Tuberculosis Takes Two: The Crew Family in the Late 1930s

If you’ve read my last couple of posts, you already know that 1936 was a difficult year for my distant cousin Beuna Nell Crew, niece of my 2x great-grandmother Scoatney (Scott) Cooper. Her mother, Lula (Scott) Crew, died suddenly of a heart attack just two weeks into the year. And it seems that Beuna then – in what was her junior year - temporarily dropped out of Spelman College, likely to go home to Lithonia, GA to assist with all that needed to be done.  

Funeral notice for Lula (Scott) Crew, Beuna Nell Crew's mother. Atlanta Constitution, 15 January 1936, p. 20. Accessed via Internet Archive (archive.org).

Schooling Sunday: Beuna Nell Crew, Second Gen Spelman Grad

On June 1^st, 1921, having recently recovered from a serious illness, my 2x great aunt Lula (Scott) Crew wrote in a letter to her alma mater, Spelman College, “I had no strength to speak of my little daughter of whom I have planned to enter Spelman as soon as she is old enough but my thots were of her.” 

Courtesy of Spelman College Archives.

Twelve years later, in 1933, her plans came to fruition. 

The Passing of Lula (Scott) Crew

In my last post, I mentioned that my 2x great-grandaunt, Lula (Scott) Crew - sister of my 2x-great grandmother Scoatney (Scott) Cooper - was an educator until her death in 1936. What I didn’t mention was that she actually died at work.

The Spelman Messenger, where I believe I first saw her death reported, gave no indication of how Lula had passed away. Instead, it focused on her contributions to not only their school community but also to the Georgia communities in which she had taught and served. “In the death of Mrs. Henry Crew (Lula Scott Crew),” they wrote, “at Lithonia, Georigia, on January 14, 1936, Spelman College has lost one of its most loyal and representative alumnae.” They continued:

Schooling Sunday: New Books on My Shelf!

I’ve added some books to my bookshelf, y’all!

 

My recent acquisitions.