Josiah Scott (December 1, 1803 – June 15, 1879) was a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

politician in the U.S. State of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

who was in the

Ohio House of Representatives The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate. The House of Representatives first met in Ch ...

, and was an

Ohio Supreme Court The Ohio Supreme Court, Officially known as The Supreme Court of the State of Ohio is the highest court in the U.S. state of Ohio, with final authority over interpretations of Ohio law and the Ohio Constitution. The court has seven members, a ...

Judge 1856–1872. Josiah Scott was born at Washington County, Pennsylvania, not far from Cannonsburg, where he graduated from Jefferson College (now

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

) in 1823. He returned to Jefferson College as a tutor from 1827 to 1829. He studied law and in 1830 he moved to Bucyrus,

Crawford County, Ohio Crawford County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,025. Its county seat is Bucyrus. The county was created in 1820 and later organized in 1836. It was named ...

, where he practiced law. Smith 1898 : 66–67 In 1840, Scott was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives for the 39th General Assembly as a Whig.

Presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

in 1844 for

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

/ Frelinghuysen. In 1856, Scott was nominated by the Republican Party for Judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, and he defeated incumbent Democrat

Rufus P. Ranney Rufus Putnam Ranney (October 30, 1813 – December 6, 1891) was a Democratic politician in the U.S. State of Ohio who helped write the second Ohio Constitution, and was a judge on the Ohio Supreme Court in 1851–1856 and 1863–1865. Early lif ...

and a third party candidate with a plurality of the votes in the General Election. Ranney resigned the seat soon after the election, and Scott was seated late in 1856. He was re-elected in 1861, and again in 1866, but declined re-nomination in 1871. In 1870, Scott developed a method to construct magic squares. In 1872, Scott returned to Crawford County, and private practice. In 1876,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Hayes appointed him to the

Supreme Court Commission of Ohio Bold indicates chief judge or chief justice. The Ohio Supreme Court was created by the Ohio Constitution of 1802 with three judges, and had three or four through 1851. In 1851, the number of judges was increased to five. In 1892, the number of jud ...

, and he resigned at the end of a three-year term in 1879. Scott married Elizabeth McCracken on February 8, 1838. They had five children before she died in 1844. Scott married again May 4, 1846 to Susan Elizabeth Moffit, who had no children and died in 1891. He died June 15, 1879 from kidney disease and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Bucyrus. Supreme Court of Ohio : Supplement 5

Notes

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Josiah Members of the Ohio House of Representatives Ohio lawyers People from Crawford County, Ohio People from Washington County, Pennsylvania Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court Washington & Jefferson College alumni Washington & Jefferson College faculty Ohio Republicans 1803 births 1879 deaths Ohio Whigs 19th-century American politicians 1844 United States presidential electors American mathematicians Members of the Supreme Court Commission of Ohio 19th-century American judges 19th-century American lawyers