From "HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY,"  Vol. I, pages 430-432.
Brant & Fuller, 1890.


N. B. SCOTT

N. B. Scott, of Wheeling, who is prominently associated with the 
manufacturing interests of the upper Ohio valley, has also gained a 
national fame in recent years through his connection with the 
leadership of the republican party, and as a member of the national 
committee during the famous campaign of 1888.  Mr. Scott was born in 
Guernsey county, Ohio, in 1843, and is of an old Scotch family 
distinguished for heroic conduct in the border wars which once raged 
in that country.  Noted for great stature, some of them having a 
height of six feet four inches, or six feet seven, they were 
formidable figures in those days of internecine struggle.  The first 
of the ancestors to settle in America was John Scott, a protestant, 
who left Scotland and removed to Ireland, making his home in county 
Donegal in about 1770.  At a subsequent date he removed to America, 
and with a sister, Elizabeth Stewart, who had accompanied him, 
settled in Washington county, Penn.  There his sister remained, and 
she is the ancestor of a large family of descendants of the name of 
Stewart.  John Scott, however, removed to Guernsey county, Ohio, 
where he passed the remainder of his days.  David Scott, his son, was 
born in Washington county, Penn., and was fifteen years of age when 
the family removed to Ohio.  He was brought up as a farmer. About the 
year 1831 he was married to Mary Bay, whose parents were Americans of 
Scotch descent, and to this union three sons and three daughters were 
born.  The father passed away in 1866, but the mother, at the age of 
eighty-one years, is now living with a daughter in Chicago.  N. B. 
Scott was reared in Guernsey county, and received his education in 
the public schools.  During the struggle for national existence he 
played the part of a patriotic citizen, though not yet of voting age, 
when he enlisted in 1862.  He served until the close of he war and 
was mustered out in July, 1865, with the rank of commissary sergeant.  
Returning, he engaged in merchandise, and in 1868 removed to Bellaire 
with his brother-in-law, J. G. Webster, and went into business with 
him.  His connection with the manufacturing business began in 1870, 
when he engaged in the manufacture of glass in Bellaire, with the 
National Glass company.  In 1873 and 1874 he was connected with the 
La Belle Glass company of Ohio, and in 1875 he was employed by the 
Central Glass company as salesman.  Promotion soon followed, and he 
became secretary of the company in 1878, and president in 1883. The 
Central works are among the most extensive of the kind in the world, 
employing 500 men.  Mr. Scott is also interested in a number of other 
enterprises, manufacturing and financial, and president of the Dollar 
Savings bank.  Since Mr. Scott became a voter he has taken a deep 
interest in political affairs, and has been an active worker in the 
interests of the republican party.  When barely twenty-one years of 
age, he was elected mayor of Millwood, now Quaker Ciy.  After his 
removal to Wheeling in 1877, he was elected to the city council from 
the Third ward for two years, beginning in 1880, and was made 
president of the second branch of that body.  While a member of the 
council he was nominated by his party for state senator, and was 
elected by a majority of 195 to succeed a democrat whose majority was 
about 700.  In 1886 he was re-elected to that office by a majorit of 
over 300.  While a member of the state senate for eight years he 
matured and had passed a number of laws of great benefit to the 
people of the state.  In 1888 when a memorable contest was made by 
both parties for the state of West Virginia, he was a member of the 
republican national committee, as has been stated, and his earnest 
efforts contributed in no small degree to success which though hardly 
hoped for, was well nigh achieved by his party.  He is of 
Episcopalian preferences, though not a member of any denomination. He 
was married April 29, 1872, to Agnes V. Cowgill, of Iowa, and they 
have one son, Guy, a cadet in the naval academy, and a daughter, 
Ethel, who died December 20, 1889, aged fifteen years and three 
months.

    
(Linda Fluharty)