Lula (Scott) Crew: A Timeline

Lula (Scott) Crew is the half-sister of my 2x Great-Grandmother, Scoatney (Scott) Cooper. They share a father, Solomon Scott, from two different moments in his life; Lula is nearly 20 years younger than Scoatney. The defining theme of her life seems to be education: seeking it for herself, encouraging it for her children, and supporting it for her community.

This post will be updated as I find and/or write more about her life.

 

Spelman students ca. 1897. Could Lula - who attended from 1897-1902 - be in this photo? *Citation below.

July 1880-1883: Lula is born in Georgia, likely in either Washington or Hancock County, to Solomon Scott and Nellie (Little) Scott. This is at least the second relationship for both Solomon and Nellie, and so Lula enters the world with a number of siblings to welcome her; she is at least the 14^th child in this blended family, though most have already left household.

Late 1880s-mid 1890s: Lula is educated in the rural schools of Hancock County, GA.

Oct 1895-Oct 1896: Lula’s father, Solomon, may have passed away. If true, he would have been in his mid-late 70s and Lula in her mid-teens.

1897-1902: Lula is accepted to and studies at Spelman Seminary, in Atlanta, GA. Her older brother, Sydney Borden Scott, was already attending Atlanta Baptist College (now Morehouse) and may have paved the way for her mother to feel comfortable sending her to Atlanta to further her education. Lula begins her studies in Spelman’s Academic Department, but shifts to the College Preparatory Course partway through. She graduates in 1902.

1902: Though she had not earned a teaching degree, Lula enters the workforce as a teacher, in Pride, Georgia. She will continue in this field for much of the rest of her life.

March 1908: Lula’s big brother, Sydney Borden Scott, graduates from Meharry Medical College in Tennessee.

1909: Lula’s mother, Nellie, passes away.

1910: The Thirteenth Census of the United States finds Lula living in Lithonia, DeKalb County, Georgia, continuing her work as a teacher in a public school. She lives in the household of John and Mary A. Center, and, interestingly, is listed as their adopted daughter, rather than as a boarder.

7 Dec 1913: Lula marries Henry Crew in DeKalb County, GA. They remain married until her passing over twenty years later.

27 Feb 1915: Lula gives birth to a baby girl, who she and Henry name Beuna Nell Crew. Perhaps “Nell” is a nod to Lula’s mother, Nellie.

6 Apr 1917: The United States officially joins World War I, known at the time as the Great War. By mid-May, Congress has passed the Selective Service Act to increased the nation’s armed forces. The first draft takes place on June 5^th, 1917, but only targets men between the ages of 21 and 31. Having been born sometime between 1873 and 1879, and therefore being somewhere between 38 and 44, Lula’s husband Henry is not required to register.

10 July 1917: Lula gives birth to a baby boy, a son that she and husband Henry name Lamar.

5 Jun 1918: A second draft registration is held, for men who had turned 21 between the first registration in 1917 and this date. Lula’s husband Henry is more than a decade older and is again ineligible.

12 Sept 1918: A third and final draft registration is held to build up the United States’ armed Forces for the Great War. It includes both younger and older men than the previous rounds, broadening the scope to between the ages of 18 and 45. Lula’s husband is somewhere between the ages of 39 and 45, but either the government must officially believe him to be past the cut-off or he somehow avoids the draft, as no draft card has yet been located for him.

1920: The Fourteenth Census of the United States finds Lula and her family still living in Lithonia, GA. Lula, the mother of a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, has put her teaching career on pause and is not working outside the home. Their income seems to come from husband Henry’s work as a farmer, and from the rent likely paid by their 15-year-old boarder, Eva M. Clark, who is employed as a servant in someone’s home.

1922: After taking some time off during her children’s formative years, Lula is now working to renew her teaching license.

1926-1928: Lula is again teaching, and is also continuing her own education, attending summer school at Morehouse College.

11 May 1927: Lula’s older brother James Solomon Scott passes away in Portland, Oregon, where he had emigrated from Atlanta in the 1910s. In addition to Lula and several other siblings, he leaves behind a wife, Sarah, and two daughters, Masonia and Ruth.

29 Oct 1929: The stock market crashes, ushering in the Great Depression.

1930: The Fifteenth Census of the United States finds Lula and her family quite settled in Lithonia, GA, where Lula has now lived for just over 20 years. She continues to work as a public school teacher (and principal!) at the Lithonia Public School, while husband Henry works as a laborer at the stone quarries for which Lithonia is named. Their children Beuna, now about 15, and Lamar, about 13, are both school students, and, in fact, the census actually says that everyone in the household has attended school or college at least at some point between September 1, 1929 and the day their household was enumerated!

26 Jan 1932: Lula’s older sister, Scoatney (Scott) Cooper, passes away in Burke County, Georgia, of dropsy. She leaves behind a number of full, half-, and step-siblings, as well as husband July Cooper, and at least 8 adult children.

1933: Lula and Henry’s daughter Beuna Nell Crew follows in her mother’s footsteps and begins studying at Spelman College.

29 May 1934: Lula’s older brother John William Scott passes away in Chicago, where he had migrated from Georgia over 20 years earlier. He leaves behind Lula’s sister-in-law, Annie.

31 May 1935: Lula’s son Lamar, now 17 years old, graduates from Atlanta University Laboratory High School.

Jan 14, 1936: Lula passes away suddenly, of a heart attack, at the Lithonia public school. Departing in this way, at this location, seems only appropriate, as she poured her heart into her work as an educator every day. After a service at Antioch Baptist Church of Lithonia, she is laid to rest in Lithonia Cemetery. She leaves behind her husband Henry, 19-year-old son Lamar, 21-year-old daughter Beuna, who are both still students in Atlanta, and at least two siblings, Sydney Borden Scott (in Chicago), and Masonia (Scott) Worthen (in Portland, OR). 

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*Image Citation: "Students of Spelman Seminary, Atlanta, GA." In Progress of A Race, Or The Remarkable Advancement of the American Negro..., by Kletzing, H.F. and Crogman, W.H. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. (1897). Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/ad5ff990-c6cc-012f-791e-58d385a7bc34.

 

 

Census Sunday: Grandma Cleo Had Two Homes

It's been a while since I've done a Census Sunday post, but this one has been on my mind for a while. I started drafting it a year-and-a-half ago, when I realized that I was going through my first holiday season without a living grandmother - my Grandma Cleo, or Cleola (Johnson) Whaley-Ballour, passed away back in the summer of 2023. (As I'm typing this, I'm realizing that maybe I'm posting this now because the anniversary of her death is June 3rd). For whatever reason, I didn't post it back then, but it's such an interesting snapshot of a moment in her life, and also an example of why we need to look closely at Federal Census records, that I'm finally putting it up!

You see, she shows up in the 1950 Census not once, but twice.

Beuna Nell Crew: A Timeline

Beuna Nell Crew is my half first-cousin, three times removed. Her mother, Lula (Scott) Crew and my 2x-great-grandmother, Scoatney (Scott) Cooper, were half-sisters. Following in her mother's shoes, she devoted her life to education, teaching generations of Black students in Georgia's segregated schools between the 1930s and 1960s. Her legacy is well-remembered today, especially among her former students at Vocational Tech / Fairmont High School in Griffin, GA, where she spent the last 18 years of her teaching career.

Beuna Nell Crew, 1950-51 Fairmont H.S. Yearbook, Griffin, GA. Courtesy of Mike Kendall and the Griffin Spalding African American History Project.

 

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.

New Books on My Shelf: February/March 2025, Part 2

 

About two months ago, I stumbled upon a podcast called The People’s Recorder, hosted by public historian, actor, and nephew of Alex Haley, Chris Haley. Through contemporary conversations and original audio from the thousands of interviews conducted by the Federal Writers Project during the Great Depression, the podcast takes deep dives into fascinating stories from regions and communities across the U.S. at a pivotal moment in the nation’s history. The first few episodes lit a spark in me – or perhaps re-lit, as I’ve definitely been fascinated by this era and its sources before, have even found a related interview of one of my family members! - and I headed (back) into the rabbit hole. And, of course, the deeper I went, the more money left my pockets, because, of course, I bought some books! Here’s what I got:

New Books on My Shelf: February/March 2025, Part 1

 

Sometimes I just can’t help buying books! But you’ve heard me say it before: it’s not really a bad habit if it’s informing my research and helping to improve my skills, right? It doesn’t matter if I haven’t read everything in the last batch yet (lol), it’s more about having the right books for the right time, and that right time might be today, tomorrow, or sometime in the future. 

DNA Seals the Deal? An Evans Family Connection

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, you’ve probably sorted your matches into people you know, people you don’t know but you do know how you’re related to them, and people for whom you strike out on both counts – you don’t know ‘em and you don’t know how you’re related to ‘em. The more distantly related you are – 3^rd and 4^th cousins and such – the harder it might be to know where and specifically through whom you connect, especially if you have enslaved ancestors. I’ve got more than a few DNA matches in this latter category. 

But I just moved one match out of this category, and, in doing so, I think I’ve made a DNA connection to Daniel Evans and Jennette (aka Anna Jane) Welch, the subjects of most of my recent posts.