Sylvanus Scott (abt. 1736 - 1784)

Born about 1736 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah (Andrews) Scott — married 20 Oct 1757 in Scarborough, Cumberland, District of Maine

Descendants

Died 5 Aug 1784 at about age 48 in Machias, Washington, District of Maine, United States

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Biography

Private Sylvanus Scott served with 6th Lincoln County Regiment, Massachusetts Militia during the American Revolution.

Sylvanus Scott is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A101832.

Sylvanus Scott was baptized at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 23 Jun 1723, the son of Sylvanus Scott and Sarah Moses, ^[1] died 5 Aug 1784 at Machias; married at Scarborough, 20 Oct 1757, Sarah Andrews, daughter of Jonathan Andrews and Sarah Smith. ^[2] Sylvanus was a member of the original "Committee of Sixteen Persons" organized to build a saw mill at Machias in 1763^[3][4] and was one of the first to settle in the area, near the junction of the two rivers at the spot later known as "Sylvanus Scott's Rim". ^[5] His name appears on the list of those who petitioned in 1769 that Machias be incorporated as a town. ^[6] In 1770, he was elected treasurer of the Machias Proprietors and he, his brother Samuel and his brother-in-law, Benjamin Foster, were named to a committee to call future meetings. ^[7] Sylvanus had Revolutionary War service in Capt. Joseph Sevey's co., 6th Lincoln County Regiment of Massachusetts Militia. ^[8][9] In Aug 1777, during the British attempt to capture Machias, his house, outbuildings and tannery were burned by the British, along with the home of his brother-in-law, Ephraim Andrews. ^[10] His wife, who was then in poor health, was driven into the woods. There, with her eleven children, all girls (the youngest a nursing infant), she watched as the British torched her home. ^[11]

Excerpt from memoirs of Gerald E. Scott

The Scotts were members of a militia formed in 1769, for the purpose of defending against the British in the developing movement toward independence. The American population was very divided between loyalist and those who wished for independence. Historians state that about 1/3 were loyalists, 1/3 were for independence and 1/3 were indifferent. Of course this would vary greatly depending on the region of the country. In any case the town was attacked by the British in 1775, 76 and 77. Sylvanus Scott’s home and mill was burned by the British in 1777 and his wife and eleven children were forced to take refuge in the woods. A brother Jesse was taken prisoner by the British near Saint John and spent the winter in detainment. Another brother, Simeon was shot and scalped on the Saint John River by “American Torys”, which was apparently what they called Loyalists. After independence, which came about with defeat of the British and the Treaty of Paris in 1783, there was a great migration of loyalists from the States to Canada. Most of this took place in 1783 and 1784. The Scotts and Fosters did not come to Canada until 20 years later and it was not out of loyalist sentiment. The U.S.- Canadian boundary was in dispute until after 1797 when the U.S. claimed the boundary should be the Magaguadavic, so the Scotts in Honeydale and Tower Hill may have thought they would be in the U.S. It was later proven that the boundary was the St. Croix, as the remnants of Champlain’s outpost on Dochet’s Island in the St. Croix was discovered. Similarly the Foster’s moved from Oromocto to the area above Woodstock where they thought they would be in yhe U.S. on the west side of the Saint John river. Both families were caught in Canada to stay when boundaries were finally established. Also the British were offering free land in Canada to those who wished to immigrate so perhaps they were opportunists that took advantage of the situation. They seemed to be inclined to keep moving north in search of new lands.

Sylvanus Scott, who married Sarah Andrews in 1763, had 11 children, all girls but one. Samuel Scott married Susan Perry, also in 1763, and also had 11 children. One of Sylvanus’ children was Olive, who married a cousin, Theodore Scott, who was Samuel and Susan’s son, in 1791. Another of Sylvanus’ children, Mehitable, married another of Samuel and Susan’s sons, Mark, in 1786. One of Theodore and Olive’s children was Samuel, born in 1795. He immigrated to Canada in 1807 when his mother and father both died, and he was the originator of our Scott family on Tower Hill.

Sources

1. ↑ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Notes and Queries'. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) Vol. 31, p. 113. Cit. Date: 12 Dec 2021.
2. ↑ Augustus F. Moulton, copier, Records of the Second Congregational Church in Scarborough (1895), p. 25
3. ↑ George W. Drisko, Narrative of the Town of Machias, The Old and the New, The Early and the Late, (Press of The Republican, Machias, ME, 1904), hereafter Drisko's Machias, p. 12
4. ↑ Memorial of the Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Machias (C.O. Furbush, Machias, 1863), p. 174
5. ↑ Drisko's Machias, p. 27, 82
6. ↑ Drisko's Machias, p. 20
7. ↑ Drisko's Machias, p. 22
8. ↑ Compiled by Carleton E. Fisher and Sue G. Fisher, Soldiers, Sailors and Patriots of the Revolutionary War - Maine (The National Society of the Sons of the Revolution, Louisville, KY, 1982), p. 698
9. ↑ "United States Rosters of Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors, 1775-1783," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-C3ZC-2?cc=2546162&wc=WD6Q-RMJ%3A1588791498 : 24 January 2018), Massachusetts, vol 13, Rea, Ipswich-Seymr, William > image 926 of 1025; citing various published state rosters, United States.
10. ↑ Drisko's Machias, p. 55
11. ↑ Drisko's Machias, pp. 82, 583