Sydney Borden Scott: A Timeline

Sydney Borden Scott, or Borden, as he seems to have preferred being called, was the younger half-brother of my maternal 2x Great-Grandmother, Scoatney (Scott) Cooper. Because he left so many records behind, he has been an absolute joy to research, and if you’ve been following my blog for a while, or have seen my Facebook feed, you know I’ve written more than a few posts about him, exploring his life as a student, doctor, and post office employee. As usual, those posts are linked in their appropriate places on the timeline below, and as additional ones are written, I’ll drop them in as well.

Image Credit Below

 

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.

 

Here Comes the Graduate, Dr. Sydney Borden Scott

On the 20^th of June 1910, Volume 16, Number 6 of The Plexus reported on the 28^th Annual Commencement of the College of Physicians and Surgeons within the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois. Of the ceremony, which had taken place at the Studebaker Theatre on June 7^th, The Plexus wrote:

As the orchestra played Mendelssohn’s Grand March, ‘Athalie,’ the one hundred and thirty one graduates wearing caps and gowns, entered the left rear door of the main floor of the theatre and in solemn order, marched down the left aisle, taking their places in the middle block of seats.

Paging Dr. Scott!

Many moons ago, I decided that I wanted to learn more about the siblings of my 2x great-grandmother, Scoatney (Scott) Cooper. The hunt took me (digitally, at least) from rural Georgia to Washington State to Portland, Oregon, as I traced her sister Masonia (Scott)Worthen. There I uncovered another Masonia Scott, which led me to discover that a second Scott sibling had also migrated to Oregon: James Solomon Scott. And it was through James that I “met” another Scott sibling, the man I’ll introduce you to today.

We’ll start with a death.