The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-10-25
THE COMPACT FAITHFULLY KEPT.
Story Of william Henry Harrison and
DIR. John Scott.


DIR. John Scott.
From the fact that the maiden name Of
the late wife of President Harrison was
Scott, and that that name has been Chris
tian one in the Harrison family for three
generations, there is popular impression
that the president and Mrs Harrison were
distantly connected by ties of blood as well
as by the closer relationship 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 Chris
tian name in the Harrison family is for
more than one reason of interest.
The late Mrs. Harrison was lineal de.
scendant of Robert Scott, a member of the
Scottish parliament before the union of
the crowns. This Robert Scott was an old
Covenantep hero, who lived in the latter
part of the Sixteenth century, and fought
at the battle of Bothanee Briggs for the
covenant and the crown. He opposed the
union of the crowns during the reign of
Queen Anne, because of the ignoring of the
Scottish crown and name in the then new
parliament of Great Britain. For this,
with others deemed guilty of the same Of
fense, he was immured in the Tower of
London under penalty of losing his head,
but was released by an amnesty of George
/, who was brought over from Hanover to
take the throne by virtue of being a de-
scendant of the Stuarts. After Robert
Scotts release, in disgust with his native
country, in company of friend, the Earl
of Belhaven, he emigrated to the north OF
Ireland, and from there, in 1725, 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 independence,
and it was no less on account Of distin.
guished 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 assured, three brothers of the Penn.
sylvania SCOTS, seeking their fortunes in
the then far southwest, settled in Ken
tucky. One Of these brothers was DR.. John
Scott between whom and William Henry
Harrison, afterward ninth president of the
United States, romantic friendship--a
love passing that Of brothers-existed. In
their youth, and prior to the marriage of
either, they had made 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 that the eldest son of John Scott
should be named Harrison.
The compact was faithfully observed.
William Henry Harrison married daugh.
ter OF John Cleves Symmes, and his oldest
son was duly called Scott Harrison, and
his son was named Benjamin Harrison.
John Scott also met his matrimonial fate,
and when he became the father Of a son
the child was named Harrison, and was in
his day one of the earlier eminent physi-
clans of Illinois.
1t seems curious circumstance that a
member of the family from whom many
years afterward and many miles distant
from its original dwelling place Benjamin
Harrison chose wife should have been in.
strumental in introducing into his family
as Christian name her surname Of Scott.
Washington Post.