Yolo County
Biographies
GEORGE WASHINGTON SCOTT
The late George W. Scott, who died on his home ranch near Madison, February 20, 1912, was long one of Yolo county’s leading farmers and influential citizens. He was a pioneer of the Sacramento Valley and was a real factor in the development and prosperity of this section of California. Mr. Scott was born near Ovid, Seneca county, New York, on the 19th of October, 1828, and was a member of an old American family. Some two hundred and twenty years ago three Scotchmen left their native land to help establish a colony in America. Eventually one settled in New Jersey, one in Connecticut and the other in Virginia, the third being the ancestor of George W. Scott. David Scott, the great-grandfather of George Washington Scott, was born in Connecticut, February 25, 1729, and one of his children was Gideon Scott, who was born in Connecticut, December 11, 1755, and who, with his brothers James, David and Thomas, took an active part as continental soldiers in the war of the Revolution. On October 17, 1779, Gideon Scott was married to Miss Anna Burt, who was born January 27, 1758, and they had eight children of whom David was married to Sarah Dunlap on January 1, 1805. To their union were born fifteen children, of whom George Washington, of this memoir, was the fourteenth in order of birth.
George W. Scott was reared and educated in the state of his birth and in 1847 went to Columbia county, Wisconsin, where he farmed for three years. In March, 1850, with seven comrades, he started across the plains, with ox teams and covered wagons, and arrived in Yolo county, California, in the following December. Soon afterwards he returned east, but in 1854 again came to Yolo county with his bride, whose maiden name was Emma Bloomer, whom he married December 13, 1853. He built a cabin on Buckeye creek, in Yolo county, and they began life in earnest in this new country. By hard and persistent industry, wisely directed, he prospered and in the course of time became the owner of a fine ranch of sixteen thousand acres, located near Madison, Yolo county.
To Mr. And Mrs. Scott were born seven children, as follows: Elveno, deceased; Clarence; Arthur; Elma, who is the widow of the late John H. Rice; Addie and Stella, who are deceased; and Charles, who died in 1908. Mr. Scott took and active part in local public affairs and gave his political support to the republican party, of which he served many years as a committeeman. He was a member of the board of supervisors of Yolo county, working hard and effectively for the best interests of the community and the county, and because of his progressive views as to public improvements, he took the lead in such matters. Kindly and generous in disposition, he gave liberal support to religious and educational interests and was numbered among the public-spirited and enterprising citizens of his locality.
Transcribed
by Craig Hahn.
Source: Wooldridge, J.W. Major History of the Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 2 pgs. 69-70. Pioneer Historical Publishing Co. Chicago
1931.
© 2005 Craig Hahn.
Golden Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies