This web page is part of A Family Reunion of Douglas J. Graham. There is a search page for finding specific information. This page has also been indexed in the Place Name Index. Last update of page: 12 August 2005.
Although originally a part of this family reunion, family genealogies must adapt to new information and as discussed below under the last generation, Mary Scott, I now believe that this Mary Scott married into a Graham family of NS (not related to my Graham family) and that "my" Mary (Lucy) Scott, married to Henry Wisdom, is of unknown origin. Thus, strictly speaking, this Scott chapter no longer belongs in "A Family Reunion". I leave this chapter posted here until this can be decided definitively one way or the other.
I currently have information back four generations from Mary Scott through her father, Lieut. Joseph Scott. This Scott lineage can be traced back to the earliest days of Massachusetts.
Samuel Duncan --- m. --- Mary _____
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John Scott of Roxbury, MA, b. ca. 1646-1650 --- m. --- Hannah Duncan (10 children)
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Joseph Scott of Roxbury, b. 1682 --- m. --- Hannah Prior (8 children)
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Lieut. Joseph Scott of Sturbridge, MA, b. 1716 --- m. --- Mary Edmunds of the Mayflower lineage (8 children)
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Henry Wisdom (8 children) --- m. --- Mary Scott of Halifax, b.1753
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William Henry Wisdom, b. 1797 --- m. --- Mary Elliott (15 children)
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William Muir (7 children) --- m. --- Harriet Smith Wisdom, b. ca. 1830
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Frank Graham (5 children) --- m. --- Mary E. Muir, b. 1867
John Scott was born about 1646-1650, probably not in New England, although he may be the John Scott, b. 2 July 1646 in Cambridge, MA, son of Benjamin and Margaret Scott. The first definitive mention of him is his Roxbury marriage record, at which time he was already living in Roxbury. He married Hannah Duncan on 28 April 1651, daughter of Samuel and Mary Duncan. Hannah was born in Boston on 28 April 1651 and died before 1722, probably in Roxbury. Nothing more is known about the Duncans.
John Scott and Hannah Duncan had ten children (see following section) in the 13 years between 1674 and 1686. Eight of the children died within a few days of birth and only one of their two surviving boys married and left descendents.
John Scott served in King Philip's War in 1675-1676 (the most devastating Indian war in New England which resulted in the virtual extermination of native peoples from southern New England). He is noted as having occupied various important positions in the town such as being admitted to the Covenant of Roxbury Church in 1677, being made Constable on 11 April 1705 (aged about 57), and Surveyor of Highways in March 1706. There are a few land title records involving him, including two grants of land in Woodstock, CT in 1695. He seems to have always lived however in Roxbury. There are no death records for him or his wife but they likely died before 1722 because they are not mentioned in the will of their son John, written in that year.
The ten children of John Scott and Hannah Duncan, all born in Roxbury, MA, were the following:
1) Hannah, b. 24 July 1674, died 7 August 1674.
2) John, b. 11 November 1675, "dyed about one hour after".
3) Sarah, b. 26 January 1676, "lived about six hours".
4) Hannah, b. 18 August 1678, died 26 August 1678, "ye 2d of that name".
5) Mary, b. 28 July 1679, died 30 July 1679.
6) Margaret, b. 6 January 1680, d. 14 January 1680.
7) Joseph, b. 27 March 1682. He was baptized in Dr. Eliot's church on 7 May 1682. He married a first time, on 8 February 1704/1705, to Sarah Davis, in Roxbury. She died less than a year later, on 1 January 1705/1706. He married a second time, again in Roxbury, to Hannah Prior, on 17 May 1708. Hannah was born in Boston on 1 September 1687, daughter of James and Susanna Prior. Nothing more is known about the Priors at this time. Joseph and Hannah Scott had eight children (see next section), all born in Roxbury or Brookline, MA. There is no record of her death.
Joseph and family moved around a great deal, but he spent his whole life in eastern Massachusetts. We have the following records of his whereabouts:
In different records he is variously called weaver, yeoman, and husbandman. When in Brookline Joseph Scott was appointed "Hayward" in 1717, Surveyor of Highways in 1720, and Constable in 1723. The last mention of him is in 1753 (aged 71) when he gave land in Sturbridge to his son Benjamin.
8) John, b. 8 November 1683, died 16 November 1683.
9) Sarah, b. 1684, died 10 November 1684.
10) John, b. 9 July 1686, died unmarried in Roxbury, in about 1722. Like his brother, he was also a weaver.
Joseph Scott and Hannah Prior had eight children, all born in Roxbury or Brookline:
1) Samuel, b. 14 February 1708/1709 in Roxbury. He married in Roxbury on 4 November 1730 to Sarah Chamberlain, daughter of Jacob and Sarah Chamberlain, b. in Roxbury 17 July 1712. Samuel lived at different times in Woodstock, CT, in Dudley, Oxford, Charlton, Athol, and Warwick (all MA), and perhaps finally at Winchester, NH. He is recorded as both a blacksmith and yeoman. He was made "Field-Driver" in Dudley in 1734 and Fence Surveyor in 1735. Date and place of death is unknown for both of them but he probably died in Warwick, MA or Winchester, NH.
Samuel and Sarah had ten children (see (1) for more details on Samuel and much more information on the married children and their descendents):
2) Hannah, b. 30 April 1711 in Roxbury. She first married, in Dudley on 26 December 1738, to William Edmands, son of Joseph Edmands and Mary Pratt (William's sister Mary, below, married Hannah's brother). William was born in Lynn, MA on 14 March 1716. No children are known from this marriage and William died in Halifax, before November 1750, where he was a "husbandman" and apparently resident although his wife was living at that time in Cambridge, MA and in Oxford, MA. Wiliam was thus the first known member of the Scott branch of the family to settle in Nova Scotia, a route later to be followed by his brother-in-law, Lieut. Joseph Scott.
Hannah remarried in Spencer (recorded in Oxford) on 21 February 1755 to Ephraim Brown of Spencer, son of Benjamin and Anna Brown, born in Weston, MA on 8 April 1714. She died in 1799.
3) James, b. 15 November 1713 in Roxbury. He was still living in 1731 but no further records known.
4) Joseph, b. 5 November 1716 at Roxbury. He married on 27 December 1738 in Dudley to Mary Edmands, daughter of Joseph Edmands and Mary Pratt. Mary was born in Lynn, MA on 30 August 1719. Mary was a fourth generation descendant of Degory Priest; see the Mayflower chapter for further details.
Joseph seems to have moved from Dudley to Sturbridge, MA with his father. His first child was born in Dudley in about 1739 but the five following, from 1741 to 1747, were born in Sturbridge (except for Asa in Dudley in about 1742). Before 1753 he had moved to Ware, MA, where his last two children were born (1753 and 1760), including our Mary Scott. See the next section for full information on their eight children.
Joseph had a military career. He appears on a muster-roll dated at Ware River Parish on 5 January 1758 of Capt. Jacob Cummings' Company. He was a Lieutentant. This company marched to the relief of Fort William Henry in August 1757. Fort William Henry in northeastern NY was captured and destroyed by the French under Montcalm in 1757 in the French and Indian War. The march from Ware to Kinderhook was 200 miles. He then appears on a billeting account at Boston on 13 October 1758 for victualling men who were sent to the relief of Fort William Henry when besieged. He served as a Lieutenant in the French War in Canada and was supposedly commander of a body of men called "Scott's Rangers". Daniel Knowlton (see below) was his lieutenant. The Acadians were expelled in 1755 and Joseph was one of those who received a grant of land in the now unoccupied territories. He traveled to Nova Scotia but died either during the voyage or shortly after, on 23 January 1761. One of the items in his inventory after his death was "pay for a man to go to Boston, to get (his) clothes". Administration of his estate was granted to his widow Mary Scott in 1761. His sons became grantees of Onslow in the right of their father.
Probably after her husband's death, his widow Mary Scott moved to Brookfield, MA, probably to live with her eldest son Abijah. She was "warned" by the town on 11 May 1762, for an unknown "offense". In about 1763 she married Daniel Knowlton, her husband's former military associate and co-grantee of Onslow. After the marriage, they moved, apparently with all of her children, including my ancestor Mary (as she would have been only about 10 when they left Massachusetts), to Nova Scotia, in about 1763.
In Miller's historical and genealogical book on Colchester County (3), no mention is made of Joseph Scott or Daniel Knowlton but in Longworth's 1886 history of Onslow (2), we learn about the critical role of Lieut. Joseph Scott in the foundation of Onslow. The formation of the township took place upon the application of Joseph Scott and Daniel Knowlton on behalf of themselves and 50 others (numbering 309 people altogether). They had participated in the Fort Cumberland expedition the previous year. The erection of the township took place on 24 July 1759. The grantees were to receive 26,000 acres; half were to settle in October 1760 and the remainder in May 1761.
Various other applications were made from groups of Massachussets settlers including an additional application from Daniel Knowlton and associates on 26 October 1759. The latter's application could not be accomodated in Onslow and so it was resolved to create a new township, by the name of Wolfe, adjoining Onslow and on the Shubenacadie River. Of the original 52 applicants, apparently the only individuals who actually availed themselves of the grants, were Scott (this would be Joseph Scott the son), Jacob Knowlton, Thomas Stevens, Jacob Lynds, William Tackles, Hugh Tackles, David Cutten, Abijah Scott, and William Whippie. Finally, all the settlers that arrived could be accomodated in Onslow so the Wolfe township went to other applicants, and became known as Truro.
The actual township grant took another eight years to be formally awarded, being signed 22 February 1769. The full text of the grant as well as the names of all the grantees is found in (2).The 80 or so names include many that are found in my family history: Daniel Knowlton, Mary Knowlton, Joseph Scott, Ephraim Scott, Abijah Scott, Asa Scott, Francis Blair, William Blair, William Blair Jr., John Blair, and John Cutting (this is almost certainly John Cuttin, b. 1748, since we know that his sister Sarah was in Nova Scotia, also under the name Cutting). The first settlements took place in about June 1760. The first two or three years were very difficult and there would have been famine in Onslow and Truro if the government did not intervene and provide food. The Governor's report of 27 October 1763 reported that "Onslow has about fifty families. These are the most indigent, as well as the most indolent people in the Colony. Several families suffered very severely last winter, and some were famished. [...] Very few people of any substance among them".
In 1780 the township was partitioned (apparently divided up in some new way) and the claims of each landholder were presented before two justices and a jury. Eliakim Tupper was one of the two justices. Among the jury we find Joseph Scott (Deputy Sheriff) and James Archibald. As a result the township needed to be surveyed and this task fell to Robert Archibald, my direct ancestor.
Mary, Joseph's widow and now married to Daniel Knowlton, claimed land granted to her husband as she would later sell land in Onslow. Elaine English (8) notes she has a copy of the document showing the lands owned by Mary and Daniel in the original Plan for Onslow Twp. As will be noted below in the next section, her sons also claimed land in Onslow but mostly moved on to various other locations in Nova Scotia. Information on Mary and Daniel Knowlton has been provided by Elaine English (8) in February 2004, paraphrased here:
"Daniel Knowlton and Mary (and however many of their children still with them) removed to Fort Sackville, 1770, where he secured a grant of 2000 acres of land on the Fort Cumberland Road, Cumberland Co. N.S., upon which property he finally settled. The grant was issued under the act of 1763 which provided for grants of lands to officers, sailors and seamen taking part in the preceding French-Indian Wars. Daniel Knowlton his son sold this grant when his father was still alive. He suffered paralysis in his later years and died about 1795 in West Advocate, where he was living with his son."
Mary Scott was living in Halifax in 1795 when she sold the land in Onslow. Mary Scott, the mother, would have died sometime after 1795. According to (6), she died "about 1798 in Nova Scotia" but there seems to be no proof of this and this was apparently not accepted in (5).
5) Ebenezer, b. Brookline, bapt. in W. Roxbury on 29 May 1719. He m. on 11 November 1741, in Thompson, CT, to Mary Shapley, daughter of David Shapley. She was bapt. in Killingly, CT on 19 May 1719. Ebenezer was living in Dudley at the time of his marriage and his six children were baptized in Dudley Church as children of Ebenezer "of Oxford". In 1757, 1759, and 1762, he was "Deer-reive" in Dudley and tything man in 1763. In about 1769 he moved to Winchester, NH (his nephews, sons of Samuel Scott, had been living there for many years by that date). He died in Winchester on 26 October 1804, aged 87. His wife died on 27 December 1785.
The children of Ebenezer and Mary were:
6) John, born in Brookline, bapt. in W. Roxbury on 26 February 1720. No further records on him.
7) Sarah, b. in Brookline, bapt. in W. Roxbury on 23 December 1722. She m. Lieut. John Dresser, marriage intention published at Dudley on 2 February 1739/1740. John Dresser was of Oxford, son of Richard and Mercy (Peabody) Dresser, bapt. at Killingly CT, 27 January 1717. Their 13 children were born in Oxford (and/or at Charlton; the records are somewhat confused) but bapt. at Dudley. Sarah died before 1785 and her husband remarried to Patience Holbrook. He died about March 1789 at Dudley. Their children were:
8) Benjamin, b. in Roxbury, MA on 10 March 1724/1725. He m. in Sturbridge on 7 September 1749 to Lydia Johnson, daughter of James Johnson and Susanna Waters, born in Sturbridge 10 May 1733. He and Lydia had five children and then she died 7 January 1757. He married a second time, in Sturbridge, to Azubah Cheney, 22 December 1757, daughter of Capt. Joseph and Margery (Mason) Cheney, born in Medfield, MA on 30 May 1731. She had seven children and died before 1777, again leaving Benjamin with motherless infants to look after. He married a third time, again in Sturbridge, on 24 July 1777 to Mrs. Deborah (Vorse) Rice, widow of James Rice.
Benjamin was a miller and lived most of his life in Sturbridge. He served briefly in the Revoution as Sargeant of Capt. Timothy Parker's company of minutemen which marched on the Alarm of April 19 1775. He moved to Fitzwilliam, NH about 1777 (aged about 53) where with his son Barachiah he built and operated a sawmill. He died at Sturbridge (living there or just on a visit?) on 27 October 1809. Three of his sons became physicians.
There is considerable information available on his children and their descendents in (1) but this information not reviewed in detail by me. His children (first five by his first wife Lydia Johnson and remaining children by Azubah Cheney) were:
Lieut. Joseph Scott and Mary Edmands had eight children:
1) Abijah, b. about 1739 in Dudley. He is recorded as "Centinel" under Capt. Jacob Cummings at Ware River on 5 January 1758 (his father was Lieutenant of this Company). He also served under Capt. Barnard of Deerfield with his brother Joseph, from 19 February to 12 December 1760. A few months after his father's untimely death in Nova Scotia, he married in Brookfield, MA on 17 April 1761 to Dorothy Olmstead, daughter of Israel Olmstead and Sarah Bannister, born in Brookfield, 15 December 1737.
With the rest of his family, he moved to Onslow, NS in about 1763 but he moved on to Windsor, NS before 1769. He was a "husbandman" then. He died after 1769, presumably in Nova Scotia. Abijah and Dorothy had four children, the last three born in Onlsow. We know only their birth dates (neither Abijah nor his children are mentioned in (3)):
2) Joseph, b. Sturbridge, MA about 1741. He also saw military service as a very young man, appearing on a roll of men enlisted for the "Reduction of Canada" by Lieut. Knowlton on 24 March 1760. He moved with his mother and family to Onslow where he would become a man of prominence. He married in Onslow, about 1765, to his cousin Sarah Cutting (the name is recorded as Cuttin in (5)), daughter of David Cutting and Sarah Edmands, born in Oxford, MA on 7 January 1746.
Joseph and Sarah had seven children. The first was born at Onslow and the rest probably at Horton but perhaps at Onslow. Before 1797 he moved to Truro. The only mention of Joseph in (3) is that at a meeting held in the Meeting House [Truro] on April 3 1783 he was part of a committee of five men empowered to set a value on the pews in the Meeting House; the minister's salary would be assessed on the pews according to their value. Also at the same meeting and forming part of another committee we find David Archibald, Matthew Archibald, and Eliakim Tupper. Joseph was Sheriff of Colchester County for many years and in 1782 was Deputy Provost Marshal of Halifax County (this was before the establishment of Colchester County). He died after 1798, death of his wife being unknown. Their children were the following:
3) Asa, b. Dudley MA about 1742. As for his two older brothers, Asa appears on the 1760 roll of men enlisted by Lieut. Knowlton for the "Reduction of Canada". He was 18 at the time. Aged about 21, he moved to Onslow with the rest of the family. He married before 1771 to Rebecca _____, birth and date unknown. Before 1773 he had moved to Sackville and by 1798 was in Birch Cove. He finally settled in Halifax where he probably died, probably before 1818. Neither Asa nor his children are mentioned in (3). Three children are known:
4) Ephraim, b. Sturbridge, MA about 1744. Ephraim would have been about 19 when he moved with his mother and family to Onslow. He m. there, about 1765, to Elizabeth Tackles, daughter of William and Jean Tackles, born in Palmer, MA on 24 March 1743. He died in Onslow between 1810 and 1814; his widow died after 1814. There is no mention of Ephraim or his children in (3). Known children, all born in Onslow, are:
5) William, bapt. 29 Sept. 1745, Sturbridge. No further records.
6) Lemuel, bapt. 23 August 1747, Sturbridge. No further records.
7) Mary, bapt. 21 August 1753 at Ware, MA. Mary would have been about nine or ten years old when she would presumably have travelled to Onslow in 1763 with her mother, stepfather, and her siblings. There is however no further mention of Mary Scott in (1) and no mention in (3). It has always been stated in our family records that the wife of Henry Wisdom and mother of William Henry Wisdom (see this chapter for further detatils), my direct ancestor, was Lucy Scott, descended from this Scott family of Mayflower origin. As explained further in that chapter, I now believe there is not good evidence supporting this theory. It seems more likely she belongs in the family of James Graham and Rosanna MacLaughlin of Annapolis, NS (9). This Graham family is not related to my Hugh Graham line from Stewiacke. This carefully documented work notes that his son John Graham m. Mary Scott on 29 October 1772 in Halifax. This Mary Scott died 17 Dec. 1844. George King concludes, although noting that the definitive proof remains to be found, that John Graham's Mary Scott is the Mary Scott, daughter of Joseph Scott and Mary Edmunds. He notes her age at death as 91 which corresponds perfectly to her known birth in 1753 (but I don't know if he has calculated this age himself or if her age is mentioned in death record; this remains to be checked).
8) Sarah, bapt. 4 August 1760 at Ware, MA. No further records.
Most of the information on the early Scotts was compiled in 1919 by Mary Lovering Holman in a professionally researched genealogical treatise (1). Unless stated otherwise, the information above is but a concise summary of information from the Lovering book which can be consulted for more information on original sources and other details.
(1) Holman, Mary Lovering. The Scott Genealogy. Compiled by the author
for Harriet Grove Scott, Boston, 1919. Consulted by Douglas Graham in July 1999
at the Boston library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (partial
photocopy in my files). Mary Holman was a professional genealogist and her book
is carefully researched and meticulously documented.
(2) Israel Longworth's History of Colchester County, Nova Scotia (circa
1886). Edited by Sandra Creighton and privately printed in Truro, 1989. Consulted
by me in Boston in July 1999; I have a photocopy of the Onslow chapter.
(3) Miller, Thomas. 1873. Historical and Genealogical Record of the First
Settlers of Colchester County. Halifax, N.S. Halifax, A. & W. MacKinlay
(facsimile edition by Mika Studio, Belleville, Ontario, 1972).
(4) Nova Scotia Vital Statistics from Newspapers. A multi-volume listing
(those covering 1769-1854 consulted by me in Boston in July 1999 for the name
Wisdom). The death notice for Mary Scott Wisdom was found in the volume for
1852-1854 (it is possible that the original record in the Acadian Recorder
has more information?).
(5) Townsend, Mrs. Charles, Robert Wakefield, and Margaret Harris Stover. 1994.
Mayflower Families through Five Generations: Volume 8. Family of Degory Priest.
General Society of Mayflower Descendants.
(6) NEHGR (New England Historic Genealogial Record)110: 146 (source cited in
(5) and checked by me in July 1999.
(7) David Niswender [ID-107], pers. comm. by email, August 2003.
(8) Elaine English [ID-131], descendent of Daniel Knowlton, information on him,
pers. comm., February 2004.
(9) Web site with information on family of James Graham and Rosanna MacLaughlin
(http://www.widomaker.com/~gwk/) by George W. King. In August 2005 the Graham
link did not work on the site but I have a version (from 2000) that was previously
posted on his site.
Created by Douglas J. Graham. Comments or enquiries would be very welcome at: douglasjgraham@earthlink.net. The web address of the Family Reunion site is "http://home.earthlink.net/~douglasjgraham/DG_FM.htm".