The Underground Railroad, by Emma J. Scott, Washington, IL, Page 17
From the Galesburg Republican Register, April 18, 1894:
J. Randolph Scott was full of spunk.
A friend gives some interesting particulars about the late Randolph Scott, brother-in-law of Mrs. Orson B. Judson of whose death in Washington, Tazewell Co., Ill. (April 16, 1894), note was made yesterday.
Clear back in the forties he was a prominent abolitionist and was a conductor of the famous "Underground Railroad." His drive extended from Washington to Lowpoint. W. T. Hamilton says, "I have seen him many a time pass with a cargo of colored men. He was a small man, but as full of punch and pluck as an egg is of meat. On one occasion he piloted seven negroes through an ambuscade in safety. Although his ambuscade had been formed purposely to entrap him, yet those taking part had such a wholesome fear of him that at the last moment their courage gave out. Some of the people who were parties to this transaction are now in Washington, Illinois (1894)."
A letter of condolence to mother by one who had known and admired father for over 50 years: "Randolph Scott was no common man. His life was a remarkable one. He lived at a time when it took great courage to stand up for a principle as he did. We all admired him for his firmness and devotion to the right. He lived to see this great nation adopt his principles and acknowledge that the abolitionists were right. A most wonderful experience, indeed. I am glad that he was the man he was. His memory will remain long after his enemies are forgotten."
*****
Tazewell County Reporter, Washington, IL, Thursday, December 3, 1936, Page 1.
SOME HISTORY OF EARLY PIONEER FAMILY
Lincoln R. Scott of Denver Tells of His Father's Life Here 100 Years Ago.
The following article was contributed by Lincoln R. Scott of 1400 Garfield St., Denver, Col., and tells some of the hardships of the early settlers in Washington township. His father, J. Randolph Scott, settled here in 1836. Mr. Scott will furnish us two more articles, one on interesting incidents taking place in his father's life and the other on the slavery question and organization of the Republican party at Bloomington in 1854.
J. Randolph Scott
It may be of interest to the really old settlers of your city and community, and to the many readers of the Tazewell County Reporter, to touch upon a few incidents in the life of my father, J. Randolph Scott, who bought land of the Government three and a half miles southeast of your city in 1836. At that time the location was a great and wide expanse of prairie far out from the settlement in the timber which beautified the bluffs and hills on the east bank of the Illinois river. Across the river was a small Government fort called Fort Clark--and afterwards named Peoria.
It took courage to establish a residence some miles from the few settlers in the edge of the timber to the West, especially when the home (if such it might be called) consisted of a single room rial pen. The space between the rails to shut out the winds and the winter snows, were closed by bundles of tall blue joint and prairie grasses securely bound to the rails.
The only animals seen in the day time were herds of roaming deer, while at night to make his life more lonely, the barking of numerous coyotes and the howling of many wolves and incessant from the setting of the sun till early dawn. Such was the life of the man who first put your prairie grass lands under the plow and gradually made improvements to bring it up to the glory of today--an agricultural section on all sides of your city second to none found in the galaxy of states, now dotted by attractive homes and filled with a happy, prosperous and contented people.
One hundred years seems a short period in the life of a nation. Our own country has been slow in development and improvement, depending on the early pioneer who had the courage and the hardihood to blaze the way to the frontier--who dared to cross the prairies and climb the mountains that there should no longer be an undeveloped section from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or from the great lakes on the North to the gulf on the South.
My own father had a unique and just share in the development of a part of the middle West. He was born on December 8, 1812, near Washington, Pa., in the western part of the state--and when our Government was but 25 years old--where small farms were made by cutting down timber, splitting the best into rails--the rest into cord wood--grubbing out the stumps and filling up the holes, that he made up his mind by the time he attained his majority he would abandon the timber section of Pennsylvania and seek lands to be had at $1.25 an acre where he could at least begin a farm without first taking timber therefrom. He had read extensively and learned much of the rich soil and wide expanse of the prairies of the middle west and made up his mind that those of the central part of Illinois were good enough for him, so he and his brother, James Patterson, came to Washington township and bought adjoining tracts in 1836. They became leaders both as to farming and as to religious thought, being among the early founders of the Presbyterian church of your city.
My Uncle, Patterson Scott, had a young wife--had married Margaret W. Sample of Washington, Pa., on April 23, 1835, but my father remained single for some years after a family by the name of Hicks had come on from Zanesville, Ohio. They entered land two miles North of the Scott places. My grandfather Hicks was killed on their way West, the team running away--a line breaking--and in his attempt to leap on the back of one of the horses, his foot slipped from off the tongue and he fell beneath the wagon and was crushed to death under the wheels. They could not turn back, being far from home, and nothing in this predicament was left for them to do but bury the loved and loving father and husband by a wayside inn, and adopting the only motto possible: Move on! Move on to the West.
The oldest son, Israel Hicks, had to assume the responsibility and care of this large family, left in dire distress and in very moderate means. Well did he fill the leadership and task, and he spent all his years which were many on that same farm and in your city. His family consisted of a wife and one daughter, Julia, and she married George Kent who was known to most of your readers during his long life among you. All these relatives are burled in Washington cemetery.
My father married Asenath Hicks in 1847--a member of the above Hicks family. Mrs. George W. Tobias, who lived in your midst from 1874, passing on April 7, 1931, was a sister of the writer. It will also be noted that the coming 8th of December will be the 124th anniversary of my father's birth. His death occurred on the old Scott farm April 16, 1894.
Denver, Colorado.
Lincoln R. Scott
From the Galesburg Republican Register, April 18, 1894:
J. Randolph Scott was full of spunk.
A friend gives some interesting particulars about the late Randolph Scott, brother-in-law of Mrs. Orson B. Judson of whose death in Washington, Tazewell Co., Ill. (April 16, 1894), note was made yesterday.
Clear back in the forties he was a prominent abolitionist and was a conductor of the famous "Underground Railroad." His drive extended from Washington to Lowpoint. W. T. Hamilton says, "I have seen him many a time pass with a cargo of colored men. He was a small man, but as full of punch and pluck as an egg is of meat. On one occasion he piloted seven negroes through an ambuscade in safety. Although his ambuscade had been formed purposely to entrap him, yet those taking part had such a wholesome fear of him that at the last moment their courage gave out. Some of the people who were parties to this transaction are now in Washington, Illinois (1894)."
A letter of condolence to mother by one who had known and admired father for over 50 years: "Randolph Scott was no common man. His life was a remarkable one. He lived at a time when it took great courage to stand up for a principle as he did. We all admired him for his firmness and devotion to the right. He lived to see this great nation adopt his principles and acknowledge that the abolitionists were right. A most wonderful experience, indeed. I am glad that he was the man he was. His memory will remain long after his enemies are forgotten."
*****
Tazewell County Reporter, Washington, IL, Thursday, December 3, 1936, Page 1.
SOME HISTORY OF EARLY PIONEER FAMILY
Lincoln R. Scott of Denver Tells of His Father's Life Here 100 Years Ago.
The following article was contributed by Lincoln R. Scott of 1400 Garfield St., Denver, Col., and tells some of the hardships of the early settlers in Washington township. His father, J. Randolph Scott, settled here in 1836. Mr. Scott will furnish us two more articles, one on interesting incidents taking place in his father's life and the other on the slavery question and organization of the Republican party at Bloomington in 1854.
J. Randolph Scott
It may be of interest to the really old settlers of your city and community, and to the many readers of the Tazewell County Reporter, to touch upon a few incidents in the life of my father, J. Randolph Scott, who bought land of the Government three and a half miles southeast of your city in 1836. At that time the location was a great and wide expanse of prairie far out from the settlement in the timber which beautified the bluffs and hills on the east bank of the Illinois river. Across the river was a small Government fort called Fort Clark--and afterwards named Peoria.
It took courage to establish a residence some miles from the few settlers in the edge of the timber to the West, especially when the home (if such it might be called) consisted of a single room rial pen. The space between the rails to shut out the winds and the winter snows, were closed by bundles of tall blue joint and prairie grasses securely bound to the rails.
The only animals seen in the day time were herds of roaming deer, while at night to make his life more lonely, the barking of numerous coyotes and the howling of many wolves and incessant from the setting of the sun till early dawn. Such was the life of the man who first put your prairie grass lands under the plow and gradually made improvements to bring it up to the glory of today--an agricultural section on all sides of your city second to none found in the galaxy of states, now dotted by attractive homes and filled with a happy, prosperous and contented people.
One hundred years seems a short period in the life of a nation. Our own country has been slow in development and improvement, depending on the early pioneer who had the courage and the hardihood to blaze the way to the frontier--who dared to cross the prairies and climb the mountains that there should no longer be an undeveloped section from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or from the great lakes on the North to the gulf on the South.
My own father had a unique and just share in the development of a part of the middle West. He was born on December 8, 1812, near Washington, Pa., in the western part of the state--and when our Government was but 25 years old--where small farms were made by cutting down timber, splitting the best into rails--the rest into cord wood--grubbing out the stumps and filling up the holes, that he made up his mind by the time he attained his majority he would abandon the timber section of Pennsylvania and seek lands to be had at $1.25 an acre where he could at least begin a farm without first taking timber therefrom. He had read extensively and learned much of the rich soil and wide expanse of the prairies of the middle west and made up his mind that those of the central part of Illinois were good enough for him, so he and his brother, James Patterson, came to Washington township and bought adjoining tracts in 1836. They became leaders both as to farming and as to religious thought, being among the early founders of the Presbyterian church of your city.
My Uncle, Patterson Scott, had a young wife--had married Margaret W. Sample of Washington, Pa., on April 23, 1835, but my father remained single for some years after a family by the name of Hicks had come on from Zanesville, Ohio. They entered land two miles North of the Scott places. My grandfather Hicks was killed on their way West, the team running away--a line breaking--and in his attempt to leap on the back of one of the horses, his foot slipped from off the tongue and he fell beneath the wagon and was crushed to death under the wheels. They could not turn back, being far from home, and nothing in this predicament was left for them to do but bury the loved and loving father and husband by a wayside inn, and adopting the only motto possible: Move on! Move on to the West.
The oldest son, Israel Hicks, had to assume the responsibility and care of this large family, left in dire distress and in very moderate means. Well did he fill the leadership and task, and he spent all his years which were many on that same farm and in your city. His family consisted of a wife and one daughter, Julia, and she married George Kent who was known to most of your readers during his long life among you. All these relatives are burled in Washington cemetery.
My father married Asenath Hicks in 1847--a member of the above Hicks family. Mrs. George W. Tobias, who lived in your midst from 1874, passing on April 7, 1931, was a sister of the writer. It will also be noted that the coming 8th of December will be the 124th anniversary of my father's birth. His death occurred on the old Scott farm April 16, 1894.
Denver, Colorado.
Lincoln R. Scott
The Underground Railroad, by Emma J. Scott, Washington, IL, Page 17
From the Galesburg Republican Register, April 18, 1894:
J. Randolph Scott was full of spunk.
A friend gives some interesting particulars about the late Randolph Scott, brother-in-law of Mrs. Orson B. Judson of whose death in Washington, Tazewell Co., Ill. (April 16, 1894), note was made yesterday.
Clear back in the forties he was a prominent abolitionist and was a conductor of the famous "Underground Railroad." His drive extended from Washington to Lowpoint. W. T. Hamilton says, "I have seen him many a time pass with a cargo of colored men. He was a small man, but as full of punch and pluck as an egg is of meat. On one occasion he piloted seven negroes through an ambuscade in safety. Although his ambuscade had been formed purposely to entrap him, yet those taking part had such a wholesome fear of him that at the last moment their courage gave out. Some of the people who were parties to this transaction are now in Washington, Illinois (1894)."
A letter of condolence to mother by one who had known and admired father for over 50 years: "Randolph Scott was no common man. His life was a remarkable one. He lived at a time when it took great courage to stand up for a principle as he did. We all admired him for his firmness and devotion to the right. He lived to see this great nation adopt his principles and acknowledge that the abolitionists were right. A most wonderful experience, indeed. I am glad that he was the man he was. His memory will remain long after his enemies are forgotten."
*****
Tazewell County Reporter, Washington, IL, Thursday, December 3, 1936, Page 1.
SOME HISTORY OF EARLY PIONEER FAMILY
Lincoln R. Scott of Denver Tells of His Father's Life Here 100 Years Ago.
The following article was contributed by Lincoln R. Scott of 1400 Garfield St., Denver, Col., and tells some of the hardships of the early settlers in Washington township. His father, J. Randolph Scott, settled here in 1836. Mr. Scott will furnish us two more articles, one on interesting incidents taking place in his father's life and the other on the slavery question and organization of the Republican party at Bloomington in 1854.
J. Randolph Scott
It may be of interest to the really old settlers of your city and community, and to the many readers of the Tazewell County Reporter, to touch upon a few incidents in the life of my father, J. Randolph Scott, who bought land of the Government three and a half miles southeast of your city in 1836. At that time the location was a great and wide expanse of prairie far out from the settlement in the timber which beautified the bluffs and hills on the east bank of the Illinois river. Across the river was a small Government fort called Fort Clark--and afterwards named Peoria.
It took courage to establish a residence some miles from the few settlers in the edge of the timber to the West, especially when the home (if such it might be called) consisted of a single room rial pen. The space between the rails to shut out the winds and the winter snows, were closed by bundles of tall blue joint and prairie grasses securely bound to the rails.
The only animals seen in the day time were herds of roaming deer, while at night to make his life more lonely, the barking of numerous coyotes and the howling of many wolves and incessant from the setting of the sun till early dawn. Such was the life of the man who first put your prairie grass lands under the plow and gradually made improvements to bring it up to the glory of today--an agricultural section on all sides of your city second to none found in the galaxy of states, now dotted by attractive homes and filled with a happy, prosperous and contented people.
One hundred years seems a short period in the life of a nation. Our own country has been slow in development and improvement, depending on the early pioneer who had the courage and the hardihood to blaze the way to the frontier--who dared to cross the prairies and climb the mountains that there should no longer be an undeveloped section from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or from the great lakes on the North to the gulf on the South.
My own father had a unique and just share in the development of a part of the middle West. He was born on December 8, 1812, near Washington, Pa., in the western part of the state--and when our Government was but 25 years old--where small farms were made by cutting down timber, splitting the best into rails--the rest into cord wood--grubbing out the stumps and filling up the holes, that he made up his mind by the time he attained his majority he would abandon the timber section of Pennsylvania and seek lands to be had at $1.25 an acre where he could at least begin a farm without first taking timber therefrom. He had read extensively and learned much of the rich soil and wide expanse of the prairies of the middle west and made up his mind that those of the central part of Illinois were good enough for him, so he and his brother, James Patterson, came to Washington township and bought adjoining tracts in 1836. They became leaders both as to farming and as to religious thought, being among the early founders of the Presbyterian church of your city.
My Uncle, Patterson Scott, had a young wife--had married Margaret W. Sample of Washington, Pa., on April 23, 1835, but my father remained single for some years after a family by the name of Hicks had come on from Zanesville, Ohio. They entered land two miles North of the Scott places. My grandfather Hicks was killed on their way West, the team running away--a line breaking--and in his attempt to leap on the back of one of the horses, his foot slipped from off the tongue and he fell beneath the wagon and was crushed to death under the wheels. They could not turn back, being far from home, and nothing in this predicament was left for them to do but bury the loved and loving father and husband by a wayside inn, and adopting the only motto possible: Move on! Move on to the West.
The oldest son, Israel Hicks, had to assume the responsibility and care of this large family, left in dire distress and in very moderate means. Well did he fill the leadership and task, and he spent all his years which were many on that same farm and in your city. His family consisted of a wife and one daughter, Julia, and she married George Kent who was known to most of your readers during his long life among you. All these relatives are burled in Washington cemetery.
My father married Asenath Hicks in 1847--a member of the above Hicks family. Mrs. George W. Tobias, who lived in your midst from 1874, passing on April 7, 1931, was a sister of the writer. It will also be noted that the coming 8th of December will be the 124th anniversary of my father's birth. His death occurred on the old Scott farm April 16, 1894.
Denver, Colorado.
Lincoln R. Scott
From the Galesburg Republican Register, April 18, 1894:
J. Randolph Scott was full of spunk.
A friend gives some interesting particulars about the late Randolph Scott, brother-in-law of Mrs. Orson B. Judson of whose death in Washington, Tazewell Co., Ill. (April 16, 1894), note was made yesterday.
Clear back in the forties he was a prominent abolitionist and was a conductor of the famous "Underground Railroad." His drive extended from Washington to Lowpoint. W. T. Hamilton says, "I have seen him many a time pass with a cargo of colored men. He was a small man, but as full of punch and pluck as an egg is of meat. On one occasion he piloted seven negroes through an ambuscade in safety. Although his ambuscade had been formed purposely to entrap him, yet those taking part had such a wholesome fear of him that at the last moment their courage gave out. Some of the people who were parties to this transaction are now in Washington, Illinois (1894)."
A letter of condolence to mother by one who had known and admired father for over 50 years: "Randolph Scott was no common man. His life was a remarkable one. He lived at a time when it took great courage to stand up for a principle as he did. We all admired him for his firmness and devotion to the right. He lived to see this great nation adopt his principles and acknowledge that the abolitionists were right. A most wonderful experience, indeed. I am glad that he was the man he was. His memory will remain long after his enemies are forgotten."
*****
Tazewell County Reporter, Washington, IL, Thursday, December 3, 1936, Page 1.
SOME HISTORY OF EARLY PIONEER FAMILY
Lincoln R. Scott of Denver Tells of His Father's Life Here 100 Years Ago.
The following article was contributed by Lincoln R. Scott of 1400 Garfield St., Denver, Col., and tells some of the hardships of the early settlers in Washington township. His father, J. Randolph Scott, settled here in 1836. Mr. Scott will furnish us two more articles, one on interesting incidents taking place in his father's life and the other on the slavery question and organization of the Republican party at Bloomington in 1854.
J. Randolph Scott
It may be of interest to the really old settlers of your city and community, and to the many readers of the Tazewell County Reporter, to touch upon a few incidents in the life of my father, J. Randolph Scott, who bought land of the Government three and a half miles southeast of your city in 1836. At that time the location was a great and wide expanse of prairie far out from the settlement in the timber which beautified the bluffs and hills on the east bank of the Illinois river. Across the river was a small Government fort called Fort Clark--and afterwards named Peoria.
It took courage to establish a residence some miles from the few settlers in the edge of the timber to the West, especially when the home (if such it might be called) consisted of a single room rial pen. The space between the rails to shut out the winds and the winter snows, were closed by bundles of tall blue joint and prairie grasses securely bound to the rails.
The only animals seen in the day time were herds of roaming deer, while at night to make his life more lonely, the barking of numerous coyotes and the howling of many wolves and incessant from the setting of the sun till early dawn. Such was the life of the man who first put your prairie grass lands under the plow and gradually made improvements to bring it up to the glory of today--an agricultural section on all sides of your city second to none found in the galaxy of states, now dotted by attractive homes and filled with a happy, prosperous and contented people.
One hundred years seems a short period in the life of a nation. Our own country has been slow in development and improvement, depending on the early pioneer who had the courage and the hardihood to blaze the way to the frontier--who dared to cross the prairies and climb the mountains that there should no longer be an undeveloped section from the Atlantic to the Pacific, or from the great lakes on the North to the gulf on the South.
My own father had a unique and just share in the development of a part of the middle West. He was born on December 8, 1812, near Washington, Pa., in the western part of the state--and when our Government was but 25 years old--where small farms were made by cutting down timber, splitting the best into rails--the rest into cord wood--grubbing out the stumps and filling up the holes, that he made up his mind by the time he attained his majority he would abandon the timber section of Pennsylvania and seek lands to be had at $1.25 an acre where he could at least begin a farm without first taking timber therefrom. He had read extensively and learned much of the rich soil and wide expanse of the prairies of the middle west and made up his mind that those of the central part of Illinois were good enough for him, so he and his brother, James Patterson, came to Washington township and bought adjoining tracts in 1836. They became leaders both as to farming and as to religious thought, being among the early founders of the Presbyterian church of your city.
My Uncle, Patterson Scott, had a young wife--had married Margaret W. Sample of Washington, Pa., on April 23, 1835, but my father remained single for some years after a family by the name of Hicks had come on from Zanesville, Ohio. They entered land two miles North of the Scott places. My grandfather Hicks was killed on their way West, the team running away--a line breaking--and in his attempt to leap on the back of one of the horses, his foot slipped from off the tongue and he fell beneath the wagon and was crushed to death under the wheels. They could not turn back, being far from home, and nothing in this predicament was left for them to do but bury the loved and loving father and husband by a wayside inn, and adopting the only motto possible: Move on! Move on to the West.
The oldest son, Israel Hicks, had to assume the responsibility and care of this large family, left in dire distress and in very moderate means. Well did he fill the leadership and task, and he spent all his years which were many on that same farm and in your city. His family consisted of a wife and one daughter, Julia, and she married George Kent who was known to most of your readers during his long life among you. All these relatives are burled in Washington cemetery.
My father married Asenath Hicks in 1847--a member of the above Hicks family. Mrs. George W. Tobias, who lived in your midst from 1874, passing on April 7, 1931, was a sister of the writer. It will also be noted that the coming 8th of December will be the 124th anniversary of my father's birth. His death occurred on the old Scott farm April 16, 1894.
Denver, Colorado.
Lincoln R. Scott
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