| Type: | pastor |
| Honorific Prefix: | Reverend |
| John R. Scott, Sr. | |
| Pastor | |
| Church: | St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, Florida |
| Appointed: | --> |
| Retired: | --> |
| Other Post: | Member, Florida House of Representatives; President, Edward Waters College |
| Birth Date: | 1840-41 (estimated) |
| Birth Place: | Virginia (born a slave) |
| Death Date: | February 18, 1929 |
| Death Place: | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Buried: | Memorial Cemetery, Jacksonville, Florida |
| Religion: | African Methodist Episcopal |
| Residence: | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Spouse: | Emily Jane Scott (married Duval County, FL, September 7, 1868) |
| Children: | Thomas D., John H, Rachael A V, Mary A C, Patrick G |
| Occupation: | Minister, politician, college president |
| Profession: | Minister |
| Education: | Doctor of Divinity[1] |
Reverend John Robert Scott Sr. (1840-41 – February 18, 1929) was a religious and political leader in Florida as well as a college president. He was born into slavery in Virginia. During the Reconstruction era he became a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church and a state legislator.
He was chosen in 1870 as the first pastor of St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church of Jacksonville, Florida.[2] He also served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing Jacksonville, from 1868 to 1873 and again in 1879.[3] He was a leading politician in Jacksonville during the Reconstruction Era and a member of the City Council;[4] his group "once [1872] had so many representatives in the city government that the entire form of government was changed by an executive act in Tallahassee".[5]
In 1893, a photograph documents that he was the president of Edward Waters College.[6]
His son John R. Scott Jr., earned a Bachelor of Divinity, was also a minister of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (and secretary of its conference, 1889), a member of the Florida Legislature, and a professor of homiletics (preaching) at Edward Waters College.[7]