Noah Hoyt Scott, a well known citizen of Meridian Township, Clinton County, was born in Geauga County, Ohio, February 21, 1826, and is a son of Dr. John W. and Mary A. (HOYT) Scott. The paternal grandfather, John Scott, was born Giennock, Scotland, and there spent the years of his boyhood and youth. Deciding to seek a home across the Atlantic, he took passage in an American-bound vessel, in company with John WEATHERSPOON, a member of the same church as was he. With him he brought a package of linen and with this he traveled north into Vermont, selling his goods from house to house. He settled in the Green Mountain State, and the Revolutionary War coming on shortly after his arrival in this country, he was chosen Lieutenant of a company of Green Mountain Boys. However, he saw no active service as an official, his time being devoted to the care of valuables in towns raided by the British.

At the close of the war Grandfather Scott resumed the occupation of a farmer and leased the Gleab farm for a period of one hundred years, it remaining the home of his descendants for along time. He and his wife reared a family of thirteen children, among whom was John W. who first opened his eyes to the light in Vermont. His education was commenced in the district schools and completed in Rutland Academy and Dartmouth College, and he was graduated from the institution last named with the degree of M.D. Throughout the remainder of his life he followed the medical profession, in which he was very successful. About 1816 he removed west to Ohio, making the trip on horseback and locating in the woods at Parkman, that state, where he purchased property.

The marriage of Dr. J. W. Scott united him with the daughter of Noah and Rebecca (BETTS) Hoyt. The Hoyt family has been represented in this country for many generations and was originally from England, the first ones of that name who crossed the Atlantic having made settlement at Danbury, Conn. Our subject is the eldest of five children, the others being, John (deceased), a volunteer in the late war and formerly a tollgate keeper in Montana, where he was one of the earliest settlers; Mary A., deceased; Charles, who served for four years in the Civil War and was for sixteen years clerk in the Treasury at Washington; and Maria, who lives in Cleveland, Ohio. The parents of this family were devoted members of the Episcopal Church. In politics the father was a Whig and a Federalist.

Although he remained with his parents until twenty-eight years old, our subject had been self-supporting for some years prior to that time and had commenced to teach school at the age of sixteen. For five years he was Assistant Principal in an Ohio college, but meantime he prosecuted the study of medicine; he went to Wisconsin in 1856, where he practiced the profession for eighteen months. For a time he lived in Hamilton, Ill., where he owned property and conducted a good practice. In 1867 selling the place, he purchased ninety acres of raw prairie land in Clinton County, where he has since made his home.

On the last day of the year 1889, Dr. Scott suffered a deep bereavement in the loss of his faithful wife, an estimable lady, who was highly regarded in this community. Frances MOORE, as she was known in maidenhood, was born in Rutland, Vt., and was a daughter of Charles Moore, also a native of the Green Mountain State. Dr. and Mrs. Scott became the parents of one son, Rev. John W. Scott, who was educated in McKendree College, of Lebanon, Ill., and at Syracuse, N.Y.; he is now a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and resides at present with his father.

Source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois, 1894, Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, IL

Submitted by: Connie Albers

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