Guilty Pleasures, Posted on January 20, 2026

• January 20, 2026
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

One of the guilty pleasures afforded to historians is the chance to read the private correspondence and diaries of people who lived long ago.

Recently, I found a letter posted in December of 1945, while the United States was at war.

The letter was addressed to Mary Kerr (Mrs. John T. Kerr, Sr., 1864-1947).  It was from her niece Gertrude who lived in Canada at the time.

The letter included an update on Mary’s brother (Gertrude’s father) who was in the hospital with a duodenal ulcer. Apparently, he was feeling much better and would be discharged soon. She suggested that if Mary wanted to cheer her brother up, some cigars would help. He was contemplating a vacation to Florida but didn’t want to go alone, she added. 

Mary was expecting a lonely Christmas as her husband had passed away in 1940 and her son, John T. Kerr III was away in the Navy. So a trip to sunny Florida would be a nice diversion. 

I wonder if Mary took the hint.

Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button? Posted on January 13, 2026

• January 13, 2026
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

I found this charming button in an antique secretary here at the Scott Family Collection. The button was attached to a small piece of paper indicating that the image is of John T. Kerr, Jr. who was born in 1898.

This button looks old timey now, but when it was made, such things were all the rage. The button was made by placing a small photograph on a metal backing and then covering it with clear celluloid. Celluloid was an early form of plastic, but not a true plastic, as the formula contained some organic material.

The secretary, a lovely pre-Civil War piece, was a bequest from John Jr.’s son, John Thomas Kerr III (1925-2021). I found the button and some lapel pins in one of the drawers.

The Kerr family and the Scott family are related through ancestors Nathaniel Greene Kerr and Margaret Graham (Barrett) Kerr.  Nathaniel Greene Kerr was a patriot who served in the Revolutionary War. His grandson, John T. Kerr, settled in Durham and started a foundry.

John Thomas Kerr III was a college student when in 1945 he interrupted his studies to join the Navy. After his service, he finished his degree and then joined the family business, Durham Foundry & Machine Works. John had many interests but perhaps chief among them was his love for his family, his church, and Kerr family history. He was a charter member of the Saint Andrew’s Society of North Carolina and was very active in all things Kerr. Thank you, John!

The Girl Who Made the Cherry Pie, Posted on Monday, January 5, 2026

• January 5, 2026
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

In June of 1936, Elizabeth Scott Carrington was working in Philadelphia as a nursing instructor. The Democratic National Convention was taking place nearby and she walked over to see if she could find someone her father knew, Josephus Daniels. Among other things, Mr. Daniels was the editor-in-chief of the News and Observer (Raleigh). She had met Mr. Daniels many years before when he came to her parents’ home for lunch one day.

She spotted Mr. Daniels right away and walked up to him. She introduced herself but before she could get more than a few words out, he interrupted her, saying, “You’re the girl who made the cherry pie!”

That must have been quite a pie. The cherries came from a Morello cherry tree on her parents’ property. Elizabeth said that she had never seen one anywhere else. The family also had a greenhouse where they grew their own lemons, but that is another story.

Elizabeth probably used the kitchen tool pictured here to remove the pits when she made the pie. Morello cherries are a medium sized cherry with a tart flavor and are excellent for baking and canning. I wonder if she made a lattice top for her pie. Elizabeth was known for her cooking and baking, and although she majored in Home Economics in college at Flora MacDonald, went off to nursing school in Philadelphia after graduation. And the rest, of course,  is history.

Crazy Quilt, Posted on Monday, December 15, 2025

• December 15, 2025
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

When I hear the word, “quilt,” I think of the one my mother left me. It has a pattern of blue baskets on a white background. 

Quilting has been around for thousands of years, but the idea is always the same.  A quilt has three layers, a decorative top layer, some padding, and a plain backing. The three layers are held together by rows and rows of tiny stitches. 

The end product is not only practical, it provides the creator or creators with an opportunity to show off their ingenuity and skill.

A lot of quilts are unsigned, and we know nothing about who made them or why. Others are handed down from generation to generation along with the story of their origin and maker(s).

I do know who made my quilt because her name is printed on a small tag attached to the backing. Her name was Betty and she lived in Arkansas.

I have often thought about Betty. How did she decide to make this particular quilt? Was blue her favorite color? It was my mother’s.

Betty made her quilt by cutting what we call whole cloth into shapes and then stitching the shapes back together into a repetitive and decorative pattern.

But how do you make a quilt if all you have is a bag of scraps left over from other projects such as clothing or draperies? 

Behold, the crazy quilt.

Back in the late 1800s, five women got together and created the quilt you see here. It was too small and too fancy to be used as bedding. Most likely it would sit in the parlor and be used as a lap robe on chilly days. Now it hangs on one wall in the Scott Family Collection. 

Unlike my mother’s quilt, this quilt has the names of the makers worked into the pattern. See if you can find them. If not, I have provided their signatures to the right of the quilt.

They are Sue Lizzie Kerr Scott, Mamie White Scott, Margaret Graham Scott, Lizzie Kerr, and Lizzie Kerr Atkinson.