Jonathan Young Scammon (July 27, 1812 – March 17, 1890) was an early settler in Chicago, Illinois, arriving in the city in 1835.

[7] In 1835, after being admitted to the bar in Maine, Scammon traveled across several states, and arriving in Chicago in 1835, where he stayed to wait out poor weather.

[5] Before he could leave, however, Henry Moore, who was the incumbent deputy clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, told Scammon that he would be unable to finish his term as clerk, and asked Scammon to fill the office.

[5] In 1836, Scammon entered a legal partnership with Buckner Stith Morris,[5] who himself had recently arrived to the city from Kentucky.

[citation needed] Their partnership lasted only eighteen months,[5] with Morris leaving the practice.

[5] In approximately 1845, Scammon and Judd created a formal law partnership together, which ended in 1847.

[citation needed] When Eastern financiers refused to support the railroad, Ogden and Scammon raised the money by riding on horseback along the proposed route and taking donations from the farmers he passed.

[5] He would frequently be approached about running for office throughout his life, but only accepted offers to be nominated three times (for alderman in 1845, for United States Congress in 1848, and for Illinois Senate in 1860).

[5] Scammon played a key role in getting the Michigan Central Railroad extended into Chicago.

[5] However, Scammon did manage to lead the vote in the portions of the district which lied within the city limits of Chicago.

[7] Scammon would serve as president and director for a number of banks and insurance companies in Chicago.

[7] Scammon was a booster of Chicago, giving money to fund improvement projects in the city.

"[14] Scammon wrote pieces on his view about economics and religion, and was a frequent contributor to newspapers.

Scammon dropped the quarter million dollar suit only after Wentworth closed his paper, giving the subscription list to the Chicago Tribune.

[citation needed] Scammon was a founder of the Chicago Astronomical Society, and served as its first president from its founding until 1882.

[citation needed] Scammon also paid the director's salary until financial difficulties arose following the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.

[6] Scammon was involved in the founding of Chicago's Hahnemann Hospital,[7] and served on its board of trustees for many years, up until his death.

[4] He died at his home in Chicago on March 17, 1890, and was buried at Oak Woods Cemetery.

He was also the brother of Charles Melville Scammon who is a 19th-century whaleman, naturalist and author of Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast (1874).

[5] Scammon received honorary Legum Doctors from the University of Chicago in 1862 and from Waterville College in 1869.