Finding Scoatney's Family: An Unexpected Migration

Masonia (Scott) Worthen Funeral Notice. The Oregonian (Portland, OR) 27 June 1951, P27.

On June 28, 1951, my maternal 2x great-grandmother's sister, Masonia Scott Worthen, was laid to rest in Portland, Oregon. Born in Georgia about 1863, she somehow came to live in Portland between 1910 and 1920, widowed and with 3 sons, a widowed daughter and a granddaughter - all born in Georgia - living with her. How did they come to make this move all the way across the continent - and frankly, across climates - and what was life like for them as they tried to make new lives on the West Coast?

Scoatney (Scott) Cooper: A Timeline

Scoatney Scott is my maternal 2x Great-Grandmother. More specifically, she is my mother’s mother’s father’s mother. Here’s what that looks like:

Scoatney Scott  →  Noah Cooper  →  Elnora Cooper  →  Mom  →  Me

For as long as I can remember seeing my mom’s Cooper-Cummings family tree, I remember seeing her name, with her husband July Cooper, right up near the top of the tree. But I’ve never really known that much about her. With another family reunion coming up this summer, I decided to see what more I could find about her life and her family.

Shared by cousin F. Davis.

Wedding Wednesday: Rufus Littlejohn and Flora Virginia Woods

For all the sleuthing I've done around my 2x Great-Grandfather Rufus Littlejohn, I've written very little about what I actually do know about his life: the time he spent in Steubenville, OH. So I thought I'd dive back into themed posting by focusing on the seeming start of his Steubenville story, his marriage to my 2x Great-Grandmother Flora Virginia Woods.

Rufus Littlejohn and Flora Woods were married in Jefferson County, Ohio on December 25, 1899. Yes, Christmas Day! (If you're keeping track, another pair of my 2x Great-Grandparents, Laura Ann Scruggs/Screws/Strugs and James Steven Evans, married on Christmas Eve 1901.)

Here is their marriage record:

Seeking Family in Farewells

You know I can't leave anything alone. So, even though I've concluded that the Rufus Littlejohn who dies in Pennsylvania in 1934 is indeed my 2x Great-Grandfather, I still want more proof. Something closer to a smoking gun. The obituary of Rufus' brother Ed Littlejohn was so helpful in placing Rufus in Cleveland in 1923 that I've been wondering if any of his other siblings have obituaries that could do the same thing for other years. So, I guess now I'm on The Sibling Hunt.

Based on the 1870 and 1880 Census, plus death certificates that include parents' names, I've been able to pull together the following list of Rufus' siblings, children of Strap and Eliza Littlejohn. And, because I like charts, I've been using one to track information I've been collecting on their passing.

Restoring a Name for Baby Boy Littlejohn

I recently wrote two posts where I referred to a child of Rufus Littlejohn and Jane "Jennie" Alexanders. In one, I referred to him as an unnamed baby boy. He didn't show up in any of the later records I found for his parents or siblings, and I didn't know what had happened to him or how he'd disappeared.

I'm happy to say, I now know his name: Julius Littlejohn.

I wish his was a happier story, and a longer one. Unfortunately, Julius died shortly after he was born - just 2 days later.

Here is the record of Julius' birth:

Rufus Littlejohn, Not Quite a Horse Thief

One of the reasons I was so excited to find a document placing my 2x Great-Grandfather Rufus Littlejohn in Cleveland, Ohio in 1923 is because I'd recently found an interesting newspaper article about a man of the same name in the same place:

This snippet was carried in the 16 December 1922 edition of the Richmond Palladium and Sun-Telegram (Richmond, Indiana). Other stories from Ohio were also carried on the same page.

Given that there were no other Rufus Littlejohns in Cleveland at this time, this has to be my 2x Great-Grandfather. And, as I'll share in later posts, Rufus had a "colorful" stretch of years, so I had my suspicions as soon as I saw this article. I have so many questions about this incident! Was he actually trying to steal the horse? Is there a court or police record related to this? If so, what do they say? Who did the horse belong to? Where did Rufus take the horse? What did the horse's owner do when he or she discovered it missing?

I want the story so bad, y'all!

Differentiating Rufus Littlejohns, aka Making Charts Makes Me Happy

Spreadsheets are awesome for solving, or at least better understanding, genealogical problems. Once your information is organized, you can literally see things more clearly, make better inferences, and see where opportunities, possibilities and solutions may be. 

So as I've been trying to untangle Rufus Littlejohns to see if indeed my 2x Great Grandfather from South Carolina is the same man who passes in Pennsylvania in 1934 - or, if that PA Rufus is actually a second Rufus Littlejohn from South Carolina - I made a spreadsheet. Here is a simplified version: