Dred Scott (abt. 1799 - 1858)

Born about 1799 in Southampton County, Virginia, United States

Husband of Harriet (Robinson) Scott — married after 1836 (to 17 Sep 1858) in Wisconsin Territory

Descendants

Died 17 Sep 1858 at about age 59 in Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA

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Biography

Dred Scott is Notable.

Dred Scott is a part of US Black history. Join: US Black Heritage Project Discuss: black_heritage

Noted for Dred Scott v. Sandford, Sam Case

Dred Scott (c.1795 - 17 Sep 1858) The Dred Scott Decision played a role in igniting the U.S. Civil War:

• "The controversial outcome of Dred Scott's court case eventually contributed to the outbreak of civil war between the southern and northern states."[2]

• "so controversial it was harbinger for Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and inevitably of the Civil War."[3]

Early Life

In the late 1790s,[4] Dred Scott was born into slavery in Southampton County, Virginia, as property to the Peter Blow family.^[1]

From what experts can conclude, Scott was originally named Sam and had an older brother named Dred. However, when the brother died as a young man, Scott chose to take his brother's name instead.[5] In 1830 the Blow family took Scott with them when they relocated to St. Louis, Missouri. They sold him to John Emerson, a doctor serving in the United States Army.

Marriage

In 1836 Dred Scott met a teenager Harriet Robinson, who belonged to slave owner Maj. Lawrence Taliaferro, an army officer from Virginia. Taliaferro allowed Scott and Harriet to marry and transferred Harriet to Dr. Emerson so the couple could be together.

In 1838, Harriet gave birth to their first child, Eliza. In 1840, they had another daughter they named Lizzie. Eventually, they would also have two sons, but neither survived past infancy.

m. (aft.1836) Harriet Robinson (d.17 Jun 1876). Wisconsin Territory.^[2]

Children:

1. Eliza Scott (b.1838)
2. Lizzie Scott (b.1840)
3. son (d.Infant)
4. son (d.Infant)

Irene Sanford

February 1838 in Louisiana, Dr. Emerson married Irene Sanford, and the Emersons and Scotts returned to Missouri in 1840. In 1842, Emerson left the Army. After he died in the Iowa Territory in 1843, his widow Irene inherited his estate, including the Scotts. For three years after Emerson's death, she continued to lease out the Scotts as hired slaves.

In 1846, Scott attempted to purchase his and his family's freedom, but Irene refused, prompting Scott to resort to legal recourse. Inevitably, it would through the courts and became one of the most infamous U.S. Supreme Court cases of all time ... Dred Scott v. Sanford.[6].

End of Life

Although Scott lost the court case once the Supreme Court laid down their ruling on March 6, 1857,^[3] his own and his family's freedom was eventually purchased by the sons of his initial slave owner, Peter Blow, in May of 1857.^[4]

Scott went to work as a porter in St. Louis. His freedom was short-lived. About 17 months later, he died from tuberculosis in September 1858. Scott was survived by his wife and his two daughters.

Scott was originally interred in Wesleyan Cemetery in St. Louis. When this cemetery was closed nine years later, Taylor Blow transferred Scott's coffin to an unmarked plot in the nearby Catholic Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, which permitted burial of non-Catholic slaves by Catholic owners. A local tradition later developed of placing Lincoln pennies on top of Scott's gravestone for good luck.^[5]

• Fact: Burial Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum , Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, United States^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ See Wikipedia: Henry Taylor Blow - son of Peter Blow and Elizabeth Taylor.
   Note: Henry sided with Dredd during the court drama preceding the Civil War. According to PBS, Peters sons paid Scott's court fees.
2. ↑ Wikipedia: Dred Scott; PBS
3. ↑ See WikiTree's profile of Chief Justice Roger Taney.
   Note: "On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case. Seven of the nine justices agreed that Dred Scott should remain a slave, but Taney did not stop there. He also ruled that as a slave, Dred Scott was not a citizen of the United States, and therefore had no right to bring suit in the federal courts on any matter. In addition, he declared that Scott had never been free, due to the fact that slaves were personal property; thus the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, and the federal government had no right to prohibit slavery in the new territories. The court appeared to be sanctioning slavery under the terms of the Constitution itself, and saying that slavery could not be outlawed or restricted within the United States." See Dred Scott Case Trials. National Park Service.[1].
4. ↑ Dred Scott Case Trials. National Park Service.
5. ↑ #Burial
6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1573/dred-scott : accessed 23 February 2022), memorial page for Dred Scott (1799–17 Sep 1858), Find A Grave: Memorial #1573, citing Calvary Cemetery and Mausoleum, Saint Louis, St. Louis City, Missouri, USA ; Maintained by Find a Grave.

• Death: "St. Louis, Missouri, U.S., Death Records, 1850-1902"
  Ancestry Record 5696 #300220 (accessed 18 February 2022)
  Dred Scott death 26 Sep 1858.
• Cromwell, Sharon (2009). Dred Scott V. Sandford: A Slave's Case for Freedom and Citizenship. Capstone. Google Books
• Leonard, M. D. (2016, December 1). Why are Dred and Harriet Scott buried in different cemeteries? Curious Louis finds out? St. Louis Public Radio. Web.Link
• Johnson, George D. (2011). Profiles in Hue. pp. 34. Xlibris Corporation. Google Books
• Wikipedia: Dred Scott; Wikipedia: Dred Scott v. Sandford;
• bio.com Biography
• PBS
• History.com Black History
• State Historical Society of Missouri