James K. & Elizabeth Scott family

JAMES K. SCOTT s/o John Wilson & Nancy Keith Scott b. 12 or 18 Apr 1793 (source - SAR application of Lt. Chester C. Edwards), probably South Carolina (though he reported North Carolina in the 1850 census)  d. 5/6 Jun 1853 Dewitt co. Ill. (dropsy) m. ca. 1814 Elizabeth Scott  d/o Wilson Scott?  b. 7 Apr 1802? 7 Apr 1797? Tennessee  d. 24 Jun 1869 Winterset, Madison co. Iowa; buried Winterset City Cemetery.  James and Elizabeth were first cousins (per son Crafton's Civil War pension application, Thomas Franklin Scott's research, Ethel Scott Fraser's 1959 DAR application, and Mary Jane Bebout's 1960 DAR application), and her maiden name was Scott (per daughter Lucinda's second marriage record and Mary Jane Bebout's 1960 DAR application).  All records say James died on June 5th, but his obituary in the Bloomington Intelligencer says the 6th.

There was some confusion as to when and where Elizabeth died- one record said 1863 in Daviess co. Mo., another says 1874 or 1878 in Madison co. Iowa, and I don't know what the source is for any of them. She is listed in the 1870 mortality schedule for Madison county. The birthdate on her headstone, 1802, is difficult to believe as she would then be 18 years old in the 1820 census, with three children (the oldest born when she was ostensibly 13). Given her ages on census returns, my guess is that her true birthdate was 7 Apr 1797.

James was a minister in the Christian church, a physician, a justice of the peace, and served two terms in the state legislature from 1842-1846.  In the first election when Dewitt county was formed in 1839, he lost 263-206 in the race for Justice.  He was also foreman of the grand jury in Dewitt county in September 1847 and again in September 1848.  He is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, but there is no stone, and I don't think there ever was.  Elizabeth was said to have been returned to Illinois and buried in Rock Creek, but there is no stone for her there.

In 1840, James wrote a letter to a medical journal called "The Botanico Medical Recorder" that survives.  In it, he thanks Dr. A. Curtis for his "letter in relation to the health of my son [Lorenzo]", and says his "practice is so great that I have but little time to be at home, day or night".  He also says his "success is good in curing all curable diseases common in this country [but] [t]he most difficult... are chills and fevers, or cold extremities and warm head and body".  Curtis provided advice on curing chills, and admonished James, saying "[i]t is not right to neglect your own son, in your efforts to relieve the distressed.  Many [doctors] have neglected their own families and themselves also, till too late to do good... and this done injury instead of good to the cause".

In 1843, James and four other men were tasked with locating the county seat of Woodford county, Illinois, which they did at Metamora on 21 Feb 1845.

On 12 Feb 1850, James wrote a letter to Stephen A. Douglas, probably asking for help pleading the case for Dewitt county to recieve new construction projects from the state. 

In an affadavit for Crafton Scott's pension application dated 10 July 1877, Judge John J. McGraw (who had also been the executor of Lorenzo's estate) described James K. Scott as "a short stout man" and Elizabeth as "a frail weakly woman of a consumptive nature".

They had at least 8 children:
Author: Matt Scott