Guide to the Papers of the John Irwin Scull Family, c1736-1956
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Papers of the John Irwin Scull Family
- Creator
- John Irwin Scull Family
- Collection Number
- MSS#90
- Extent
- 5.0 cubic feet (2 boxes and 13 shelf volumes)
- Date
- c1736-1956
- Abstract
- John Irwin Scull was a newsman, banker and lifelong citizen of Somerset (Somerset County), Pennsylvania. Scull served in non-combat roles during World War I and upon his return to Somerset, joined the banking profession. These papers include correspondence, genealogical notes for the Scull, Irwin and associated families, tax records, legal records and other sundry items.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biographical Sketch of John Irwin Scull (1888-1959)
John Irwin Scull was a newsman, banker and lifelong citizen of Somerset (Somerset County), Pennsylvania. Scull served in non-combat roles during World War I and upon his return to Somerset, joined the banking profession. Scull eventually became President of the Somerset Trust Company and Chairman of the Board of the First National Bank of Somerset. In addition to his role in Somerset's financial community, Scull was also greatly involved in the cultural and social life of Somerset as a patron of the arts and philanthropist. John Irwin Scull was also an avid genealogist and spent a good deal of his adult life tracing his lineage back to Cork County, Ireland in the 17th century. His ancestors were members of the prominent Scull and Irwin families. These families included some of the first settlers of the Western Pennsylvania region. Scull undertook the burden of his family's genealogical research to provide his grandnieces and nephews with a better indication of their ancestors.
Among prominent members of the Scull and Irwin families were John Irwin, John Scull, Nicholas Scull, Peter Scull and Edward Scull. John Irwin (1739-1822) was a trader prior to the Revolutionary War, and from 1794 to 1821, served as associate judge in the Courts of Westmoreland County. Irwin worked toward the creation of roads in the region including the old Pennsylvania Turnpike toll road. John Scull (1765-1828) co-founded the Pittsburgh Gazette in 1786. This was the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains and preceded the incorporation of Pittsburgh as a borough by eight years. An ardent supporter of the federal government, Scull crafted the newspaper into a pro-Washington publication. Scull held numerous other positions in the young city of Pittsburgh including Postmaster to the new territory, and president of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank. Scull has the distinction of having published the first book west of the Alleghenies. Nicholas Scull (1686-1761) was the first member of the Scull family born in America. A friend of Benjamin Franklin, Scull served as an interpreter at several Indian councils and was one of the first Surveyors General of the Province of Pennsylvania. Several generations of Sculls were to become surveyors in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. Peter Scull (1753-1779) was aide-de-camp to George Washington at the Battle of White Plains, and later served as the Secretary of the Board of War from December 1778 to the fall of 1779.
Edward Scull (1818-1900) was a prominent Somerset County Republican who held numerous elected and appointed offices. Edward was born in Pittsburgh to John Irwin Scull and Anna Spencer Scull. Edward spent a short time in the commercial community before embarking on a career in law. He was admitted to the Westmoreland County Bar in 1844 and two years later, moved to Somerset, where he practiced law until 1857. During this same time, Edward purchased and merged the Somerset Herald with the Somerset Whig, forming the Somerset Herald and Whig. With the decline of the Whig Party in the 1850s, Edward dropped the "Whig" from the name. The Somerset Herald was the leading newspaper in that city and remained in the family until its sale in 1930.
In 1857, Edward was elected prothonotary of Somerset County on the Republican Party ticket. He was an early supporter of that party and served as an elector for their initial presidential election in 1856. On March 4, 1863, President Lincoln appointed Edward Scull collector of Internal Revenue for the 16th District of Pennsylvania. The 16th District was comprised of southern Pennsylvania counties from Bedford County to the west and Adams County to the east. President Johnson removed Scull from his post in September 1866, to appease the Republican majority in congress. With the election of President U. S. Grant in 1869, Scull was appointed assessor of Internal Revenue for the 16th District and in 1873, was appointed collector for the same district. Scull was relieved of his post in 1883 when the 16th District was combined with others and work at the Internal Revenue temporarily subsided. Edward Scull later spent six years, 1887-1893, as representative to the United States Congress in the 50th, 51st and 52nd Congresses. In his later years, Scull continued to work at the Herald and served as president of the First National Bank of Somerset until his death in 1900.
Other figures who are documented within these papers include George Frederick Baer, Frederick Charles Goeb, and Harmon Husband. George Frederick Baer (1842-?) was president of several railroads in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as several iron companies in Eastern Pennsylvania. Frederick (Friedreich) Charles Goeb (1782-1829) was a German immigrant who settled in Somerset in 1809. Recognizing the importance of the German population of Somerset, Goeb shortly began publishing books and newspapers to accommodate the immigrant population. In 1813, Goeb printed, in German, the first Bible west of the Alleghenies. Goeb also printed, in German, a weekly newspaper and a yearly Almanac for the residents of Somerset. Harmon Husband (1724-1795) was a preacher and is acknowledged as one of the first permanent settlers in Western Pennsylvania. Husband was a leader in the Regulators' disturbance against the British in North Carolina and fled to the Western Pennsylvania region in 1771 under the name of "Toscape Death". Husband was also a pamphleteer, surveyor, and an assemblyman. He fought with the Whiskey Insurrection Army and was captured by federal troops. Husband died shortly thereafter in Philadelphia.
Scope and Content Notes
These papers include correspondence, genealogical notes for the Scull, Irwin and associated families, tax records, legal records and other sundry items. These papers primarily document John Irwin Scull's research on his family history and Edward Scull's public career as tax collector, assessor, congressman and prothonotary for Somerset County. John Irwin Scull's correspondence includes letters written throughout his life to and from various historical and genealogical societies, antiquarian groups, and professional organizations in search of material on his family. Genealogical material includes notes Scull compiled about his family history, finished and unfinished manuscript portions of a family genealogy, the Scull Ancestral Tablet, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and sundry printed materials. Genealogical histories and notes are arranged in alphabetical order by first name within the Scull material and by last name within the associated families material. Apparently, Scull prepared a number of manuscript histories of his family and prominent characters with whom they had contact. These he sent to Pennsylvania historians and to various historical organizations for correction and comment. It is not known if these were published in any form, and there are no complete copies of such work in the Scull papers. One study was completed, that of General Alexander Ogle, the father-in-law of one of his ancestors.
Original documents were generated by a variety of Scull family members, the bulk of these items relate to Edward Scull in his public capacities in Somerset. The early material documents a variety of concerns in Western Pennsylvania including a receipt for goods purchased for the Somerset Furnace in 1847, land records and road improvement in the late 18th and early 19th century, and various letters between family members. Later material primarily documents the public career of Edward Scull. Included are letters he received as collector and assessor for the Internal Revenue, congressman and prothonotary. Of note are court documents allowing members of the German Baptist, Society of Friends and Amish communities to gain contentious objector status during the Civil War. These men were primarily from Somerset and Bedford Counties. Among numerous items documenting Southern Pennsylvania during the Civil War is a June 12, 1864 letter written about the planning of a Sanitary Fair for Somerset.
Correspondence relating to politics is primarily incoming, the bulk of which concerns the appointment of postmasters in Bedford, Blair and Somerset Counties around 1890. Material designated as transcripts and copies are primarily wills, land deeds, certificates, poetry, and correspondence from a variety of members of the Scull family. The transcribed correspondence primarily documents family concerns during the first half of the 19th century and includes letters written in Pittsburgh. These copies and transcripts have not been interfiled with the other original material to distinguish the provenance of these items.
Tax records primarily include Edward Scull's copies of record books kept for the United States Department of Internal Revenue. Edward Scull kept information on the tax assessed and collected, as well information on other concerns such as licenses for distillers, cigar makers and other commercial operations. These books represent a small portion of the records he kept as collector and assessor, but provide interesting and worthwhile information on the commercial activity in the 16th District, the manufacturing of alcohol and cigars, and the general makeup of the population. Of note are the Record of Licenses, which records the commercial operations that have purchased licenses to operate in the region. The names in that book are organized by the deputy collector who sold the licenses to the individual businesses of almost every kind of commercial activity including: recreation, manufacturing, and retail. Also included are numerous records of distillers and cigar makers in the district and the taxes they paid to operate, documenting the controls placed over those types of industries during the mid 19th Century.
Miscellaneous material includes original sermons and a brief biographical sketch of Harmon Husband, a participant in the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794. Also included are research notes and John Irwin Scull's correspondence with historical organizations concerning his research on the career of Somerset printer Frederick Charles Goeb. Other items in these papers provide scattered information on life and activities in Somerset, Pennsylvania in the first half of the twentieth century. Lacking in these papers are documentation of Scull's banking career, family life or his philanthropic activity.
Arrangement
The John Irwin Scull Family Papers are housed in two archival boxes and 13 shelf volumes and are arranged alphabetically by folder title with miscellaneous materials arranged to the rear.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials came in three accessions and were combined into one body of papers in 1994.
Acc# 1962x Gift of Edward Scull, M.D., (Papers. Dr. Scull was a nephew of John Irwin Scull and received these materials upon his uncle's death).
Acc# 1974.97 Gift of George Scull Cook, (Tax Records).
Acc# 1991.222 Gift of the Estate of Edward Scull, M. D., (Papers. These items are primarily legal records, correspondence and other original documents and newspaper clippings that have been arranged in the container list as original documents).
Preferred Citation
Papers of the John Irwin Scull Family, c1736-1956, MSS #90, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Historical Society Staff in c1962. Papers rearranged and inventory rewritten by David S. Miller and Corey Seeman in 1994.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on August 10, 2001.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Scull, John Irwin (1888-1959)
- Goeb, Frederick (1782-1829)
- Husband, Harmon (1724-1795
- Irwin, John (1739-1822)
- Irwin Family
- Ogle, Alexander
- Scull, Edward (1818-1900)
- Scull, John (1765-1828)
- Scull, Nicholas (1686-1761)
- Scull, Peter (1753-1779)
- Scull Family
- Adams County (Pa.) -- Commerce
- Bedford County (Pa.) -- Commerce
- Pennsylvania -- Commerce
- Pennsylvania -- Politics and government
- Somerset (Pa.) -- Commerce
- Somerset (Pa.) -- Religion
- Somerset (Pa.) -- Social Life and Customs
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Civilian relief
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Conscientious Objectors
- United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- War Work -- Pennsylvania
- United States. Congress. House
- Alcoholic Beverage Industry -- Pennsylvania
- Amish -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset County
- Baptists, German -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset County
- Cigar Industry -- Pennsylvania
- Conscientious Objectors -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset County
- Genealogy -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset
- German Americans -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset
- Irish Americans -- Pennsylvania
- Newspapers -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Patronage, Political -- Pennsylvania
- Postal Service -- Pennsylvania
- Printing -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset
- Society of Friends -- Pennsylvania -- Somerset County
- Surveyors -- Pennsylvania
- Taxation -- Pennsylvania
- Tobacco Industry -- Pennsylvania
- Whiskey Insurrection, 1794