In part one of this series, we learned a great deal more about S. I. Scott. She remained in Shawnee, Oklahoma following her husband James’ death, her first name was Susan, her middle initial was R rather than I, and by 1908 she’d been married twice with no children from either marriage. What we still haven’t discovered is her maiden name or her parents’ identities.

Hypothesis

The aim was to find a suspect for Susie R. Scott’s identity from the same location as her first husband, James Scott of Cleburne County, Alabama. Susie’s parents and siblings probably lived in close proximity to the Scotts. James and she likely married in Alabama or, less likely, Oklahoma. Following her second marriage and divorce, she may have remarried.

Our Suspect

How I came to the suspect for Susie Scott’s identity was interesting. At that point, all I knew was the name S. I. Scott and that she was born in February 1873 in Alabama. So, I pulled up the 1880 census for Cleburne County, found the Scott family, and looked at the surrounding families for a seven-year-old girl whose name began with the letter “S.” There were only six pages of the census for Cleburne County, so it didn’t take long, and there was only one girl I found that fit the criteria:

Susan R. Hooper of Cleburne County, Alabama, daughter of William Riley Hooper and Mary Frances Junior.

I began researching Susan Hooper. Ancestry.com quickly revealed that she married a man named Saul Justice and lived in Oklahoma, but there was a large gap in Susan’s history between 1880 and 1910. The eureka moment came when I looked at the 1910 census.

1910 Maysville Census

1910 census for Garvin County, Oklahoma.

The Justices were enumerated in Maysville Township, Garvin County, Oklahoma on 26 April 1910. Saul was a white male, aged 36, married twice, and two years into his current marriage. Susie was a white female, aged 37, married three times, and two years into her current marriage. It was also recorded that she had three children with none living in 1910.

The eureka moment was seeing proof of Susie Justice’s other marriages and realizing that the gap in her history was perfectly filled by what I’d learned about Susie Scott’s life in Shawnee.

Putting the pieces Together

First Marriage. Susan R. Hooper married James M. Scott circa 1892, probably in Cleburne County, Alabama. The year is estimated from the 1900 Shawnee census and the location is an educated guess. The 1900 Shawnee census reported that Susie had no children at that point, 1 June 1900. James died six months after the census, on 28 January 1901. Susie remained in Shawnee.

Second Marriage. Susie married James Redmond on 29 November 1905. Less than two months later she filed for divorce, on 16 January 1906. The divorce was finalized on 15 March 1906. This marriage and divorce was well-documented in the Shawnee, Oklahoma courts and newspapers. In late 1906, Susie began selling her personal property, perhaps in preparation to move.

Third Marriage. Still using her first husband’s surname, Susie Scott married Saul Justice circa 1908, probably in Oklahoma. The year is estimated from the 1910 Maysville census and the location is an educated guess, since both Susie and Saul were living in Oklahoma at the time. The three deceased children documented on the 1910 census probably originated with this marriage.

Conclusion

S. I. Scott on the 1900 Shawnee census was really Susan R. Hooper of Cleburne County, Alabama, daughter of William Riley Hooper and Mary Frances Junior. The evidence is strong in its abundance. In other words, a single item by itself doesn’t provide the proof we need, but all the evidence together makes the case. It would be nice to have a smoking gun. A marriage record or two would make the case air-tight, such as:

  • Marriage record for James M. Scott and Susan R. Hooper in Alabama circa 1892.
  • Marriage record for Saul Justice and Susan R. Hooper/Scott in Oklahoma circa 1908.

Bibliography

“United States Census, 1880,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4JH-P1G : 22 August 2017), Susan R Hooper in household of William R Hooper, Pine Thicket, Cleburne, Alabama, United States; citing enumeration district ED 43, sheet 186C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,254,008.

“United States Census, 1900,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MMGL-T23 : accessed 31 August 2020), J M Scott, Shawnee Township Shawnee city Ward 3-4, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma Territory, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 202, sheet 2A, family 28, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,342.

“United States Census, 1910,” database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:ML72-KRZ : accessed 5 September 2020), Gaul Justice, Maysville, Garvin, Oklahoma, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 79, sheet 5B, family 71, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1252; FHL microfilm 1,375,265.

Graham, Byron W. “The Fate of James Scott.” Graham Ancestry, 12 July 2019, https://grahamancestry.com/2019/07/12/the-fate-of-james-scott/

Graham, Byron W. “Desperately Seeking Susan, Part One.” Graham Ancestry, 31 August 2020, https://grahamancestry.com/2020/08/31/desperately-seeking-susan-part-one/