Matthew Scott was born in county Donegal, Ireland, in 1795 He came to America ill 1816, but lived at Cumberland, Maryland, until 1833, when he came to Coshocton county, settling in Virginia township, near Adam's mills. As the owner and cultivator of a considerable body of land; as a man of diligence all: integrity, of more than ordinary intelligence, and of fair education, Mr. Scott was long had in repute in tile region where he dwelt. As an enthusiastic son of Erin, and a most earnest and liberal adherent of the Presbyterian church, he was known by thousands. In 1856, he made a visit to the old land. He was for several years a director of the Western Theological Seminary at Pittsburg. He was a member of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church, meeting in Peoria, Illinois, 1863. He was always a warm friend of the colored people, and was chiefly instrumental in establishing a school for the education of colored girls, called “Scotia Seminary,” in North Carolina. Having no children, and his wife having died before him, he gave almost his whole estate—of some $25,000—for educational, missionary, and other benevolent purposes, in connection with the Presbyterian church, a large part going to the support of the little church in which he had long been an elder, and in which his kindred hold yet a large place. For some time before his death, Mr. Scott had been in poor health. Early on the morning of the 13th of September, 1872, the family of the brother with whom he had been staying for some days, were alarmed by his absence from the house and the appearance of his forsaken bedroom, and search having been made, his dead body was found, after some hours, in the Muskingum river, which flowed through his lands.



 

Source:  Historical Collections of Coshocton County Ohio 1764-1876
Author: William E Hunt, pub. 1876