Background
Thomas Scott was born at Oldtown, Frederick (now Allegany) County, Maryland.
Thomas Scott was born at Oldtown, Frederick (now Allegany) County, Maryland.
He learned the art of tailoring, and studied law under James Brown of Lexington, Kentucky.
At age eighteen, he was ordained to preach in the Methodist church and, in 1793, was placed in charge of the Ohio circuit. He practiced in Flemingsburgh, Kentucky in 1799 and 1800. Scott came to Chillicothe, Ohio early in 1801, and was licensed to practice in June, 1801.
He was Clerk of the Northwest Territory Legislature that winter.
In November, 1802, he was secretary at the State Constitutional Convention. He was first justice of the peace in Ross County, and was clerk of the Ohio Senate 1803-1809.
He was Prosecuting Attorney of Ross County, 1804 and 1805. In 1809, Scott was chosen Judge of the Ohio Supreme Court, serving until he resigned July 25, 1815.
He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives in 1815, and did not seek re-election.
Scott was a Whig until Henry Clay blocked his appointment as Federal District Judge. He then became a Democrat, remaining so until the candidacy of General Harrison in 1840, after which he returned to the Whigs. From 1829 to 1845, Scott served as register of public lands at the Chillicothe Federal Land Office.
When he died February 13, 1856 at Chillicothe, he had been active as a lawyer longer than anyone in Ohio, and "probably, longer a preacher of the gospel than any other minister in the United States." He is buried at Grandview Cemetery.