The process of writing a blog post often forces me to go back through my research to double-check my research steps, assumptions, and conclusions. If I’m going to be wrong publicly, I’d at least like to be wrong earnestly! Sometimes a new idea will occur to me, and I’ll test it out, or I’ll try an unlikely path, just to be sure. Often this all lands me right back where I was, but, sometimes, fascinating things pop up. And that’s what happened when I was preparing to write my post on the probable death of my 4x great-grandfather, Solomon Scott.
If you read that post, you know that I have reason to believe that he passed away sometime between October 1895 and October 1896, but that there is contradictory evidence. He may have died later. So, before I started writing that post, I decided to do a bit of digging around to be sure that I couldn’t find him after 1896. And that’s when I found a Sol Scott in the 1897 Atlanta City Directory, working as a waiter at the Arlington Hotel and living at 10 Dover. Could that be my Solomon Scott?
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| 1897 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1149. Published by Bullock and Saunders. Accessed via Archive.org. |
My next step when I’m dealing with a common name in a city directory is to see if I can find any of my research target’s immediate family living at the same address. So I checked out all the listed Scotts to see if I recognized any other people. And guess what name I saw? Ananias Scott, also living at 10 Dover!
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| 1897 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1147. Published by Bullock and Saunders. Accessed via Archive.org. |
You can absolutely be forgiven for not recognizing this name – it barely comes up. But it does appear in the 1880 Census, as the son of Solomon Scott and Nellie Little, written as Ananius.
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| Note: Solomon and Nellie's family enumeration spans 2 pages; this is page 2. |
I’ve wondered for some time whether that was Sydney Borden Scott’s birth name – there is no Sydney Borden Scott in the 1880 Census and he seems to start his time at Atlanta Baptist Seminary as A. Sidney Scott before references switch to S.B. - or Sydney Borden - Scott. But no first name is given in those earlier school records, and I have no documentation of a formal name change, so I don’t actually know what the "A" stood for. (You can read more in my blog post, What’s In a Name?).
You can see why this would be tantalizing!
And, interestingly, this Ananias is working as a schoolteacher, a job my Sydney Borden Scott would hold about 6 years later in Athens, Georgia. So, I poked around a bit more, looking for this Ananias/Ananius. Nothing too promising came up on a first pass, however, and I realized I was being sucked down a rabbit hole, so I refocused on the task at hand – determining if the Sol Scott in this 1897 Atlanta City Directory was my 4x-great-grandafather. I checked to see if there were any other Scotts that I recognized, with no luck, and then started to work my way backwards in time. In 1896, I found a Solomon Scott working as a porter at the Arlington, but found no other tantalizing Scotts. And I found neither Solomon nor anyone else in 1895, 1894, 1893, or – looking forward – 1898.
I decided to jump ahead a few years, and clicked into the 1903 city directory. Did I find Solomon? Well, not exactly… What I actually found was James S. Scott, working as a janitor and living at 10 Dover.
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| 1903 Atlanta City Directory, p1093. Published by Foote and Davies Co. and Joseph W. Hill. Accessed via Archive.org. |
This name will probably sound more familiar to you than Ananias, because James S. Scott - actually, James Solomon Scott – is the name of one of Solomon Scott’s sons. He is the younger brother of my 3x great-grandmother Scoatney Scott Cooper, and, along with their sister Masonia, moves to Portland, Oregon during the Great Migration. I wrote about him several times as I tried to differentiate between two Masonias that I found over there – one of whom, it turned out, was his daughter, named after her paternal aunt. James Solomon was a bit tricky to follow as I tried to build out his story, especially as I searched for his death records. Why? Because he often switched between referring to himself as James Scott and as Solomon Scott. See where this is headed?
On the whole, I find him listed not only as Sol Scott and James S. Scott, but also as J. Solomon Scott and simply Solomon Scott. He appears somewhat inconsistently beginning in 1896 – listed a few years, then absent from one or two before appearing again - but disappears after 1915. (I checked the next 5 years and found no good candidates). And when does James Solomon Scott appear in Portland, Oregon? 1917, as far as I can tell. Between this and the fact that I have no evidence from other records – federal censuses, tax registers, voting registers, a marriage record, his children’s death certificates – that the elder Solomon ever used James as a part of his name, I’m almost certain that this individual is my several times great-uncle, rather than my 4x great-grandfather.
More Finds
But there were a few other goodies in this city directory hunt as well! Remember that I was checking to see if I recognized any other Scotts living at the same address as the Sol Scott I had found? Well, I kept this up throughout, and guess who else I found? Daniel Scott, another of the Scott siblings! In fact, he's there in 1897 - the year I connect James Solomon to Ananias - and working at the same place James Solomon is, but I didn't have confidence to say he was one of my Scotts until 1899 when he appears next door to James Solomon.
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| 1897 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1147. Published by Bullock and Saunders. Accessed via Archive.org. |
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| 1899 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1161. Published by Bullock and Saunders. Accessed via Archive.org. |
Daniel appears in both the 1870 and 1880 Censuses, but the commonness of his name made him hard to track afterwards. He didn’t appear in any of his siblings’ households, or nearby, through other census years, and he didn’t appear with his father Solomon and brother Fed in tax records or voting registers. But, according to the city directory, he either lived, worked, or kept close contact with his brother James Solomon Scott in Atlanta off and on for almost a decade, from 1897 to 1906!
I built a basic chart to track what I was finding in the city directories. Looking at it below, you can see the variances in how James’ name appears over time, as well as his jobs and home addresses, but also when and where Ananias and Daniel appear – and overlap – with him as well.
| James Solomon | Daniel | Ananias | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Solomon - porter - Arlington Hotel | - | - |
| 1897 | Sol - waiter - Arlington Hotel - 10 Dover | waiter - The Arlington | schoolteacher - rear 10 Dover |
| 1898 | - | - | - |
| 1899 | - | waiter - 12 Dover | - |
| 1900 | laborer - 10 Dover | - | - |
| 1901 | - | - | - |
| 1902 | - | - | - |
| 1903 | James S. - janitor - 10 Dover | waiter - Farlinger Café - 10 Dover | - |
| 1904 | J Solomon - wood - 245 Fraser - 10 Dover | waiter - 325 Peachtree (The Farlinger) | - |
| 1905 | Solomon - porter - 10 Dover | waiter - 122 E Baker | - |
| 1906 | - | waiter - The Farlinger - 122 E. Baker | - |
| 1907 | - | - | - |
| 1908 | - | - | - |
| 1909A1 | Solomon - janitor - 325 Peachtree - rear same | - | - |
| 1909A2 | Solomon - shoemaker - 288 Ivy - rear same | ||
| 1909B | Solomon - North Side Pressing Club - The Farlinger Apts. | ||
| 1910 | - | - | - |
| 1911 | - | - | - |
| 1912 | James S. - janitor - 325 Peachtree - Edgewood, GA | ||
| 1913 | James S. - grocer - 19 Foote's Row - 325 Peachtree | - | - |
| 1914 | - | - | - |
| 1915 | Solomon - janitor - 325 Peachtree (The Farlinger) | - | - |
Note that both Daniel and James Solomon are listed as working at the Arlington Hotel in the 1897 edition. Daniel has no address listed, but Ananias the schoolteacher is living with James at 10 Dover. In 1903, Daniel is now a waiter at the Farlinger Café, and while Ananias is no longer listed at the address, Daniel is now living with James Solomon at 10 Dover. By 1905, Daniel is at a different address, but he continues to work as a waiter at the Farlinger (at 325 Peachtree), and by 1909, James Solomon is working there as well.
You’ll note that James Solomon is also listed as working at the North Side Pressing Club in 1909. This is another goodie that I plan to dig into – there are several “Working Wednesday” posts just begging to be written about these various jobs and places of employment!
And here’s my last goodie: Do you see in 1912, that James Solomon
is listed as living in Edgewood, and then working as a grocer at 19 Foote’s
Row in 1913? Here's the actual image for 1913.
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| 1913 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1417. Published by Atlanta City Directory Company. Accessed via Archive.org. |
If you read my posts about James Solomon’s sister Masonia, those locations
might ring a bell – they definitely did for me. That’s because Masonia Scott
Worthen and her family are living in Edgewood, at 18 Foote’s Row in 1910. Members
of the family, including, in particular, her son Solomon (likely named after
both her father and her brother) live there – at either number 17 or 18,
depending on the year – through 1916. Solomon Worthen’s occupation? Clerk at 19
Foote, clerk, or grocer. Here's one example (note that Solomon's last name is incorrectly listed as Worthy):
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| 1913 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1666. Published by Atlanta City Directory Company. Accessed via Ancestry.com. |
It seems that James Solomon – unmarried and no longer living with or near his brothers – briefly works with and possibly moves in with or next door to his sister and her family as they operate or work at a grocery store. Is he helping to support them? Are they helping to support him? Unknown. But it’s fascinating to see how these siblings’ stories connect – especially since both James Solomon and Masonia will end up in Portland. (Or course, now I should check to see if Daniel ended up out there and I didn’t notice before!)
Do you want to know something funny, though? As I was writing this post, I noticed something else. First off, James Solomon Scott is listed twice in the 1913 city directory. The first is above, but here's the second.
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| 1913 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1418. Published by Atlanta City Directory Company. Accessed via Archive.org. |
Notice where he's working and living: The Frances, and 325 Peachtree. Now, look above his nephew Solomon Worthen's listing for the same year. See anything interesting?
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| 1913 Atlanta City Directory, p. 1666. Published by Atlanta City Directory Company. Accessed via Ancestry.com. |
There's his nephew, Henry Worthen (listed as Worthy), also working at The Frances! Why do I believe that's his nephew? The 1910 Census lists Masonia's son Henry as an "elevator boy." Three years later, it seems reasonable to believe that he's continuing to work in an area he knows. (Masonia's husband is also named Henry, but by 1910 Masonia describes herself as widowed and her spouse doesn't seem to intersect with their lives if he is actually still alive. It's more likely this is her son than her husband.) I was so focused on tracking Solomon Worthen the first time I looked at this record that I didn't notice his little brother!
You might have noticed something else: There's a Miss Julia Worthy living at the same address as James Solomon Scott: 325 Peachtree (aka The Farlinger, mentioned above). But she's not listed as "colored" and Masonia doesn't have a child named Julia Worthen. Is she related to the Scotts some other way? Apparently not. A quick search shows her consistently listed as white, and with no tendency to cluster near the Scotts or Worthens over time. She and James Solomon Scott just happen to live in the same apartment building, where he worked as a janitor.
Wrapping Up
As you can probably tell, the day I spent in this research hole was a really fun research day. Each time I saw a sibling’s name pop up, each time I saw an overlapping address or employer, discovering each of these tidbits and gems of information – this was a day of me gasping and clapping and fist-pumping and yelling at the screen, jumping up and walking away because I was too excited, and then coming back and sitting right back down because I needed to know more. If anyone ever tells you that city directories aren’t fun, don’t believe them! You never know what you’re going to find and where it might lead you.
I still need to finish my tracking of Ananias/Ananius Scott to see where that takes me. And I’ve got some research to do for at least a couple of “Working Wednesdays” – the Arlington and the Farlinger are calling my name. Plus, in 1909 and 1910, there’s a James Scott working as a helper or laborer at the Aragon Hotel. There’s no middle initial given, and no home address listed, so it’s hard to say, but might be worth a quick post. And then there’s the North Side Pressing Club, which is more interesting than I’ve let on here – it’s a bit of a mystery. Plus, it might be time for me to finish the Worthens’ stories, and to write up James Solomon Scott’s bio as well. John William Scott – a waiter, like his brothers at various times – should probably be brought back onto the stage, and from him maybe I’ll pick up Sydney Borden Scott’s story in Chicago.
So many stories to tell about the Scott siblings, and I’m excited to ride this burst of energy that was sparked by – of all things – checking to make sure that my 4x great-grandfather was really dead by the end of 1896. (To which my answer is still, “Yes, probably?”.)
~ ~ ~
This was a long one – thanks for reading!
And if you know anything about the Scott siblings in Atlanta, drop a comment below - I’d love to hear from you!
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