Will
J. Scott [Source:
Francis White
Johnson and Ernest William Winkler, A History of
Texas and
Texans, Volume 3 (1914), page
1111] For
the past seven years postmaster of Denison, Will J. Scott is one of the
citizens of that community whose long residence, success in business,
and high
personal character entitle them to the best distinctions in public
life, and
the position to which he has been called he has rendered faithful and
intelligent service in the public interest. Will
J. Scott, who is Scotch-Irish descent, was born February 14, 1853, at
Lexington, Kentucky. He has an uncle, Rev. Robinson Scott, who for
twenty-five
years was president of the Belfast Methodist College in Ireland, and
who left
one child. Mr. Scott's parents were William and Elizabeth C. Scott. His
father
was born in Belfast, Ireland, and his mother in Norfolk, Virginia. They
were
married and came to Kentucky in 1850, the father being a lawyer by
profession,
also a farmer and stock raiser, and had a home near Lexington,
Kentucky. Later
he retired and lived in the city of Lexington until his death in 1860.
The
mother died in 1898 while living at Denison with her son. There were
only two
children, and the older, Robert Scott was born in 1851, and died in
1856. Will
J. Scott is a man of superior education, and is a graduate of Kentucky
University at Lexington. He is a pioneer of Denison, having lived here
since
1873, at which time the town comprised only a collection of business
and
residence houses grouped about the railroad terminal. Mr. Scott was one
of the
early pioneer postmasters of Denison having been appointed to the
office in
1877 by President Hays, and filling the place for four years. Roosevelt
in 1907
appointed him to the office, and by reappointment under President Taft
in 1911,
he is now in his second consecutive term, which will expire in 1915. He
has
always been a Republican, and has given much effective aid to his party
in
Texas and the south. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent
and
Protective Order of Elks, belongs to the Denison Commercial Club, and
is a
member of the Episcopal church. Mr.
Scott was married October 9, 1875, at Denison to Miss Ella J. Jennings,
a
daughter of J. W. Jennings of St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a
successful
flour manufacturer and lumber man in Denison for several years and
later was
engaged in railroad brokerage business at No. 1 Broadway in New York
City, and
his death occurred in that city in 1909. No children have been born to
Mr. and
Mrs. Scott. As
a Denison pioneer, Mr. Scott is familiar with every phase in the
growth and development of this city, and is one of the most
enthusiastic
boosters of not only Denison, but of all north Texas. He is a man of
wide
acquaintance of much travel. He served as presiding judge of the Racing
Department
of the Texas State Fair for fifteen years, and during that time
traveled all
over the United States, visiting other fairs and race meetings in the
interest
of the great Dallas attraction. Mr. Scott spends his vacations chiefly
at
Asbury Park, Atlantic City, and other eastern resorts. He takes great pride in the
Denison of the present day with its twenty
thousand people, with its good banks, schools and churches, the largest
federal
building in the South used exclusively for post
office purposes, with various
modern office buildings, a one hundred thousand dollar high school,
nine ward
school buildings, and many other improvements which mark the
progressive
character of the citizenship. A distinction which could not be
forgotten is
that Denison had the first graded public school in Texas. Mr. Scott
speaks of
various other features which are patent in a consideration of Denison's
position in the list of Texas cities. The M. K. & T. Railroad
shops have a
payroll of $20,000 a month, and the post office payroll will average
about $110,000 a year. One hundred and fifty postal clerks have their
headquarters in Denison which is the division point in the railway mail
service, and for that reason the post office has special importance in
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