Commemorative Biographical Record of Fairfield County, Connecticut

ident of the Connecticut State Editorial Associa- tion, and chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Editorial Association. In mat- ters pertaining to the public welfare he has ever taken an active interest, among which may be mentioned the two-cent-per-mile railroad rate in Connecticut, which he was instrumental in hav- ing fixed. In all things he is enterprising and public-spirited, and to all the positions he has been called to fill he has brought a highly dis- ciplined and well-equipped mind. HON. HIRAM KEELER SCOTT, of Ridge- field, where he has been a most prominent man for fifty years, enjoys the rare distinction seldom given to any man — that of more than a half century's continuous service to the public. A record of thirty-three years as judge of probate, thirty-five as town clerk, thirty-five as justice of the peace, and many years as postmaster and school-teacher, in one community, needs no com- ment. This venerable gentleman, though nearly an octogenarian, is still "in harness" — keeping the town records. He has descended from ancestors who have been identified with the growth and development of the town of Ridgefield for nearly 200 years. David Scott, the first of the Fair- field county Scotts, came from P'airfield, Conn., in 17 1 2, and bought a portion of the 20,000-acre tract of the Purchase of 1708 from the Rampo tribe of Indians. This tract purchased by David Scott embraced about one twenty-eighth part of the town of Ridgefield, and is known as " Scott's Ridge." The land was bought from Mary Bou- ton (widow of John Bouton) and children June II, 1712. David Scott was a farmer by occu- pation. On coming to the town of Ridgefield he brought with him a son, Janaes, who on April 24, 1722, married Hannah Hyatt, and had children: Thomas, born February 3, 1725; David, born February 24, 1727; Sarah, born August 12, 1729; and Hannah, born October 3, 1731. David Scott (2), the direct ancestor in line succeeded to a portion of his father's estate, and resided thereon during his lifetime. He married on August 4, 175 I, Hannah Smith, and the marriage was blessed with the following children: David (3), born June 11, 1752; James, born January 2, 1754, married September 6, 1782, Lucretia Olmsted; Gideon, born December 12, 1755, mar- ried Annie Burt; Sarah, born February 11, 1758, married a Mr. Mather, of Darien; Jeremiah, born Feb. 10, 1770, married, in 1794, Amelia Wake- man; Gould, born June 28, 1778; Thomas, born February 14, 1763; Hannah, born April 26, 1765, . o 1- (■•(■ ''V jMK'M^^J^iI^F ^^^^^^^^^^^ p- ■ • ^,_ , ' 'i^^HHHniHH^'' .^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H f/ H^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^^^^^^H ^,,.;''^^||| ■■ e ottr~- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 137 married August 26, 1783, Josiah Osborne; Rane, born January 3, 1768, married, November 29, 1789, John Barlow, of Ridgefield; Phoebe, born Jan. 24, 1760; Thaddeus, born September 3, 1775; and Amy, born May 10, 1772. Of these, James, Jeremiah and Gould settled on Scott's Ridge, where they lived and died, leaving many descendants. It appears from the town records that the Scott and Olmsted families took an act- ive part in local affairs. James Scott was one of the committee of safety in Ridgefield during the Revolutionary war. James Scott (2), the grandfather of Hiram Keeler Scott, was an agriculturist, devoting his life exclusively to that vocation. He possessed a tract of three or four hundred acres of land. His children were: Sally, born March 3, 1783, married David Pulling; David, born March 20, 1785, married Betsey Burr, of Redding (grand- parents of Judge Howard B. Scott); Nathan, born December 12, 1781, married Sally Burr, of Redding; Hazekiah, born December 25, 1789, married (first) Delia Foster, of Redding, and (second) Laura Odell, of Norwalk; James (3) is mentioned more fully farther on; Smith, born November 1, 1794, married Sally Burr, daughter of Benjamin Burr; Timothy Olmsted, born Janu- ary 12, 1797, married Betsey Seymour, and lived to be ninety-four years of age; Lucretia, born January 15, 1801, married Halsted Hoyt, of South Salem, N. Y. , and later of Scotland Dis- trict, Fairfield Co., Conn., and there died; Daniel Gould, born April 13, 1803, married Elizabeth Waterbury, of Stamford. Of these, James, David, Nathan, Hezekiah, Timothy Olm- sted, and Lucretia resided in Scotland District, and there died. James Scott (3) was born April 2, 1792, and learned the trade of a silversmith, which he followed until about 1840, when he turned his attention to farming, owning a little farm of some fifty acres. He was a well-informed man, and made a good citizen in the community. He was a prosperous farmer. He was twice married, first time to Sally Keeler, of Rridgefield, who was a daughter of Benjamin and Eunice (Olmsted) Keeler (though a different Sally Keeler from the one that married Smith Scott), and the children born to them were: Delia, who died when two years of age; and Hiram Keeler, who is mentioned more fully farther on; the mother of these died June 3, 1855, and the father was again married, this time to Joanna Everett, of Brewster, N. Y. (a daughter of Charles Everett), who bore him one son — James Everett — born in 1856, died on a large stock ranch of 800 acres of land which he owned in North Dakota (he left no issue). Hiram Keeler Scott was born in Scotland Dis- trict, town of Ridgefield, April 24, 1822, the dis- trict deriving its name from the Scott family. He was educated in the common district school, receiving the benefit it affords until si.xteen years of age. At nineteen he began teaching, and fol- lowed the profession three winters. He then went to Ridgefield, and on October i, 1846, took charge of the village school, which he taught for three years. By applying himself he soon be- came a man of good information, and well educated. In 1849 he was appointed the village postmaster, and held the office one term of four years. In 1868 he was again appointed to the same position, and remained in office until 1886; and again served as such under President Cleve- land, making in all twenty-eight years. In 1850, at the age of twenty-eight years, he was elected to the State Legislature, his colleague being David Hurlburt, and was the youngest member, excepting one, in that body. He was elected as a Whig, and served one term. In 1852, after the close of his first administration as postmaster, he was elected town clerk, and in 1854 he was elected judge of probate court. He held the office of town clerk from 1852 to 1861, and since 1872 he has continued serving the people in that capacity. His re-election to that office on October 5, 1896, made the thirty-fourth time he had been chosen by the ballots of his fellow townsmen. He served the people as probate judge for thirty-three years and nine months, at the close of which poriod he was barred from further service by the seventy-year age limitation. He has, however, ever since served as clerk of that court. In 1857 he began carrying on a general store in Ridgefield, which he continued in until September i, 1895 (for four years past it has been solely a drug store). So long a period of service in one community is a sufficient guar- antee of Mr. Scott's standing and worth as a man and citizen, as well of his ability. He has most faithfully discharged the various duties left to and trusts imposed in him, in a manner that has re- flected great credit to himself. His records are models of neatness, and reveal the business-like manner of his methodical and systematic life. Justice Scott was the trial justice for rtiost busi- ness in that line during his long official career, and his decisions were characterized by good judgment. He has been a member of Pilgrim Lodge No. 46, I. O. O. F., since 1847. In 1859 he was grand master of the Grand Lodge of the State, and that year attended the Grand Lodge of the United States held in Baltimore, Md., and again when it was held at Nashville, Tenn., in i860. He has taken great interest and is promi- nent in Masonic circles. He was initiated into 138 COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the F. & A. M., in January, 1848; was master of Jerusalem Lodge, No. 49, for fifteen years, and is a member of Crusader Commandery, Knights Templar, of Danbury. In militia days he was a prominent character in military affairs. In 1843 he was chosen colonel of the 24th Regiment Connecticut Militia, and re- mained in command until the militia of the State was succeeded by the National Guard. In 1862, during the Civil war, he organized a company of National Guard in Ridgefield, was chosen its cap- tain, and as such served five years. In 1867 he was one of several that organized the Ridgefield & New York R. R. , of which he is still secretary and treasurer. He has been through a long life, as may be judged from the foregoing, a kind of a "general utility man " in the community, his fel- low-citizens having the greatest confidence in his ability to further to success anything he under- takes, and in his integrity. In short, he has been a successful and a most useful man. He is a member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, of which for eight years past he has been treasurer. He is clerk of No. 6, Central District. Judge Scott has been married three times. By his second wife, Lizzie M. Gorham, daughter of David Gorham, of Westport, Conn., he had five children, viz.: Carrie, who is married to Charles D. W. Taylor, of Ridgefield, now resid- ing in Denver, Colo.; Hiram K., Jr., born in 1869, married to Lottie A. Ellis, and residing in Ridgefield; George G. , born in 1871, who mar- ried Faustina Jennings, and resides in Ridgefield; Gertrude Adams, born in 1872, wife of William H. Farrelly, of New Milford, Conn., now living in Bristol, R. I.; and David Francis, born in 1879, deceased in 1882. The mother of these died in 1880. Mr. Scott's present wife was Mary J. Studwell, daughter of John E. Studwell, of Ridgefield. M ELBERT B. GARY. As lawyer and states- man this gentleman is widely known all