Lies, Based on True Stories, a novel by Courtney Soling Smith, Posted on August 6, 2025

• August 6, 2025
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

Lies, Based on True Stories, is  only the second novel I have ever read that included footnotes. The first one was The Andromeda Strain. Here, however, the footnotes are historically accurate, which is why I like historical fiction. In this context, “lies” are not entirely made up; they refer to stories told so many times, they have been burnished like fine silver.

Footnote number 46 explains that  while there is no proof that General Stonewall Jackson liked lemons, this notion was popular at the time.

This is what happens when an historian discovered a story that unfolded in 1863 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, during the Civil War. In this terrifying incident, the Elmhurst house was invaded, ransacked, and her outbuilding were destroyed. The only reason the house was not burned to the ground was the presence of a very sick relative dying in an upstairs bedroom. This story haunted the author, who at first turned it into a play. It has all of the elements of a good play, so that was a brilliant idea. The novel version is equally compelling.

The story is presented in fifty-four chapters, each an almost deposition-like narrative, told from the perspective of an eyewitness to the events. Each narrative is lively and entertaining. The entire story is book-ended with “letters to the editor.” The characters are based on people who lived at the time, and their voices are distinctive and compelling. Enjoy!

Have you seen this man? Posted July 22, 2025

• July 22, 2025
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

This ambrotype came to the Scott Family Collection with a little note identifying the man in the portrait as David White (1761-1837). David was the first of his siblings to be born in North Carolina. He is thought to have joined the North Carolina militia and was with General Gates at the battle of Camden, South Carolina in 1780.

David married Elizabeth Allen in 1799. Their daughter, Mary (Polly) White, married Samuel Kerr and went on to have four children including David White Kerr (1819-1879), Mary Kerr (1820-1828), Margaret Graham Kerr (1822-1892), and William James Kerr. After his first wife died, Samuel Kerr married Jane Currie and had six more children.

 It is unlikely that the image is of David White, as he died 17 years before the ambrotype was patented and became popular in 1854.

Could the man be Samuel Kerr? Probably not, as he was born in 1787 and died in 1852. However, I think David White Kerr, who was David White’s grandson, and Samuel Kerr’s son, is a possibility. He would have been the right age, between 35 and 45, and had the same dark hair and prominent cheekbones as his sister Margaret. 

If we can find out who this fellow was, perhaps we can figure out what happened to the buttons on his jacket.

Do you know what a digitabulist is? Posted on July 16, 2025

• July 16, 2025
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

A digitabulist is a person who collects thimbles. Thimbles, an essential tool of hand sewing, go way back. Apparently people wanted to protect their fingertips while they used sharp needles.

The Scott Family Collection has a number of thimbles, including two very old thimbles, both owned by daughters of Henderson and Margaret Scott. The gold one is engraved, “Mamie from Mama.” The silver one is engraved with the initials, “S. L. K. S.” The owners were Mary White “Mamie” Scott, (1865-1953) and her older sister Sue Lizzie Kerr Scott, (1863-1907). Most thimbles are dimpled so as to guide the needle more expertly. These dimples are called ‘knurling’. Thimbles were usually stored in a case, such as the one depicted here.

In the past, young women started sewing at a very early age. Samplers, as they are called, gave girls the opportunity to practice their stitching, and of course, there was always mending and sewing to do for themselves and their families.

Many thimbles have numbers on the rim, indicating their size. The thimble was usually worn on the middle finger, and of course, finger size varies. The gold thimble we have at the Collection is a number 8.

Women often gathered together to create large sewing projects, such as quilts. Even though machine stitched quilts are available today, a hand stitched quilt is considered quite a wonderful possession and some can command high prices.

Meet Margaret Graham Kerr Glass Scott, posted on June 24, 2025

• June 24, 2025
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• Posted By: Scott Family Collection

In December of 1890, Margaret G. K. G. Scott received a postcard from the Chicago Watch Company, located at 142 Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois.

On the back of the postcard we find the following mysterious message:

Dec 13/1890

Goods shipped today to Mebane.

How exciting!

What did Margaret buy? Was it a watch for herself or perhaps a present for someone else?

Was she having something repaired? And why all the way from Chicago? Why not just buy something in town.

Perhaps buying the watch was not her decision at all. The item might have been chosen for her by one of her four remaining children several of whom traveled for business. The postcard could have spilled the beans or was a sly ploy to pique her curiosity, to create a sense of anticipation. After all, Christmas was on its way.

At this point in her life, Margaret was sixty-eight years old. She was nearing the end of her life and would pass away two years later, in 1892. Her oldest son, Sam,  was a merchant in Mebane, North Carolina. Her son James Edwin was in the tobacco business and her youngest son, Robert, was a farmer.

The Scott Family Collection is fortunate to have several photos of Margaret, but they do not give much away regarding her personality. In each of them, she is not smiling but rather faces the camera with a stoic expression. In the photo reproduced here, Margaret is seated, slightly off-center, and is wearing a pair of tinted glasses. She looks fierce, like someone not to be trifled with.

But in fact, this was not the case. Margaret was kind and attentive, and devoted to her family. During her lifetime, she buried two husbands and seven of her eleven children without complaint. She did tell her sons that she wished they were more affectionate towards her. In response, they assured her that they loved her very much and held her in the highest regard.

I wonder if we will ever know what was in the package. Sometimes when you least expect it, another puzzle piece falls into place. . .