Among the names of those who have done business on the river during the past quarter of a century, that of M. B. Scott, until his retirement a few years since, held a foremost place. Mr. Scott is a native of New York, having been born at Deerfield, near Utica, in that State, in March, 1801.

Mr. Scott is of Quaker stock; a lineal descendent in the sixth generation from the first American Quaker, (Richard Scott, one of the first settlers of Providence, R. I.,) and in the nineteenth generation from William Baliol Scott, of Scotts-Hall, Kent, England, in the line of Edward I. His Quaker ancestors suffered persecution at the hands of the Boston Puritans in 1658. The daughters of Richard Scott were cast into prison by Endicott, for avowing their Quaker faith, and his wife Katharine (nÉ Marbury, youngest sister of the famous Mrs. Anne Hutchinson) was publicly scourged in Boston by order of court, for visiting and sympathizing with her Quaker brethren in prison.

One of the maxims of Mr. Scott's life, was to despise no honest employment, however laborious; if he failed to obtain such business as he desired, he took the next best opportunity that offered, a principle that might be profitably practiced by many young men of the present day. Deprived of a liberal education, by the pecuniary embarrassments of his father, who had a large family to support, he left the Utica Academy in 1820, and made an effort to learn a mechanical trade, with only partial success. He, for a time, alternately taught a country school in winter, and was engaged for the remainder of the year in internal commerce, as master of a boat, or as forwarding clerk, in the then prominent houses of De Graff, Walton & Co., and Cary & Dows, on the Mohawk river and Erie canal. This early training in the elements of commerce and navigation was the nucleus of his subsequent pursuits, and the foundation of his commercial success, although his operations were not on the gigantic scale of many others, who either amassed great fortunes, or sank into bankruptcy; he managed his affairs with such prudence, sagacity and integrity, that he never had occasion to compound with his creditors, or even ask for an extension.

Mr. Scott was interested in the first line of canal boats that ran through from Utica to New York. In the outset of Erie canal operations it was supposed that canal boats could not sail down the Hudson, and the freight was consequently transhipped at Albany. Experiment proved the fallacy of this belief, and thenceforward canal boats ran through to New York. A new line of steam tow-boats on the North river, called the Albany & Canal Tow-Boat Company, was formed, and Mr. Scott was appointed principal manager, first at Albany and then at New York.

In 1836, his health failed, owing to his close application to business, and under medical advice he performed a horseback journey through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. On his way westward he stopped at Cleveland and was favorably impressed with what was then a small but flourishing town. In 1837, he returned from his western journey and resumed business, but again his health failed, and he was ordered to permanently abandon Albany and seek a more favorable climate. Remembering the advantages of Cleveland both for business and residence, he concluded to remove to that point.

Here he continued his connection with the forwarding business by opening an agency for the American Transportation Line of canal boats on the Erie canal, his office being at the foot of Superior street. In 1841, he engaged in the purchase and shipment of staves, the markets for which were Albany and New York. This branch of business he continued for about five years.

In 1844, he built a steam elevator on River street, near his old stand, it being the first brick building erected on the river front. With the completion of this building he turned his attention more particularly to grain, receiving it by canal from the interior. On the opening of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati railroad, his elevator was easily connected with that line, and the first load of railroad wheat stored in Cleveland was received into his elevator.

About the year 1840, Mr. Scott became interested in the lake marine by the purchase of the brig Amazon, of 220 tons, then considered a craft of good size. At the time of the purchase, the West was flooded with wild-cat money, and specie was very scarce. The brig was sold by order of the Chancellor of Michigan, and specie demanded from the purchaser, a condition that made buyers shy. In 1842, Mr. Scott purchased the schooner John Grant, of 100 tons, and in the following three years added to his little fleet the schooner Panama, of 100 tons, and the brig Isabella, of over 300 tons, the latter being something highly respectable in the way of lake shipping.

Prudence, foresight, and careful enterprise made all his ventures reasonably successful. In 1865, he resolved to quit business and enjoy the competence he had acquired, first in foreign travel, to free himself more thoroughly from business cares, and then in lettered ease at home. In pursuance of this purpose he spent six months in Europe, returning with recruited energies to the enjoyment of the well stocked library of rare volumes collected during his years of active business, and largely added to during his foreign travels.

A few facts in Mr. Scott's life, exhibiting his thorough confidence in the Government and the cause of the Union, should not be passed over. The first investment in the original War Loan taken in Cleveland, if not in Ohio, was made by Mr. Scott, August 12th, 1861. He still retains and exhibits with justifiable pride, a certificate from the Acting Secretary of the Treasury, dated August 29th, 1861, stating that five thousand dollars had been received from him on account of the three years' treasury notes, and promising that they should be sent him as soon as prepared. From that time to the present he has invested freely in Government securities, being fully convinced of their safety.

Since his retirement from business and return from European travel, he has employed his leisure in literary pursuits, especially in genealogical and historical studies, and has frequently contributed to the journals of the day curious and interesting facts relating to the early settlers in New England, in correction of erroneous beliefs regarding them.

In 1840, Mr. Scott was married to Miss Mary Williamson, by whom he has had seven children, of whom three still live.