-- Bradford Ripley Alden Scott: Memoirs of the Civil War

The Scott Family

Someday I'll put up some honest-to-goodness genealogy pages. For now I'll merely list some information about B. R. A. Scott and his immediate family. The citations in square brackets ("[]") are hyperlinks to the paragraphs where the family members are mentioned.

Our Hero

Bradford Ripley Alden Scott was born on June 28, 1851, in Virginia. He was named after Bradford Ripley Alden, one of his brother's instructors at West Point, and went by the name "Alden."

There seems to have been a rule that no one could be given a name not already borne by some other family member. As a result we see the same small collection of names over and over in endless recombinations.

Alden was an exception -- his namesake must have made quite an impression on brother John. However, I have not found any information on him.

Once the family admitted a new name, they wouldn't let it go. Several members of later generations carry the name Alden, but I am not aware of any Bradfords or Ripleys.

After the War, Alden earned a law degree from the University of Virginia, and practiced law in Galveston, Texas. He died in San Antonio, Texas.

Parents

Alden's father: James McClure Scott [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

He was a prosperous landowner and planter in the Fredericksburg area, the son of Dr. James McClure Scott [1] (b. ca. 1770 in Pennsylvania) and Anne Overton Lewis (b. 1772 in Virginia).

Alden's mother: Sarah Travers Lewis [1] [2] [3]

She was the daughter of Dr. Richmond Lewis and Elizabeth Travers Daniel -- Virginians all. Since her father was the brother of Anne Overton Lewis, Sarah Travers Lewis was a cousin to her husband. First-cousin marriages may raise eyebrows today, but they were common among families of the time.

Wife

On September 27, 1877, he married Mary Miller Anderson, the daughter of Meriwether Lewis Anderson (1805-1862) and Lucy Sydnor Harper. Her father was the son of Jane Meriwether Lewis, sister of Meriwether Lewis the explorer.

Other Relations

The Virginia gentry have always been fascinated by their family connections. Genealogists have swarmed over them like ants on a lollipop. Suffice it to say that the Scotts are included in various compilations of genealogical lore, such as:
Nelson Heath Meriwether, The Meriwethers and their Connections, The Artcraft Press, Columbia, Missouri, 1964
Much of this information is available online from Michael Sheppard, Descendants of Lawrence Ball Genealogical Database. However, Sheppard's information differs from my own in various ways, and I haven't yet tried to reconcile all the discrepancies.

The Scott memoirs mention several of his siblings, whom I have listed on a separate page.

-- Scott McKellar