"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chicago:
Chapman Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1439
 
WILLIAM J. J. SCOTT

     Important among the men who have made their efforts productive of the
substantial upbuilding of Oregon and the promotion of worthy and enterprising
movements was William J. J. Scott, for many years well known in Lane county and
various other sections, through the virtues which were his by inheritance as
well as personal effort, for he came of an old colonial family who took part in
the early struggles of the nation.  With the death of Mr. Scott, in 1896, passed
away a member of the brave and hardy band of pioneers which is slowly becoming
only a recollection as time goes on and another generation takes up the work so
nobly begun.
     The parents of Mr. Scott were residents of Morgan county, Ill., where the
father, Levi Scott, engaged in farming, and where this son was born October 15,
1824.  He was left motherless at an early age, but with the self-reliance
characteristic of the day he set out into the world to find a place for himself.
He learned the trade of a carpenter, which he followed for some time in
Illinois.  Later he located in Iowa, remaining there until 1846, when he crossed
the plains with ox-teams and settled in the valley which was afterward known by
his name, near the Umpqua river, where he took up a donation claim of three
hundred and twenty acres.  He remained in that location until 1850, when he went
to Oregon City to work.  There he was married and returned to his claim, where
the couple went to housekeeping.  This home was a log cabin of one room,having a
large fireplace upon which the cooking was done.  They kept travelers, and Mrs.
Dersham, a daughter, has the scales upon which the gold dust was weighed, in
which they received pay for their accommodation.  After a period of sic years
Mr. Scott came to Lane county and bought a farm two miles west of Creswell, and
ten years later located in Eugene, where he engaged in the mercantile business
in partnership with Frank Dunn, the firm name being Scott & Dunn.  After a few
years he again returned to his ranch, remaining for two years, when he bought
another farm in the vicinity and lived upon that a short time.  Locating in
Creswell for a brief period he bought the farm which is now occupied by his
widow, located one-half mile west of Creswell, which he began at once to improve
and cultivate.  The farm is supplied with a good dwelling-house, substantial
barns and other out-buildings, and the land was utilized for stock-raising, his
specialty being Shorthorn-Durham cattle.  After giving a farm to each of his
sons, he still had left about two thousand acres, and over three hundred is
still in the possession of Mrs. Scott and managed by her, with the assistance of
her son, Ripley.  The balance was divided by Mrs. Scott among her ten children.
   Though not a member of any religious denomination, Mr. Scott was a man of
strong integrity and truly Christian purposes, and held a high place in the
estimation of his fellow-citizens.  Politically he was a Republican, and though
he never shirked responsibility as a citizen, he did not aspire to official
recognition, but held the minor offices in the vicinity as a duty rather than
from any desire to become identified with party movements.  In educational
matters he was greatly interested, and gave much time and thought to the
improvement of the institutions in his community, being one of the first regents
appointed for the University of Oregon, which position he filled from 1873 to
1877.  But once did Mr. Scott depart from his agricultural life, and that was in
1849, when he was induced by glowing reports to make the trip to California to
visit the gold fields.  The death of Mr. Scott occurred September 13, 1896, in
his seventy-second year.
     The wife who shared a large part of the life of Mr. Scott was formerly
Surrenea J. Robinson, who was born December 5, 1828, in Shelby county, Ohio, the
daughter of the Rev. William Robinson, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this
work.  Of this union ten children were born, all of whom are living.  Their
descendants include twenty-six grandchildren and nineteen great-grandchildren.
Of the children Eliza S., the wife of D. B. Trimble, lives in Condon, Ore.; Mary
A., the wife of William C. Brown, lives at Lone Rock; Matilda J., the wife of R.
H. Landers, lives at Methow, Wash.; William W. lives at Creswell; John r. is
located in this vicinity; Rose E. married D. S. Brown and resides in Condon;
Dora C., the wife of C. C. Hazelton, is in Creswell; Viola S. and Ripley F. are
at home; and Lillie M., the wife of R. E. Dersham, is located near Creswell.  As
a relic of the eastern days of their family, they have now in their possession
the original copy of the Ulster Gazette, published January 4, 1800, in which is
given a full account of Washington's death, and his Memoirs.

     
*******************

Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in October 2012 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.