My last three posts have all been connected. When I wrote of Borden Scott’s graduation from Meharry Medical College, I wondered if anyone from his family had ventured to Tennessee to attend, but noted that his father had likely already passed away. The next post followed up on this topic. What about his mother, Nellie Little Scott – was she still alive at the time of his graduation, in 1908? I needed to write about Lula Scott Crew’s correspondence before I could get to that. Which brings us to this post.
Death dates can be hard to pin down before state or local (county, city) registration – sometimes people just disappear and you have to make inferences. Sometimes you’re lucky enough to find other sources of information.
I knew that Nellie was alive in 1900; she can be found living with her son, John William Scott, and stepson, Fed Scott, in Militia District 114 of Hancock County, GA according to the federal census. At the time, she is about 64 years old, having been born around 1836. But that’s the last year I could find her.
I’ll readily admit that I hadn’t turned over every stone – this wasn’t a research project I had yet committed myself to. While I knew Nellie wasn’t living in any of the households of the Scott children I could locate in the next census (1910), I hadn’t located all of the children she’d had before her relationship with Solomon Scott. Perhaps she was with one of them. Or perhaps she’d gotten remarried and could be found under another last name? Maybe she was someplace out of state, perhaps back in Virginia, where she seems to have been born. Basically, there was a lot more searching that could be done.
But then, the answer was literally delivered to me! Or, at least, information that narrows down the possibilities significantly. You see, in the packet of materials that Spelman Archives emailed to me was a letter written by Nellie’s daughter Lula on January 10, 1910. And in the very first sentence, here’s what it says:
“Pardon me for waiting so long. I lost my mother recently and I was too upset to get my mind together…”
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| Lula Scott Crew to Lucy H. Upton (Spelman Seminary), 10 January 1910. Courtesy of the Spelman Archives. |
Depending upon how recently Lula meant, we can guess that Nellie Little Scott likely passed away sometime in late 1909. And this would explain why I couldn’t find her in the 1910 census. Happily, this means that she may have been able to attend Borden’s graduation from Meharry the year before. (Perhaps the answer will pop up in another document one day!)
Think about all of the things she would have seen and experienced in her life, from the 1830s to the early 1900s. The changes, great and small, in the world, the nation, and in her own life. Biological mother of at least nine children, four - perhaps five - of whom were likely born into slavery. Step-mother to at least five more. Raised at least two children who graduated from college. Married a farmer and likely worked hard to keep the household running. After he passed away, likely in 1895 or 1896, she probably worked even harder on the farm, despite her advancing age. We’re lucky to have Lula’s words, but imagine if we had Nellie’s as well!
Regardless, it feels lovely to have at least some closure on the dates of her life. I’m glad she’s not a woman who just disappears after the dash on my family tree.
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Do you know anything more about the passing of Nellie Little Scott? Please drop a note in the comments below!
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