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John Fred Pierson had two daughters: Adeline and Daisy. Adeline
married Edward Walker Scott, Jr., twin brother of Thomas Branch
Scott, and son of Major Frederic Robert Scott of Petersburg and
Richmond, Virginia. (There were four other brothers and three
sisters as well).
"Uncle Eddie" and "Aunt Adeline" lived
at Donegal (which had been his father's summer house on the James
River at Warren, Va.) with their three children: Pierson, Edward
(Dutch), and Augusta. Both parents were "characters".
Aunt Adeline had a Turkish corner complete with bubble pipe,
and filled the house with peacock feathers in vases. My husband
once counted the layers between him and the out of doors and
it was something like seven-made the dining room very dark. Aunt
Adeline never settled into Virginia domesticity but always retained
her ties to New York.
Uncle Eddie ran the little bank at Esmont. The story is he
showed up in Richmond looking very untidy in a ratty old suit
and when rebuked he answered "It's all right -- everybody
knows me here". Repeat the scene on Fifth Avenue in New
York City and his answer was "Quite all right -- nobody
knows me here".
In fairness we should note that every single one of the children
of Frederic Robert Scott had strong personalities and some eccentricities.
Stories abound about each one of them and of course it's the
quirky ones that live on. I remember telling some tale about
their mother that I had heard and being rebuked by Mrs. Forsyth
(Aunt Lena) who had known and admired her and had counterbalancing
"good" stories to tell. I am sure that would be true
of all of them if we only knew.
Daisy married George Hull and had no children. They lived
at Short Hills, New Jersey and Newport, Rhode Island in a rambling
Victorian frame house on Bellevue Avenue where it makes a right
angle turn toward the beaches. When Shelah Kane married Jim Scott
at Wickford in 1952 a group of us stayed there for the wedding
festivities. We were Tom and Carrie, Pierson, Dutch, Freddy and
I and maybe more. I remember Aunt Daisy's gratitude toward me
because I had told her when we would leave. She told me more
than once how much she liked knowing it and how seldom her southern
guests ever told her their departure plans!
She was slim and attractive and a very positive person. George
was an eccentric who bicycled to tea around Newport carrying
his own tea in a sack on the handlebars. He didn't trust any
hostess to make it right for him. The legend about him is that
he disappeared for a year or so-no word came back about him,
and one day Aunt Daisy woke up to find him in the bed beside
her. The story is she said "Good morning, George" and
that was all about it.
Pierson Scott, son of Eddie and Adeline, had a long close
association with the General, his grandfather. He lived in New
York and was for some time in the house on 52nd Street right
across from the 21 Club. Pierson said the music went on all night
long. He loved and admired the General and enjoyed the introductions
to the Union League Club and other old New York connections.
Toward the last the General had trouble with the stairs so
they installed a tiny standup lift for him, which he hated, but
had to use. He would get in it, stand ramrod straight and pretend
he wasn't there while someone pushed a button and sent him aloft.
Pierson also kept close connection
with the Pierson family. I remember Henry and Cornelia Pierson,
last address Cranberry Weir, Sloatsburg NY. 10974. Pierson used
to go up to meetings about the Ramapo holdings. I've no idea
what has happened with all of that. Maybe Scotty Morrill knows.
I do remember the story about my father-in-law Frederic William
Scott taking General Pierson around a Civil war battlefield near
Richmond and showing him "Your troops were over there --
ours were here? etc. and Do you recognise any of it?" The
General replied "Mr. Scott, when the bullets are flying
the way they were that day you pay damned little attention to
the scenery".
Elizabeth Scott
August, 2001
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