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JOHN SCOTT - This well known and highly esteemed citizen of Cartwright township, whose home is on section 34, devotes his time and energies to farming and stock raising and in his undertakings is meeting with good success. He is a native of Sangamon county, born in Island Grove township, January 14, 1855. His father, David Scott, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, and there his boyhood and youth were passed. In 1848, when a young man, he came to the United States, and the following year took up his residence in Sangamon county, Illinois, where he was married, in 1851, to Miss Martha Blair, a native of County Antrim, Ireland. For a number of years they made their home on a farm in Island Grove township and then removed to Morgan county, Illinois, but at the end of ten years returned to this county, the father purchasing a farm in Cartwright township, on which he made his home until called to his final rest in March, 1896. His wife still survives him and resides with a son in this county. This worthy couple were the parents of eight children, of whom John is the eldest son, the others being James, who died April 27, 1904; William, a farmer of this county; Thomas, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume; Robert, who lives on the old home farm with his mother; Charles D., who died in October, 1900, after reaching manhood; Mary, wife of John L. Funk, now of Butler county, Kansas; and the youngest, who died at the age of eight months.
During early life John Scott went to Morgan county with his parents and with them returned to Sangamon county ten years later. He is indebted to the common schools of this state for the educational privileges he enjoyed during his boyhood and youth, and under the able direction of his father he gained a good knowledge of all kinds of farm work. He remained under the parental roof, assisting in carrying on the home farm until twenty-nine years of age. After his marriage he located on the farm in Cartwright township, where he now resides, and after renting it for several years he bought one hundred and sixty acres in 1891 and one hundred and twenty acres in 1902. In connection with the operation of his own land he is engaged in the cultivation of about four hundred acres more. The improvements he has made upon his farm are of a good, substantial character, and the neat and thrifty appearance of the place shows the owner to be a thorough and progressive farmer. For the past ten years he has made a specialty of the breeding and raising of stock, feeding on an average of two carloads of steers and a large number of hogs annually. He has found this branch of his business quite remunerative, and in all his undertakings he is now meeting with good success.
On the 12th of February, 1884, in Island Grove township, Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Wilcox a native of that township and a daughter of William Wilcox, who came to this county in 1823 from Kentucky and died here in 1882. Two children bless this union, John M. and Mary, both at home.
The Republican party finds in Mr. Scott a stanch supporter of its principles, but he has never cared for political honors, preferring to devote his entire time and attention to his business interests. As most of his life has been passed in Sangamon county, he has been an eyewitness of her growth and upbuilding, and in the work of progress and advancement he has ever borne his part as a useful and enterprising citizen. He is widely and favorably known as a man of sterling worth and he well merits the confidence so freely accorded him.