Early Life and Education
Caroline Scott was born in Oxford, Ohio, the second daughter of Mary Potts Neal and John Witherspoon Scott, a Presbyterian minister and professor of science and math at Miami University. She had two sisters and two brothers. Although the family was not well-off, her father ensured that his daughters as well as his sons were well-educated. Wherever they lived, he filled the house with books, art, and music. Religion, was important in his and the family's life.
After more than two decades at Miami, in 1845 Dr. Scott, along with several other professors, was fired from his position after a dispute with the university president, George Junkin, over slavery; Junkin supported it and Scott and the other men fired opposed it.
Her father next accepted a job teaching chemistry and physics at Farmer's College and moved the family to College Hill, near Cincinnati. There in 1848 Caroline met Benjamin Harrison, one of her father's freshman students. The two began a courtship but did not marry until 1853.
In 1849, the Scotts returned to Oxford, as Dr. Scott was selected as the first president of the Oxford Female Institute. It was held in the former Temperance Tavern, which he had purchased in 1841. Her mother Mary Neal Scott joined the school as its matron and the Head of Home Economics. Caroline enrolled as a student, studying English literature, theater, art, and painting. In her senior year in 1852, she joined the faculty as an Assistant in Piano Music.
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