Julia
Green Scott
(1839-1923)
Julia Green Scott was born
to
privilege and distinguished ancestry on February 14, 1839 in Danville,
Kentucky. She was the daughter of Rev. Lewis Warner, a renowned
Southern
preacher and president of Centre College in Danville, and Mary Peachy
Fry
Green. Julia descended from a line of famous and distinguished people. She was a direct decent from the family of
George Washington on b
oth sides. Her
great-grandfather was James Speed, a
captain in the Revolutionary War. Some other ancestors were Joseph Fry,
a young
man who fought
in the Revolutionary War, and Dr. Thomas Walker, a close friend
of George Washington
and Thomas Jefferson. She attended one of the finest
Eastern finishing schools in New York and went on to excel in the life
into
which she was born.
Julia married Matthew T. Scott of Lexington,
Kentucky on May 12, 1859. She met
Matthew while he was attending Centre College.
Her father had been the president there since 1855. Together they
moved to the Central Illinois
prairie, where she and her husband were among the first residents of
the newly
founded town of Chenoa, which he helped to found.
Matthew, like his father
before him,
was a land speculator. His family had
purchased large amounts of land in both Ohio and Illinois in the 1830s. After attending college, Matthew began to
participate in land speculation with his brothers in the early 1850s. Some of the first land he purchased was in
Chenoa, IL. This land was particularly
valuable because two railroads, the Chicago and Alton and the Toledo,
Peoria
and Warsaw, intersected there. This
would be prime real-estate for Matthew. He
soon began buying thousands of acres of land and eventually accumulated
over
45,000 acres of land in Illinois, Iowa, and Tennessee.
However, Matthew did not
just buy and
sell land; he used funds from the sale of land to develop the best of
his land
holdings which was 5,000 acres of land in northern McLean County and
southern
Livingston County. This land was prairie
and like much of the land in the area, was very fertile and favorable
to
growing corn. Before Matthew could start
a crop, he had to further develop the land so it would be suitable for
growing
crops. This meant the land had to be “first drained, the sod broken,
the fields
fenced, and tenants placed on the farms.”
Matthew accomplished this by putting advertisements in
local newspapers,
such as the Weekly Pantagraph to
attract tenants and farm laborers. He
personally supervised these workers in their efforts to shape the land.
However, Chenoa did not prosper as the boomtown the Scotts
had
envisioned. They moved to Springfield in
1870, publicly because of Julia’s health, but it’s more likely that
they moved
because Julia was unhappy with Chenoa society. They continued to remain
very active
in the agricultural world and by this time, Matthew’s farms were so
well
organized that he did not need to be around as much anymore. He continued to manage his farms from afar
until his death twenty-one years later.
Julia and Matthew then moved to
Bloomington after their short stay in Springfield. While living in
Bloomington,
Matthew organized and became president of the McLean County Coal
Company, which
he reorganized and saved from failure.
He also founded the Democratic newspaper, The
Bulletin, in 1881.
In 1872, they purchased a
home at 701
E. Taylor, which was considered one of the most elegant homes of the
day in
Bloomington. Other homes included were
the David Davis Mansion, Asahel Gridley’s “The Oaks”, The Robinson
House, and
the Flagg Mansion.
Two daughters were born to
Julia and
Matthew in the 1870s: Letitia (known as “Lettie”), and Julia. After
being
married for thirty-two years, Matthew died on May 21, 1891. He was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery
in Bloomington.
Julia
Green
Scott was a very capable woman. After Matthew’s death, she took charge
of
managing 9,000 acres of farmland in Illinois and Indiana as well as
being the
principal stockholder, and eventually president, of the McLean County
Coal Company.
Between April 1900 and
October 1901, she
expanded the family home on Taylor Street by adding 60% more floor
space and
added two new porches to the exterior of the house. Julia retained well
known
local architect Arthur Pillsbury to design the new additions. Some of the additions to the design and
décor
Julia added to the house included: yellowish
tan
paint to unify old and new facades, terra cotta capitals and sandstone
columns and coping, carved red oak ornament and paneling, Tiffany
stained glass
windows bearing the family coat of arms near the staircase leading to
the
second floor, an enlarged and open parlor to entertain large numbers of
guests,
domed opalescent glass ceiling fixtures in the parlor, library, and
dining
room, electric lights with gas backups, a library with cherry paneling
and
cabinets with leaded glass doors, and her office which was complete
with a
large wall safe with her name painted on it. These additions cost over
$10,000,
which would be almost $250,000 in 2008.
At
various times, her social circle reached to the upper echelons of the
nation.
Her sister, Letitia, married Adlai Stevenson I, Vice President of the
United
States to Grover Cleveland. Julia’s
son-in-law, Carl Vrooman, was Assistant Secretary of Agriculture during
President
Woodrow Wilson’s administration. Articles appeared in both The
Bulletin and The
Pantagraph describing the parties, receptions, and functions taking
place
at her Taylor Street residence. They often included a description of
the flowers
or other décor in place for the occasion as well as the guests
who attended. On one such occasion, Julia
hosted a reception
at her home on October 29, 1901. She and
the other members of the Letitia Green Stevenson chapter of the
National
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (named for her
sister who
founded the local chapter in 1894) welcomed visiting officers from
other
chapters of the N.S.D.A.R from across the country. The entire house was
decorated in red, white, and blue, with over 300 guests attending. The reception was reported by The
Bulletin in which it was stated that
the house was “so spacious and admirably devised that there was no
crush.”
Julia was a very active member of society. She was a
member of several
organizations, including the Peace Commission of the Washington D.C.
Federation
of Women’s Clubs as well as the Women’s Council of George Washington
University. She was perhaps best known for her heavy involvement with
the National
Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (N.S.D.A.R.). The
N.S.D.A.R.
was founded in 1890 as a healing gesture after the Civil War. It was
incorporated by Congress in 1896. Letitia Green Stevenson, Julia
sister, was a
founding member of the national organization and its third president.
Julia made many contributions to the N.S.D.A.R. She was
elected
vice-president general in 1901, holding that office for four years. In
1909,
she was elected president general after barely defeating her opponent,
Mrs.
William Cummings Story in a highly publicized election. During her
tenure in
office, Memorial Continental Hall was dedicated as the N.S.D.A.R.
headquarters
in Washington, D.C. in 1910. President Taft gave the opening address at
the dedication
ceremony. It is a large and beautiful Corinthian-style building made of
white
marble from Vermont. The most prominent
feature of the structure is a colonnade of thirteen pillars on the
front which
represent the thirteen original colonies.
This monument still stands today, dedicated to all men and
women who
helped achieve independence for the United States. Julia
also traveled around the country
recruiting members and giving speeches promoting the N.S.D.A.R. During
Julia’s
time in office, the membership of the N.S.D.A.R. increased by 7,000.
The
organization’s financial status was strengthened as well. Upon the
expiration
of her second term in 1919, she was elected honorary president general,
a
position she retained until her death.
As president of the War Relief
Committee
for the N.S.D.A.R. during World War I, she led the crusade to raise
money for
the benefit of French war orphans. Her efforts were acknowledged in
1921 when
the French ambassador, M. Jusserand, presented Julia with The Medal of
French
Gratitude of the First Class in recognition of her work raising money
to
rehabilitate the French town of Tilloloy and the adoption of 4,000 war
orphans.
This was the last time she appeared in public.
Besides her remarkable work with D.A.R., Julia was also
very active in
private philanthropy. The Matthew T. Scott Institute was established in
Phelps,
KY in 1906, in memory of her husband, to provide education for poor
mountain
whites using Julia’s own private funds. In 1908, Julia enlisted the
interests
of the D.A.R. in erecting a monument dedicated to George Rogers Clark
and his
companions for defending the
In 1911, as one of the largest
landowners
in IL with 10,000 acres of farmland and an advocate of conservation,
Julia sent
40 of her tenant farmers to the University of Illinois College of
Agriculture
to acquaint them with new and advanced methods in farming. It was a
huge
success for the farmers as well as the university.
Throughout her active years, Julia often arranged her time
by spending
the spring in Washington, D.C., the summer in Charlevoix, Michigan, the
fall in
Bloomington, and the winter in Mississippi. Her summer home in
Charlevoix,
which she called “The Wilds,” was a beautiful cottage in a private,
wooded
setting near the lake. In 1918, the city of
Aside from her philanthropy, Julia was a shrewd business
woman. In 1918,
her income was $118,000 which was a huge sum for anyone at that time.
However,
in 1921, after managing the McLean County Coal Company since her
husband’s
death in 1891, she resigned as President and as a Director, turning
over her
stocks in the company to her son-in-law Carl Vrooman and grandson Scott
Bromwell.
Just a few years later on April
29, 1923, Julia
Green Scott died at her home on Taylor Street in Bloomington after
suffering a
paralyzing stroke. The lengthy obituary printed in the Daily
Pantagraph quoted one of the U.S. Supreme Court justices as
saying “I should call Mrs. Scott a great lady.” To many people, her
energy and
drive were an inspiration. She was buried next to her husband at
By: Laurie
Peterson, 2008
Edited
by: Candace Summers, 2010