This is a transcription of the Lydia A. (Gray) Scott biography from New Hampshire Women: A Collection of Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Daughters and Residents of the Granite State, Who are Worthy Representatives of their Sex in the Various Walks and Conditions of Life, The New Hampshire Publishing Co., Concord, NH, 1895, page 145.
Lydia A. (Gray) Scott
MEN and women without number have won distinction in special lines of effort; others, far less numerous, have proven equal to all emergencies-—masters of every situation-—men and women of affairs in the full sense of the term. In the latter class is Lydia A., daughter of Hon. John L. and Lydia (Carlton) Gray, born in China, Me., who in her 19th year married Albert M. Scott, of Augusta, where their only child, Hattie Isabelle, was born in 1862. Her husband joined the Union army, and Mrs. Scott, nothing daunted, taught school in his absence to support herself and child. After their removal to Manchester in 1872, where their home has since been, she continued her contributions to the press, commenced in the Kennebec Journal, under the editorship of James G. Blaine; and for five years she edited the “Fireside” department of the Manchester Union. Long an active member of the Manchester Shakespeare club, she is, and has been for the last four years, its president. Deeply interested in the welfare of the Union soldier, she has been active in Relief Corps work, was a charter member of Louis Bell Corps, two years member of department council, twice delegate-at-large in National convention, chief-of-staff of National President Sarah E. Fuller, and a member of the National Pensions committee with E. Florence Barker, Kate B. Sherwood, Mary A. Logan, and Clara Barton, in 1886; but her best work has been done through individual effort in aiding numberless old soldiers in securing pensions. For several years Mrs. Scott has been engaged in business lines, developing a marvellous capacity. She is now and has been for some time past engaged in the sale of western real estate. With all her multiplied activities she has met every just social demand, every requirement of wide and loyal friendship, and been especially faithful to every form of domestic duty. Her chief delight is in her four-years old grandson, Edward Scott Swazey, of Kansas City, an honorary member of the Manchester Shakespeare club.