Page 15 - Clay County: Communities, Families, & Friends 2024

15
MORE FAMILY
CONNECTIONS
Patterson – Mays - Frazier – Richardson – Kenty - Aldridge
By Dr. Larry T. Richardson and Mrs. Barbara Ann Martin
Scotto – Harris - Dunston - Myrick - Wesley - Grant – Knight
By Martha Washington George
Johnson-Williams
Deacon Samuel Patterson was born in 1863
in Liberty, Georgia into slavery. His father
was Patrick Patterson and his mother was
Molly born in 1839. Her siblings were Ida,
Frank, and Rich. Deacon Patterson later
married Hattie Mays in 1889 and they had
five children, Naomi (Hammond), Ruth
(Woodward), Lucinda, Samuel Jr., youngest
son Richard (pictured here), Ruby (Mitchell) and Hattie Mae
(Simmons). Deacon Patterson moved to Green Cove Springs
and raised his family there. He was a community leader during
Reconstruction and served on the Green Cove Springs City
Council 1887—1891. He was also the principal founder of
First African Missionary Baptist Church founded in 1883.
The senior Patterson raised his family in Green Cove Springs
and his son Samuel Patterson , Jr., married our grandmother
Clara Frazier who had four daughters, Zona Mae, Lillian,
Naomi and Arvilla. Zona Mae and Lillian did not have any
children. Naomi had eight children, Samuel Richardson,
Ronald Richardson, Dr. Larry Richardson, Joseph
Richardson, Jr., Ricky Richardson, Beverley Richardson
(Glover), Hon. Curtis Richardson, and Avron Richardson.
Arvilla had five children, Loretta Kenty (Armstrong), Sandra
Kenty (Ham), Barbara Aldridge (Martin), William Aldridge,
and Carol Aldridge (Glover). We are proud descendants of
Deacon and Honorable Samuel E. Patterson.
Warren Henry Scotto was a Log Scaler at the
Jacksonville Sawmill for several years. He was
funeralized and buried in Green Cove Springs
in 1921. Originally from South Carolina, he
vowed never to return. There is no known
information about his parents. He kept his
promise overcoming challenges including
census data that reflected his race according to
the census worker as White, Negro/Black, or Mulatto. Mary
Harris, his wife, was born in Live Oak, Florida. Her father,
Thomas S. Harris, who was enslaved at birth in Covington,
Georgia, later moved to Florida after the Emancipation
Proclamation, and was appointed by the United States
President to serve as a U.S. Postmaster, September 17, 1898 to
March 2, 1905 at the Live Oak Post Office.
During their marriage, four children were born, namely
Warren Maceo, Cynthia, Emily, and Frenchie as pictured in
order:
Cynthia Scotto Dunston Myrick had a passion for sewing
and had quite a happy spirit in everything she did. She was
the only one of her siblings who raised her family in Green
Cove Springs. Her grandson, Rodney Dunston, was a track
star in Clay County High School who completed a few years at
Georgia Tech before serving in the Military and retiring from
AT&T.
Warren Maceo served in the military, married Adele Cole and
moved to New York City. After retiring in New York, he moved
to Jacksonville, Florida as a caregiver of his mother who had
become legally blind. He returned to work at the Robert Meyer
Hotel, known as the talk of the town in downtown Jacksonville
and was continually active with New Bethel AME Church.
Emily Scotto Washington Wesley was a cosmetology instructor
at Edward Waters College, now Edward Waters University.
She retired from the banking Industry, and one of their family
members is Bishop Abraham Grant who stands among the
early Bishops of the AME Church. He was enslaved at birth in
Lake City, Florida and lived to garner a reputation as a Hebrew
scholar, educator, counselor, and politician. Emily cared for
Bishop Grant’s widow, Maude, who lost her sight to glaucoma,
and raised six children who acquired successful careers in the
cities of Jacksonville, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia.
Frenchie Scotto Knight attended Bethune-Cookman College,
now Bethune-Cookman University, and in later years retired
as an Elementary Education Teacher. She was married to
radio & television personality Ken Knight, the first African
American to host a television show in Duval County. Frenchie
was a founder of the Jacksonville, Florida graduate chapter of
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated.
The vivacious Alice Johnson
Williams at 100 years of age with
Rev. George L. Reed, Jr., Pastor, Mt.
Zion AME Church, Green Cove
Springs.