BIO:  Frederick T. SCOTT, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, York Borough, Pg 42

FREDERICK T. SCOTT, who for more than thirty years, has been permanently 
identified with the business interests of York, was born in Baltimore County, 
Md., about fourteen miles from the city, in 1824.  His father, Thomas Scott, was 
a native of North Ireland, and early in life immigrated to America, settling in 
New York, where he was married to Margaret Lintz, a native of that State.  
Removing to Maryland they remained there until their deaths.  Thomas Scott, the 
father, was one of the contractors on the first railroad that led out from the 
city of Baltimore.  Four children were descendants:  John (now deceased, was for 
thirty years an employe upon the Northern Central Railroad; for a long time a 
conductor; died at Hanover Junction); William (who died in 1869 at the same 
place, was also a conductor upon the same railroad about thirty years); Jane 
Lewis (the only daughter, died in 1861, in the State of Ohio).  The subject of 
this sketch, at the age of eleven, went to Baltimore and was employed for six 
years as a bar tender.  He then served an apprenticeship for over three years in 
the machine shops of the Baltimore & Susquehanna Railroad (now Northern Central 
Railroad).  Here he became a skillful machinist, and, having thoroughly mastered 
his trade, remained for five years as an employe.  He then embarked in business 
for himself, manufacturing cars and mill work, but his enterprise was doomed to 
disaster.  In 1850 he lost heavily by fire, and in 1832, when employing seventy-
five hands, he was forced to suspend, losing every dollar of his property on 
account of the strike on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which forced, in thirty 
days, the price of iron from $55 to $90 per ton.  He then sought a new field for 
business operations, and in 1854 removed to Glen Rock, this county, where he 
established the Glen Rock Machine Shops, manufacturing, upon an extensive scale, 
cars, paper-mill works, agricultural implements and general machinery.  This 
enterprise added greatly to the material interests of the town, and at times as 
many as forty-five hands were employed in his works.  In 1861, upon the outbreak 
of the civil war, he sold out his interests at Glen Rock at a great sacrifice, 
removed to York and engaged with the Northern Central Railroad as master 
machinist of the company’s car and locomotive shops.  This responsible position 
he filled with signal ability, and with eminent satisfaction, until 1875, when 
he resigned.  Mr. Scott then again embarked in business on his own account, and 
his latter efforts have met with success.  He has established a large and 
lucrative trade in coal, lumber and railroad ties in York, and, in connection is 
manager of extensive granite quarries, at Goldsboro, York Haven.  Upon his farm, 
which consists of 194 acres, are also large deposits of brown stone, which is 
quarried to a large extent.  He has a steam saw-mill upon his farm, and is 
engaged in farming in Codorus Township, where he owns a valuable, finely 
improved farm, which, with valuable real estate in York, is the result of wise 
business enterprise.  Mr. Scott was elected resident director of the York County 
Alms-house, in 1873, and instituted many valuable reform measures in the 
management of that institution.  His independence of action and prudent 
management won for him the admiration of the tax-paying people of the entire 
county, regardless of political preferences.  He had the land connected with the 
alms house surveyed and, together with the other members of the board of 
directors, introduced a new code, rules and regulations, settling forth the 
duties of the different officers by whom the institution is governed, which 
received the approval of the State board of public charities, the grand jury and 
the court of common pleas of the county.  In the exercise of his public duties 
Mr. Scott evinced the same prudent and practical knowledge which has made his 
private affairs eventually successful.  For nearly forty years Mr. Scott has 
been a member of the I. O. O. F. and is at present a member of Harmony Lodge, 
No. 853, and also of the encampment of the Grand Lodge of Maryland.  He is a 
member of York Lodge, No. 266, of A. F. & A. M., and also of the order of K. of 
P.  He is president of the York Building and Loan Association, president of the 
Star Building and Loan Association, and a president of the Penn Mutual Relief 
Association, of which he served as president for a number of years.  He is 
enterprising in all matters of moral advancement, and the architect of his own 
fortunes.  Mr. Scott was united in marriage in Baltimore, February 10, 1848, 
with Miss Elizabeth A., daughter of Jacob and Henrietta Pein Cook.  They have 
been blessed with seven children:  Jacob F., Henrietta M., Emma L. (deceased), 
Cecelia N. (deceased), Oscar W. (deceased), Calvert C. and Winfield W.  The 
family are members of Trinity Reformed Church of York.