The name of John M. Scott appears on the list of the successful business Wren of Racine. He possesses inventive genius that has made valuable contributions to the world and, moreover, he has the executive ability that enables him to place his inventions upon the market at a profitable figure. Racine County is proud to number him among her native sons. His birth occurred in Raymond Township on the 17th of January, 1844, his parents being Elias and Hannah Scott, natives of New York. ‘Wisconsin was still under territorial rule when they removed westward, establishing their home in Racine County, having made the journey by steamer from Buffalo. Only here and there had a claim been entered from the government and there were still many traces of Indian occupancy in this section of the country, showing that the white race was even then establishing its supremacy in the middle west. The father secured land and converted a wild tract into productive fields, becoming a successful farmer. He has now passed away, but the mother is still living at the notable old age of one hundred years, her birth having occurred in October. 1816.
John M. Scott acquired a public school education and was reared to the occupation of fanning, which he continuously followed until 1862, when, at the age of eighteen, be put aside business and personal considerations and responded to the country’s call for aid. enlisting as a member of Company H, Twenty-second Wisconsin Infantry, with which command he went to the front and participated in the defense of the stars and stripes.
When the war was over Mr. Scott traveled over the country for some time and at length located in Racine. Nature endowed him with inventive genius, which he developed and cultivated. He began his inventions through the perfection of a washing machine in the ’70s and in the same decade his study and experiments led to the production of an improved corn planter. He also invented a band fastener for fastening the bands on tanks and bumping posts to stop trains at the end of the track. He likewise invented improved railway spikes and a rail anchor to keep the rails front creeping. These and other devices he has given to the public, all of which have been of acknowledged worth, and Racine County has reason to be proud of the skill of this native son.
On the 25th of December, 1871 Mr. Scott was united in marriage to Miss Katie A. Marshall, of Bloomington, Illinois, who was born in Vermont and is a daughter of Charles Marshall, a shoemaker. The children of this marriage are: Allie, deceased: Elbert, who is living in St. Joseph, Missouri: Winn W., a fruit grower residing in Florida; Goldie, deceased, and Leora, the wife of C. E. Marks, whose home is in Madison, Wisconsin.
Mr. Scott is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and thus maintains pleasant relations with the “boys in blue” with whom he marched upon southern battlefields and campaigned through the district of the Confederacy. He has always supported the Republican Party, which was the defense of the Union during the dark days of the Civil war and which has ever been recognized as the party of progress and initiative. He belongs to the Congregational church and his course has ever been guided by high and honorable principles. Improvement has been his watchword and in his business career this has found exemplification in his inventive efforts and ingenuity, resulting in valuable contributions to the industrial world.