Green Lee Scott

    Green Lee Scott was the last child of James K.  and Sarah Jane Scott (Longanaker).   He was born March 26, of 1864, during the civil war but after West Virginia split from Virginia and became a State.  Summer's County was not yet formed and the lands where the Scott family lived were considered part of Monroe County.   In his public obituary from 1952, it states that he lived on his farm his entire life, built the home in which he raised a family and died there at the age of 82.  My father, Randy Scott, and my Uncle, Jack Scott knew him, and they spent time on the farm working for him, so I had some sense of his life and personality from their recollections.   He also lived in a time where records, communication and newspapers were more common, and we can find more about how he conducted his life, made a living and socialized.  While my own experience on the farm was one rural isolation , Green's younger life on Hungarts Creek  was busy with farming and enterprise and fellowship. 

    By the time Green was born, his father,  James K. Scott,  seems to have made the transition from land closer to present day Sinks Grove in Monroe County to Hungarts Creek near present day Talcott.   Green has seven siblings.  The oldest is Marth Ellen, born in 1846, followed by James W. Scott in 1847, Virginia Susan in 1850, George P. Scott in 1853, John David in 1854 and Rebecca J Scott in 1855.  Once child, Sara E. Scott, died in infancy,.  Louisa was born in 1860 and finally Green in 1864.   That's a lot of childbearing.  Of all the siblings, Green seems to have been closest to John David, who went by Dave or JD, and who is about 10 years older than Green.  

    We know a little bit about life on the  Scott homeplace during this time.  This news item was found as a reprint in a northern WVA paper but was originally from the Monroe Register, which operated out of  Union in Monroe County  from 1860 to 1880.

Rollinsburg is modern day Talcott, which is the location of the Scott Farm.  The information here makes me think that the nine-year-old girl mentioned was Louisa Scott and the younger brother was Green.  That seems to fit the birth chronology well.   The Mr. Ball mentioned makes sense as there are many connections between the Scott's and Balls.  Virginia Susan, a sister of Green, married Ballard P, Ball in 1871.  Copperheads and rattlesnakes are still in Summers County, despite decades of efforts at extirpation, and a rattlesnake with eleven rattles is quite a specimen.

Note that James K. Scott is using the title of Esq., Esquire.  He served as Justice of the Peace on two different occasions and appears to have used the honorific title liberally.   

     The home and neighborhood that Green Scott grew was a thriving and busy place.  Farming was still a way to feed the family and perhaps make a few dollars.  In addition, a grist mill was or had been in operation and more importantly, a steam sawmill was in operation on the Scott property.   My grandfather, Paul Scott, spoke of the sawmill in his memories of life on farm.  We know that the steam engine and tools are passed from James K Scott to his wife by last will and testament drafted in October of 1887.   That means Green is in his early 20's, a prime age for hard work on the farm and on a sawmill.   One of most precious finds in doing this genealogy was the receipt of these images from Patricia Wauhop Young whose grandmother is the first child of Green Scott and Elizabeth Boyd, Eva Scott.   The first image is the Scott cabin where Green and his siblings were raised.

        It is thought that this building was being deconstructed at a time when the present farmhouse was built by Green.   It was common to incorporate lumber from old buildings into new ones, and it would be interesting to see if there is evidence of that in farmhouse which remains.  One can see that the original construction of rough cut logs with chinking between them.   It's likely that the siding on top of the section of the home to the left extended down the front of the home.  the open part of the structure to the right probably has had wall components and siding removed and looks like it may have been a addition.  Both parts of the house have big fireplaces and chimneys.  Unless it has been removed one large hearth stone from a chimney remains in the front yard of the present home. The West Virginia Tax Office and GIS information for the plat on which the farmhouse still stands lists its completion in 1904.  That means Green was 44 years old when the home he constructed was completed so he must have spent a lot of time in the old Scott cabin.   

    The chronology of births of James K.  and Sarah suggest that Green was the only child born at Talcott (1864), but that the birth of all preceding siblings took place at their home in Monroe County.  By 1870, the family is fully occupying, farming and working the land on Hungarts creek.   Aside from farming, James K. is said to have run a grist mill which would have used the creek as its power source.  I can speculate on the location of the mill as the large field where the current barn now stands seems to have a manmade trench running parallel to the creek which may have served as a mill race.  It was long abandoned by the time I started spending time there and my grandfather did not know of the mill's exact location.  At some point the focus shifted from a grist mill to a steam powered sawmill whose location is known.  We know that on October 16, 1887, James K. drafts his last will testament and leaves the sawmill operation to his wife, Sarah:

"The management of the Steam Mill with such timber as may be desirable to use from the Real Estate, to be under the direction of my wife."

      James K. Scott dies 4 days after drafting his will, so he must have known things were going downhill.  

     Or maybe not, as just one day after the will is drafted Green Lee marries Elizabeth Agnes Boyd on October 17th of 1887.   The Scott's and the Boyds must have had quite a relationship.  These two families intermarried three times in Green's generation.   Green was the third Scott to marry a Boyd.  Green's oldest brother, James W, Scott was the first connection to the Boyd Family.  He married Elizabeth's older sister Sarah Catherine Boyd.  They had five children and also lived on Hungart's Creek and this is the Scott line which eventually gets to US Senator William L. Scott.   Louisa Scott, an older sister of Green,  marries William Richard Boyd, who is a brother to the aforementioned sisters.  Each of these marriages produces children and they all live close to each other. Double first cousins are running around everywhere on Hungarts Creek, Hilldale and Talcott.

The Boyd Family.  James Madison Boyd is the father and Mary Boyd (Pack) is the mother.

Elizabeth Agnes Boyd
first wife of  Green Scott

William Richard Boyd, Husband
of  Louisa Scott

        Green and Elizabeth have their first child, a daughter, Clyde Scott on January 9th of 1890.  Their second child comes in August of 1891 with the arrival of James Emmett Scott, then Della Alice Scott in March of 1893 and then Bennet Boyd Scott on the 11th of May in 1894.  Elizabeth dies 4 days later on the 15 of May 1894.   Green is left with an infant and 3 very young children.   We know nothing about the specifics of the death. Historically, Puerperal sepsis, an infection in the birth canal caused by streptococcus bacteria was particularly deadly.  Poor Elizabeth could have survived the childbirth only to succumb a few days later.  

    Green is in a tough spot at this point.  He's 30 year old widower with 4 small children with a farm and a sawmill to run.  One aspect of the situation which may have helped was the number of family members in close proximity who could help with his children.  His own family and countless Boyds were close by and they seem to interacted and embraced their relationships.  There is no mention of shortage of food or resources on the farm, so there must help on many different levels.  

    They only official record of  Elizabeth's death comes in the form of guardianship bond found in Summers County court records. In this bond,  Green is granted guardianship of his own children,  which seems peculiar.  The value of the bond is $500.00 and also includes  Green's brother,  JD Scott,  and local business man,  Harvey Ewart,  who was on the Board of Directors for the National Bank of Summers.    This image was found in the archives of  West Virginia University  and shows the Board of

Board of Directors National 
Bank of Summers in 1910.

Directors in 1910.  Harvey is standing in the back row, second man on from the left.   The third man standing on the left is James H Miller,  who was executor of the estate of  Green's older brother,  George P. Scott,  and author of  a History of Summers County West Virginia.  Going through will and probate records  from this time shows that both of these men were greatly involved in the financial affairs in Summers County.  Their names appear in relationship to many estates.  They must have been highly trusted and esteemed by citizens who wished to have their estates handled in the manner they dictated. 

Guardianship Bond  for Green's 4 Children on June 6th,  1894

    A little bit of  research helps explain the necessity of this bond in this time period.  Guardianship bonds  are used to ensure the property or assets inherited by an incapacitated person or a minor are managed on their behalf.   It turns out that Elizabeth's father,  James Madison Boyd,  died in February of  1894,  about 3 months  before Elizabeth's unexpected death.  He does not appear to have had a will, but there is a court record of his wife Mary Boyd (Pack) being appointed  the administrator of his estate.  In this legal situation,  Mary is entitled to 1/3 of his estate and the rest is passed on to his heirs.  So Elizabeth had an interest in some part of his estate.  At her death,  by law, her children have the same.  There is also an entry in the Summers County probate records in which Elizabeth's brothers are managing some part of the real estate and list Elizabeth's children as part of the transaction.  Green's job as court appointed guardian  is to make sure her children's inheritance benefits them.  It is likely that the actual inheritance was real estate in which James Boyd's numerous children all got a share.  

    So, Green is 30 year old  widower with 4 children but he is not destitute.  He is surrounded by two large families all who are assumed to have affection  and a sense of responsibility for Green and his children. Moreover,  the Scott family farm and sawmill provide food and financial support and his extended family's land holdings are substantial.  The patriarch,  James K.  Scott is sill alive and heavily involved in civic matters such as Justice of the Peace for the Talcott District and Post Master for Scotia.  His older bother George Pembroke Scott is also a successful and educated man and building a large estate.  His mother,  Sarah  is also still alive and involved in the lives of  her adult children.  It  could be a lot worse.
   

    Nearly 3 years later in February of 1897 Green marries Roberta Caroline Mann.  The Mann family is also large and has a similar history as the Scotts, having moved from the Augusta region of Virginia into Greenbrier and Monroe as unfettered immigration began in the 1780's. Roberta Caroline was known within the family as Carrie.  She was born on Sept 30, 1875, so there was about ten year difference in age between her and Green Scott.  He is 33 years of age and she is 22.   Not surprisingly, her family lives in the Talcott/Hungarts Creek area.  They may have attended the same Rollingsburg Baptist Church.  We don't know anything about their courtship or the manner in which they decided to marry, but Carrie steps right into the role of wife  and just a year later Carrie and Green have their first child together.  Eva Scott was born on the 12th of January,  1898.  Carrie bears 9 children over the course of 19 years.  Seven girls and two boys.  

    In  my recollections of  stories from my grandfather,  there was never any mention of  Elizabeth's 4 children as being 1/2 brothers or sisters.  Stories he told about his childhood were of a house full of brothers and sisters,  heavy on the sister side  and since he was among the youngest, he was doted upon by the older girls,  though they sometimes were said to have dressed him up like a doll baby, and curled his hair.  Carrie was always spoken of with great affection and admiration.  By all accounts she should manage children and a household and made a great partner in marriage.   I assume the family started life in the cabin shown above,  

        James K Scott died in 1887 and bequeaths his lands to all of his children, and specifies that his real estate is to be split to all family members  and, if they currently occupy  section, then he specifies that should stay in that place.  Seven years later,  his wife Sarah, leaves a will and seems to leave most of her possessions to George P Scott,  who is somewhat physically disabled and who lives with her.  Despite his disabilities,  he is educated and has invested well and helps with the business matters of the farm and a sawmill.  George dies in 1899,  at just 45 years of age.  He leaves all of his  Real Estate,  which he calls the Miller land, to Green and indicates that he has constructed a home on it so he should continue to live there. He gives his share of the sawmill business to JD and Green Scott.

       Steam sawmills had as much transformative power as  steam locomotives.  The opening of the Big Bend Tunnel just a short distance from the Scott farm had an expansive impact on the economy of life in Summers County.  What had been a geographically isolated portion of southern West Virginia was now part of  a transportation network which moved goods east to west and connected commercial centers to rural points which previously had no such access.  The city of Hinton was established to support the rail traffic,  and to a lesser extent the area around Talcott also developed some commercial capacity.  Both a Bank and hotel eventually served the Talcott area,  and Hinton grew into modern small city, housing many railroad workers and supporting all manner of trade and commerce.  With both the regrowth of hardwood timber and actually virgin timber still available, it was a good time to be in the lumber business and we know a lot about the Scott sawmill.

           Patricia Young provided these images that her grandmother, Eva (Scott) Wauhop had obtained. It shows workers at the sawmill site which is on large bend in Hungarts creek just past where Boone creek joins it and across the county road where the home still stands.   The Summers  County deed book from February of 1897 lists the purchase of Geiser Peerless steam sawmill from the Geiser Manufacturing Company of Waynesboro,

Pennsylvania.  GL and JD Scott are listed as the buyers and  a trustee of the Geiser Company is the seller.    It's in the deed book because fixtures like sawmills were, and still are,  considered connected to land and which they sit and not considered personal property.   The deed records the terms of the sale and when payments should be made. Geiser sawmills were among the first to be manufactured and many were in service.  Unfortunately,  the individuals in the photo are not identified,  and the man with the shovel does look like a know photo of Green.   The man standing at the front with a handle bar moustache also shows up other photos.   The image below shows the saw mill site from another angle, clearly showing that they had quite and enterprise going with lots of hands working and lots of wood being cut.

    Local Newspaper clippings from th is time period yield no information about business conducted at the mill.  No advertisements about "timber wanted" or "lumber for sale" were found.   The only reference to a sawmill on Hungarts creek was in regard to a man who broke his leg while working at a Hungart's Creek sawmill and a lawsuit involving Green and another party over the delivery of telegraph poles. 

    At this time, the Scotts owned a great deal of real estate  along Hungarts Creek and its is likely that they were cutting timber off some of this land.  It fits with the time frame of forest regeneration  around the turn of the18th century in which virgin forests were cut, albeit at a much slower rate than the steam era allowed.  Clearly the forest around the Scott farm was regenerating when I was child in the 1960's.  The trees on the mountain sides were not large and vestiges of  farm life were everywhere.  On Kent Ridge, above the area where the the sawmill was located, log structures that the Kent family used were still standing.  Apple trees still bloomed and produced fruit. (Records show the the Kent's were and African American family.) There were also remnants of fencing near "the flat",  and relatively level hillside on a steep hill which also had ancient apple trees which still produced fruit in the mid 1960's. 

    This image to the left shows brothers and business partners JD Scott and Green Scott sitting for portrait sometime in the first decade of the 20th century.  Photographic analysis indicates 1905 or so based on the style of clothing and the men's appearance.  Best guess of identities is that JD Scott Scott is standing while Green Scott is sitting.  There are no images of JD Scott to compare, but I do have images of Green as elderly man,  that the person sitting fits with those images better than the man standing.  However,  the man standing looks a great deal like Green's son and my grandfather, Paul Scott and I had previously identified him genealogical pictures are Green Scott,  but I think that was mistake and Green is sitting their with a cigar looking quite confident in his suit of fine clothes.

  

    Occasionally newspaper clippings of the time provide a little bit of insight into life and personalities of  ancestors.  The Hinton Daily News sought to publish his incident of August of 1906 in which a matter concerning the shooting of dog was resolved by the court and then by fisticuffs.   Green apparently was not opposed to throwing a punch or two to resolve issues and is aligned with J.W. Ball who seems to have a nickname of "Colonel".

    The Balls and Scotts are again connected in a newspaper account. 

    J.W. Ball seems to have been quite a colorful fellow as his name comes up in newspaper clippings for a number of misdeeds including stealing 100lbs of sugar from a C and O railway train and being fined for running an illegal poker game on 3rd Avenue in Hinton.   He is also listed a conductor for the C and O.  The theft of sugar from his employer likely affected his employment with them.  

    It isn't clear when the steam sawmill ceased operations or under what circumstances.  Machines eventually break down and the sensibilities of the time period had little in regard for the management and conservation of timber.   If you could make money off of it,  it was cut until it was gone.  It is clear that at somewhere  around 1910 references the the "Scott School" start,  This little school was on the same lot that the sawmill occupied.  Apparently, when the sawmill quit operating the Scott's living on Hungarts Creek thought it would be a good idea to set up a school on their property.  

     The first newspaper reference of a Scott School come from a 1910 clipping in which the Scott School is listed a precinct for submitting a bid for the "selling of roads".   The School is listed as the location in Precinct 2 of Talcott with Pence Springs School being Precinct 1.  One newspaper reference has it as "Colored School",  but it seems unlikely that in a completely segregated era that my own ancestor would have operated such school on their property,  thought there were African American families in the vicinity. 

    In April of 1912 the local paper details a year end exhibition at the Scott School on Hungarts Creek with O.E. Mann as teacher. By 1914,  the teacher is listed as Maycle Huffman and there is also a reference to Clyde Scott,  a daughter of Green Scott as a  teacher there as well.  I appears that the school operated  the mid 1930's with many references to teachers appointed to it.   The Rev E.J. Garten was listed as teacher in 1925.  John Keith Scott,  my great uncle, was listed as student in 1930 receiving a reading diploma award.  Most conspicuously is Danese Haynes, who boarded with Green and his family and eventually became a partner with Faye Viola Scott.  Danese  taught at the Pence Springs School and eventually became the Principal of it.   She and Faye lived in Green's farmhouse after he died in 1952,  and stayed until Maycle and Paul Scott bought the land  and restored the farmhouse in 1968.  Faye and Danese are buried next to each other in Alderson WVA.

    This is the Scott School about 1920 with a host of Green's children in attendance. Paul Scott, my grandfather is the boy with his hands in his pocket, center front, he was born in 1911 so he is about 8 or 9 years old. The tallest girl behind him is Faye Scott, who was born in 1903, so she is about 16 or 17, likely the upper limit of school. To Faye's right is Ruby Scott, born in 1909, so she about 11 or 12 years old. Two other sisters, Jessie and Pearl are in the back row, but not recognizable. Many of the other children are likely nephews and nieces of Green Scott and other residents of the Hungarts Creek.

    After the sawmill business faded, Green seems to have made a living in both road building, road inspection and farming. Numerous court and newspaper records show that he was involved in obtaining bids from the local government to build or improve roads and posted bonds for the work.     This work originally was done using draft horses and the manual labor of many people. The article on the right details a work crew of Scott's and other local working on roads leading to the Scott Farm.

        In 1917, the newspaper details the draft of citizens called up for World War 1, in which Greene's second son, Emmett Scott is identified for service. He ultimately was drafted and sent to France and saw active duty in the war. He story is linked here. His uniform was kept for decades by by Uncle, Jack Scott and ultimately given to the Summer's County Historical Society.

      Green is also listed a candidate for public office during several periods in his life. He ran for County Commision on more that one occasion, but whatever respect people might have had for him as a citizen, farmer or business person did not translate to electoral success. He never won an election. As he aged, farming became his major occupation and he somewhat involved in the politics of it.

    This article from 1942 lists Green Scott as the President of the Summers County National Farm Loan Association. This farm program originally started during the Wilson administration and allowed farmers to set up lending cooperatives using their land as collateral and with the backing of some Federal security. Earlier news articles show Green as the President of the Summers County branch in 1938.

        It isn't clear what kind of farming Green was involved as no records exist of crops he planted or livestock he kept. The best guess is that a big part of farming was simply self sufficient in nature as this was the kind of life mu own grandparents sought to emulate in their time on the farm. Pigs were kept and slaughtered for ham and sausage. Beef was less popular, but a milk cow was absolutely desired and dairy products figure prominently in their diet. There is no more economical animals than chickens. The garden provided beans, potatoes and sweet potatoes in large quantities and corn was ground for meal or grits. It is likely that many garden products were canned by this time. The farm was well known for fruits and strawberries, blackberries and raspberries grew particularly well. A very large part of their diet came from the farm with flour and sugar being among the items that were typically store bought. Maple syrup was also boiled and kept .     It was not era in which large amounts of cash was earned off of farm products, but the farm was large enough to produce more than they needed.     They did have telephone installed by the 1920's and electricity by the 1930's. At some point, the radio became an item of news and entertainment further making the life on Hungarts creek more connected to the outside world. Still, the interior plumbing was limited to a kitchen, the stove burned wood and there was no interior plumbing.      At the same time, the once vibrant and busy valley began losing its population. The children of the previous generation left farms for cities and wages they provided and older folks died off. The Scott School was closed and torn down by the mid 193o's and small family farms began to disappear as technology and changes in population moved people from rural areas to urban areas.     By World War 2, Hungarts Creek had become a quiet valley with fewer and fewer inhabitants and hillsides that once again were becoming covered with the first succession of trees that would eventually grow into forest. Green and Carrie Scott were lucky to have Faye and Danese as residents in the big old home that Green had built. By all accounts Green and continued their self sufficient activities as long as they could.

    The image on the right shows Randy (Ranny) with his grandmother Carrie Scott about 1945 or 46. Maycle and Paul, Randy's parents had traveled to Oak Ridge, Tennessee during the war for work and Jack and Randy Scott returned home to the farm in the summer during those years and stayed with their grandparents. My uncle Jack related that they like staying at the farm but the grandparents probably got tired of the constant brotherly fighting between Jack and Randy. "You boys need to be civil" is what Green would tell them. My dad says that Green would give them a nickel in the morning as inducement to help with farm work but would take it away in the afternoon if they got into fights or did not perform their chores in a expected manner. They did not make money from Green.     There are only a few other accounts of things my great grandparents said or did. My father did relate that Carrie thought margarine was a wonderful invention. Margarine production started after the war and to farm people who spent hours extracting milk from cows and churning it into butter, it was massive time saving product. Apparently early margarine had no color. It was just a white fatty substance but this was remedied with a dye packet which was stirred into the softened artificial fat. That suited Carrie just fine and her observation about it was"margarine makes a cow ashamed of itself.". People who lived hard easily adopted time saving products.

    The image on the left is of Green and Carrie, probably sometime in the in the late 30's or early 1940's The image below is likely taken at Green and Carrie's 52 wedding anniversary in March of 1949.

The anniversary picture likely was set in the living room of their farmhouse that Green had built and in which a large family once resided.  By this time,  they lived with my Aunt Faye and her partner Danese, whom I always assumed was another Aunt and sister of Faye.   Comparing the two,  you can see that they had aged quite a bit between the two images.  Carrie is big and robust in the first  image  and much more slender and frail looking below.   Carrie's health was said to have been in decline since 1948.   She passed away in March of 1952 at the age of 76.  Green lived a few months longer but he death was a bit more unexpected as he had not complained of ill health or slowed down.  The story told was that he had gone out to the orchard on a warm June day to pick apples and suffered a stroke while up ladder.  He was taken to the hospital in Hinton and died a few days later. 

He did make the papers in the years before his  death.  During their wedding anniversary he was interviewed by the local papers about the opening of the Big Bend Tunnel in 1872.  He was there for the opening ceremonies as 8 year old boy.  The tunnel is less than two miles from the homeplace and was a big deal in the area.  Its completion is arguably the most important technological change that has ever taken place in the region.  It opened up a part of the country that was never easy to access by road and allowed goods and service to flow both in and out of the region in a manner that created wealth and modernized a very isolate part of Appalachia. 

  

        They were remembered fondly by all the family members that spoke of memories of them. My Aunt Faye told stories about Carrie being absolutely master of the kitchen and preparing meals for working men  and knew just how  much to prepare.   Green was known by many about the County and is said to have walked mile upon mile to survey progress on roads  that were part of the County's efforts to improve access to remote places.  Green lived on Hungarts Creek his whole life and built a sturdy home that still stands and whose bones seem to be getting a complete upgrade by new owners.  Both Carrie and Green are buried in Talcott with many of  their contemporary family members.