Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/312

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Women from the Time of Mary Washington
279


heartily into every scheme for the pleasure of the college people, she won their imperishable admiration. Her uniform dignity and the maintenance of her high position as the widow of an ex-President of the United States has been above criticism.

Her good taste in accompanying her children to Europe to give them some opportunities in the old world, and the modesty with which she took up her residence in Geneva to quietly carry out her plans, is worthy of the highest commendation of our American Nation.

CAROLINE SCOTT HARRISON.

Mrs. Harrison was among the most highly educated and accomplished women who ever occupied the White House. Caroline Scott Harrison was born in Oxford, Ohio, October 1, 1832. Mrs. Harrison's ancestors were Scotch, emigrating to America and settling in the Valley of Neshaminy, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where the village of Hartsville now stands, twenty miles north of Philadelphia. At this place Reverend William Tennent, in 1726, founded the historic Log College, which was the original of Princeton College. Mrs. Harrison's great-grandfather, John Scott, son of the founder of the family in this country, took up his residence in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and purchased land opposite Belvidere, New Jersey, which is still known as the Scott Farm. During the Revolutionary War he was a quartermaster in the Pennsylvania line. His brother, Matthew Scott, after serving as Captain in the army, moved to Kentucky. Mrs. Harrison's grandfather, Reverend George McElroy Scott, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1793, and studied theology with the President of Princeton College, Reverend Stanhope Smith. His first charge was Mill Creek Church, Beaver