James Kincaid Scott

      The history of  the Scott's of Monroe and Summer Count West Virginia is as good of an example of  a typical European immigrant family in Virginia as can be found.  It's not clear what James Scott's parents did upon arriving in the colony of  Virginia,  but its not hard to imagine an indenture which eventually led to an independent life in farming.   Young James was living close to the frontier, reportedly near the "Rockbridge", and may have had the opportunity to enhance his prospects as an Indian fighter,  leading to land grants in areas that the western settlers lustfully eyed from relative safety of the Shenandoah Valley.  We do know that once the colonial government forced the Native American further west,  James was among the very early settlers in a rich and productive land and the made the most of his opportunity.   Money was hard to come by,  but land was a symbol of wealth and it provided the necessary elements to flourish  and it became the basis of security for his immediate descendants.  Maybe some day it will become clear how young James got his secuirty.

  James Kincaid Scott is the grandson of our settler James Scott.  His middle name comes from his grandmother, Margaret Kincaid.  He is the son patriarch James Scott's youngest child, son Williams Scott and his wife Margaret (Peggy)  Scott (Leake).  He was born in 1823 in the community of Sinks Grove.    While we have good records of  patriarch James  and sketchy records of Williams,  we can learn more about James K as his life progresses through significant technological and social developments.   He also appears to be a man involved in his community through civic action and business.  By all accounts his is respected and admired. We even know what he looks like.  Just like the country,  James K. Scott  evolves and  embraces community changes powered by steam and lives to see an isolated region opened by by a railroad. 

    In 1823, the year of James K's birth,  the farm of James the patriarch totals some 650 acres. We know from his estate records that is was a typical diverse farm with pigs, sheep,  milk cows and beef cattle and  oxen and horses.  There appears to be a large orchard, and  they are keeping many hives of bees.  Patriarch James dies in 1828,  and as customary,  his wife, Margaret (Kincaid) gets 1/3 of his estate including the homes, orchard and all the building, furniture and bed clothes.   From there, the property transactions listed in Monroe's land records  show the sale and distribution of many plots of land to those in the family and to buyer outside as well.  Williams Scott, father of James K. gets 39 acres on Broad Run in 1839 when James K. is 16 years old.  It's likely that  Williams older sister or half sister, Nancy Agnes also lives with them.  She is listed in 1850 census as 67 year old member of James K  Scott's household.   Later land records show that she has an estate.  She leaves all of her estate to James K. Scott and he seems to use the proceeds to purchase 230 acres from Moses Hedrick on Hungarts Creek.  James K. gets two more Hungarts Creek tracts in 1854 and 1855.  The will on Nancy Agnes Scott is listed is show below. 

    The acquisition of this land runs counter to some family lore which held that all the land was granted through the State of Virginia. 134 acres of it was and the grand and survey information is given below:

dat 1 Nov 1859

! 84th yoC, Henry A Wise Esq. Gov.

to James K. Scott

![Delivd to Wilson Lively Mar 8 1861]

! in conformity with a Survey made the 28th of June 1858

con LOTWs #21,096, 23,381 & 24,518

re 134a Monroe Co. on the ridge between said Scott's land

!on Hungarts & Greenbrier river joining W. Scott

! Lanty Graham & his own land

loc -22112 -8960 F127 L0 P255

pt A) at a white oak on the E side of Hungart's creek

!corner to a tract of 239 acres of sd Scotts on Hungart's

!Creek & with the same 

ln N7W; 34P; sd Scott's 239 acres 

pt B) a white oak near a path 

lm N31E; 184P; fm near a path

pt C) a white oak on a hill side corner to Andy Gwinn & with 

ln N31.5E; 44P; lv Andy Gwinn at 39 poles 

pt D) a dogwood & 3 sourwoods on a line of a late survey made

!for Lanty Graham & with 

lm s23E; 54P; Lanty Graham 

pt E) a white oak on a hill side corner to 100 acres

!surveyed for William Scott & with same leaving Graham 

lm S25w; 60P; William Scott 100 acres

pt F) a double white oak 

ln S50W; 100P; 

pt G) two whtie oaks 

ln S37E; 126P; 

pt H) a white oak & pine 

ln N45E; 20P; 

pt

lm ; ;

pt I) a dogwood & chestnut on a hill side corner to

!Lanty Graham's 199 acres & with same leaving Scott 

ln N70E; 82P; Lanty Graham 199 acres

pt J) a birch 2 maples & ironwood on the bank of Greenbrier

!river & leaving Graham & down & with the courses of Green brier 

lm S3W; 49P; down Green brier 

pt K) 2 pines & maple on the bank of the river &

!leaving same 

ln S68W; 50P; 

pt L) a black oak on top of a ridge 

ln S13W; 64P; 

pt M) a hickory on line of a survey made for Jacob Fluke

!& with 

ln N70W; 110P; Jacob Fluke

pt N) a sugar tree and white oak by a branch corner to

!Mathew Lowe & with same 

ln N36E; 30P; Mathew Lowe

pt O) a locust & hickory 

lc N54W; 81P;

end

    This land was granted after James K. Scott purchased a large tract from  Moses Hedrick. Hedrick is my grandmother's great grandfather,  and even though my grandmother and grandfather  moved to Hungarts Creek and and lived out their retirement there,  I don't think they had any idea of  the connection to Moses Hedrick and that both Grama and Grandpa had family connections to their property. 

We know a little bit about James Kincaid's early life. I was fortunate to find these school records from the John B. Hogshead school circa 1838, which must have been somewhere around Sinks Grove/ Wolf Creek. It's a submission by the teacher, James M. Diddle, to be compensated by the school commissioners from a fund set up for poor children's education. My 4th great grand father, Williams R. Scott is the father of the poor children listed: James, David and Isabel. There are also three children of James Erskine. The teachers lists the days attended at a rate of 3.5 cents per day. The school was in operation for 3 months and of which James attended 35 days, David attended 36 days and ten year old Isabel 47 days. Oren Morten's History of Monroe County has a chapter on schools and briefly talks about the problems funding them.

 

Here's the likely general locations of the Scott children's homeplace and the location of the Hogshead School.  The Hogshead property has been passed on to other owners but large tracts of it were kept together.  Hard to say what a trip to school was like, but it appears to have involved a significant travel on foot or horseback. 

    With the acquisition of land on Hungarts Creek in 1854 and 1855 it is likely that the family moved from  Sinks Grove/Broad Creek to the new location sometime during this era.  Census information isn't very helpful in exact locations.   The 1850 census lists them living in District 39 in Monroe County.   Both James K and his wife, Sara (Loganacre) are 27 with a daughter, Martha Ellen,  age 4,  and a son James W.  age 2.    They also have a boarder names Sara Morris, aged 16 and Nancy Agnes,  age 67.  His is occupation is listed as farmer. The 1860 census lists their location as Rollingsburg,  which is essentially modern day Talcott,  and puts them in same vicinity of Hungarts Creek.  They have several more children,  George Pembroke Scott,  John David Scott and Virginia Susan Scott.  The 1870 census adds Rebecca, Louisa and Green Lee Scott.  Green Lee was the last child born to the couple in 1864.  James K still lists his occupation as farmer but there are also reports of him operating a grist mill. The 1880 census incorrectly lists his names as James R. Scott,  and there is a granddaughter named Virgie Louella Scott. 

    Remarkably,  there is a photographic record  of the cabin that James K. Scott built on Hungarts creek.  This photo was obtained by Patricia Wauhop Young. She is the grandaughter of Eva Esta Scott,  James Kincaid's grand daughter, born in 1898 to Green Lee Scott and second wife, Roberta Caroline Mann.  Best guesses are that the cabin was built in the mid 1850's and sustained the family up until  a new home was built by Green Scott around 1911. We think picture was taken before the cabin was torn down.  There remained a hearthstone in the front yard of the current home throughout my life,  though no one recalled the original structure.  With two fireplaces and as many stories,  it served the family well for decades. 

    If one visits the old homeplace on Hungarts creek in this era,  you'll find an isolated country homes where quiet abounds and only a few people travel in and out of the area for work everyday.  Indeed, but the 1960's when I have my own first recollections of the homestead,  one could spend a whole week there without seeing another family or person  and the few cars that ventured out every day were the same predictable folks going to town or work. In the early morning hours of summer one could lay in bed and hear one or two cars rumble across old wood plank bridges on their way to work.   It would be wrong to assume it was always that way.   In fact census information of the time  shows a significant number of people farming and making a living in this valley.  James K Scott and his children are part of the population boom and occupy many homesteads along the creek and in the valley.  They seem to be close family and very industrious and are involved in business and civic matters.  Hardly an isolated life.  They are very busy hardworking people. 

     In 1871, Summers County was formed from parts of the Monroe, Fayette, Greenbrier and Mercer County.  Big changes were in store for the area as the C and O railroad sought to  create rail line through this isolated region.  The easiest path was along the low and relatively flat areas along the Greenbrier and New River,  but a large bend in the river near Rollingsburg  made the engineers think that a more direct route through mountains would be more economical. Thus a tunnel was proposed,  and in 1870 they began work on an ambitious project to create a  mile long passage.  It was dangerous work but attracted many to the project,  including the legendary John Henry, who is said to have accepted a challenge to compete against steam powered drill by using his own hammer to drive steel rods into rock to facilitate blasting.  Legend has it that he won the contest, but it killed him in the process.  A park bearing his name now graces the entrance to the decommissioned tunnel and sustains his mythological status.  The tunnel was completed in 1872 and the community named Rollingsburg became Talcott, named after and engineer who worked on the tunnel project.  Freight began moving through the tunnel in 1873.

    It is hard to understate the change brought about by the arrival of the railroad. Not only did it open the region for the transport of goods and services,  but information could flow through distribution of  newspapers and telegraph lines  which were strung on the railroads right of way.  Self sustaining farms and communities now were open to markets from larger cities and products that were difficult to transport on primitive roads in wagons could be more easily  delivered into the region.  I think this explains at least one family tradition:  oysters at Christmas and Thanksgiving. While my grandparents diet was almost entirely foods that were common in the region,  it was almost mandatory to have some oysters as special food for Thanksgiving and Christmas.   As my grandfather recollected,  oysters could be ordered from the local store in Talcott,  and they were shipped from the coast (possibly Norfolk)  to inland rail stops were they became a common treat for the holidays.  This was probably the most unusual and distant food they got. 

    We get a glimpse of life in the region from a small news clipping which was originally posted in the Monroe Register, which operated from 1866 to 1880.  It was reprinted in a northern WVA newspaper,  which demonstrates how news was beginning to travel quickly by telegraph or train delivery. 

Mr, Ball,  the neighbor mentioned,  is possibly the husband of Virginia Susan Ball (Scott).  The nine year old girl is probably Lyskins Louisa Scott and the  younger brother  would be Green Lee Scott,  my great grandfather.  That would make this event taking place sometime around 1969. 

I can say that copperheads are not uncommon in the area and its likely the kind of venomous snake my grand father was bitten by as child.  Rattlesnakes are also in the area, but I have never encountered one on the family farm property.  







        Commodities from the region also went to larger markets.  Of course the largest product moved along the rails was coal,  but not much of that existed in Summers County.  What Summers did have in abundance was timber,   and as the steam age advanced,  it was inevitable that mills that previously used the water of various creeks and rivers for power,  were placed by steam belching engines powering grist mills and circular saws.   James Kincaid Scott seemed to be the kind of man who embraced this technological change and got into the milling business.  The quiet valley that had first know Native Americans and then subsistence farmers moved into the steam era.  

    It's not entirely clear when the first steam engine came to Hungarts Creek.  We know that James Kincaid presents his last will and testament in October of 1887 and in regard to the sawmill: 

"The management of the steam mill with such timber as may be desirable to use from the Real Estate, to be under the direction of my wife."

We also have these two photos from Paricia Wauhop Young which show the location of the steam enterprise and  the  make and model of the steam engine and sawmill.  These were colorized using Ancestry's colorizing tool. These were probably taken after James K. Scott died but the location and the make of the steam engine were probably contemporary to his life. 

    

    As one can see,  it is big business which seems make use of many hands in the process of  making lumber.  The location is well know,  just above a big bend in Hungarts Creek at the location of a newly constructed modern home.  Examination of the photograph gives enough detail to determine that the steam engine was manufactured by the Geiser company and was known as a "Peerless" engine.  The company began producing steam engines and farm tools in the 1860's.  More about these engines can be found here.  Those shown in the pictures undoubtably  related by marriage or direct descendance.  The extended family lived close by and will and probate records showed everyone shared in the work and some of the wealth.  The mill is passed on upon James Kincaid's death. 

    Here's what Miller's History of Summers County West Virginia has to say about James K. Scott"

"He held the office of justice of the peace at two different dates, was a notary public and land surveyor and a man of intelligence and ability, thrifty in his business, which was principally that of farming and lumbering. He operated a steam sawmill and owned a water grist mill on his plantation."

 Clearly he was man who was involved in all manner of business about Rollgingsburg.

    Justice of the Peace was the lowest rung on the old judicial system.  They heard cases which were misdemeanors and small civil claims. These Justices were not compensated for their role, rather, they received from the losing party in a civil suit or the criminal defendant in criminal cases. Odd as it seems, this system persisted in West Virginia until 1977.  It's not clear where the Justice of the Peace records reside, but it would very interesting to see what kinds of cases and outcomes came through JP at Rollingsburg.   Although not mentioned in Miller's  book,  James K. Scott was also the President of the School Board in the Talcott District.  He did this into the 1880's, and news announcements in Hinton's Republican newspaper often advertise the dates of official meetings. The clipping below is from April of 1882 in which James K. Scott and others are compensated by the County for their civic work. Interestingly,  William Comer Hedrick is also listed as a Commissioner.   His grand daughter, Maycle Olivia Light marries James K. Scott's grandson, William Paul Scott.  He is the son of the aforementioned Moses Hedrick from whom James K. acquired land. 

       My Great Aunt, Faye Scott often talked about what she knew about life on the farm related that there was once a US post office on the Scott property.  The name of locality was said to be "Scotia".  In the late 1960's when my grandfather renovated the Scott house, they ventured into the attic of the home and found old letters with the post mark of Scotia.  Unfortunately,  they were covered with bat guano and not fit to keep. Knowing this, I wondered in here were in US postal service records which might confirm the official location of a post office.  It turns out the US government digitized their records and it took only a little bit of digital sleuthing to find them.  The application below even has a crude map show the location of the proposed post office,  which is on the Scott property:

     The application is dated  February of 1886,  only year before James K. Scott writes up his will and passes away.  Again, it is worth noting that he lists the number of people served as "200",  which likely significantly exceeds the current population of the area.  It is likely that the charter for this post office ended with improvement of roads and the widespread use of automobiles,  just guessing by the 1920's.  

       

This photograph of James K. Scott was passed down to me through Faye Scott  to my grandfather Paul Scott.  They left many family documents in my care.  I analyzed this photograph using ChatGPT and it seems to think that the style is the late 19th century and looks like a formal portrait done in photographer's studio.  That fits well with James K. Scott's known timeframe and the history of the region.  It's likely done after the railroad is completed as this opened up the possibility of enterprising photographers setting up shop along rail lines towns to provide their services.   Often times,  these businesses carried formal clothing and backdrops for their clients.  

An even more intriguing photograph is shown below, again this is provided by Patricia Wauhop Young.  The manner in which it was acquired is interesting.  The Scott Farm has passed into different  owners since the family sold in in the early 1990's.  The current owners of the farmhouse are doing an extensive renovation of it, essentially restoring it to a livable and more modern configuration,  which includes new windows and, for the first time,  insulation.  To make these improvements, it was necessary to remove the tongue and groove wall strips and expose the areas between the studs.  In doing so,  they uncovered some interesting items, including the image below.  Since the images was obtained in the Scott home,  it seems likely that these are Scott men. 

If one looks at the older photograph above and compares it to the older gentleman on the left,  its not to hard to see a resemblance. It could be James K. Scott. But who are the other men?  

First, my guess is the seated gentleman is George Pembroke Scott.  George was educated at the Concorde Normal School and was good numbers and business. Somewhere I have copy of his diploma.  He never married and was good friend of James H. Miller,  author of the History of Summer's County West Virginia.  One detail that Miller gives us about George is that is afflicted with rheumatism and could barely stand.  I think this might account for George's seated posture,  and he does, indeed, look as though his hands body might be compromised by some kind of disease.  By all accounts, he was pretty sharp and trusted by his family and the community.  He dies 1899 at the young age of 45. 

James K. has three other sons beside George.  There's James W Scott who dies in a railroad accident in 1885 at the age of 28. Railroad jobs and steam engines were dangerous.  George P. Scott was next,  then John David Scott born in 1854, and finally Green Lee Scott,  my great grandfather,  born in 1864. Luckily, we have images of Green Lee and John David Scott, which were given to me by my Uncle Jack. 

Green is ten years younger than John David and I'm guessing he is one standing because he really resembles my grandfather, Paul Scott. John David, seated with the cigar in hand is older brother.  Photo analysis by ChatGPT thinks this from the early 20th century as the  hairstyles and tailored suits are in line with time period.  John David and Green were in sawmill business together and by accounts of the time,  very close.   

Its hard to say if these are the same two sons in old photograph show above.  I am guessing the photographs would have to be at least 15 years apart,  so many physical attributes can change of time.  I can possibly see more of John David in each photograph as he has nice cleft in his chin and has a cigar in each photo. Green  is little hard to match,  but it certainly looks like it could be the same person, or not.   Handsome fellows no matter who they are but I would like to think they match.   

James Scott dies in 1887 at 64 years of age.  His will is dated as October 17th,  1887.  He does on October 20th, 1887.  His will and estate appraisal are linked here,  and can be found online in the Summers County Court records.  He had accumulated a large estate both real and in personal property and does his best to make sure the family members all get some aspect of accumulated wealth.  He leaves his wife,  Sarah Jane (Loganacre) a big portion of everything and wants her to manage the saw mill business.  I don't know much about her, but clearly James K. thinks she is capable of managing his affairs after his death.   Between her and his sons,  his legacy and work continue on for another generation.