Here’s another article found at Ancestry.com in Alabama, Surname Files Expanded, 1702–1981 regarding the wedding anniversary of John Henry Scott and Sarah Brown. This time it’s their sixty-fifth. A little math tells us this article was originally published circa 1932, newspaper unknown. This article contains a number of errors which I’ll cover in the notes.

Honor Anniversary

Heflin Community Celebrates Sixty-Fifth Year of Marriage

41904_539888-00194HEFLIN–Their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary was observed recently by Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Scott, who live in the Lebanon community, making their home with a daughter[1]. “Uncle John” was born in Carroll County, Georgia, but moved with his parents to the Friendship community in 1849, while “Aunt Sarah” was born and reared at Muscadine. She was Sarah Isabella Brown. Mr. Scott served in the Thirtieth Georgia Infantry[2], under Capt. J. W. Head, of Buchanan, during the War Between the States. Mr. Scott has one living sister, Mrs. Nancy Albright[3], 84, Muscadine, and Mrs. Scott has two sisters, Mrs. Phoebe Hunnicutt[4], 89, Heflin, and Mrs. Millie Junior[5], Steadman, Ga. They were married Dec. 25, 1867[6], and he is in his ninety-fourth year and Mrs. Scott in her ninety-second year.

The couple has 96 descendants, five children, 30 grandchildren and 61 great-grandchildren living.

Notes

1. Rosa D. Scott was the daughter with whom they were making their home. She married Thomas C. Johnson in 1898. The 1930 census for Cleburne County, Alabama recorded the Johnsons living in Muscadine with three children and John and Sarah.

2. No, John did not serve in the 30th Georgia Infantry. John submitted multiple pension applications for the relief of needy Confederate soldiers to the State of Alabama throughout the 1880s and 1890s. In each one, he identified his rank as sergeant and his unit as Company I, 48th Alabama Infantry Regiment. The same rank and unit are etched on his grave marker. The sixty-second-anniversary article stated that John was wounded at the Second Battle of Manassas, which is consistent with his pension records. The 30th Georgia was not present at Second Manassas.

There was a man named William Jefferson Head (W. J., not J. W.) from Buchanan. He was an assemblyman for Haralson County and voted in favor of secession in 1861. He served as the commander of Company A of the 35th Georgia Infantry, not the 30th. While the 35th did see combat at Second Manassas, Captain Head did not. He resigned from the Confederate army in July 1862, a full month before the battle.

The 35th Georgia did have a private named John H. Scott on the rolls for Company A. However, given that our John Scott’s pension records reported a different rank and unit, it’s not certain this was the same man.

All these errors have me wondering how the newspaper reporter obtained his information. The most likely scenario is that he interviewed John and Sarah. It’s hard to understand how John could give an account of his wartime service that contradicts the testimony he gave for his pension applications. However, it’s easy to imagine that a reporter for a local paper failed to fact-check his fluff piece on a wedding anniversary. These records may be readily available online for us today, but they were much harder to obtain in 1932!

3. Nancy Caroline Scott, who married Madison M. Albright in 1871.

4. Phoebe Brown married William Randolph Hunnicutt in Muscadine in 1862. William’s sister was Elizabeth Caroline Hunnicutt, who married Jesse Graham in Calhoun County in 1839. And there’s our Graham connection. More fun: John Scott’s sister Sarah Scott married Jesse F. Graham, Jesse and Elizabeth’s son. That made Phoebe Brown both John’s sister-in-law and the aunt of John’s brother-in-law.

5. Millie Brown married Floyd Junior in Cleburne County in 1896. Millie died in November the year this article was published.

6. No, John and Sarah were not married on Christmas Day 1867, though this erroneous December date does explain the “late in 1867” comment from the article on their sixty-second anniversary. Here is an image of their marriage record from FamilySearch:

TH-1951-34750-35640-29

“In witness of a License from the Judge of the Court of Probate of Said County, I have this day celebrated the rites of matrimony between John H. Scott and Sarah J. Brown. Given under my hand this 21st day of February 1867. J. W. Wiggonton, J. P.”

Incidentally, J. W. Wiggonton was the commander of Company I, 48th Alabama Infantry.

Bibliography

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Surname Files Expanded, 1702–1981 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Original data: Alabama Department of Archives and History. Public Information Subject Files—Surname files, 1901-1984 available via microfilm in reference, SG002624-2652 and 13361-13362, containing the materials added from 1984-2005. Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama. Box or Film Number: M87-0153

Ancestry.com. Georgia, Marriage Records From Select Counties, 1828-1978 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: County Marriage Records, 1828–1978. The Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia. Title: Marriages, 1897-1909

Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls. Year: 1930; Census Place: Muscadine, Cleburne, Alabama; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 0004; FHL microfilm: 2339743

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Texas and Virginia, Confederate Pensions, 1884-1958[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Roll Description: Scogin, A· J· – Seals, Thomas J. Original data: Texas, Confederate Pension Applications, 1899-1975. Vol. 1–646 & 1–283. Austin, Texas: Texas State Library and Archives Commission. Confederate Pension Rolls, Veterans and Widows. Richmond, Virginia: Library of VirginiaConfederate Pension Applications, 1880-1940. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Ancestry.com. Alabama, Census of Confederate Soldiers, 1907, 1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Alabama Department of Archives & History; Montgomery, Alabama; Alabama Census of Confederate Soldiers, 1907 and 1921; Roll: 48th Alabama Infantry Regiment; Roll Number: 54

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for John Henry Scott (21 Dec 1839–24 Oct 1933), Find a Grave Memorial no. 115696915, citing Friendship Baptist Church Cemetery, Muscadine, Cleburne County, Alabama, USA ; Maintained by Dennis Ray Garner (contributor 48186010) .

Wikipedia contributors. “30th Georgia Volunteer Infantry.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Sep. 2019. Web. 11 Apr. 2020.

Wikipedia contributors. “Second Battle of Bull Run.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 1 Apr. 2020. Web. 11 Apr. 2020.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for William Jefferson Head (21 Dec 1827–12 Sep 1892), Find a Grave Memorial no. 14907833, citing Buchanan City Cemetery, Buchanan, Haralson County, Georgia, USA ; Maintained by Evening Blues (contributor 46587085) .

Feigenblatt , R. I., and L. Tamasi. “Town/City of Buchanan Timeline.” Haralson County Historical Society, RootsWeb, 16 Nov. 2012, https://sites.rootsweb.com/~gahchs/archives/Buchanan150/Timeline.htm.

Hawks, Steve A. “35th Georgia Infantry Regiment.” The Civil War in the East, https://civilwarintheeast.com/confederate-regiments/georgia/35th-georgia-infantry/.

“Soldier Details.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=76B62FCE-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A.

“Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQVZ-FQW : 13 February 2020), Nancy C. Scott in entry for M. M. Albright, 1871.

“Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ96-B9H : 13 February 2020), Phebe A. Brown in entry for W.r. Hunnicutt, 1862.

“Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQDS-3PY : 13 February 2020), Elizabeth Hunnicutt in entry for Jessie Graham, 1839.

Ancestry.com. Alabama, County Marriage Records, 1805-1967 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. Original data: Marriage Records. Alabama Marriages. County courthouses, Alabama. Year Range: 1893 – 1901. A. M. Brown in entry for Floyd Junior, 1896.

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 10 April 2020), memorial page for Millie Junior (18 Apr 1849–15 Nov 1932), Find a Grave Memorial no. 32594393, citing New Canaan Cemetery, Haralson County, Georgia, USA ; Maintained by Lin (contributor 46798906) .

“Alabama Marriages, 1816-1957”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQVX-WMY : 13 February 2020), Sarah J. Brown in entry for John H. Scott, 1867.