WI BIO - Wood Co - SCOTT, Thomas Blythe

History of Northern Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, v 2, p 1206
With additions from an address given by Hon. A. T. CURTIS in 1886 at the 
Methodist Church, Merrill, Wisconsin, published on 08 February 1921 in the 
Wisconsin Rapids "Tribune," the recollections of Sarah Wood BALDERSTON and 
Henry SAMPSON included in the address of A. T. CURTIS; the History of Wood 
County, Wisconsin. Jones, McVean et al, comps. Minneapolis: H. C. Cooper Jr. 
& Company, 1923; and the Commemorative Biographical Record of Upper Wisconsin 
Counties of Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, 
Langlade, and Shawano ... Chicago: Beers, 1895.)

Hon. Thomas B. [Blythe] SCOTT was born [08 February] 1829 at [Rexburyshire] 
Scotland, and his early boyhood was spent there. His parents immigrated to 
America in 1839 and settled in New York, where Thomas B. SCOTT attended 
school and obtained the rudiments of a good common school education. [Henry 
SAMPSON recalls that "in 1856 Mr. T. B. SCOTT and his brother, James, owned 
and operated a general store at the present site of the Wood County National 
Bank building." Was James SCOTT, born 25 December 1898 in Wood County, 
Wisconsin, a son of James, the brother of Thomas B. SCOTT? James SCOTT, the 
brother of Thomas B. SCOTT, may be the "James SCOTT" enumerated in the 1860 
Census of Grand Rapids, Wood County, which shows James to be twenty-six years 
of age, by calculation born about 1836, merchant, born in Scotland, residing 
with his wife, Augusta, aged twenty-five, born (about 1835) in Prussia.] 

[The 1860 Census of Grand Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin, where Thomas B. 
SCOTT is listed as thirty years of age, supports a date of birth before the 
summer of 1829 and confirms Scotland as his birthplace.] In 1848 Thomas B. 
SCOTT removed to Columbia County, Wisconsin, [settling in Poynette] where he 
engaged in mercantile and lumber business until 1851. [In Poynette, Columbia 
County, Wisconsin, Thomas B. SCOTT conducted a small store with a Mr. 
CARMICHAEL]

Thomas B. SCOTT then [in 1851] removed to Grand Rapids [Grand Rapids in Wood 
County, Wisconsin; not Grand Rapids, Michigan], where he has since resided. 
[The village of Grand Rapids merged with the village of Centralia, these 
having been located across the Wisconsin River from each other, and in June 
1921 they were renamed the city of Wisconsin Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin.] 
He first engaged in manufacturing lumber there in 1855, since which time he 
has almost exclusively engaged himself in that business. [Another early 
pioneer, Sarah Wood BALDERSTON, recalled the day in 1851 when Thomas Blythe 
SCOTT arrived in Grand Rapids after packing some merchandise and traveling by 
stagecoach in 1851 to the little settlement of Grand Rapids on the Wisconsin 
River, where he became a resident. She wrote, "The coming of the stage was 
always a notable event. One day it brought Thomas SCOTT with two barrels of 
merchandise. Near where the Wood County Bank now stands, Thomas emptied his 
barrels, put boards across them, spread out his merchandise, and went into 
business."]

[A. T. CURTIS characterizes the early lumber business of Mr. SCOTT as a 
successful "lumber brokerage business," and adds that besides being a 
successful storekeeper and lumber broker, Thomas Blythe SCOTT was also a 
successful farmer and mill owner. A.T. CURTIS, who was also of Merrill, 
characterizes Thomas B. SCOTT as "a pioneer and leading citizen of Merrill, 
who was an active businessman of good judgment, calm, reserved, and 
courteous, but firm in character." Mr. CURTIS relates that Thomas B. SCOTT's 
reputation in the business world was "such that he was able to command large 
sums of money, and that he acted as a private banker in furnishing needed 
funds to the pioneer lumbermen of the Wisconsin Valley, and thereby helping 
to build up and develop its resources." Thomas B. SCOTT is identified by Mr. 
CURTIS as one of the leaders in the Republican party in Wisconsin, who 
"always used his influence in a constructive way and not for personal or 
political gain." A. T. CURTIS relates that he became well acquainted with 
Mr. SCOTT, and "looked up to him as an ideal American, one to pattern after," 
stating that he had "the highest love and respect" for him.]

[Recalling that he met some of Thomas B. SCOTT's associates from outside of 
Wisconsin, Mr. CURTIS states that he "knew of the high regard that they had 
for the sterling worth" of Thomas B. SCOTT. A. T. CURTIS recalls his own 
first trip to Chicago in 1879, where he met Mr. Henry CORWITH of Galena [Jo 
Daviess County], Illinois, whom CURTIS states "was a friend and associate 
with Mr. SCOTT in furnishing funds to lumbermen." Among the lumbermen 
financed at times by Mr. Thomas B. SCOTT was R. STREETOR, who built a mill 
east of Seneca Corners, which later became known as the H. HEISER Farm. 
William SCOTT, a brother [of Thomas B. SCOTT], helped to look after this mill 
for three years. Thomas B. SCOTT also financed Sam CARPOL, whose mill was on 
the Pittsville Road where it crosses Hemlock Creek, a Mr. GERARD and a Mr. 
DRAKE, at Vesper, Wood County, and Frances BIRON, at Biron, an unincorporated 
village formerly in Grand Rapids Township (now in Rudolph Township), on the 
east bank of the Wisconsin River in Wood County. One history of Wood County 
relates, "As early as 1839 Faye [means FAY] & Draper [Harrison Kellogg FAY 
and John DRAPER] put up a sawmill here [in Biron, Wood County, then in the 
Territory of Wisconsin] and sawed the first lumber in this vicinity. Francis 
BIRON, after whom the town was named, came here in 1840 and bought the mill 
in 1846."]

[A. T. CURTIS elaborates: "In those early days there were no railroads or 
telegraph lines in this part of Wisconsin, and all the lumber that was 
manufactured on the Wisconsin River ... had to be rafted in and run down the 
river to St. Louis and other points on the Mississippi River where lumber 
buyers were located. To avoid the inconvenience and delay of running the 
lumber down to different points on the Mississippi and then hunting up a 
buyer after the lumber had arrived, Mr. SCOTT used to arrange with different 
lumbermen to find purchasers for their lumber on its arrival at St. Louis or 
other points, and for this service he used to receive a small percentage of 
the price per thousand feet at which the lumber sold. He [Thomas B. SCOTT] 
was in company for a time with Henry CORWITH, a rich banker of Galena [Jo 
Daviess County], Illinois, and they advanced money to lumber men on the river 
to enable them to market their lumber, the money to be repaid when the lumber 
reached the market. For this service a certain rate of interest was charged, 
which, with the commissions on the sales of lumber, made this a quite 
profitable part of Mr. SCOTT's business in those early days. These pursuits 
occupied Mr. SCOTT's attention during his first few years at Grand Rapids.]

[A. T. CURTIS summarizes the life of and achievements of Thomas B. SCOTT by 
saying that they were "so inseparably woven into the warp and woof of the 
life of this city [Merrill, Wood County, Wisconsin] from its earliest 
infancy, that to record his achievements would be in part to write a history 
of the growth and development of this city and surrounding territory. After 
all, the history of every city is to a great extent, the history of the 
achievements of its foremost citizens, and in the larger sense, the history 
of countries is the history of the achievements of the generals, explorers, 
and statesmen whose policies have made for the betterment of the human race."]

[The 1881 biography continues:] For ten years previous to 1877, he [Thomas 
B. SCOTT] did an immense business, having yards in Dubuque [Dubuque County], 
Iowa, and St. Louis [St. Louis County], Missouri. In 1870 he became 
interested in the saw mill, run by water power, at Merrill [Wood County, 
Wisconsin], and is now [the sole] owner. He manufactures 10,000,000 [feet of 
lumber] per year. Thomas B. SCOTT is head of the firm of T. B. Scott & Son, 
merchants, and a member of the firm of Ross, McCord & Company, bankers at 
Merrill.]

[The 1881 biography continues] In December 1853 [one secondary source has 
1854] in Grand Rapids [Wood County], Wisconsin, Mr. Thomas B. SCOTT married 
Miss Ann Eliza NEEVES, daughter of George and Mary NEEVES. [The 1860 Census 
of Grand Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin, lists the family of Thomas B. SCOTT, 
lumberman, age thirty, born in Scotland, by calculation born about 1830; and 
his wife, Ann Eliza SCOTT, age twenty-three, born in Pennsylvania, by 
calculation about 1830; and three children [given in the next paragraph]. 
The parents of Mrs. SCOTT, George and Mary NEEVES, are also enumerated in the 
1860 Census of Grand Rapids: George NEEVES, age forty-seven, thus born about 
1813, lumberman; $20,000; $5,000; born in England; Mary NEEVES, his wife, age 
forty-six years, born in England, by calculation about 1814; a son , (1) 
George A. NEEVES, age nineteen years, born in Illinois, by calculation about 
1841; a son, (2) Orlando NEEVES, aged thirteen years, born in Wisconsin, by 
calculation about 1847; and a son, (3) William NEEVES, age eleven years, 
also born in Wisconsin, by calculation about 1849. "William NEEVES" is 
referred to at times in Wood County histories as "William B. NEEVES." The 
father, George NEEVES, died on 10 or 11 June 1878, depending on the secondary 
source one reads. The death certificate of George NEEVES, not sought or 
viewed by submitter, may provide the correct date. Researchers are 
encouraged to note the date of death on any death certificate in light of 
when it was filed. It was not uncommon for an overworked early doctor to 
file several death certificates at the same time, the lag time between the 
date of death of any certificate and its filing date casting suspicion on the 
accuracy of the doctor's record keeping and memory.]

[Also enumerated in the 1860 Census for Grand Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin, 
in the same dwelling and family with George and Mary NEEVES and sons are two 
servants and sixteen boarders. In 1853 George NEEVES built an hotel, the 
Wisconsin House. This hotel later burned, but the submitter, who did not 
look up the date of the fire in old newspapers or the exact location of the 
hotel in old directories, does not make the assumption, although a 
logical one, that the 1860 census enumeration for the NEEVE family was indeed 
the dwelling known as the Wisconsin House.]

[The life of Thomas B. SCOTT is so inseparably intertwined with those of other 
early settlers, such as George NEEVES, Henry RABLIN, and Jeremiah D. WITTER, 
and John EDWARDS Jr., that it is impossible to obtain a clearer picture of 
Thomas B. SCOTT unless one looks at his activities collectively in light of 
those of other early settlers. In 1839 George NEEVES came to Grand Rapids, 
then in the Territory of Wisconsin, locating at the southern end and platting 
a part of the town. George NEEVES is characterized as an enterprising and 
industrious pioneer who helped build up the town of Grand Rapids; he was one 
of the organizers of the Toll Bridge Company. In 1840 Henry RABLIN took up 
land on Sections 29 and 33 of Town 23 North, Range 6 East, which was then the 
town of Rudolph, adjacent to and including at that time a small portion of 
Grand Rapids. Thomas B. SCOTT also took up land in 1840 in Town 23 North, 
Range 6 East, on nearby Section 30. The State of Wisconsin was created from 
land formerly in the Territory of Wisconsin on 29 May 1848. In 1854 Thomas 
B. SCOTT also entered land in Sections 11, 14, 15, and 25 in Township 23 
North, Range 5 East, which was the town of Sigel in Wood County, south of the 
town of Rudolph. This land was probably acquired for lumbering purposes.]

[The 1860 Census of Grand Rapids, Wood County, Wisconsin, reveals that John 
RABLIN, then age forty-five, was a lumberman, his assets given as $2,000 and 
$12,000, who was born in England, by calculation about 1815. His wife, 
Elizabeth, aged forty-seven, was also born in England, by calculation about 
1813. The 1860 census enumerates the children of John and Elizabeth RABLIN 
as: (1) Sarah Ann, age nineteen, born (about 1841) in Illinois; (2) John, 
age fifteen, born (about 1845) in Wisconsin; (3) Henry, age twelve, born 
(about 1847) in Wisconsin; (4) Catharine, age ten years, born (about 1850) 
in Wisconsin; (5) Susan, age six, born (about 1854) in Wisconsin; and (6) 
Lavinia, age two, born (about 1858) in Wisconsin. A granddaughter of John 
RABLIN was a Mrs. Clara (RABLIN) NELSON, so there were probably more children 
born after the 1860 census was enumerated.]

[In the winter of 1868-1869, John RABLIN built an hotel in Grand Rapids known 
as the Rablin House, which burned 11 June 1880, two days before a big flood 
of the Wisconsin River. In 1869 John RABLIN built the first machine shop in 
Grand Rapids. One Wood County history states this machine shop was converted 
about 1851 by George NEEVES into a steam-powered flour mill, which became 
known as "Neeves Mill." The other says that in 1882 Mr. C. A. PODAWILTZ 
remodeled the machine shop of John RABLIN, making it into a flour mill, and 
that the NEEVES brothers, George A. NEEVES (who according to the Wisconsin 
Blue Book was a Republican member of the Wisconsin Assembly during the 1872 
session and a resident of Grand Rapids) and W. B. NEEVES, sons of George 
NEEVES, the pioneer, joined with Mr. C. A. PODAWILTZ and organized the Grand 
Rapids Flouring Mill. Later they sold to T. E. NASH, who with his brother, 
John NASH, operated it as the "Nash Brothers Flouring Mill."]

[Wood County histories differ as to the exact year and incorporators names of 
the Grand Rapids Flouring Mill Company, familiarly known as "Neeves Mill." 
One states the old machine shop of John RABLIN was remodeled and converted to 
a flour mill by C. A. PODAWILTZ in 1882, he having incorporated with George 
A. NEEVES and William B. NEEVES as the Grand Rapids Flouring Mill Company, 
this firm purchasing the property from Welcome HYDE. The other gives the 
date as 20 October 1883, but lists the incorporators as C. A. PODAWILTZ, 
George A. NEEVES, William B. NEEVES, and Mary NEEVES, and states the company 
was called the Grand Rapids Pouring Mill Company, manufacturers of flour and 
feed. The Grand Rapids Flouring Mill Company and the Grand Rapids Pouring 
Mill Company may have been two separate firms. Purchase or incorporation 
agreements would establish which names and dates are correct. If those 
records have not survived, then old business directories for the Grand Rapids 
area should may list the names of flour and feed companies and identify their 
proprietors.]

[Wood County histories also disagree how long "Neeves Mill" was operated. 
One maintains that the mill was operated until 1891, when the NASH brothers, 
Thomas E. and John L., bought the property, "Neeves Mill" then becoming known 
as the "Nash Mill." Another states that Thomas E. and John L. NASH operated 
the mill until it burned on 11 June 1889. Again a purchase agreement should 
clarify when Neeves Mill was sold. Lacking that, the sale of the mill and 
the fire which consumed it would probably have been noted in local 
newspapers. Some mills carried fire insurance, and newspaper stories about 
fires usually noted the value of any property lost and whether the owner was 
covered by fire insurance.]

[One Wood County history states that "in 1872 George NEEVES, Thomas B. SCOTT, 
and J. D. WITTER organized the First National Bank at its original location 
opposite the Witter Hotel." Jeremiah D. WITTER was also from New York, and 
settled in Grand Rapids in 1859. The other history, which characterizes 
Jeremiah D. WITTER as "an attorney who loved finance and promotion better 
than law," states that "a few years after his arrival," Jeremiah D. WITTER 
"founded the First National Bank in Grand Rapids." The histories agree that 
Jeremiah D. WITTER, was a Grand Rapids banker who also had a bank just across 
the Wisconsin River from Grand Rapids in Centralia. As one history puts it, 
"Money seemed to cling to his fingers and it was not long before he was 
promoting and financing power sites and mills on both sides of the river."]

[Wood County histories agree that Jeremiah D. WITTER was active in the merger 
between Centralia and Grand Rapids, a vote which joined the cities in 1900, 
which in June 1921 were renamed Wisconsin Rapids. One entirely credits 
Jeremiah D. WITTER for the merger of water powers on the Wisconsin River at 
Grand Rapids, stating, "It was he who finally broke down the opposition of 
antagonism and dispute, and he was responsible for the consolidation in 1901 
of all the water powers on the river inside the limits of the community and 
built that same year [1901] the beginnings of Consolidated Water Power & 
Paper Company."]

[One Wood County history notes that "J. D. WITTER" built an addition onto the 
First National Bank which housed the T. B. SCOTT Free Public Library. When 
Thomas B. SCOTT died he left $5,000 to the city of Grand Rapids to establish 
and maintain a free public library. It cannot be assumed, however, that J. 
D. WITTER and Jeremiah D. WITTER are the same person. Submitter did not, for 
example, check censuses to determine if Jeremiah D. WITTER or another WITTER 
had a son named J. D."]

[Some interesting questions unresearched by the submitter remain regarding 
WITTER. A "Mrs. KNAPP" was a sister of J. D. WITTER. Was this Mrs. KNAPP 
connected by marriage to a KNAPP involved with the Knapp, Stout & Company, 
the largest lumber company that existed in Wisconsin history? Additionally, 
what was the relationship between Jeremiah D. WITTER and George F. WITTER, 
who is also enumerated in the 1860 census of Grand Rapids, Wood County, 
Wisconsin? In 1860 George F. WITTER was a twenty-nine-year-old physician, 
also born in New York (about 1831), residing in Grand Rapids with his wife 
Frances L., age twenty-four, born in New York.]

[The 1881 biography continues with the children of Thomas B. and Ann Eliza 
(NEEVES) SCOTT]: (1) Cassia M., aged twenty-four [biography published 1881, 
thus Cassia M. SCOTT [Mary C. SCOTT?] was born about 1857; she is listed in 
the 1860 Census of Grand Rapids as "Mary C. SCOTT" aged four years, the 
census thus placing her birth about 1856]; (2) Walter A. [Walter is said to 
be the oldest son in one Wood County history, agreeing with this biography, 
who built the Port Edwards, Centralia & Northern Railway to Arpin and 
Marshfield in Wood County], age twenty-two, [this biography therefore placing 
his birth about 1859; in the 1860 census for Grand Rapids, Wood County, 
Wisconsin, the son "Walter Allen SCOTT" is listed as two years old; he is 
perhaps the same Walter A. SCOTT, son of T. B. SCOTT, who was murdered in the 
summer of 1902 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois]; and (3) Thomas B. Jr., 
aged eighteen [the biography therefore placing his birth about 1863; as 
expected not enumerated among the members of the family in the 1860 census]; 
all the children are living [in 1881 when the biography was published].

[Thomas B. SCOTT recognized the importance of railroads in the development of 
the Grand Rapids area, and the business opportunities presented by them. One 
Wood County history states that "through the influence of Thomas B. SCOTT, 
the railroad was built to Jenny, its name later changed to Merrill in honor 
of the then General Manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway." 
The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway began in 1874, and by the early 
1900's was one of the largest Midwest railways, running through Chicago 
Minneapolis, Omaha and Kansas City.]

[Wood County histories agree that the first railroad to come to the Grand 
Rapids and Centralia area was the Green Bay & Lake Pepin Railway, which began 
in 1866 (renamed the Green Bay & Minnesota in 1873, since it never went to 
Lake Pepin in Pepin County). There were railway stations on both sides of 
the river, one in the village of Centralia, and just across the river in the 
village of Grand Rapids. In 1873 the Wisconsin Valley Railway was built to 
what was then Centralia (that village later being combined with Grand Rapids, 
and in June 1921 both were collectively renamed Wisconsin Rapids). The 
Wisconsin Valley Railway later became the Wisconsin Valley Division of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway. The map of Pepin County in the 1878 
Atlas of Wisconsin shows this railway (labeled the "Chicago, Milwaukee & St. 
Paul") running along the southern shore of Lake Pepin. In 1890 the Port 
Edwards, Centralia & Northern Railway connected Marshfield with Centralia, 
and Port Edwards (and later Nekoosa) in Wood County. As given in a previous 
paragraph, Walter Allen SCOTT, son of Thomas B. SCOTT, is stated to have 
built the Port Edwards, Centralia & Northern Railway to Arpin and Marshfield 
in Wood County. The presence of Walter Allen SCOTT in Wood County and his 
age are consistent with when this railroad was constructed. The last railway 
to arrive was the Marshfield branch of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway, 
which paralleled the Soo line between Marshfield and Nekoosa. The Wood 
County map in the 1878 Atlas of Wisconsin shows the Wisconsin Central going 
through Marshfield, the Green Bay & Minnesota going through Centralia and 
Grand Rapids, and the Wisconsin Valley Railway going through Centralia but 
not Grand Rapids.]

[1873 was a year of financial panic, and one Wood County history states that 
in 1873 "John EDWARDS sold a half interest to Thomas B. SCOTT" in mill 
property in Port Edwards (named for John EDWARDS?), southwest of Grand Rapids 
in Wood County, Wisconsin. Henry SAMPSON also recalls that Mr. Thomas B. 
SCOTT "at one time owned an interest in the John Edwards Manufacturing 
Company at Port Edwards." Another Wood County history elaborates, stating 
that John EDWARDS "bought the interests of all the other heirs" in the Port 
Edwards mill property, and "in 1873 sold a half interest to Thomas B. SCOTT, 
and started the very prosperous partnership of John Edwards & Company," which 
operated a saw mill. The one history identifies that John EDWARDS is 
actually "John EDWARDS, Jr.," and that on the title his name appears as "John 
EDWARDS." The partnership between Thomas B. SCOTT and John EDWARDS Jr. 
ceased when Thomas B. SCOTT died (October 1886?) and, according to one Wood 
County history, "in 1889 Mr. John EDWARDS [Jr.], two sons of Thomas B. SCOTT 
[Walter A. and Thomas B. Jr.?], and L. M. ALEXANDER [a son-in-law of John 
EDWARDS Jr.] incorporated the John Edwards Manufacturing Company and 
continued the manufacture of lumber." John EDWARDS Jr. was a member of the 
Wisconsin State Assembly; he died 23 February 1891 in Madison, Dane County, 
Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Blue Book identifies John EDWARDS as a Democrat 
from Port Edwards, Wood County, Wisconsin, who served in the 1891 session; 
thus John EDWARDS died while serving as a member of the Wisconsin State 
Assembly.]

[The 1881 biography continues] Mr. SCOTT held the position of County 
Treasurer of Wood County two terms, and was County Clerk of Wood County for 
one term. [Wood County, Wisconsin, was organized in 1856. Mr. Thomas B. 
SCOTT was elected the very first county treasurer, and held the office for 
several terms, finally declining to run again and urging the people to elect 
Emmanuel DUTRIET, who had become crippled from the loss of his arm. Emmanuel 
DUTRIET was elected and held the office with credit for a great many years, 
after which he came to work for Thomas B. SCOTT at Merrill and resided in 
there until his death. After Thomas B. SCOTT retired from the office of 
County Treasurer of Wood County, he re-entered the lumber business, and was 
elected to the Wisconsin State Senate, where he served with distinction for 
many years.] Thomas B. SCOTT is now [biography published in 1881] and has 
been since 01 January 1874, a State Senator; his term expires 01 January 
1883. Hon. Thomas B. SCOTT has always been a leader in Republican party 
since its organization. [In Wisconsin the Republican party was organized 
about 1854. According to the Wisconsin Blue Book, Thomas B. SCOTT of Grand 
Rapids served as a Senator in the Wisconsin legislative sessions of 1873 
through 1882.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly