The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-11-11
A COMPACT FAITHFULLY KEPT

Story of William Henry Harrison and
DIR. John Scott.
Washington Post: From the fact that
the maiden name of the late wife of the
president vas Scott, and that that name has
been a christian one in the Harrison family
for three generations, there is q popular
impression that the president and Mrs.
Harrison were distantly connected by ties
of blood as we'll as by the closer relation
ship of man and wife. Though a natural
conclusion, this belief is incorrect. There
having been no ~consanguinity between
President and Mrs. Harrison, the way in
which the Scott name came to be so freely
used as a christian name in the Harrison
family is, for mole than one reason, of in
terest at this time.
The late Mrs. Harrison was a lineal de-
scendant Of Robert Scott. a member of the
Scottish parliament before the union of the
crowns. This Robert Scott was an old
Covenanter hero, who lived in the latter
part of the sixteenth century and fought at
she battle of Bothanee Briggs for the cove
nant and the crown He opposed the union
of the own during the reign of Queen
Anne, because of the ignoring of the Scot
fish crown and name in the then new %parlia-
ment of Great Britain. For this, with 9th
ers deemed guilty of the same offense, he
was immured in the tower of London under
penalty Of losing his head. but was released
by All amnesty of George l.. who was
brought over from Hanover to take the
throne by virtue of being a descendant of
the Stuarts. After Robert Scott's release,
in disgust with his native country, in com
pany with a friend, the Earl OF Belhaven,
he emigrated to the north of Ireland, and
from there, in 172b. his Oldest son, John.
came to America and became the founder
of the family in this country.
In the revolutionary war the Pennsylva-
MIA SCOTS, as might have been expected
from their lineage. were prominently iden-
titled with the struggle for inderendenoe,
and it was no less on account of distin-
2uished services on the part of her ances-
try than because she was the wife
of the president of the United
States that the late Mrs. Harrison was
elected first president of the society of the
Daughters Of the American Revolution.
After the independence of the colonies
was insured three brothers of the Pennsvl-
ShhAa cCottst seehluR tH9lF fortunes IN the
then far southwest. settled in Kentucky.
One of these brothers was DIR. John Scott.
between whom and William Henry Harri-
son. afterward ninth president of the
United States, a romantic friendship-a
love passing that of b: others-existed. In
their youth, and prior to the marriage of
either, they had made n COMPACT that their
loyalty to each other should be perpetuated
in their offspring-that the eldest son of
William Henry Harrison should be named
Scott, and the eldest son of John Scott
should be named Harrison.
The compact was faithfully observed,
William Henry Harrison married a daugh-
ter of John Cloves Symmes, and his oldest
son was duly called Scott Harrison, and his
son, Benjamin Harrison. 10 now the presi-
dent of the United States. John Scott also
met his matrimonial fate. and when be be-
came the father of a son, the child WAC
named Harrison, and WAS in his day one of
the earlier eminent physicians ot Illinois.
1t seems a curious circumstance that a
member OF the family feom whom many
years afterward and many miles distant
from its original dwelling place, Beniamin
Harrison chose n wife should have been in
strumental in introducing into his family
as a christian name her surname of Scott.