David Alymer Scott, 1892-1971

Abstract

David Alymer Scott died at Toronto, Canada, on Thursday 18 November 1971, less than 24 hours after suffering an aneurysm. David Scott was born on a farm in Kincardine Township, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada, on 2 October 1892. His father, James Robert Scott and mother Mary Scott (née MacKenzie) were of Scottish descent. His mother’s grandfather, John MacKenzie, emigrated from Applecross, Ross-shire, Scotland to Middle River, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, in 1824. One of his sons, Neil MacKenzie, when still a young man in his thirties, moved to the province of Ontario in 1863 and took up a farm of Crown land in Ashfield Township, Huron County. He had seven children. The second youngest was Mary—David’s mother. The MacKenzie family grew up in a typical Highland Scottish tradition. Gaelic was the language of the home and each member of the family spoke it before mastering English. Neil MacKenzie was for many years precentor at the Gaelic Sunday services at the local Presbyterian Church. He endured all the hardships and privations of the early pioneers and lived to be one hundred. The exact date on which the Scotts emigrated from Scotland is not known, but it would appear to be about the year 1840. Hugh Scott, David’s grandfather, was a blacksmith by profession. He first settled in Walkerton, the county town of Bruce County, to practise his trade. He had five children— four sons and one daughter. The second oldest son was James Robert— David’s father. With a family of energetic young boys the thing to do in those days was to take up Crown land. This Hugh Scott did in 1856 and settled in Kincardine Township, Bruce County.