Gross Scruggs and Edith

---

---

Husband Gross Scruggs

---

           Born: 1769 - Virginia
     Christened: 
           Died: 1856 - Madison Co., Alabama
         Buried: 

       Marriage: Sep 1850

---

   Other Spouse: Nancy Logwood (1773-1805) - 31 May 1792 - Bedford Co., Virginia 1

---

   Other Spouse: Mary Tate (      -      ) - 17 Oct 1805

---

   Other Spouse: Mary (      -      ) - Sep 1833

---

---

Wife Edith

---

           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

---

   Other Spouse: Reuben Shotwell (      -      )

---

Children

---

---

General Notes: Husband - Gross Scruggs

---

The following is a shortened version of

http://huntsvillehistorycollection.org/hh/index.php?title=Gross_Scruggs,_A_Vintage_Vignette

Gross Scruggs
A Vintage Vignette by John P. Rankin
December 24, 2008

One may not expect much of a person named Gross Scruggs in Madison County's history. However, one would be wrong about that. According to the book "Scruggs Genealogy" compiled and published in 1912 by Ethel Hastings Scruggs Dunklin of New York City, Gross knew how to make a grand entrance. In the words of Mrs. Dunklin, "he caused quite a sensation upon his arrival in Alabama, as he came in his coach-and-four, with out-riders." The time was 1818, and Gross was coming from Virginia, where he was born in 1769. He was the third son of Thomas Scruggs, who took his family (including Gross) to Kentucky in 1793. Gross, however, left for Tennessee and then returned to Virginia before moving to a plantation in Madison County, Alabama. Thomas himself apparently returned to Virginia later, and Gross was executor of his father's will in Virginia in 1805.

Gross married four times. His first wife was Nancy Logwood. They married in Bedford County, Virginia, in 1792. Nancy was born in 1773 in Virginia and died there on April 2, 1805. She was a daughter of Thomas Logwood and a granddaughter of Edmund Logwood. Edmund was born in 1690 in England and died in 1775 in Virginia.

The Logwood family was further connected to the Tate family by the Limestone County marriage of John Tate to Mary Logwood as his second wife. This John Tate was a brother of Dr. Waddy Tate. John's first wife was Sophia Harris, a daughter of Matthew Harris and Elizabeth Tate.

Nancy Logwood and Gross Scruggs had seven children, including a daughter named Mary who married Waddy Tate in Madison County on May 2, 1823. Mary was born in 1803 and died in 1836 in Florence, Alabama. Waddy's sister, Mary Tate, married Gross Scruggs as his second wife. This marriage made Gross Scruggs both a brother-in-law and a father-in-law of Waddy Tate. Mary Tate and Gross Scruggs were married in Virginia on October 17, 1805. They had ten children before Mary passed away on September 19, 1832.

Before his passing in Madison County in 1856, blind but of sound mind at age 87, Gross Scruggs married twice more. His third wife was a widow, Mrs. Mary Jones, whom he married in September of 1833. Gross Scruggs' fourth wife was Edith, widow of Reuben Shotwell. They married in September of 1850. By these last two wives, Gross had no children, perhaps realizing that the seventeen children he already had were enough. Still, he apparently felt the need for a wife throughout his years.

CENSUS:

<pre>1810 Rutherford Co., Tennessee, Jefferson
Gross Scruggs 03110 -- 50010; 28 slaves
male female
<10 5
3 10-15
1 16-25
1 26-44 1
>45 </pre>

<pre>1820 Buckingham Co., Virginia, New Canton
Gross Scruggs 001010 -- 01010; 20 slaves
male female
<10
10-16 1
1 16-18
16-26
1 26-45 1
>45 </pre>

<pre>1830 Buckingham Co., Virginia
Gross Scruggs 00000001 -- 00210001; 38 slaves
male female
< 5
5-10
10-15 2
15-20 1
20-30
30-40
40-50
1 50-60 1
60-70 </pre>

<pre>1840 Madison Co., Alabama, South Half
Gross Scruggs 000000101 -- 10030001; 66 slaves; 36 in agriculture
male female
< 5 1
5-10
10-15
15-20 3
20-30
30-40
1 40-50
50-60 1
1 60-70 </pre>

<pre>1850 Madison Co., Alabama, 35 District; Dec 5
547/547
Gross Scrugs 78 M Va $18000 Farmer
Edeth " 69 F NC
John W. " 33 M Al $-- Farmer
Naressy " 26 F Al
Mary " 4 F Al
Frances " 2 F Al
Mary Tate 24 F Va
Marthy E. Scrugs 13 F Al </pre>

In the Slave Schedule he is the owner of 84 slaves.



BEDFORD CO.:

The indexes to the deed records in Bedford Co. indicate that Gross Scruggs made 8 land purchases between 1794 and 1806 and that he made 8 sales between 1800 and 1807. I cannot correlate the purchases with the sales. In 1800 his wife is Nancy, and in 1807 she is Polly. Gross Scruggs is in the personal property tax list in Bedford Co. from 1792 until 1807. No taxes were collected in Virginia in 1808, and he is absent from the list in 1809 and later. In 1792 he has no slaves; in 1793 he has two blacks over 12 years of age and in 1794 three. He gradually accumulates slaves and horses. In 1806 and in 1807 he has 11 blacks over 12 and 6 horses.

1 "Bedford County Marriage Bonds," Repository: http://www.vagenweb.org/bedford/bedf-mar.htm.