.
HENRY
SCOTT
Henry Scott, of the Jefferson District, owns and resides upon a tract of sixteen acres on Scott’s Lane, north of the Southern Pacific Railroad, and about one mile northwest of Santa Clara’s business center. This land is devoted to the cultivation of hay and the raising of stock. Among the stock, mention must be made of two high-bred stallions, from trotting stock. One of these is called “Designer,” sired by the well-known horse “Director;” the other Sultan S., sired by the famous horse Sultan, that a few years ago was sold for $15,000. These horses are now (1888) but three years old. The interest displayed by Mr. Scott in the improvement of stock will eventually be of great value to the industry of stock-raising in the county.
The subject of this sketch was born on the Isle of Feiö, Denmark, March 4, 1845. His parents, Rasmus and Karen (Hansen) Peterson, were natives of Denmark, where his mother died, the father becoming a resident of San Francisco in 1874. After her death Mr. Scott lived upon a farm until, when fourteen years old, he entered upon a seafaring life. He spent eleven years on the sea, holding various positions on the different vessels in which he sailed, and serving for some time in the Danish navy. After leaving the Danish navy he went to Germany; from there he sailed around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, and remained on the coast for some time; and from there he came to San Francisco in 1863. After spending some time at that place he went to the mining districts at Empire City, Nevada, where he worked in a mill for about six months, when he returned to San Francisco and bought a restaurant, which he conducted for about a year, when he again went to the mining districts at Virginia City, where he worked as chief cook in hotels. After remaining there some time he returned to his old calling, the coasting trade, where he served as cook and steward for a year. In 1870 he made a visit of a few months to his old home in Denmark, returning to San Francisco and again engaging in the restaurant business. Among his ventures in this line was the establishment of the Arcade Restaurant, on Sixth Street, which he conducted till 1874, when he made a second visit to Denmark. Upon his return to San Francisco he opened the Empire Restaurant, on Second Street, which he kept till 1886, when he came to Santa Clara County and took up his residence upon the land heretofore described. Bringing to his new pursuits the habits of industry and economy, and the business knowledge gained by long experience in many places and occupations, he is assured of success in his present enterprise.
In 1874, while Mr. Scott visited his home,
he married Miss Bodil Josephine Marie Rasmusfen, daughter of Hans Jacob
and Maren (Nielsen) Rasmusfen, natives of Lollard, Denmark. Four
children were born to them, of whom but one is living, William
Valdemer, aged (1888) seven years.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 224-225
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
Proofread by Betty Vickroy
WILLIAM H. SCOTT,
Bio-Pen Pictures
SURNAMES: BEATY, DUNFORD, BARRETT, BICKNELL
deceased, was born in a Trenton, New Jersey, July I, 1822. His father, a native of Ireland, settled in New Jersey, where he married Sarah Beaty, a native of that State. Her ancestry is from the Philadelphia Germans. About 1839 the family, with three children, removed to Cedar County, Iowa, where Mr. Scott, Sr., died, in 1856. They had three more children born in Iowa. Of his children two are living in Iowa and two in California. Mrs. Scott lived with her children during the last years of her life, a part of the time in California, where she remained two years, when she returned to Iowa and died there, in 1871, aged seventy-three years.
Mr. Scott, the subject of this sketch, was apprenticed to the brick-laying trade in Philadelphia, and went with his father to Iowa, assisting him on the home place for some time, and then began work at his trade. He worked on the State House in Iowa City, at that time the capital of the State, which was the first brick building erected in that city. He also worked at his trade in St. Louis, Missouri, till the breaking out of the Mexican War, when he enlisted in Company A, St. Louis Volunteers, Captain Charles Allen commanding, and served till after the Battle of Vera Cruz, when he was discharged and returned to St. Louis. From there he went to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he worked at his trade till 1849, when he came to California, where for two years he worked in the placer mines. He returned to Vicksburg, and was there married, December 29, 1851, to Mary A. Dunford. After his marriage he went to New Orleans and lived till the following May, when he returned to California and located at San Francisco, working at his trade there till 1859; then he removed to San Jose and lived there a year, when he bought a farm near Los Gatos and moved upon it with his family, making it his permanent home. For the next eighteen or nineteen years he worked at his trade in San Jose and put up some of the first brick buildings in that city. After being engaged with Michael Kenny in contracting for some time, he returned to his ranch and devoted his time to improving it, when he died, January 26, 1879. Mrs. Scott, his widow, now resides on the place. She is a native of Richmond, Virginia, but was reared in Alabama and Louisiana. Her father, Dr. William F. Barrett, a Southern planter, died in 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Scott had one child, Mary A. Scott, who married John Bicknell. She died July 26, 1881, leaving two sons, whom Mrs. Scott has taken to raise. Their ranch has eighty acres, of which thirty-five are in fruit, viz.: 1,000 French prunes, fifteen acres in vines, and the remainder in other kinds of fruit. Mrs. Scott also has forty-five acres of grain and pasture land.
Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.- Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888.
Pg. 629