ught him to read and write. Many nights after a hard days work, he
would lie on the floor in front of the fireplace, trying to study by the
light from the blazing wood, so he might improve his reading and
writing.

He married very young, and as his family increased, he became ambitious
for them. Knowing their future would be very dark if they remained
South.

He then started a movement to come north. There were about twenty-six or
twenty-eight men and women, who had the same thoughts about their
children, banded together, and in 1852 they started for somewhere,
North.

The people selected, had to be loyal to the cause of their children's
future lives, morally clean, truthful, and hard-working.

Some had oxen, some had carts. They pooled all of their scant
belongings, and started on their long hard journey.

The women and children rode in the ox-carts, the men walked. They would
travel a few days, then stop on the roadside to rest. The women would
wash their few clothes, cook enough food to last a few days more, then
they would start out again. They were six weeks making the trip.

Some settled in Madison, Indiana. Two brothers and their families went
on to Ohio, and the rest came to Indianapolis.

John Scott, one of their number was a hod carrier. He earned $2.50 a
day, knowing that would not accumulate fast enough, he was strong and
thrifty. After he had worked hard all day, he would spend his evenings
putting new bottoms in chairs, and knitting gloves for anyone who wanted
that kind of work. In the summer he made a garden, sold his vegetables.
He worked very hard, day and night, and was able to save some money.

He could not read or write, but he taught his children the value of
truthfulness, cleanliness of mind and body, loyalty, and thrift. The
father and his sons all worked together and bought some ground, built a
little house where the family lived many years.

Before old Mr. Scott died, he had saved enough money to give each son
$200.00. His bank was tin cans hidden around in his house.

Will Scott, the artist, is a grandson of this John Scott.

The thing these early settlers wanted most, was for their children to
learn to read and write. So many of them had been caught trying to learn
to write, and had had their thumbs mashed, so they would not be able to
hold a pencil.

Interviewer's Comment

Mrs. Johnson is a very interesting old woman and remembers so well the
things her parents told her. Sh