The Scott House on Stewarts Ferry Pike

The house stands about a mile east of Gladeville, an old farming community named for the cedar glades around it: open, rocky patches where limestone lies at or just under the surface, ringed by red cedars. An 1879 county history called Gladeville "old enough to have grown larger, but it didn't."

Drag the slider to watch the same spot from the air across seventy years. The yellow outline is Lot 8.

1951197519921997Today

Every map and air photo from 1951 to 1997 shows the knoll in trees while the creek bottom below was farmed. The soil survey suggests why: the knoll is thin, rocky clay, only about two and a half feet deep over limestone, poor ground for crops. The survey also maps it as eroded, so it may have been cleared or grazed at some point before 1951. The deep, good soil lies on the flat beside Sinking Creek, which an 1879 history says runs into a sink south of Gladeville "where it disappears."

The nearest old family burying ground is the small Martin-Jenkins Cemetery, about a quarter mile north across the pike, where Linzy C. Martin (1793-1883) and his family lie. The Martins were probably the closest farm family to the knoll in the 1800s. Who owned the knoll itself isn't known yet; the old deeds would say.

Stewarts Ferry Pike

The road is named for Stewart's Ferry, a crossing of the Stones River on the way to Nashville. Congress approved a dam downstream in 1946, calling the project the "Stewarts Ferry Reservoir," renamed it for Congressman Percy Priest in 1958, and the finished lake covered the old crossing in 1967-68. In late 1862, before the Battle of Stones River, Union and Confederate troops skirmished "between Rural Hill and Gladeville, along what is now called Stewarts Ferry Pike," a state historical marker records.

1. 1988September 9: four empty lots, apparently cut from one farm, sell the same day. Lot 8 sells for $14,000.
2. 1993October 8: Lot 8 sells again, still empty, for $29,500, most likely to Gary and Gloria Scott.
3. 1997Gary builds the house, about 1,000 feet back from the road at the end of a long driveway.
4. 2016-2024County tax bills read "Scott R Gary Etux Gloria W."
5. 2023October: the family lists the house and the lot next door together.
6. 2024March 19: the house sells for $570,000.

Built

1997, by Gary Scott

Living space

2,213 sq ft, two stories

Floor area

1,020 sq ft down and 1,020 up, plus a 576 sq ft low-ceilinged upstairs room, likely over the two-car garage

Outside

Covered front porch, glassed-in sunroom, carport, shed

Inside

Wood-burning fireplace in the living room

Utilities

Its own well and septic tank, no city water or sewer

1Russell Gary Scottmarried Gloria WrightProven by records

Gary grew up in Chattanooga with his younger sister Nancy (1953-2001). He built the house on Stewarts Ferry Pike in 1997, and he and Gloria raised Abigail and Arthur there. Gary is also the family historian: he keeps the Scott-Clark(e) Family Association website, and he and Gloria typed up the 1969 family history in 1983.

Sources: His father's 2013 obituary; county tax records 2016-2024.

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2Russell Julian ScottAugust 27, 1920 - May 26, 2013; married Margaret Grey Patching (1923-2000) in the fall of 1947Proven by records

Probably born at Huffman in Morgan County; grew up in Lancing; played football at Central High in Wartburg. In 1942 he kept count of the meals served at Fontana, N.C., where Fontana Dam was being built. By October he was in the Army at Camp Breckinridge, Ky.; a 1947 newspaper notice says he served four years with the Army Air Forces, and family records say he was a mechanic on Okinawa at the war's end. Tennessee Tech, then UT Knoxville in transportation. A career with the airlines, retiring from United in 1980. Margaret, the Oakdale grocer's daughter, was working for the Atomic Energy Commission at Oak Ridge when they became engaged in 1947; the wedding was set for September 26 at her parents' home. She later organized the Scott and Clark family reunions and loved family history.

Sources: Obituaries (2000, 2013), 1947 engagement notice (Knoxville News-Sentinel), 1950 census, Margaret's Social Security record, gravestone, family letters.

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3John Long ScottFebruary 10, 1882 - May 24, 1961; married Alta May Clark (1889-1979) in July 1910Proven by records

Born at Sunbright. Enlisted at Lancing at 19 and served three years in the 9th and 1st U.S. Infantry, rising to sergeant, including service in the Philippine Islands from December 1901 to April 1903. He worked for the railroad, and his daughters' letters place him at the Lancing depot from about 1920 into the 1940s. About 1950 a stroke left him partly disabled. A musical family: the children sang in quartets at church, and John sang with them.

Sources: Army discharge and pension papers, Social Security index, 1950 census, gravestone, his own journal, his daughters' journal and letters, the 1969 family history, and a 1960 Knoxville News-Sentinel column (the stroke).

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4Zachary Taylor ScottFebruary 28, 1849 - October 4, 1931; married Mary Patten Jones (1856-1937) in 1871Proven by records

Farmer and land surveyor, born near Sunbright. The family website says he bought the Huffman farm in 1901. In 1895 he wrote down his father's account of the family, and in 1929 he signed it as a statement. Much of what the family long knew about its Kentucky years came from that statement.

Sources: His own 1929 statement, his son's Social Security record, gravestone, the family website (the farm purchase), his granddaughter Jewell's journal.

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5Russell Scott1808 - February 23, 1896; married Mary "Polly" Webb (died 1854)Proven by records

Born near Albany, Kentucky. Came to the Emory River, where Montgomery was laid out in 1826, as a boy in 1821 (family account). Thirteen children. At his death he left "12 children, 85 grandchildren, over 100 great-grandchildren." Buried in the Hall Cemetery near Sunbright.

Sources: His son's 1929 statement, his death notice (as copied in the 1969 family history), the 1887 county history, Find a Grave.

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6Samuel ScottJune 19, 1777 - May 25, 1841; married Lydia LongProven by records

Born in Burke County, North Carolina. Family accounts say he farmed, ran a mill and made saltpeter on Spring Creek in Kentucky. Almost certainly the Samuel Scott who served as a sergeant in the War of 1812. One of the commissioners who founded the new county seat of Montgomery, Tennessee, where he kept a tavern; justice of the peace. Buried under a stone gravehouse in the Montgomery Cemetery. A son, Samuel Jr. (very likely the Samuel Scott of Linn County, Kansas), helped make Kansas's first laws in 1855, before it was a state, and was hanged by anti-slavery raiders in 1860.

Sources: His own signed statement (1837), the 1813 muster roll, the 1887 and 1987 Morgan County histories, the state historic survey of his gravehouse, and family accounts.

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7Thomas ScottJuly 19, 1755 - March 1, 1834; married Lettice Russell in 1775Proven by records

Born in Maryland, raised in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Militia volunteer on the frontier "against the Indians" in 1777-78, then a horseman at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780, where he stayed to help care for the wounded. Died on the Kentucky-Tennessee line.

Sources: His sworn statement for his Revolutionary War pension (1833), with sworn statements from his son and a fellow soldier.

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8Samuel Scott and Mary Jonesof Prince George's County, Maryland; married about 1751Likely

Copies of court papers, made by a Scott family historian, say Mary named "her son Thomas Scott" in Burke County in 1789; the originals haven't been found. Other records show the family group around them: in 1790 Mary Scott, Thomas, Richard and Nathan Scott and William Russell lived side by side in Wilkes County, and a 1793 paper in which Richard Scott put his sister in charge of his land business links him to his sister Jemima and brother Samuel Jr. Thomas named his first children Mary and Samuel. Likely, not proven. See Further back.

Sources: Jerry Scott's copies of 1788-89 sworn statements (originals not found); 1790 census of Wilkes County, N.C.; 1793 Wilkes County court records.

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Two family stories: true or not?

"John Scott of Edinburgh." Some family trees made by other people put a John Scott, born about 1706 near Edinburgh, at the top of this line. The records show he belongs to a different Thomas Scott, born 1754 in Pennsylvania, who also fought at Kings Mountain and also died in Kentucky in 1834. Gary's Thomas was born in Maryland in 1755 and married Lettice Russell.

Culloden and General Winfield Scott. The 1969 family history tells of two brothers who fled Scotland after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, one the ancestor of this family and one of General Winfield Scott. The general's memoirs do say his grandfather escaped from Culloden. But no record links the families, and a family historian's copies of Maryland land records (the originals haven't been found) put this family's Scotts in Prince George's County by the 1720s, which would rule the story out. It stays a cherished family story.

The Scotts in Maryland, before 1755

Thomas Scott's parents are still likely, not proven: Samuel Scott, a millwright, and Mary Jones, daughter of Richard Jones of Anne Arundel County. The only papers that name them as Thomas's parents are copies of sworn statements from a 1788-89 court case, made by a Scott family historian; the originals haven't been found. Other records show the family moving and living together. In 1790 Mary Scott headed her own household in Wilkes County, N.C., listed beside Thomas, Richard and Nathan Scott and William Russell, the husband of Thomas's likely sister Rachel. In 1793 Richard Scott, about to leave for Tennessee, empowered "my well beloved Sister Jemima Scott" to take a deed for "Samuel Scott Junior my brother", with William Russell as witness. That same year Thomas bought 290 acres on Randolph's Creek of the Lower Little River.

Further back, the trail is not yet proven. A Thomas Scott was registered at birth in Queen Anne Parish in 1702 and died in 1739; his father was likely William Scott (about 1672-1752), who married Mary Lucas. Her father's 1721 will names "my Daughter Mary Scott ye Wife of William Scott". These Scotts held land on the upper Eastern Branch (the Anacostia) of the Potomac, in tobacco country that is now the Washington suburbs. Samuel built water mills, skilled work every neighborhood needed. About 1774-75 Mary took the children to the Carolina backcountry, and they settled on the Lower Little River, now Alexander County, N.C.

1. 1702Thomas Scott registered at birth in Queen Anne Parish, Maryland (possibly an ancestor).
2. 1721Thomas Lucas's will names his daughter Mary, wife of William Scott.
3. about 1751Samuel Scott marries Mary Jones (from a copy of a sworn statement he made in 1788).
4. 1755Thomas Scott born in Maryland, July 19.
5. 1766-68Samuel Scott, millwright, sells the family tracts "The Girls Portion", "Dan" and "William and Mary Increased".
6. about 1774-75Mary Scott, her children and William Russell move to the North Carolina backcountry.
7. 1790Mary, Thomas, Richard and Nathan Scott and William Russell side by side in the Wilkes County census.
8. 1793Thomas buys 290 acres on Randolph's Creek; Richard Scott's paper putting his sister in charge of his land business names her, Jemima, and his brother Samuel Jr.

The Longs and Julians: Lydia Long Scott's family

Lydia's father Edward Long is proven: her sister's husband, Capt. Isaac Story, swore in 1844 that he and Samuel Scott "married sisters the daughters of Edward Long". Edward farmed on the Burke-Wilkes border, sat on a Burke County grand jury in 1795 and bought 150 acres on Kings Creek in 1804. By 1810 he was in Cumberland County, Kentucky, next door to Solomon Long and near Samuel and Thomas Scott: the Longs, Scotts and Storys moved west as one group. Lydia's sister Abigail married Isaac Story in 1800.

Lydia's mother was very likely Catherine Julian, of a French Protestant family that lived in Cecil County, Maryland, near Winchester, Virginia, and finally on the Deep River in Randolph County, N.C. Her parents were likely Isaac Julian (about 1716-1778) and Barbara White; family accounts say a rattlesnake bite killed Isaac in July 1778. The family chart's "Soloman Edward Long" and "Gabriel Tobias Long" are not supported by any record.

Lettice Russell, Thomas Scott's wife: no record names her parents. A family chart names Joseph Russell and Elizabeth Penn, but no record backs it up.

The Webbs and Halls: Polly Webb Scott's family

Russell Scott's wife was called "Polly" in the records ("Nancy" was her mother's name). Her parents are now proven. Her father John Webb Sr. made his will on July 30, 1841, leaving his Emory River land to "my three daughter Polly and Rhoda and Hopy Webb"; in 1857 Polly's daughter Lydia sold land "Willed by him to his three daughters Polly Scott ... Polly Scott being my Mother". John died in 1841, not 1848 as the cemetery marker says. Her mother Nancy Hall (1787-1857) married John Webb in Roane County on August 4, 1809; her father signed the marriage papers with him.

Nancy's father was Martin Hall (proven): in 1846 she sold her son-in-law Russell Scott her share of the land of "Martin Hall the father of the said Nancy Webb". Martin was one of the first settlers on the Emory River: in September 1807 he claimed 89 acres "at the forks of Emery River including the Improvement where the said Hall now lives", and his brother Samuel took the next tract. The Halls came from Pittsylvania County, Virginia, by way of Wilkes County, N.C. Martin's parents were likely Samuel Hall Sr. and Millian Webb; a 1774 deed in which her father gave her property names "my Daughter Millian Hall wife of Samuel Hall". Samuel Hall Sr.'s sons served in the Wilkes militia under Colonel Benjamin Cleveland during the Revolution, the same commander as Thomas Scott at Kings Mountain.

1. 1774Merry Webb Sr. gives a gift to "my Daughter Millian Hall wife of Samuel Hall", Pittsylvania County, Va.
2. about 1775-79The Halls move to Wilkes County, N.C.
3. 1807Martin Hall and his brother Samuel settle at the forks of the Emory River.
4. 1809John Webb marries Nancy Hall, Roane County.
5. 1830-34Martin Hall dies, leaving a will and eight heirs.
6. 1841John Webb Sr.'s will names daughters Polly, Rhoda and Hopy.
7. 1846Nancy Webb sells Russell Scott her share of her father Martin Hall's land.
8. 1857Lydia Scott Hall: "Polly Scott being my Mother".

The Joneses and Halls: Polly Jones Scott's family

Zachary Scott's wife Mary "Polly" Jones (1856-1937) was the daughter of William Hazen Jones (1821-1912) and Elizabeth Hall (proven by the 1929 family statement and every census; her 1937 death certificate says "Mary Hall", a mistake by the son who gave the details). William was born in Kingston, Roane County. As a teenager he served as a musician in a Tennessee mounted infantry company during the 1836-38 Cherokee removal, the Trail of Tears, and drew a pension for it in old age. He was a blacksmith at Kingston in 1850 and at the county seat of Montgomery in 1860, later called himself a retired merchant, and died at Sunbright aged 91.

Elizabeth's father was Garrett Hall (1785-1862) and her mother Telitha C. Davidson (proven). Garrett served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant, then captain, of Tennessee militia (the family statement's "Revolutionary War" belongs to his father). When Morgan County was organized he became its first sheriff (1818-1820) and served again in 1840-42; in 1820 he ran a distillery. He is buried in the Hall Cemetery at Sunbright. His father was likely Samuel Hall Jr. (1760-1819), a Revolutionary soldier in the Wilkes militia.

The Clarks, Carpenters and Saunders: Alta Clark Scott's family

Rev. Jason S. Clark's 1928 death certificate names his parents, Amasa Clark and Roxalana Carpenter (proven). A 1935 family memoir says Amasa worked other men's farms around Rutland, Vermont, cutting grain with a sickle, then in 1850 brought the family west by Erie Canal boat; the 1860 census finds them in Berlin Township, St. Clair County, Michigan, and in 1880 they farmed near Yale in Sanilac County. Roxalana's parents were likely Samuel Carpenter and Roxy Newton of Ira, Vermont; her grandfather may have been Elder Joseph Carpenter, Ira's Baptist pastor (possible).

Jason enlisted in Company G of the 10th Michigan Infantry, in 1861. Fever after the Corinth campaign put him in the military hospital at Camp Dennison, Ohio ("Disease and the doctors kill more in an army than the rebels"); he was back standing guard at Nashville by December 1862, and the regiment went on with Sherman. He married Jerusha Saunders at Lakeport, Michigan in 1866. Her father John Saunders, born in Ireland (County Carlow, his obituary says), was a brickmaker in Pennsylvania in 1850 and later farmed near Yale; her mother was Margaret Castor (both proven). The family says Jason came to Tennessee in 1884 for his wife's health and the climate he remembered from the war.

The Patchings, Wakefords and Smithers: Walter Patching's family

George Patching was born on August 21, 1845 in Worthing, Sussex, England, and baptized at Broadwater church on October 5; his father James was a baker. Four generations were baptized, married and buried at Broadwater between 1764 and 1855: James (baptized 1812), his parents William Patching (baptized 1766) and Charlotte Cunningham, married there in 1798, and William's likely father John (buried 1790). James's wife Maria was very likely the Maria baptized at Broadwater in 1811, daughter of Thomas Wakeford, a bricklayer from Lancing, Sussex (the same name as the Tennessee town where the Scotts later lived, a coincidence as far as the records show). The parish and the family's birth date match, but no record ties the two Marias together yet.

The family left for Canada between February 1848 and late 1849, not in 1847, and by 1861 farmed in McGillivray Township, north of London, Ontario. George married Isabella Smithers, daughter of William Smithers and Elizabeth Cook, at Carlisle, Ontario in 1870, moved to Michigan, and was in Morgan County, Tennessee by 1877, before the Rugby colony was founded. What brought him is still unknown.

The Waddells and Paines: Stella Waddell Patching's family

Stella's parents were Daniel Heath Waddell and Sarah Willanna Paine, married on September 26, 1883 in Lawrence County, Ohio, by the groom's father, Rev. Daniel Waddell, a Methodist preacher turned fruit grower. (Stella's Social Security records misspell her mother's name as "Williams Paine".) Willanna was born at Ashland, Kentucky, the daughter of Dr. William V. Paine and Sarah Haskell. Widowed, Sarah married Alanson Gillett, whose seedling became the Rome Beauty apple, and they moved to Harriman. Heath and Willanna followed to Lancing about 1888-90, where Stella was born in 1890. Willanna died at Lancing of typhoid in 1918; Stella, then 28, signed her death certificate.

• Who owned the farm before 1988, and who bought Lot 8 in 1993. The 1988 and 1993 deeds, and the older deed for the farm the lots were cut from, are at the Wilson County Register of Deeds in Lebanon. Deed Book 411, page 550; Book 433, page 489; Book 262, page 209.
• The Chattanooga house where Gary grew up. Margaret was active at Brainerd United Methodist, so it was likely in the Brainerd area. The old Chattanooga city directories at the Chattanooga Public Library's local history room would give the street address.
• Russell Julian Scott's birthplace. Family papers place the family at Huffman at the 1920 census, but his sister Jewell wondered whether he was born in the Hixon House in Lancing that August. His birth certificate would settle it.
• The exact Huffman farm. The 1901 deed from the Freels heirs would fix its boundaries. Morgan County's courthouse burned in 1904, so it may survive only as a later copy.
• John Long Scott's accident with a mail crane. The family remembers that John was struck by a trackside mail crane (the post where mail sacks hung for passing trains) and lay unconscious for two or three days before he recovered. No newspaper story has been found: the Morgan County News survives in easy reach only for about 1917 to 1922. He also had a disabling stroke about 1950, and the family isn't sure whether the two are separate events. The paper's other years survive only on film at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville.
• Martin Hall's will. Deeds of 1836 and 1846 cite it; it would name all eight heirs and his wife. Morgan County will books and court minutes, 1830-35, at the Morgan County Courthouse in Wartburg or on film at the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville.
• Lettice Russell's parents. No record names them. Wilkes County, N.C. deeds 1778-1800 and William Russell's estate in Carter County, Tenn. (about 1820) are the places to look.
• Why George Patching came to Tennessee by 1877. Morgan County deed and court records of the 1870s.
• Thomas Scott's parents. Samuel Scott and Mary Jones are likely (see Further back). The original sworn statements from the 1788-89 court case would prove it. They should be among the old Burke County court papers at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh.