Too Many Eliza Scruggses!

Back in January, I began a series of posts diving into my research on the question of who were the parents of Laura Ann (Scruggs) Evans, my 2x great-grandmother. I didn't get very far though - I was splitting my time between this project, work, and some other cool genealogy and research projects that I'll maybe write about at a later date. But I'm circling back today!

In one of my recent posts, I noted that I had a hypothesis: that Eliza Scruggs was Laura Ann’s mother. The only problem was, I didn’t really know who Eliza Scruggs was. Eliza and Laura Ann only show up together in one document that I’ve found so far, and that’s the 1900 Census. They were a household of 3, under the surname “Scriggs”: 

 

1900 U.S. Federal Census, Alabama, pop. sched., Precinct 8, Dooley, Montgomery County, ED 111, Sheet 3B, Lines 88-90, Eliza Scriggs and Family. National Archives and Records Administration, via FamilySearch.org.

• Eliza, aged 35, born January 1865, divorced, mother of 5 children (2 of whom are still living), from Alabama as are her parents, and working as a farmer

• Laura, Eliza’s daughter, aged 17, born October 1882, single, no children, from Alabama as are her parents, and working as a farm laborer

• Henry, Eliza’s son, aged 13, born March 1887, single, from Alabama as are both his parents, and working as a farm laborer

What else could I find about Eliza Scruggs/Scriggs? (Do you want to go down the Scruggs/Scriggs rabbit hole? Here’s a post on the variations of her proposed daughter Laura Ann’s surname that I’ve found so far.)

I figured there were 2 additional paths I should go down, beyond my continued search for Laura Ann:

1. Search for Henry and see if/how his records connected to Eliza Scruggs/Scriggs.
2. Search for Eliza herself and see what other records popped up.

The only problem is, it quickly became clear that there was more than one Eliza Scruggs.

But, wait, I’ll get there in a second. You see, it actually isn’t hard to trace Eliza and Henry in Federal Censuses. They appear together not only in 1900, but in 1910, 1920, and 1930, always in Dooley, Montgomery County, Alabama.

• In 1910, Eliza Scruggs is the mother of 3 children, all of whom are living. Two of them are living with her: son Henry Boyd, aged 21 and single, and son Herbert Scruggs, aged 5. 

 

1910 U.S. Federal Census, Alabama, pop. sched., Beat 8, Dooleys, Montgomery, ED 102, Sheet 22A, Lines 44-46, Eliza Scruggs and Household. National Archives and Records Administration, via FamilySearch.org.

 

• In 1920, Henry Boyd is the head of household. He is 34, married to wife Susan, and the father of an 8-year-old son, Hubert Boyd. His mother, listed as Liza Boyd, is 70 years old and living with them on Woodley Road.

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Alabama, pop. sched., Dooley Beat, Montgomery, ED 112, Sheet 13A -13B, Lines 48-51, Henry Boyd and Household. National Archives and Records Administration, via FamilySearch.org.

 

• In 1930, Eliza Scrugg is the head of household again. She has regained 20 years and is listed as 60, and she is a widow. Henry Boyd, her son, is 44 years old and listed as single; Susan is not in the household. But there is a 7-year-old named Laura A. Smith, listed as Eliza’s granddaughter. They are living on Narrow Lane Road.

1930 U.S. Federal Census, Alabama, pop. sched., Precinct 8, Dooley, Montgomery County, ED 51-39, Sheet 8-B, Eliza Scrugg and Household, Lines 96-98. National Archives and Records Administration, via FamilySearch.org.

 

The records were helpful for tracing Eliza forward in time, and they gave me new people to add to her personal network, but they also opened up a bunch of questions:

• Where did Henry’s “Boyd” surname come from? Who was his father?

• Who was Herbert Scruggs’s father?

• Where was Herbert Scruggs in 1920? Did something happen to him and Henry named a son in his brother’s honor?

• Who were Laura A. Smith’s parents? Where did the Smith surname come from? And was she named after “my” Laura Ann?

• Why was Laura A. Smith living with her grandmother in 1930?

I figured I’d continue to focus on Henry, using the Boyd surname, given how consistent it was. I'd also continue my search for Eliza, in other records. And this is where I was overwhelmed by Elizas.

You see, there were Eliza Scruggs left and right! I was searching both in Montgomery and Jefferson Counties, as I knew members of “my” Eliza’s family had spent time in both places. And, of course, I also searched the surrounding counties when using FamilySearch and Ancestry. And because Eliza’s name showed up as Liza once, both Liza and Lizzie became options. That was overwhelming without even opening the door to Elizabeth, Beth, Bess, Betsy and Bessie. (In fact, I didn’t open the door to those or other versions of the name – I figured I would do so later if I struck out in my initial searches.)

I encountered Elizas, Lizas, and Lizzies – all with Scruggs as a married or maiden name – in Montgomery and Birmingham, in city directories, marriage records, abstracts and transcriptions of death records, census records, and more. (Why would I care about other census records, when I had “my” Eliza from 1900-1930? Because I have other family members who were enumerated in multiple locations in the same year, and I know it’s the correct person in both locations! And because “my” Eliza was born sometime between 1850 and 1872, she should appear in either the 1870 Census, the 1880, or both.)

Ultimately, I had to make a spreadsheet to track the different Elizas. I focused on three that showed up most frequently in the areas I was most interested in, Montgomery County (where the city of Montgomery sits) and Jefferson County (the home of the city of Birmingham). I designated them Eliza A, Eliza B, and Eliza C. “My” Eliza was A.  Every time I came across one of these 3 women, I added them to the spreadsheet along with the other facts that seemed to be theirs. I organized them in chronological order. At one point, I came across an Eliza whose info I couldn’t easily sort; she became Eliza D.

This was such a helpful process! I was able to identify children of Elizas B and C, residences over time, other members of their households, and see their lives over time. Here’s what that spreadsheet looked like, with even more columns not visible to the right:

But what I really needed was full access to vital records. I really needed their death certificates, which would hopefully list not only their addresses at the times of their deaths, which would help me connect them to the correct Elizas in my spreadsheet, but also name the informants. (Names of their parents and spouses were available in the online abstracts, but informants weren't.) If I was lucky, the informants would be names I recognized from their known children.

Now, this next step could have taken me 10 minutes, if FamilySearch had the full certificates, rather than abstracts, available online, but the agreement they have with the Alabama Department of Health must prohibit that. The good news is that the full certificates are available at FamilySearch Libraries and Centers, and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, in my city, is one! But…They aren’t open weekends and I work a full-time, M-F job. Let’s just say that it took the generosity of a genealogy buddy and a follow-up evening trip during HSP’s extended Wednesday evening hours to get the documents that I was looking for.

On my first request, I didn’t know that I was looking for 3 separate women, so I requested 2 death certificates. Those turned out to be Eliza B and Eliza C – just my luck!

Here’s how my spreadsheet looked after I added in information from their death certificates. Note the informants, names that did not appear in other records for "my" Eliza.

Several months – yes, months – later, I made it down to HSP myself, and looked up yet another Eliza Scruggs’ death certificate, which I hoped would be the one for Eliza A.

And…Success!

How did I know? Her residence was Narrow Lane Road, in Montgomery County, AL, and the informant was one Henry Boyd!  Here’s the updated spreadsheet:

So, I can say that I have multiple documents that connect Henry Scriggs (1900 Census w/ Laura Ann and Eliza) to Henry Boyd (1910-1930 Censuses) to Eliza Scruggs (1910-1930 Censuses) – that’s fantastic! But I still don't have a document that explicitly says that Eliza Scruggs was Laura Ann Evans' mom. I think it's a pretty reasonable assumption to make, based on that 1900 Census with Laura Ann and Eliza Scriggs and their ongoing residence in the same small community in 1910, when Laura Ann Evans is married to (James) Steven Evans. There aren't other clear candidates for Laura Ann's mom. 

But I'd feel really good if I could find a "smoking gun" linking them using Laura Ann's married name, or that implicitly or explicitly said Henry Boyd and Laura Ann Evans were siblings.

That’s okay though, for the moment. I’m nowhere near completing what professional genealogists call a “reasonably exhaustive search.” So, patience. Especially since that death certificate has pointed me in a few new directions and there’s much more to explore when it comes to Henry Boyd…

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Are you descended from Henry Boyd? Do you know anything about him, Herbert Scruggs, Hubert Boyd, or Laura A. Smith? Drop a note in the comments below!