David Scott: From the End to the Beginning

I’ve been working on this story about David Scott for several weeks; in fact, I started it over four different times. There were several varying bits of information to start with and then I kept finding more little tidbits that had to fit in somewhere. It has taken a long time but I have found the research fascinating, and feel that I know my great-grandfather better. I think there will be more to find out about him in the future. As blogs go, this may be a little long; I hope you will find it interesting enough to read to the end.

The following quotation is from the obituary of Great-grandfather David Scott, who died in Beamsville, Ontario, Canada, on May 14, 1902. He was 68 years old.

"GONE TO HIS REST: During the past few weeks it has been our sad duty to chronicle the deaths of several of Beamsville’s most respected citizens, but of the many deaths unexpected which have occurred here, few indeed have caused such great surprise and profound sorrow as that of Mr. David Scott, which took place at his family residence, King St. on Wednesday morning, May 14th. "


Now, it’s true that journalists in those days had a tendency to be a bit flowery and long-winded; but as the obituary continues, it really does sound like David Scott was a good man and very well-liked in the community.


“Mr. Scott was a man who commanded the respect and confidence of a large number of friends, and on account of the kindness of his disposition, which gave cause for this respect and confidence, he will be sorely missed in this community where he has lived so long. Mr. Scott, although not in the least effusive, was a man who always took a deep and lively interest in the public affairs of this country, and was a lifelong and influential adherent to the principals of the reform party.”


Because political parties have a way of changing over the years, it’s a little difficult to figure out just what the platform of the ‘Reform Party’ was; but it seems that what started as the reform party eventually turned into the liberal party. Again, don’t judge the party by what we consider liberals. From what I have been able to discover, the reform party wanted decentralization of government, a policy of free trade, provincial rights, and a move away from imperialism to become a free nation. I think most of us would probably have been comfortable, politically, with great-grandpa.


“The deceased was one of the leading members of the Masonic Brotherhood, having held several of the most important offices in the local lodge and to-day the members of this fraternal body are mourning a member whose usefulness will be difficult to replace. The deceased was a most consistent member of the Presbyterian church, Beamsville, and always took a deep interest in religious matters, scarcely ever being absent from the public services of the church.”


Daddy didn’t talk much about Masonry (his father was a mason also), but from the few things he did say, my impression of the Masons was that they were very involved in charitable works – taking care of the widows and orphans, etc. In fact, this quotation from the London Free Press, October 4, 2003, describes the Masons as I remember Daddy talking about them: "We are a group of good, honest, upstanding men who try to improve ourselves," says Mumby [the Ontario Grandmaster]. "We believe very strongly in the concept of honesty. We believe in the concept of brotherly love. We believe in such old-fashioned ideals as duty, integrity, faithfulness, loyalty and patriotism. "Masonry is a very moral organization," says Mumby. "But we don't pass moral judgments on anybody else.” I choose to believe that Great-grandpa David Scott was this type of Mason.


“Mr. Scott was a native of Roxboroughshire, Scotland, being born there in 1834, and came to Canada in the year 1874, first living in Ottawa from whence he moved to Thorold, Ont, but has lived in Beamsville over twenty years, coming here about the time the quarry opened and ever since that time he has filled most efficiently the position of head blacksmith in the Gibson quarry.”
[Left: picture of the main street of Lilliesleaf (as well as the side of our car) as it is today]

David Scott was born at Spittal at Bedrule, 15 April 1834. By the time he was 16, his family had moved to Lilliesleaf, but David was no longer living at home. I found him in the 1851 census, age 16, apprenticed to, and living with, a master blacksmith by the name of John Manual. Early in the days of the blacksmith trade, a boy was apprenticed at about age 14 for a period of seven years. At the end of that time, when he was 21 and old enough to be on his own, he would be required to make an “apprentice piece”. If this was satisfactory, he would be given his journeyman’s certificate and declared free of his master. He would spend a period of time away from home working for other blacksmiths, at the end of which time, he would make his “masterpiece”. If the masterpiece was approved, he could set up as a master blacksmith, himself.















[Above: two views of Hawick, Scotland, taken September 2009, from the area where David lived for several years after his marriage.]

I don’t know if these rules were still in place when David was learning the trade, but in 1859, at age 25, he was a journeyman blacksmith working in Garston near Liverpool, England. He came home to Scotland long enough to marry Janet Riddell in Hawick, on April 15, 1859; but he evidently continued his ‘journeying’ in Liverpool or elsewhere, as Janet was still living with her parents in 1861, but listed, in the census, as the ‘wife of a blacksmith’. When David’s son Thomas was born, 2 August 1861, it was Walter Riddell, the grandfather, who informed the authorities. Father, David Scott, was still a ‘blacksmith-journeyman’. By the time their third child was born, the family was no longer living with the grandparents in Ladylaw Place, but had their own home not far away on Pathfoot. David’s occupation then and when the next child was born is ‘blacksmith’, but when the census was taken in 1871, his occupation is given as ‘engine builder.’ He may have been working for one of the woolen mills, or perhaps was working independently on machinery for the mills. I assume a connection to the mills because David’s father-in-law, Walter Riddell was a woolen spinner, and their home addresses, ‘Ladylaw Place’, ‘Pathfoot’, ‘Damside’ and ‘Wellington Street’ are all in Wilton parish where there were several woolen mills.

David’s mother, Janet Notman died in 1853 and his wife’s father died in 1863. When David’s father Thomas and his mother-in-law Mary Riddell both died in 1873, perhaps David felt the time had come to leave Scotland. As his obituary says, he emigrated to Canada in 1874. A daughter, Elizabeth, was born in Ottawa in 1876; another daughter, Ann, was born in Thorold in 1878. When the 1881 census was taken, David and his family were living in Clinton Township, an area which eventually became part of Beamsville. This would put them in the area shortly before the Gibson Quarry opened. According to the Annual Report of the Ontario Department of Mines, Volume 1, 1892, “The quarries were opened by Mr. Gibson in May 1884 . . . .” Other sources show that quarries had been operating in the area for quite some time, so he may have moved to the area to find work in these quarries. The approximately 20 years spent in the area of Beamsville would have been enough to establish himself as a good husband, father, neighbor and associate.

"THEIR LAST RESPECTS: On Saturday afternoon a large concourse of sorrowing and sympathetic friends paid the last mark of respect to our late and worthy townsman, David Scott. The funeral took place at 2:30 p.m. and was conducted by the Rev. Dr. Macintyre, assisted by the Revs. R. W. Wright, B. D., and Jas. Mackie. A short service was held at the house, after which the bier, covered with many beautiful wreaths, was borne to the hearse . . . , the cortege headed by the members of the masonic order wended its way to Mount Osborne Cemetery where all that was mortal of the departed friend was given up to “mother earth.” On Sunday morning Dr. Macintyre preached a sermon in memory of the deceased gentleman from II Timothy, 1-10 and in the course of his remarks he paid a glowing tribute to the many sterling and refined qualities of the man, whom he said will not only be sorely missed in his family, but in the community and in the church of which he was a most consistent member."