Gaddial D. Scott family


Standing left to right: Unknown (Reverend?), Charles Scott??, Enoch Scott?, John F. Hobbs??; seated left to right: James M. Scott??, Gaddial Scott, Sarah Margaret Clark Hobbs Scott, Jason Hobbs??  Believed (by me) to have been taken at the wedding of Enoch Scott, 8 or 9 April 1880.

GADDIAL D. SCOTT b. 9 Aug 1809 Jackson (now Clay) co. Tenn. s/o Andrew S. & Anna Longest Scott d. 18 Jun 1880 Knox township, Knox county, Illinois (just north of where the town of East Galesburg is today) m/1. 25 July 1833 Island Grove, Sangamon co. Ill. Susan M. Sexton b. 25 May 1810 Knox co. Ky. d. 22 Jan 1875 Knox co. Ill. d/o Jacob & Mary Burris Sexton. They moved from Sangamon co. to Knox co. Ill. on 6 Oct 1834, and lived 4 miles north of Knoxville, Ill.  Gaddial was the first settler of Knox county Illinois and plowed the first soil by the white man in Galesburg township.  He purchased land from the state in sections 3, 8, and 20 of Galesburg Township in 3 purchases in 1835, but settled in section 19.  He also later lived in Knox township.

From the 1878 History of Knox County, Illinois, published by Charles C. Chapman & Co., Chicago, pages 100-127: "In 1827 Andy Osborn, Andrew Scott, John Slatten and Gaddial Scott, four sturdy young men from Sangamon county, made a tour through this country (now Know co. Ill.) in search of honey.  They pushed ahead, over prairie and through timber, until Henderson Grove in this county was reached.  Here they discovered two well filled trees, and without trouble were soon possessors of their delicious contents.  They remained for one week, during which time they met neither white man nor negro.  The only persons these explorers met, from the time of their leaving Sangamon county until they returned, were a Mr. Atwood and his son, who lived south of the old Galena road... Mr. Gaddial Scott seemed to have formed a good impression of Knox county, for we find him moving here a few years after" (Andrew Osborn b. 1808 named his eldest son Gaddial).

Later in the same book: "Gaddial Scott, John Martz, Andrew Osborn, a Mr. Field and others, made a trip to Chicago one fall [ca. 1842].  They could get but twenty-five cents a bushel for their wheat in this county; so they thought they would try the Chicago market, which was considerably better for them, as they received sixty-five cents a bushel, which they then regarded as a large price, although they were eleven days an a half in making the trip.  Allowing thirty bushels to the load, we find they received $19.50 for the wheat, which, calculating the time spent in marketing, is less than $1.70 a day for man and team.  But when we reckon the time and labor spent in growing, harvesting, threshing and cleaning it, especially with their antique and much inferior machinery, we find the compensations received for labor in those days were meager indeed.  Several little incidents occurred during the trip of the above mentioned gentlemen.  Mr. Scott had never visited the city before, and when hey came in sight of it, noticing the masts of the ships which lay in the river, he thought they were a strip of dead timber.  On reaching the city and when near the river, driving along on one of the busy streets, he was so much interested in the tall masts of the shipping that he forgot to notice his team, which run into the one ahead of him, smashing the feed-box, which was always carried on the rear end of the wagon bed.  A dog they had along became so bewildered at the sights of the city that it forgot to follow its master closely, and was accordingly lost.  Several days afterward, however, it returned home, with no desire whatever to take another trip to Chicago.

Mr. Scott brought three barrels of salt home with him, for which he paid $1.50 per barrel; the price for that article here being $3 per bushel.  Jonathan Gibbs says he paid that price for salt in 1838, getting fifty-six pounds to the bushel.  One cause for this staple article being so high was that the Illinois river was so shallow that navigation on it was prevented"

And later: "In 1836 Gaddial Scott paid his taxes, which amounted to $1.37 ½ , with a wolf scalp and 37 ½ cents in money, being three silver pieces of 12 ½ cents each, or three “bits,” as they were called in that early day.  This was the full amount of taxes upon about $1,100 worth of property".

There has also been recorded this story: "The many sudden changes in the weather during the winter of 1836 are often referred to by old settlers. The following is especially worthy of note. Gaddial Scott took a load of dressed hogs to Henderson, a distance of six miles. There were several inches of snow on the ground, but rain was falling slowly, and consequently the snow was turned to slush, and it was with great difficulty that he could proceed with his heavy load. The road continued to grow softer all the way until he reached the town. No change in the weather was noticed when he begun to unload his hogs, which took him about twenty minutes. Before he had taken the last hog from his sleigh, the horses, previously wet by perspiration, were covered with ice. A great cloud from the northwest came up, and the ground, covered with snow, and water were so suddenly frozen, that, in his own words, he "drove home just as though he was on a sea of ice."

In some of the Sexton family records ("Sexton," by Patricia Patton), Gaddial is listed as "Trail Scott".  I don't know why, but I don't know the source of the name "Gaddial", either.

After Susan died, Gaddial moved to near Galesburg, Ill. and m/2. 9 Nov 1876 Knox co. Ill. Sarah Margaret Clark Hobbs b. 9 Sep 1824 Pa. or Cadiz, Harrison Co., Ohio  d. 10 Jun 1880 Knox township, Knox co. Ill. (eight days before Gaddial Scott died); buried Hope cemetery, Galesburg, Knox co. Ill., d/o Thomas & Eleanor Barr Clark. Sarah had m/1. Athan W. Hobbs and had 4 children.

On 5 Jun 1880- 5 days before Sarah died and 13 before Gaddial died- the census taker visited their home.  Gaddial was listed as suffering from dropsey (edema- an accumulation of fluids in the tissues, usually from congestive heart failure); Sarah was listed as suffering from stomach cancer and as bedridden.

From his obituary: "Mr. Scott's fine social powers and excellent qualities of heart made for him many warm friends. The hundreds of people at the funeral, many of them coming ten and fifteen miles, showed a general sorrow at the death of one who was universally respected".

There is a headstone in the Knoxville Cemetery in Knox county Illinois for an Anna Scott, died 8 Sep 1832 age 2 years, 1 month, 21 days (so born 18 Jul 1830). There were no Scotts in Knox county in the 1830 census.

Gaddial and Susan had at least 7 and as many as 13 children (his obituary supposedly states that Susan bore him 13 children, but the version I have says they had "a large family of children, seven of whom lived to be grown, but only two are now living [1880]):