Joseph Scott (1728 – September 29, 1800) was a soldier, merchant, government office holder, and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

. He was a member of the 2nd

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (; ), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia, and together with the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia makes up the Nova Scotia Legislature. The assembly is ...

from 1759 to 1760. He built the Scott Manor House. Joseph was born at Ballingarry,

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, Ireland in 1728, the third child of eight children born to John and Mary Scott. His grandfather Jeremiah came to Ireland with

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily () * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (1817–1890) N ...

's invading English forces in 1690 and fought at the

Battle of the Boyne The Battle of the Boyne ( ) took place in 1690 between the forces of the deposed King James II, and those of King William III who, with his wife Queen Mary II (his cousin and James's daughter), had acceded to the Crowns of England and Sc ...

. He later acquired a land grant in Ballingarry and developed it into a successful estate. Scott served as quartermaster in one of the regiments raised by Governor Shirley of Massachusetts and arrived in Nova Scotia aboard the British vessel London as part of

Edward Cornwallis Edward Cornwallis ( – 14 January 1776) was a British career military officer and member of the aristocratic Cornwallis family, who reached the rank of Lieutenant General. After Cornwallis fought in Scotland, putting down the Jacobite r ...

' expedition to establish Halifax in 1749. In 1750 Scott wed Mary Morris, the daughter of Charles Morris and had four children with her; (Joseph, Susanna, William and Rose). Unfortunately Mary and her four children died prior to 1763 as on January 4, 1763, he married Margaret Ramsey Cottnam. They had a daughter (Elizabeth) and son (Michael). By 1752 he had established himself as a merchant selling "wines, rum, Irish butter, soap, and coffee", etc. and invested in several other businesses. During this early period Scott acquired several government positions. In 1752 he was named Justice of the Peace, a judge in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, in 1754 Surveyor of Lumber, and from 1761 to 1763 was the Paymaster for the Halifax garrison. He may even have acted as Commander of

Fort Sackville During the 18th and early 19th centuries, the French, British and U.S. forces built and occupied a number of forts at Vincennes, Indiana. These outposts commanded a strategic position on the Wabash River. The names of the installations were chang ...

for a short period around 1770. Scott acquired his first grant of land in 1759, a parcel of 850 acres in Bedford/Sackville. This move to the Bedford area coincided closely with the establishment of peace with the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia after the defeat of the French at Louisbourg and Quebec. At this time he entered into the lumbering business, establishing several sawmills and a gristmill on his lands. He acquired an additional grant of 7000 acres enabling him to expand his lumbering business as the "...government was most anxious to encourage the shipment of lumber to England...". His Bedford/Sackville lands grew to encompass approximately 12,000 acres. In time his holdings expanded into current day Hants County. Evidence of this is found in his Will where upon his death he left to his wife the "George Field" estate consisting of 8000 acres around the old Acadian settlement of Les Cing Maisons, the area today known as St. Croix and Ardoise.Elsie Churchill Tolson. The Captain, the Colonel and me, p. 56. In 1767 he inherited all his brother George Scott's Nova Scotia properties. It was on sixteen acres from this land parcel next to

that he built the Scott Manor House sometime between 1769 and 1772. As a man of some influence Scott became involved in the political life of the fledgling colony. In 1758 he supported the colonists in their effort to end the military government and replace it with a representative assembly. He was elected to the new Nova Scotia Assembly, serving from 1759 to 1760. In 1776 Scott lobbied along with others for the removal of Governor

Francis Legge Francis Legge ( 1719–15 May 1783) was a British military officer and colonial official in Nova Scotia during the 18th century. He served as governor of Nova Scotia from 1772 to 1776. During the American Revolution, Legge raised the Royal Nova ...

from office. He died in Sackville.

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