Abraham Scott was born on January 8, 1677, in Hillsborough, County Down, Ulster, Ireland. His parents were Hugh Scott and his wife, Jane (Carruthers) Scott. His grandparents were originally from Scotland; they were transplanted to Ulster, Ireland, by English kings both to maintain English law and order and restrain the local Roman Catholic Irish.

On January 6, 1695, in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, Abraham Scott married fellow-Scots-Irish Presbyterian, Margaret McFarland, born on January 8, 1680. She was barely 15 years old. Within a year or two of their marriage, the young couple emigrated to William Penn's new religious-tolerant colony of Pennsylvania. Reports that they were there by 1670 are mistaken; they arrived between 1696 and 1699.

The Scotts received land patents from William Penn's sons in an area that was originally in Chester County, but later became Donegal Township, Lancaster County as the area's population grew. They were "Scots Covenanters" or Calvinist Presbyterians. They had 9 children, all born in Chester / Lancaster County, Pennsylvania