Lynn Scott Genealogist

William Scott grew up on his father’s farm in Fletcher, Vermont.[1]  At the age of 18 he started working for Hartwell N. Macoy as a cabinet maker.  A story told by Evelyn Irish from the Cambridge Hikstorical Society says:

“For his work he [William Scott] received $30 a year in cash plus board and room at the Macoy home.  The following is an exact copy of the list of articles which he made during the year which began on July 5, 1853.  The list is in the possession of Mrs. Fannie Spaulding of Cambridge.”[2]

2 toilet tables, 3ft. 4″ long with drawers
1 chees box
20 wash stands that Deacon Andrew Stony had to take to Fairfax for the boarding house for the N.H. institute
2 toilet tables                                 1 trunk
1 trunk                                            1 bedstead
1 wagon box                                  1 bureau
1 bedstead                                      1 center table scroll feet
1 bedstead                                      1 bookcase
10 wash stands                              2 trunks
1 – 5ft. dining table                        2 center tables scroll feet
2 toilet tables                                 1 churn
2 toilet tables                                 1 wash stand
4 center tables                               1 – 7ft. table
4 toilet tables                                 4 bedsteads
1 light stand                                   1 bookcase
1 – 3 1/2 ft. dining table                3 bedsteads
1 – 3 1/2 ft. dining table                1 worktable
1 – 3 1/2 ft. dining table                2 trunks
1 – 7 ft. table

Having a job and money in his pocket, William married seventeen year old Mandana E. Proctor, daughter of Levi Proctor and Emaline Palmer, on May 4, 1856.[3]  The following year Elbert Ira was born then a daughter, Lilian May, in 1860.[4]

William enlisted October 5, 1861 in Col. Hiram Berdan’s U.S. Sharpshooters, Co. E in the Army of the Potomac.  These were handpicked men who were required to pass a special test making ten consecutive shots with a rifle, placing each shot inside a ten-inch ring at a distance of three hundred yards.  They were paid seven dollars a month.  They marched to Washington, D.C. for camp instruction and then on March 18, 1862, crossed the Potomac by way of Long Bridge into Virginia and joined Major McDowell’s Corps.  When the Corps moved on to Fredericksburg, the Second Co. of Sharpshooters was called upon the 18^th of April, 1862 to skirmish against the retreating column of General Holney and Company E fired their first shots at the Rebels. In the later part of May the army advanced towards Hanover Court House.  William must have suffered some sort of injury because he was discharged May 22, 1862 for disability.[5]

Tragedy struck in 1863 when Mandana died at the age of 24, leaving William with two young children.[6]

After the war he purchased several lots and buildings on Main St. in Cambridge, Vermont.[7]  There he ran a wheelwright shop and also made caskets and furniture.  The 1870 census lists him as a wheelwright and cabinetmaker.[8] The History of the Town of Cambridge said he made about 40-50 coffins each year as well as a large amount of furniture. He purchased land to start a saw mill, probably to provide him with wood for his business.[9]  Three years after the death of Mandana, William married Sophie C. Robie on May 24, 1866.[10]

William took a deep interest in the history of the Scott family, compiling data concerning his own branch of the Scotts, who settled in Vermont.[11]  He died April 30, 1905 and is buried with the family at Mountain View Cemetery in Cambridge.[12]

[1] 1850 U.S. Census, Franklin County, Vermont, pop. sch., Fletcher, p. 5B, dwelling 72, family 73, William Scott, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com), citing NARA M432, roll 924.

[2] Evelyn Irish, Handwritten stories, prior to 1940, Cambridge Historical Society, Cambridge, Vermont.

[3] Orrin Peer Allen, Descendants of William Scott of Hatfield Mass., 1668-1906 (Palmer, Ma.: Author, by C.B. Fiske & Co., 1906), p. 136.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Martha T. Rainville, Roster of Vermonters who served in the Civil War, 1861-1866, (Prepared and Republished un direction of The Adjutant General, Camp Johnson, Vt, 1998), 605-610, 614.

[6] Gravestone for Mandana E. Scott (1839-1863), memorial #23518268, FindAGrave (http://www.findagrave.com).

[7] Cambridge, Vermont, Deed Book, Vol. 16: 144, Susan A Clark to Wm M. Scott, 31 March 1865, Town Clerks office; Deed Book, Vol. 17: 271, Ira S. Blaisdell to Wm M. Scott, 2 September 1869

[8] 1870 U.S. Census, Lamoille County, Vermont, pop. sch., Cambridge, p. 70A, dwelling 183, family 179, William M Scott, Ancestry, citing NARA M593, roll 1621.

[9] Cambridge, Vermont, Deed book, vol. 17, p.271, 2 September 1869, Ira S. Blaisdell to William Scott.

[10] “Vermont Vital Records, 1720-1908,” Westford, William Scott and Sophia C Roby (1866), Ancestry.

[11] Allen, Descendants of William Scott of Hatfield Mass., 1668-1906, p. 136.

[12] “Mountain View Cemetery,” Cambridge, Vermont, p. 79, W. W. Scott, online list, Cambridge Historical Society (http://www.cambridgehistoricalsociety.org).