SCOTT, Mrs. Mary Sophia, businesswoman, born in Freeport, Ill., 17th October. 1838. Her father, Orestes H. Wright, was a native of Vermont. Her mother, Mary M. Atkinson, was born in Durham, England. Her father settled in Freeport and began business as a merchant. Mary was the first female child born in that city. Her father died in early manhood, having (aid the foundation for a competence for his family.
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MARY SOPHIA SCOTT.
In 1863 Miss Wright became the wife of Col. John Scott, of Nevada, Iowa, when he was serving in the army, and when- she now lives. She soon after collected his motherless children and made a home for them. Her busy life in Iowa began in the fall of 1864. In 1875 she was invited by the executive council to collect and exhibit the work of Iowa women in the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. In 1884 she was invited to take entire charge of a similar exhibit in the New Orleans Cotton Centennial Exposition. That she accomplished under many disadvantages She is eminently domestic in her tastes and a model homekeeper. Probably the most useful and important work of her life was the publication of her book on "Indian Corn as Human Food" (1891). She is at present the president of the Iowa Woman's Monument Association, the object of which is to encourage the erection of a suitable memorial by the State to commemorate the valor of the Iowa soldiers in the war for the suppression of the Great Rebellion.