Please don’t copy and paste this information into your tree if you are a descendant of Saymore and Hannah Scott. This post is more of my brain musings – I will point out what is fact and what is speculation!
Saymore/Seymour/Saymour Scott was probably born c1735 in Virginia, possibly in the area of what became Cumberland County in 1749.
FACT: Saymore died by 20 May 1788, when Samuel Williams and David Low were granted letters of administration on Saymore’s estate.
Inventory of Estate of Saymore Scott, dec’d.
Cumberland County, Virginia
FACT: In November 1790, Samuel Williams was named as guardian to Hannah’s children.
FACT: Saymore left a widow, Hannah, and infant children: Sarah, Samuel, Nancy, Benjamin, Hannah and Saymour Jr.
FACT: Saymore had another daughter, Mary, possibly the oldest child, who married John Morrow on 12 September 1781 in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Prince Edward County borders Cumberland County. The marriage record identifies Mary’s father as Saymore Scott.
FACT: Hannah Scott died before March 1798 when Samuel Williams was appointed to appraise Hannah’s estate.
Inventory of Estate of Hannah Scott, dec’d.
Cumberland County, Virginia
Those are the facts as I know them. From here on, I am sharing musings and possibly hypotheses to prove/disprove concerning the Scott family.
Because Samuel Williams administered Saymore’s estate AND he was appointed as guardian of her children AND he appraised her 1798 estate, I believe Hannah may have been Samuel’s sister. No marriage record has been found for Saymore and Hannah, but with daughter Mary marrying in 1781, she was probably born c1761 or so, meaning that Saymore and Hannah were born in the 1730s or very early 1740s.
Samuel Williams was most likely the son of Thomas Williams and Susannah Anderson. Thomas was born in 1712 in Wales according to an old family Bible. Samuel was born 18 September 1744, so Hannah is certainly of an age to be his sister.
Court papers mention the following Scott children on 12 April 1798:
Samuel
Nancy Scott, wife of Robert Beasley
Benjamin Scott (who married Sarah Le Grand on 19 February 1798 i Prince Edward County, Virginia)
Hannah Scott
Saymour Scott
Mary Scott who married John Morrow isn’t mentioned, nor is Sarah Scott, who reportedly married Benjamin Whitehead. I am unable to find any reliable clues for the Morrows, the Whiteheads, Robert and Nancy Beasley or Benjamin and Sarah Scott.
Benjamin Whitehead reportedly died in Marengo County, Alabama and left a different wife, but it is possible that Sarah died as a young woman.
Clues are sparse for this family. I have no idea of the birth years for these children, except that Mary was probably the oldest as she married in 1781. Because her father is named on the record, I doubt that she was of legal age, so born no earlier than 1761 and, if only, say 16, when she married, she might have been born as late as 1765.
I have some work to do – there are Cumberland County wills for John Morrow filed in 1834, Ewing Morrow in 1842 and Ewing’s estate settlement in 1848. Those are the only Morrows listed in the index. Whether this is the same John, I have no idea.
I also need to check the personal property tax lists for Cumberland County and Prince Edward County to see if any of the entries are for Hannah Scott, Robert Beasley, Benjamin Whitehead, John Morrow or the male children of Saymour and Hannah.
Many families headed out of Virginia for westward lands in the early 1800s. The Williams family migrated en masse about 1805 to Tennessee. Perhaps some of the Scott relations went with them.
I also need to check Prince Edward County deeds, probate and tax records on the chance that any of these couples moved over the county line. Since Mary and brother Benjamin Scott both married in Prince Edward County, it is very possible.
Unfortunately, no one seems to have done much work on this family. The few mentions I see online are very questionable clues – one has a man marrying at the age of 1. I won’t waste anytime following up on that!
Perhaps I will have a detailed update in the near future if more documented records turn up. In the meantime, if you have suggestions to offer, please do so in the comments.
This is interesting that I happen to come upon your post. I am doing research on my ancestor Gideon Anderson and here I what I found. There was a Gideon Anderson who witnessed the last will and testament of Mary Scott, Dec 1755 in Cumberland County, VA. In the will Mary Scott leaves all her estate to her son Saymore Scott and also appoints him her executor. Proven in 1758 with an inventory in 1759. More Scott info: There is a 1771 deed of Samuel Williams to Saymore Scott, 100 acres on the branches of Dry Creek next to Charles Anderson. There is a 1794 deed of Benjamin Scott, son of Saymore Scott decd, to John Seay. 30 acres, part of the allotment made to Benjamin as one of the children of Saymore Scott, next to William Anderson (son of Charles). Not sure who Mary Scott’s spouse was. There was and inventory ordered for a Samuel Scott decd of Cumberland County in May of 1755. Samuel Scott was a vestryman in Southam Parish before he died. A record of the parish shows Thompson Swann replaced him August 11, 1755.
Hi Robert, Thank you for all the added details you’ve found about the Andersons and the Scotts. I am very familiar with Samuel Williams; the Scotts and Andersons were definitely part of his FAN club and, I believe, related by marriage at least a couple of times over.