who married Edgar Palmer, of Lexington, Oregon.
There were six children of the second marriage beside the son James, and they are as follows: Barbara Ann, living in St. Anthony, Idaho; William Garland, a resident of Lexington, Idaho; Matilda, who became the wife of P. J. Hallowell, of Paradise township, this county; Ellen Sophia, who is teaching in St. Anthony, Idaho; Jonathan Albert, a blacksmith of Dow City. Iowa; and Henry Griffth, a farmer of Paradise township. The father passed away in 1899 and the mother died in 1895.
James Scott acquired his education in the common schools of Canada and Crawford county, Iowa, and when old enough to lay aside his text-books and assume the heavier responsibilities of life he decided to become an agriculturist. He remained at home until his marriage. During that time he had acquired the means which enabled him to buy eighty acres of land in Union township, and this he cultivated for about two years and then removed to his present place. Here he has resided for twenty-six years, during which time he has made many and great improvements and his is one of the best farming properties in Paradise township. The buildings are all substantial and in good condition; he keeps a superior grade of stock; and his fields are given the care and supervision which results in large harvests and good prices. He now owns eighty acres in Union and one hundred acres in Paradise township.
It was on the 27th of December, 1882, that Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Mary Amelia Hallowell, a daughter of Joseph and Marcia (Adams) Hallowell, the father being a native of New York and the mother of Ohio. They migrated from Ohio to Illinois and came to Iowa in 1853 but did not locate in Crawford county until 1867. Here they both passed away, the father in 1880 and the mother in 1897. Mrs. Scott is the youngest of the five children born unto Mr. and Mrs. Hallowell, the others being as follows: George, who is now dead; Ophelia, also deceased; John, a fanner of Crawford county; and Peter J., also a fanner of this county.
Mr. and Mrs. Scott have become the parents of six children: Mary Ellen, Anna Laura, Thomas Garland, Rosella Beatrice and James Hallowell, all of whom are at home, while the fourth child died in infancy.
Mr. Scott is of the Episcopalian faith and is fraternally identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America, his local affiliation with these two orders being with the Dow City lodges. His eldest daughter, Mary, is identified with the Rebekahs, the ladies auxiliary of the Odd Fellows. Mr. Scott has always remained free from party dictation in political matters, never having voted a straight ticket but once and that was a republican. nor would he ever accept an office. He is one of the progressive and highly esteemed citizens of his community, where his sound principles and keen sense of honor have won the respect they are always accorded.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.