Abt 1863: Masonia Scott is born to Solomon and Cherry Scott, most likely in Hancock County,
Georgia.
The Civil War is raging and Sherman's
March to the Sea is still about a year away. Masonia's family is probably
enslaved.
1870: Five years
after the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment, Masonia
is about 7 years old. She
and her parents, plus her older and younger siblings, are still living in Georgia's "Cotton Belt," in Hancock County. Father Solomon is a farmer and
older brother Fed is a field hand. Mom Cherry is a house servant. None of these
three are listed as able to read or write. Older sister Scoatney is "at
home," but Masonia and her younger brothers Daniel and an unnamed baby are
too young to have any occupation listed.
Bet. 1870 and 1872:
Masonia's mother Cherry likely dies.
1872, November 16:
Masonia's father Solomon remarries, when she is about 9 years old. He weds
Nelly Little in Putnam County, GA,
and in doing so, gives Masonia a number of step-siblings, both younger and
older.
Bet. 1890 and 1900:
Masonia's father Solomon passes away.
Abt. 1887:
Masonia marries Henry Worthen. Henry is from a family of farm laborers in Glascock
County,GA, just to the east of Hancock County,where Masonia lives. He's been married once before, to Hannah Wilson.
1900: Masonia and
husband Henry are living on a farm in Hancock
County, GA, the county of
Masonia's birth. Also in the house are 20-year-old Samuel Worthen, likely Henry's son
from his previous marriage, who helps with the farm labor, as well as Solomon,
Cherry Ann, Thomas, Henry and Mack (possibly actually Grant). The middle
children are attending school, but the two youngest are not. Next door to
Masonia are her brothers Fed and John Scott, and her step-mother, Nelly.
Bet. 1900 and 1910:
Masonia is either widowed or she and Henry separate.
1910: Masonia has
moved her children off of the farm, north and west to Atlanta, and has purchased
a home on Foote Street. She
works as a washerwoman, taking in work at home, and her sons are working as
well: Solomon and Grant are servants for private families, Thomas is a wagon
driver at a lumber yard (Edgewood Trading Co.), and Henry is an elevator boy in
a wholesale house. Cherry Ann is not working outside the home, but is probably assisting
her mother or doing vital work around the house.
Bet. 1911 and 1917:
Masonia and sons Thomas, Henry and Grant Worthen move across the country
to Shelton, Mason County, Washington, where the
young men work as loggers and laborers at a logging camp.
1913, January 25:
Masonia's younger brother, James Solomon Scott, welcomes a daughter with his
wife Sarah. They name her after his sister and mother: Masonia Cherry Scott.
Bet. 1914 and 1917:
Brother James moves his family to Portland,
Oregon, foreshadowing Masonia's
move several years later.
1917, June 5: Two
months after the United States officially enters the Great War
(World War I), three
of Masonia's son's -
Solomon, Thomas and Henry - register for the draft.
1918, September 3:
Son Solomon ships out from New York
on the USS Karmala, headed for France
with Company B of the 539th Engineers.
1918, September 12:
Masonia's youngest son, Grant, registers for the draft.
1918, October 11:
Sons Thomas and Henry ship out from Hoboken,
NJ on the USS Maui.
They are
headed for France
with Company F of the 815th Pioneer Infantry.
1918: Sometime
after he registers for the draft, son Grant gets a job as a porter at the Golden West
Hotel, in Portland, Oregon.
He is never called to fight.
1918, November 11:
Armistice is signed and the Great War officially comes to a close.
1919: Sons Thomas
and Henry head home from Brest,
France on the
USS Aeolus and reunite with
their mother, younger
brother Grant, and sister Cherry Ann in Portland, OR. Solomon sails back on the USS
Troy and returns to Atlanta,
GA.
1920: Masonia,
sons Thomas, Henry and Grant, daughter Cherry Anne (Worthen) Hillsman and
granddaughter Lena Mae
Hillsman are living together in Portland,
Oregon.
1920 - 1951: With
the exception of Solomon, in Atlanta,
the family remains anchored in Portland,
three generations living in a shared home, and worshiping at Mt. Olivet Baptist Church.
Masonia does domestic work off and on, son Thomas works as a janitor, son Henry
transitions from logging to railroad work, daughter Cherry Ann first works as a
maid and domestic helper in private homes, then moves on to work as a helper in
dry goods and retail shops. Granddaughter Lena attends and graduates from the University of Oregon, then takes a job at the U of O
Medical School.
1923, April 3: Masonia's
son Grant passes away after fighting tuberculosis for at least 2 months.
Ironically, he was the one
son whose life had not been in danger during the recent war. He is about 24 years
old.
1924, December 1: The
Advocate, an African American newspaper published in Portland, notes
that the
Worthen’s home is damaged by a fire on this day.
1927, May 11:
Masonia's younger brother James Solomon Scott passes away.
1932, January 26:
Masonia's older sister Scoatney (Scott) Cooper passes away in Burke County,
Georgia.
1934, May 29: Masonia’s
(likely half-) brother, John W. Scott, passes away in Chicago,
Illinois.
1936, January 14:
Masonia’s younger half-sister, Lula Scott Crew, passes away suddenly in
DeKalb County, Georgia.
1939: Granddaughter
Lena Mae Hillsman graduates from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor
of Science degree in
Psychology.
1939 - 1945:
World War II begins and ends, but none of the men in Masonia's immediate family are
of an age to serve.
1951, June 25:
After being treated for pneumonia for several months, Masonia passes away. She is
laid to rest at Lincoln Memorial Park. She leaves behind her children Thomas, Henry, and Cherry Ann, granddaughter Lena Mae Hillsman, and extended family in Portland, as well as son Solomon in Atlanta and a host of other family in Georgia.
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