Alexander Forsyth Scott, Judge of the County of Peel, is a native of this county, and is living on the same lot on which he was born, July 1, 1828. His father, John Scott, was a manufacturer in Scotland, coming to Canada about 1817, living for a few years in the Township of Dumfries, near where Galt now stands, and then settled on land in that part of the Township of Chinguacousy where Brampton has since risen, here farming until his demise in 1853, The mother of our subject was Mary nee Lynch, a native of Vermont. She was the mother of nine children, of whom Alexander was the eldest, and seven of whom lived to grow up.
Judge Scott was educated mainly by private tuition, the schools in this part of the country being a low grade forty years ago; developed his habits of industry and his muscle on his father’s farm in his youth; studied law in Toronto with Clarke Gamble, Q. C.; was admitted as an Attorney in 1856; commenced practicing at Brampton in 1857, and was called to the Bar at Easter term in 1858; practiced for ten years, and during three of these years served as Reeve of the Village of Brampton; was appointed County Judge, January 1, 1867. He is a man of calm, judicial temperament, with broad, comprehensive views of legal principles, and his decisions are invariably marked with impartial “common sense,” and supported by vigorous and lucid reasoning. He is held in very high esteem by the legal profession and the public. He is a Master in Chancery for the County of Peel.
Judge Scott is a Chapter Mason, but retired from acting in that order on being appointed to his present office.
He is a member of the Church of England, and has been for a number of years a lay delegate to the Synod. His character stands far above reproach. The Judge was at one time an officer in the 36th Battalion Volunteer Militia, and now holds the rank of Lieut.Colonel of the 6th Battalion, Peel Militia.
His wife is Anna Sophia, daughter of William Furby of Port Hope, many years editor and publisher of the Telegraph, and later of the Guide of that town, his sketch appearing elsewhere in this volume; they were married May 26, 1858, and have had five children, four of them still surviving.