Last week, we began a journey back into the early history of Meadows of Dan through the words of Daniel Webster “D. W.” Scott, who recorded his memories and knowledge of the mountain community in 1949, when he was eighty-four years old.
The manuscript, recently shared with me by Charlie Bowman, is much more than a collection of names and places. Each name Scott recorded represents a real person—a person who lived, worked, raised a family, endured hardships, celebrated joys, and left a mark upon the Meadows of Dan community.
That is why, as we continue through Scott’s history, I want to stop along the way and learn something about the people he mentions. With the help of birth, marriage, and death records, census records, family histories, and other surviving documents, we can put families around those names and, in some cases, rediscover remarkable stories that might otherwise have been forgotten.
Here is the second installment of Daniel Webster (D. W.) Scott’s History of Meadows of Dan in his own words…
This section (Meadows of Dan) was first settled about 175 years ago. Among the first settlers were such sturdy, hardy men as Spencer Cockram who settled about one mile south of Meadows of Dan post-office; Peter Wood who settled about one mile east of Meadows of Dan post-office; Thomas Scott, father of Rev. T. D. Scott who lived about seven miles southwest of Meadows of Dan post-office near the Pinnacles of Dan, and who was the grandfather of Luther G. Scott, a prominent lawyer now located in Bluefield, W. Va., great grandfather of Eugene Dickson, a noted attorney now located in Roanoke, Va., and also great-grandfather of Rev. Carlyle T. Scott, a noted evangelist.
We will stop here with Scott’s history and break down all the powerful information in this paragraph. One of the men Scott mentioned in this portion of his history was Spencer Cockram.
Spencer Cockram was born in 1799 to Nathaniel Cockram and Bathsheba Pedigo.
Nathaniel was the son of Revolutionary War veteran Edward Cockram, also recorded as Cochran, and Mary “Polly” Edwards.
Nathaniel Cockram married Bathsheba Pedigo in January 1798. Evidence of that marriage survives in the marriage bond between Nathaniel and Bathsheba’s father, Elijah Pedigo, witnessed by Patrick County Clerk Samuel Staples.
Those old marriage bonds are treasures in themselves. More than two centuries later, the names written upon them allow us to reach back into Patrick County’s earliest years and place another generation onto the family tree.
Their son Spencer married Miss Nancy Adeline Boyd on May 29, 1817, in Patrick County.
Spencer and Nancy had the following children:
William Nathan Cockram, 1818–1861
Sarah Nancy Cockram Boyd, 1819–1881
Keziah Cockram Lawson, 1819–1885
John Bishop Cockram, 1822–1891
Delila Cockram Rakes, 1827–1871
William Andrew Cockram, 1835–1864
Elizabeth Cockram West, 1837–1868
Bashaba Cockran Edens, 1838–1911
It is through their son John Bishop Cockram that we come to one of the most heartbreaking family stories I have encountered in researching Patrick County.
John Bishop Cockram married Mahalia Nannie Cruise, and together they suffered a tragedy that is almost unimaginable today.
During the diphtheria epidemic of 1862, John and Mahalia lost nine children.
Nine.
The names and dates preserved in the records tell the terrible story:
John C. Cockram, 1849–October 18, 1862
Martha Cockram, 1850–October 2, 1862
Lucinda Cockram, 1852–October 10, 1862
James S. Cockram, 1853–October 15, 1862
Mazy Ellen Cockram, 1854–October 30, 1862
Mary Ann Cockram, 1856–October 2, 1862
Sarah Jane Cockram, 1859–October 20, 1862
Nancy Alice Cockram, 1859–October 2, 1862
An unnamed baby girl Cockram, 1862–1862
Just look at those dates.
Martha, Mary Ann, and Nancy Alice all died on October 2. Lucinda followed on October 10. James died October 15. John died October 18. Sarah Jane died October 20. Mazy Ellen died October 30.
Within the span of a single October, John and Mahalia watched child after child disappear from their family.
And all of this was happening in 1862, while the Civil War was raging across Virginia and the nation.
It is difficult to comprehend the grief inside that Patrick County home.
Yet somehow, life continued.
John Bishop and Mahalia Cockram had two more children following that terrible year: Henry Boyd Cockram, 1863–1911, and Elizabeth Cockram Belcher, 1865–1888.
Mahalia died in 1866.
One can only imagine the grief she carried during the remaining years of her short life. Records can tell us when someone was born, married, or died, but they cannot tell us what was in a mother’s heart after burying nine of her children.
Perhaps that is one reason it is so important to say their names again today.
Peter Wood
D. W. Scott again mentioned Peter Wood in this portion of his history.
Readers may remember Peter from Part I. Scott told the wonderful story of a cold, snowy night when the Wood family was frying fresh meat and a hungry bear, attracted by the smell, attempted to break through their door.
Peter and his family were forced to bar the door from the inside to keep the bear out.
For additional information on Peter Wood and his family, please see Patrick Pioneers—D. W. Scott’s History of Meadows of Dan—Part I.
Thomas Scott and Sarah “Sallie” Shelor Scott
The next person mentioned by D. W. Scott brings us directly into Scott’s own family.
Thomas Scott was D. W. Scott’s grandfather.
Thomas married Miss Sarah “Sallie” Shelor on March 7, 1805, in Montgomery County, Virginia.
Sallie was the daughter of Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shelor and Mary Wickham Shelor, 1756–1834, who were married in 1784.
And Captain Daniel Shelor had quite a story of his own.
Captain Daniel Shelor
Captain Daniel Shelor came from Maryland to the banks of Furnace Stack Creek in what is now Floyd County. In the early 1790s, he opened an iron mine and smelter.
Shelor mined the ore, refined it, and fashioned cooking utensils from the iron. He then loaded those wares onto a wagon and hauled them to Lynchburg, the nearest town, hoping to sell them.
According to a story preserved in Floyd County history, his first sales trip did not begin particularly well.
Shelor reportedly arrived in Lynchburg with his load of pots and pans only to discover that he could not find buyers.
Out of sheer frustration—or perhaps in a moment of exceptionally good salesmanship—he picked up one of his pots and threw it against a rock in the unpaved street.
Those watching must have expected it to shatter.
It didn’t.
Much of the cast iron of the period was brittle, but the ore Captain Shelor was mining apparently contained just enough copper to create an alloy that made his wares more durable than many others then available.
Once the merchants and townspeople of Lynchburg saw that Shelor’s pot had survived being thrown against a rock, he quickly sold his entire load.
Captain Shelor returned to Floyd County and continued operating his mine and smelter.
But his story was not finished.
Years later, the nation he had fought to help create once again needed volunteers. Captain Shelor was already in his sixties when the War of 1812 began, but according to the Floyd County history, he walked to Norfolk, Virginia, to offer his assistance.
From Revolutionary War soldier to mountain ironworker and businessman to an aging patriot willing to walk across Virginia to volunteer once again, Captain Daniel Shelor certainly left his mark upon the generations that followed him.
The Family of Thomas and Sallie Shelor Scott
Thomas Scott and Sarah “Sallie” Shelor Scott had the following children:
Margaret “Peggy” Scott Monday, 1807–1887
Lucinda Eliza Scott Barnard, 1809–1888
Highland Mary “Helen” Scott Smith, 1811–1897
Lucretia Laura Scott Spangler, 1816–1899
Mary Wickum Scott Banks, 1820–1890
Daniel S. Scott, 1821–1900
Jehu Scott, 1822–1899
Thomas Delaplane Scott, 1825–1910
Wolford Scott, 1827–1908
Their son Daniel S. Scott was the father of D. W. Scott, whose family was discussed in Part I of this series.
Another son, the Reverend Thomas Delaplane “T. D.” Scott, also appeared in D. W. Scott’s history.
Reverend Thomas Delaplane Scott
The Reverend T. D. Scott mentioned by D. W. Scott was his uncle, Thomas Delaplane Scott.
Thomas Delaplane Scott married Miss Lucinda Ellen Sandifer, 1842–1928.
They had the following children:
Martha Ann Scott Bolt, 1856–1940
Simon Peter Scott, 1857–1944
Sarah E. Scott Dickerson, 1859–1952
Samuel Cephas Scott, 1863–1926
Stephen Matthew Scott, 1869–1954
Susan Mary Scott, 1869–1939
James Rufus Scott, 1874–1944
Unah R. Scott, 1877–1879
One of those children, Susan Mary Scott, would become D. W. Scott’s wife.
And once again we see just how intertwined these old mountain families were. Following one name in an old manuscript can lead us through several generations and into families whose descendants remain scattered throughout Patrick County and far beyond today.
I think we will stop here for now. There is quite a bit of information to absorb in this installment, and there is still much more of D. W. Scott’s History of Meadows of Dan waiting for us.
But before we leave these families, I keep thinking about those nine Cockram children.
Had D. W. Scott not mentioned Spencer Cockram, perhaps there would have been no reason for me to follow Spencer’s family forward to his son John Bishop Cockram. And had I not followed that trail through the old records, those nine little lives might have remained nothing more than names and dates tucked away in a death register.
That is why I believe it is important to stop and learn something about each person Scott mentions.
History does not belong only to governors, generals, presidents, and famous men and women. It also belongs to a mountain blacksmith, a schoolteacher, an ironworker hauling pots to Lynchburg, a family barricading a door against a hungry bear, and a Patrick County mother and father who somehow endured the unimaginable loss of nine children.
Their stories matter, too.
Next week, we will continue with Part III of D. W. Scott’s History of Meadows of Dan. As we travel farther through Scott’s memories, I hope readers will discover connections to their own ancestors—or perhaps remember a story once told by a parent or grandparent about one of these early residents of the Meadows of Dan community.
Sometimes all it takes is one familiar name to bring an old story back to life.
For story ideas, questions, or comments, Woody may be reached at [email protected] or 276-692-9626.
