Santa Clara County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



 
WILLIAM SCOTT, 
 
deceased, was born in Ayrshire, Kilmarnock County, Scotland, in 1824. He was the 
son of William and Martha (Davidson) Scott, both of whom were natives of 
Scotland, and residents of the place of his birth. His early youth was spent in 
attendance upon the common schools of his native place, but when fifteen years 
of
age he went to sea, and many succeeding years were passed in following a 
seafaring life as a profession. In 1853 he came to California, where he found 
his brother, Captain James Scott. Soon after his arrival in San Francisco, he 
accompanied his brother to the mines, and successfully followed the occupation 
of a miner for a year or more. Upon giving up that work, in 1854, he came to 
Santa Clara County, and acquired the property which he afterwards made his home, 
and upon which his widow and family now reside. The estate comprises eighty 
acres, located on the southwest corner of Scott Lane and the Kifer road, in the 
Jefferson School District, about one and a half miles west from the business 
center of Santa Clara. At the time of Mr. Scott's purchase of this tract, it was 
in a wild and uncultivated state, but with characteristic energy he immediately 
went to work to cultivate and improve it. Sixteen busy years he spent in this 
work, his active, useful life being ended September 13, 1870.
        His death left the care of the farm and the rearing of their children to 
his wife, formerly Miss Mary Brady, the daughter of Bartel Brady, a native of 
Longford County, Ireland, who came to California in 1853, and who, at the time 
of his daughter's marriage to Mr. Scott, in 1859, was a resident of San 
Francisco.  Five children blessed this marriage, viz.: Kate, born March 27, 
1860; William Walter, November 1, 1861; Elizabeth J., May 6, 1864; Ann, January 
29, 1866; and John Joseph, April 29, 1870.
        Mrs. Scott, ably assisted by her sons and daughters, has been most 
successful in carrying on the work to which her husband devoted so many years of 
his life, and has brought the land to its present productive state. Twelve acres 
are utilized in the production of strawberries of the Longworth and Seth Boyden 
varieties. The remainder of the farm, with the exception of such orchard land as 
is required for the growing of trees to furnish fruit for family use, is devted 
to hay and grain fields, and to stock. Artesian wells furnish plenty of water 
for irrigation, stck, and domestic purposes.
 
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, 
Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 
1888.
Pg. 543-544