Scott Township was organized August 13, 1821, comprising its present territory and three tiers of sections off the north side of Center. Previously it had formed a part of Armstrong Township. It was reduced to its present size by the organization of Center Township, September 6, 1843. Lying in the northeast corner of the county, it is bounded on the north by Gibson County, on the east by Warrick County, on the south by Center Township, and on the west by German and Armstrong Townships. Its surface is generally hilly, and while the soil does not equal in richness that found in other parts of the county, yet by proper care and cultivation abundant harvests are secured. Originally the township was densely timbered. The memory of the oldest inhabitant does not go back to that time when there were no cabins of the white man in the forests of Scott Township. Long before Indiana assumed the dignity of statehood, pioneers had pushed their way into the vast wilderness, and had planted here the seeds of civilization.

         Well known in later years as being among the first of these in Scott Township were Jesse McGary and John Withrow. Their cabins were in the northwest part of the township, near the Gibson county line. Jesse McGary was a brother of Hugh McGary, whose name is closely woven into the early history, of Evansville. He was a fair representative of the rough, uncouth, drinking, rowdying set, and yet withal possessing some traits of character worthy of admiration. He was the author of one of the earliest tragedies in the annals of the county. Domestic trouble of some sort had invaded his cabin, and one day as his wife came into the door, he sent a ball from his rifle through her heart. His trial engaged public attention for some time, but he was finally acquitted, on the ground that the death was the result of an accident, it being claimed that he shot at a dog, not knowing that the woman was about to enter the door, John Withrow represented a different sort of roughness. In his dress, his speech and his manners, he was always a genuine backwoodsman, but his heart was certainly in the right place. Always honorable, he dealt fairly with his fellow-men, and when his life was drawing to its close, he had the delightful consciousness that all who knew him gave him their respect. Another rough but industrious pioneer in this same neighborhood was Kenneth Compton. He raised a family that did him honor.

         The township was named in honor of a hardy pioneer who settled and lived for some time about one mile south of the site of Inglefield, Samuel Scott. All of the early settlers, those who came prior to 1818, were, so far as known, emigrants from Kentucky, who had previously drifted into that state from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. The names of some of them are forever lost. Throughout the entire eastern part of the township there was "not a stick amiss" as late as 1811, and along the Princeton road there were but four cabins between the Ohio River and the present site of Princeton, in Gibson County. Nor was there any considerable increase in immigration for several years after this time.

         About the time the new county of Vanderburgh was organized, Scott Township began to attract a class of immigrants differing essentially from any who had previously located within its borders. The sturdy independence and industry which led the English farmers to leave their homes across the sea, to undertake a long and trying journey to the interior of the American continent, and then to cast their lots in life in the wildernesses of Indiana, were the qualities which animated these people. In the summer of 1818, one of the earliest of this class, John Ingle, a native of Huntingdonshire, England, then thirty years of age, came to Evansville, and very soon thereafter settled permanently in Scott township, near the present Inglefield. He was a farmer of sterling character, quiet habits and winning ways. His popularity was such that it may be said that he was without an enemy. Mr. Ingle was soon followed by his countrymen, Edward and Spencer Maidlow, who settled in the same neighborhood. These were intelligent men, who wielded an influence for good in shaping the events of their day. They were model farmers, neat and thrifty, and in every respect good citizens. Edward Maidlow attained local prominence as a man of affairs and was called by his fellow citizens to serve them in places of trust and profit. The Maidlows became freeholders soon after their arrival, and passed their holdings to their descendants, who, as honorable people and valuable citizens, hold a high place in popular esteem.

         About the same time came Saunders Hornbrook, much like the Maidlows in character and worth, and a valuable acquisition to the little settlement in the woods. He had been a woolen manufacturer in Devonshire, England, was an educated gentleman, and did much to advance the development of the new country. His wife was a lady of character and superior mental attainments, and thus well equipped to bring about a betterment in the social conditions of the earlier and rougher pioneers. Their sons, Saunders, John, Thomas and William, each achieved for himself an honorable place in the community, one rising to the bench, and all being prominent citizens. The daughters of the household contracted fortunate marriages with gentlemen of their own station. The family was enterprising and progressive, and from the first was well known. Mr. Hornbrook built the first cotton gin in this part of the country, and had in satisfactory operation a carding machine. In a very short time this industrious farmer and mechanic had enough buildings erected in the yard about the gin-house to give it the appearance of a little village. Here settlers came with their cotton from all directions within a radius of ten or fifteen miles. He established a country store, to supply the wants of the people, and accumulated much property, at one time owning over two thousand acres of land in Scott Township. Soon after his death, in 1839, these early enterprises were abandoned by his sons, who saw and acted on the greater opportunities offered in the neighboring city.

         About a mile north of Inglefield on the Princeton road, was the clearing of James Cawson, now the Ritchey homestead. This Princeton road was a public highway established by authority of the state, but at the time these settlers came in it winded its way about through the forest and had only the smaller trees and underbrush cut out. Huge forest trees stood in its center along its entire course. Ingle's was said to be the first place on the road where a traveler could get a breakfast or a dinner; Cawson's was the next, and then there was none till Gibson County was reached. Cawson was a man of some means and always of good repute. On his place was the Lockyear blacksmith shop, a few years later, which was about the earliest smithy in the township.

         In those days when every man extended a helping hand to a brother in every time of need, people were neighbors though they lived widely apart. In the same neighborhood, giving the word its rich, broad meaning lived Jerry Wyatt, a grand old man, very illiterate, but with sterling qualities of heart that endeared him to all. Much of his life was spent here and he was permitted to fill out four score years and ten before death took him away. There, too, lived Daniel Stinchfield, a good man, honest, God-fearing, and ready in every conversation with apt words from Holy Writ; and William Peck — "Old Father Peck," as he was called — a sturdy character, upright, honorable and much beloved, spending a useful life, and rearing an honorable family, whose descendants are yet in the township, occupying a high position in the esteem of the community, and preserving in honor the ancestral name. A young man, for many years a farm laborer in this settlement, and always a welcome guest at every house, was William Warren, who afterward moved to Evansville and for years served as assessor of Pigeon township. He is remembered by a younger generation as a fine old man, with a gruff manner, but of good heart and generous impulses. His descendants have acted a conspicuous part in the later development of the county.

         One of the earliest Germans in Scott Township was Frederick Staser, who, upon reaching the county, worked among the Sirkles in Union township, in 1819, and soon thereafter moved to what afterward became the well-known Staser homestead. He was an interesting talker, could tell a story well, and soon became popular with the pioneers. Coming here early, he acquainted himself with the congress lands and the English tongue. When the great influx of Germans occurred in later years he was thrifty and sagacious enough to mold their settlement with great pecuniary benefit to himself. His sons, John C. and Conrad, were very hospitable, and were men of more than ordinary business ability. Both grew to be wealthy, the estate of John C. being worth at least $150,000. Each generation of the Staser family has been prominent in its day.

         Probably the earliest settlement east of the Princeton road was that made by the Wheelers, Mark, Joseph and Richard, which was about two miles northeast of Inglefield. These were English people who became widely known as a worthy, respectable family. Mark was a prosperous farmer, and his two brothers were best known by their devoted labors in spreading the gospel among the pioneers. They labored zealously, accomplished much good, and forever fixed their names in the grateful remembrance of the people. Their descendants have been eminently respectable always; as citizens there are none better. Among the industries engaged in by the farmers of early days with good profit was hog-raising. A well-known and successful farmer who grew wealthy chiefly through this means was David Powell. He commenced with little capital, and by industry, economy and wise management, accumulated a valuable property. He had quite a large family, all of whom were good citizens, but attained no particular prominence. In very early days, probably about 1820, Hiram Nelson settled near the present site of Darmstadt. He was a farmer, and later opened a small store. Afterward he moved to Evansville, and was engaged as an auctioneer. He died in Evansville, leaving a widow, who still survives.

         The Hilliards came from Ireland in 1819, and about two years later formed a settlement in Scott township, which to the present time is known as the Hilliard neighborhood. Afterward the Hornbys, a prominent family, became a part of this neighborhood.

         For about twenty years there were no other settlements in the eastern part of the township, and but few additions in numbers were made to those already established. In 1822 Samuel Miller came and stayed but one year. He was chief among the deer hunters; tall, lithe and as active as the animal he pursued. Arnold Henning was known among the pioneers as "a handy man to make a cradle or an ax-handle;" although his trade was that of a shoemaker, he was too fond of drink to accomplish much, and is remembered by the present generation as a good and honest, but unfortunate man.

         Emery Cook lived and died near Inglefield. He was a good hunter, but an unskillful farmer. He won the long-continued gratitude of the pioneers for killing a particularly troublesome wolf, that was known to have done great damage to the stock.

         Another interesting character of early days was John McCann, who, with his fiddle, traversed the entire country, attending all the old-time frolics, the huskings, the barn-raisings, the quilting bees, and every gathering that was likely to end in a dance. He did much to ameliorate the hardships of pioneer life by breaking its monotony, and by encouraging those indulgences which rest the mind and recuperate the body. McCann was a valuable worker in the still-houses, and often made whiskey for Samuel Scott and Richard Carlisle.

         With the hard times that commenced soon after 1820, immigration was practically suspended. But from the older states and from across the sea occasional acquisitions were made to the settlements here. As "birds of a feather flock together," it was fortunate for Scott Township that in her borders there was so early established an intelligent nucleus about which clustered a very desirable class of immigrants. When the state of Indiana brought herself into prominence by the inauguration of the great internal improvement system of 1835, immigrants over-ran every township in the county, looking for lands and homes. Scott Township, to some extent, shared the fate of other townships, and before 1840, the lands were nearly all taken, and the settlement of the township was practically completed.

         Prominent among those who came in later, though in the pioneer era, and who became closely identified with the township history were: Richard Browning, John Sansom, George and Alexander McCutchan, Thomas Bower, the Rockett family, the Rustons and many other industrious, honorable and worthy people. The Germans, who came in afterward were, as a class, good citizens, industrious, frugal and improved the country very much.

Source:
History of Vanderburgh County, Indiana
Brant & Fuller, c.1889
Pages 578 - 581