William Burdette Scott

      The first child of James Scott is William Burdette Scott who was born in 1775.  We don't know who is mother is but he does get mentioned for specific intentions in Mr. Scott's will. 

 James Scott died March 11th in 1825,  a month or so after bringing his will to court.  In the will it is revealed that his two sons,  William and John, need to be cared for, but he holds out the possibility that  they may someday be able to care for themselves:

"as long as they or any one of them continue in a state of mental derangement & inability to provide from themselves"

    We have no idea from what  particular maladies these two suffered from but in the case of  William,  it seems to be more of a mental health issue.  The evidence for this comes from records of his life.   We know that James and the family  believed that William was not capable of caring for himself  and upon death several of the siblings undertook the guardianship of  William and had the court create an  bond which allowed them to manage his affairs.  William is 50 years old,  if one reads the ancient cursive it states that Elizabeth Scott will be bound to William Scott "who is a lunatic".   She shall do so until "the lunacy shall be removed."

    The family is taking care of William as directed and clearly are concerned about him managing his own affairs.  At the same time,  William seems to at least have the guidance and intelligence to manage some of his affairs,  but in least two statements we have by the family,  they wonder he might be made right.  Still he seems to have had enough resources or guidance to live independently for some period of time.  He filed a proper will at the courthouse and indicates it is written in his own hand.

    If he did write the will himself, then it is less likely that his problem was cognitive.  He is far more literate than many people of this period.   For his his other brother,  John,  who is also to be cared for, no such will or records exist and I suspect he probably did have some cognitive impairments.   In the will above,  William does leave John his "Barsheer" plow,  which again indicates he has the implements to farm and some ability to care for himself.  He also includes John in the division of his real estate.