The Search for the Descendants of Samuel & Permilia Scott
Samuel & Permilia (Clark) Scott
Town of Scott, New York
The Scott family who established themselves as early residents of the Town of Scott, Cortland County, N.Y. first appeared in 1824. In that year SAMUEL SCOTT purchased a site on Military Lot 61 near the south end of Skeaneateles Lake and is alleged to have built a lumber mill on the creek now known as Grout Brook which rises in the hills high above the valley floor, then flows northward into the lake.
Two other men, believed to be Samuel's brothers, John and Jonathan Scott followed within three years and this first generation of Scotts in the county also operated a mill that produced linseed oil (derived from pressing flax seeds). Both endeavors displayed their abilities as resourceful, skilled and knowledgeable machinists and mechanics. as well as lumbermen. there is a distinct tendency for these traits to reappear in succeeding generations.
These three brothers are believed to be the sons of a Joseph Scott, said to be a native of Northern Ireland (Black Irish) and an early settler in the Town of Pompey, Onondaga Co., N.Y. although research has not been able to confirm these traditions thus far. It is also suggested that other siblings might have been a Joseph Scott, born 1787; Polly, who married Solomon Doud of Cayuga Co., N.Y., later residents of Huron Co., Ohio, buried in the Ninevah cemetery; Phebe, wife of James Strunks, short term residents of the Town of Scott (ca. 1831- ca 1834) and later Huron Co, Ohio for a time; Sally, wife of Isaac Hodges, residents in the Town of Pompey (1829), Town of Scott (183_ - 184_) whose ultimate destination is not known.
Of Jonathan Scott, son of Joseph, little is known except that he lived in Scott, N.Y. from 1827 to December 24, 1838 when it is recorded that he died, apparently without surviving children. He was survived by a widow Elizabeth.
John Scott, son of Joseph, was married to Elizabeth Glenny, probably a sister of Joseph Glenny. A native of Ireland she died about 1858. One of their sons was (David) Ransom Scott, said to have been born ca 1808 in the Town of Pompey, N.Y. but a resident of Scott all his adult life. Ransom operated the mills during the mid 1850s and the oil mill in later years having inherited it from Jonathan, his uncle. He fathered at least six children: Jan, who died in infancy (1831); Lucius (1832- ); Sarah B. (1834-1909), wife of Jeremiah O. Brown; Joseph Ransford (1836-1900); Ann (1841- ) and Walter (1843- ).
Jonathan Rensallaer Scott (ca 1810-1869) is believed to be another son of John who lived in the Town of Scott; married Edith _______; two known children are John (1834- ), a carpenter by trade and Amanda (1835-1898), wife of John Vincent of Scott.
Records indicate that Samuel Scott was born 3 June 1791, and he claimed this event occurred in Rensallaer Co., N.Y. He married prior to 1820 Permilia Clark, a native of Niles, Cayuga Co., N.Y., born 10 March 1800, the daughter of Cyrus Clark. Cyrus, descended from Josiah Clark, Revolutionary War soldier of Vermont, is reported to be among the earliest pioneer settlers in Cayuga Co., emigrating to Indiana early in the westward expansion. He subsequently died there.
Samuel and Permilia Scott, residing in Cayuga Co. long enough for some children to have been born there, moved into the Town of Scott and is recorded in the 1825 census with his wife and three sons, the first of a family of thirteen children.
The eldest of Samuel's offspring was SAMUEL SCOTT, JR., followed by JAMES, CYRUS, NELSON, and JOSIAH, the latter two born in Cortland County. Daughters then began to appear although the first is not identified. The seventh child, BETSEY, was followed by a sixth son, JONATHAN, whose birthplace is reported to have been the Town of Sempronius, Cayuga Co. in 1832; then POLLY and by 1836, NANCY, whose place of nativity is in question due to the following circumstances.
Found in the 1825 and 1830 Scott census, Samuel is conspicuously absent from the 1835, 1840, and 1845 enumerations only to reappear in all such records from 1850 to 1875. Probate records (1839) relating to the estate of his deceased brother Jonathan Scott lists Samuel as a resident of Huron Co., Ohio, along with some others of his family including Polly Doud and Phebe Strunks. The other sister, Sally Hodges, is noted residing in Cortland at that time but no record is found to support her residence after that.
While in Ohio, Samuel and Permilia Scott's eleventh child, DAVID, was born in 1839, the first of three more sons. Records in Huron Co. are sketchy at best concerning our Scott family's visit and only Polly (Scott) Doud, her husband and family remained in that locale long enough to leave their mark in the history books. Samuel did not purchase property while there; the terrain is very flat -- a sharp contrast to the heavily wooded hills, deep valleys, and abundance of rushing streams conducive to mill operations "back home".
The family's return from Ohio in the early 1840s is suggested by the fact that the next son, Nathaniel, claimed to have been born at "Glen Haven, Cayuga Co., N.Y." The youngest child, RANSOM, was probably born in Cortland County, Town of Scott in 1845.
It is said that Samuel, who eventually purchased a small farm close to the south end of the lake, and his younger sons continued working in the mills in "Lake Hollow". James and Cyrus, it would appear, may have moved on into the new west since we find no further mention of either of them. Two sons, Jonathan and David signed up when a recruiter paid a visit to Scott during the Civil War -- both seeing considerable action with a regiment of heavy artillery specialists. The daughters all remained close to home and produced only one descendant among them, and he very soon left the area leaving no trace. Gradually all but one of the sons left Scott -- moving westward -- one across the county line, another into New York State's southern tier, the others into the midwest -- Ohio and Michigan.
Only Nathaniel remained at home, unmarried until after the death of his mother Permilia on the 31st of March, 1871. He married in 1874, a widowed cousin with children, Melissa Clark Hakes and since, at the time of his death on November 8, 1901, he had no children of his own it was necessary to dispose of the Scott property. In so doing, the probate records produce the names and residences of several of his brothers and many of the nieces and nephews at the turn of the century.
Samuel and his sons apparently tended to business and did not participate in town politics, however the entire family at one time was associated with School District No. 4. Samuel himself was a Trustee as early as 1826 and all his children received some degree of common school education here along with grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
By providing the lot where a school has stood since 1856 and, as it turns out, somewhat providentially keeping his 'finger in the pie' by way of the reversion clause in the deed, Samuel Scott continues today to be closely tied to the District No. 4 'Glen Haven' School -- an association that has now spanned more than one hundred and fifty years.
The family's religious affiliation is not recorded with the exception of Samuel Jr., his wife and daughter who joined the Methodist Episcopal Church in Scott Village. Accompanying remarks indicate that he would "need looking after".
The Scott Union Cemetery, up the long hill out of "The Glen" and south of the hamlet of Scott, is the final resting place for Samuel and Permilia Scott and many of their descendants. A rather unique, cylindrical, dark red, granite monument marks the prominent location of the Scott family at the crown of the hill.
