Richard H. Scott (September 3, 1858 – September 26, 1917) was an American jurist who served as a justice of the

Wyoming Supreme Court The Wyoming Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The Court consists of a Chief Justice and four Associate Justices. Each Justice is appointed by the Governor of Wyoming from a list of three nominees submitted by the ...

from February 24, 1906, until his death.

Early life and education

Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, Charles and Margaret (Hamilton) Scott, he pursued his early education in the public schools and afterward attended the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east ...

, from 1876 until his graduation in 1880.Ichabod S. Bartlett, ''History of Wyoming, Volume 3'' (1918), p. 389. He served one year in the Navy before resigning his commission,Wyoming State Archives biography of Richard H. Scott, available at 2301 Central Ave, Cheyenne, WY 82001. working as a government surveyor work in the summer, while in the winter he studied law at

Jordan, Minnesota Jordan is a city in Scott County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 6,656 at the 2020 census. History The community began on November 27, 1853, when Thomas A. Holmes ordered the construction of a sawmill. This establishment gave ...

, until admitted to practice at the bar of Minnesota in 1884.

Legal and political career

In 1886, Scott moved from Minnesota to Wyoming, becoming a resident of Wyoming on July 5, 1886, establishing a private practice of law in

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, in Crook County. The success of his legal practice led to his selection as a member of the Wyoming constitutional convention of 1889, where he aided in framing the organic law of the state. The following year he was chosen judge of the first judicial district of Wyoming and served on that court for sixteen years, until 1906. On February 3, 1906, Governor Bryant Butler Brooks appointed Scott to a seat on the Wyoming Supreme Court vacated by Josiah Alexander Van Orsdel, who held the seat briefly following the death of

Jesse Knight Jesse Knight (6 September 1845 — 14 March 1921) was an American mining magnate, one of relatively few Latter-day Saints in 19th century Western America to find major success in the field. After the death of his father Newel Knight, Jesse's ...

. In the general election that year, Scott ran as a Republican against former justice Herman V.S. Groesbeck, who ran as a Socialist. Scott won by an overwhelming margin. He was again reelected in 1910, and on January 1, 1913, he became chief justice of Wyoming, continuing in that role until 1915. In that year he was again reelected a judge of the supreme court to serve for another term of eight years, but died less than two years into his final term.

Personal life

Scott married Agnes Delight Coates of

on July 1, 1885. They had five children together. Scott died in

Cheyenne, Wyoming Cheyenne ( or ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Wyoming, most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is the county seat of Laramie County, Wyoming, Laramie County, with 65,132 reside ...

, after a long illness."Richard H. Scott", ''The Los Angeles Times'' (September 27, 1917), p. 2.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Richard H. 1858 births 1917 deaths Lawyers from Minneapolis United States Naval Academy alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Justices of the Wyoming Supreme Court 19th-century American judges People from Wyoming Territory