Carey, Charles Henry.  "History of Oregon." Vol. 3. Chicago-Portland: Pioneer
Historical Pub. Co., 1922.  p. 5.
 
HARVEY WHITEFIELD SCOTT

     For forty Harvey Whitfield Scott was editor of The Oregonian and in his
death the journalistic profession of America lost one of its most brilliant
minds, one of its most accomplished scholars, and one of its most vigorous and
courageous writers.   He was a pioneer and a builder.  For nearly a half century
he labored for the development of the Pacific coast, and Portland and the
surrounding country owe their splendid progress in large measure to the work of
this terse conductor of a great newspaper.  He possessed those qualities which
in the aggregate make what men call character, and this character, shining out
through the columns of The Oregonian, has exalted the character of the state and
the minds of her sons.
     His birth occurred in Tazewell county, Illinois. February 1, 1838.  He came
of Scotch ancestry, his paternal forefathers landing at Charleston South
Carolina, in 1755.  His grandparents became residents of Pennsylvania and North
Carolina, and his parents, John Tucker and Ann (Roelofson) Scott, established
their home in Tazewell county, Illinois, where Harvey W. Scott continued to
reside until his fourteenth year, becoming inured to a life of severe toil,
assisting with the work of the fields during the summer months, while in the
winter seasons he attended the district school. In 1852 the family started
across the plains to Oregon with ox teams÷a journey that was fraught with many
dangers and privations.  On reaching Oregon they first located in Yamhill
county, two of the party, the mother and a brother, having succumbed to the
hardships of the journey. The rest of the family resided in that locality for
about a year and removed to the Puget Sound country, settling in the vicinity of
Olympia, in what is now Mason county, Washington. In the difficult work of
clearing the land and preparing the soil for the cultivation of crops Mr. Scott
bore his full share and was thus occupied until 1855, when he enlisted as a
private in the Washington Territory Volunteers, under Captain Calvin W Swindall,
and for about nine months was engaged in Indian warfare. Subsequently he worked
in lagging camps, also following surveying and farming until 1857, when he
resolved to secure a better education and set out for Oregon City, walking the
entire distance from Olympia.  For a short time he resided with relatives in
Clackamas county, Oregon attending school in Oregon City, while later he
continued his studies at Pacific University at Forest Grove, providing the
necessary funds for his education by working as a farm hand in the neighborhood.
In 1859 his father returned to Oregon, settling upon a farm three miles west of
Forest Grove, and the son then entered Pacific University, where in 1863 he was
the first to complete the four years' classical course, thus becoming the first
alumnus of the institution.  Near his father's place was a sawmill, in which Mr.
Scott worked when not employed elsewhere.  He was an expert axman, and did a
good deal of work in clearing the forest about Forest Grove. He was food of the
classics and read in the original all the Latin and Greek authors be could find.
He possessed a retentive memory and throughout his life preserved a general
familiarity with classical literature, being able to quote therefrom with
remarkable readiness. Undoubtedly his great literary ability was due in large
measure to his study of the classics, and when asked what books in English he
regarded as most helpful in creating his literary style, he replied:  "The
speeches of Edmund Burke and the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah in the Old
Testament."
     Following his graduation Mr. Scott went to Idaho, where for a year be was
engaged in mining and whipsawing, and in 1864 he came to Portland. For a few
months he was employed as librarian of the Portland Library, which at that time
utilized two small rooms on the second floor of a brick building on the
northeast corner of First and Stark streets. While thus engaged he wrote a few
articles for The Oregonian and subsequently obtained a position with the paper
through the efforts of Matthew P. Deady, then president of the Portland Library
Association.  He was at that time studying law in his leisure hours under the
direction of Erasmus D. Shattuck, but the field of journalism proved a more
congenial one, and he directed his energies along that line. Showing a decided
talent for newspaper work he soon became editor of The Oregonian, in which
position he found a wide scope for his tastes and abilities. Without previous
experience in the complex duties of what is usually first a trade and afterwards
a profession, he rose to all the exacting requirements of his work, and so
signal was his success and so thoroughly was his individuality associated with
his paper that his name became a household word over the entire northwest. One
of his first notable articles was an editorial written on the death of President
Lincoln, which attracted widespread attention. He gave The Oregonian his
continuous editorial service until October, 1872, when he was appointed
collector of customs for the port of Portland. which position he retained for
four years, and in 1877 returned to The Oregonian as editor and part owner,
where he remained until his death in 1910.
         With a strong love of the locality and state and a clear perception of
the immense natural advantages of Oregon and Washington, Mr. Scott gave the most
minute attention to the discovery of the stores of wealth in the forests, mines,
soil and climate.  To a certain extent he had so learned the feelings, demands
and habits of the people that his utterances were the daily voice of the
Oregonians. Bold and forceful in his writings, never seeking to conciliate, he
met with opposition but usually prevailed.  Earnest and sincere in all that he
did, he had no patience with pretense and had a wholesome contempt for shams.
Avoiding rhetorical art or indirection of language, he went with incisive
directness to his subject and commanded attention by the clearness and vigor of
his statement, the fairness of his arguments and the thorough and careful
investigation of his subject. In the midst of his journalistic and business
affairs he found time to pursue literary, philosophical, thdological and
classical study and to his constant and systematic personal investigation in
these directions were due his scholarly attainments. At the time of the
reorganization of the Associated Press in 1898 he took a prominent part therein
and served as a member of its board of directors until his death in 1910.
     In October, 1865, Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth
Nicklin and they became the parents of two sons; John H. and Kenneth, but the
latter died in childhood. The mother passed away January 11, 1875, and in the
following year Mr. Scott wedded Miss Margaret McChesney of Latrobe,
Pennsylvania, and to their union were born two sons and a daughter: Leslie M.,
Ambrose and Judith.
     In his political views Mr. Scott was a republican, yet he never hesitated
to condemn any course or measure of the party which he deemed detrimental to
good government and the welfare of the nation. He was a strong supporter of the
gold standard, which he championed through the columns of The Oregonian, when
the republican as well as the democratic party of the state advocated the Bryan
policy of free silver at a ratio of sixteen to one, and through his influence
Oregon gave its vote in 1896 to the republican gold standard candidate for
president, William McKinley. In 1876 he was a delegate to the republican
national convention, held at Cincinnati, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for
president of the United States. In 1886 he was temporary secretary of the state
convention of the union party and at numerous times was an active participant as
a delegate in conventions of the republican party in Oregon. He was offered the
positions of ambassador to Mexico and minister to Belgium, which offices he
declined. He was a dominant factor in Oregon politics, although never an office
holder, but his clear, logical and trenchant editorials had an immeasurable
influence over public thought and action. He made The Oregonian a power and
influence not only in the Pacific northwest but throughout the country. He
always gave personal editorial support to every project which he deemed of vital
significance to the city and was a member of the charter board which drafted the
present charter of Portland. He was also a member of the Portland water board
and was active in the movement which resulted in the erection of a monument in
the Plaza to the dead of the Second Oregon Volunteers who fought in the
Spanish-American war. Far a number of years he was a member of the board of
trustees of Pacific University and at the time of his death was its president.
In 1903 he was elected president of the Lewis and Clark Fair Association and
through the columns of The Oregonian did much to promote its success.  The other
Portland journals followed in his lead and made the Lewis and Clark Exposition
the best advertised fair that has ever been held in America.
     Mr. Scott was a member of the Arlington and Commercial clubs of Portland,
Oregon. He attained high rank in Masonry, with which he became identified in
1905 as a member of Portland Lodge, No. 55, A. F. & A. M. He afterward became a
member of Washington Chapter, No. 18, R. A. M.; and Oregon Commandery, No. 1, K.
T. In 1906 he attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite Consistory
in Washington, D. C., and became a member of Al Kader Temple of the Mystic
Shrine on the 15th of June, 1907.
     In disposition Mr. Scott was most friendly and inclined to be charitable in
considering the errors and faults of men. He was kind-hearted and sympathetic,
quick to vindicate the right and denounce the wrong, whether of public or
individual concern.  His crowning virtue, however, was the love he bore for his
state and his pride in its material advancement. He labored unceasingly for high
ideals and the betterment of the common lot. Success and honor were his, each
worthily won, and there is in his history an element of inspiration for others
and an example of high principles and notable achievement.
     Death came to Mr. Scott on the 7th of August, 1910, following a surgical
operation in Baltimore, Maryland, when he was seventy-two years of age. The
funeral services were conducted at Portland, Oregon, under the auspices of the
Scottish Rite Consistory, the ceremony being a most solemn and impressive one.
His death took from Oregon her most illustrious figure. Among the many tributes
paid to his memory by the press throughout the country we quote the following:
     H. H. Kohlsaat, editor of the Chicago Record-Herald, wrote of Mr. Scott:
"He was one of the last survivors of the newspaper era that produced a number of
great editors and leaders of public opinion. He made The Oregonian; he was The
Oregonian.  He knew and understood the people and the territory he had cast his
lot with as a lad; he interpreted their sentiments, defended their interests and
successfully urged his own convictions upon them. Few men in the Pacific
northwest wielded as great an influence for good."
     The following comment was made by S. A. Perkins, publisher of the Tacoma
Ledger and News: "Harvey W. Scott was the dean of the newspaper men of the
Pacific coast. There were no greater, east or west, and those of his class can
be counted upon the fingers of one hand. He ranked with such journalists as
Dana, Watterson and Greeley. He was a product of the Pacific northwest and for
years exerted a greater influence on its current history than any other man.
When Harvey Scott spoke the public listened. His opinions commanded the respect
of even those who did not follow them. For years the name of Harvey Scott was a
household word in the old Oregon country and his face was familiar to thousands
of pioneers. He knew the life of the pioneers, for he was one of them, and his
intellectual attainments and broad human sympathy enabled him to write of
pioneer life with remarkable thoroughness and fidelity. An authority on the
Pacific northwest, a profound student of history and the classics, a master
politician in the best sense of the term, an editor whose utterances were always
courageous and convincing, Harvey Scott was the most dominant intellectual force
west of the Rocky Mountains."
     Harrison Gray Otis, publisher of the Los Angeles Times. said of him: "When
Harvey W. Scott passed away at Baltimore yesterday one of the greatest lights of
journalism went out. He was a great editor in every sense of the word; great in
mental force, great in executive ability, great as a writer. He made the
Portland Oregonian famed throughout the country for its breadth of vision, its
originality of thought and the power and effectiveness of its editorial
expression. He fought many a good fight against adverse odds and when he died
was engaged in a vigorous battle for principle against the fury of passing
clamor. He saw a hamlet grow into a metropolis, saw cities and towns multiply in
the field which he dominated.
     "His masterful, rugged character will be missed for long and felt keenly in
the walks where it was familiar, in the workshop which he loved, in the
profession which he honored and which honored him, and, indeed, in the ranks of
the strong and thoughtful up and down the land. Oregon still has need of him and
although his voice is hushed, we may be sure that the brave, arrow-piercing
words he has spoken and written will live for years to come and go on battling
in the service of eternal truth."
 
 
 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in March 2007 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.