Whitesell-Somers Family Web Project - Person Sheet
Whitesell-Somers Family Web Project - Person Sheet
NameDr. Samuel Floyd SCOTT 
24,95,269,3, Dr. Ludwig Gaston Scott,3, Mack Ludwig Scott,3, Susan Scott Cunning,3, “Scottie” Ora Lee Scott Brady,3, Samuel Edwin Scott, MD
24,95,269,3, Dr. Ludwig Gaston Scott,3, Mack Ludwig Scott,3, Susan Scott Cunning,3, “Scottie” Ora Lee Scott Brady,3, Samuel Edwin Scott, MDBirthJun 9, 189495
BurialUnion Ridge Church, 115 Altamahaw-Union Ridge Rd, Burlington, Alamance County, North Carolina95
Father“NC Senator” Robert Walter SCOTT Sr. (1861-1929)
Mother“Lizzie” Elizabeth Jesse HUGHES (1865-1914)
Spouses
1Frances Elizabeth SOMERS 24,95,269,3, Dr. Ludwig Gaston Scott,329,161,3, Mack Ludwig Scott,3, Susan Scott Cunning,3, “Scottie” Ora Lee Scott Brady,3, Samuel Edwin Scott, MD
24,95,269,3, Dr. Ludwig Gaston Scott,329,161,3, Mack Ludwig Scott,3, Susan Scott Cunning,3, “Scottie” Ora Lee Scott Brady,3, Samuel Edwin Scott, MDDeathMar 25, 199324, Mar 25, 1993,81, Mar 26, 1993,95
BurialUnion Ridge Church, 115 Altamahaw-Union Ridge Rd, Burlington, Alamance County, North Carolina95
OccupationHistorian for Somers-Summers Reunion 1949-1959
Father“Mack” Peter Ludwig SOMERS (1859-1937)
MotherOra DESHONG (1872-1952)
ChildrenPeter Somers (1924-1998)
Ludwig Gaston (1927-2008)
Ora Lee (1929-2020)
Samuel Edwin (1937-2021)
Times-News Article notes for Dr. Samuel Floyd SCOTT
8/2/2015
A remarkable run of preaching the Gospel
There has been a lot of preaching over the years at the Union Ridge intersection in northern Alamance County.
Maybe more than any other spot in the county.
Union Ridge Church sits on the northwest corner of that intersection of Altamahaw-Union Ridge Road and Union Ridge Road, and Union Chapel UCC sits on the southeastern corner. The Union Ridge church has been there 200 years, and Union Chapel has been there 145 years.
That’s 345 years of preaching at that one crossroads.
It is not unusual to find churches with long history here in Alamance County, but it is unusual to find two so close together with such longevity. It’s pretty remarkable that those two churches have been neighbors there all these years — and good neighbors they are. Union Ridge serves a predominantly white congregation. Union Chapel is African-American.
Union Ridge celebrated its 200th anniversary last Sunday, and during the service the Rev. Irvin Milton, pastor of Union Chapel, came across the road in his robe and brought greetings from his church. It was obvious that he and the Rev. Dan Finklin of Union Ridge are great friends.
Rev. Milton congratulated Union Ridge on its 200 years and noted his church will soon mark its 145th year. He looked to the years ahead for both churches, and then he made a comment that was a really good sermon in just a few words. He said “we don’t know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.”
The celebration started with the unveiling of a highway marker that gives a brief history of Union Ridge Church. Land was purchased in 1815 from James Watson, a blacksmith, for the church site. One half acre was bought for 20 shillings.
Actually, there had been a presence on that site since before the Revolutionary War. There was a brush arbor that could be used as a worship site by any minister who came by. When land was purchased and a log building erected, the church became part of the Christian Church.
James Graham later gave two acres of land for a new building, and in 1846 the organizational meeting of the North Carolina/Virginia Conference of the Christian Church was held there. After that, 11 sessions of the conference were held there.
And it was Union Ridge Church that originated the idea of an institute of higher learning and made that proposal to the conference decades before an academy was opened in Graham, one that led to the founding of Elon College in 1889.
The church history also reveals that on one occasion when the college was in a difficult financial situation, Union Ridge member Sheriff R.T. Kernodle rode on horseback to Elon College and presented the school with a gift of $5,000 in cash.
The Union Ridge community is rich in history. Settlers were there before the Revolutionary War, and there was a lot of traffic by the site now occupied by the church. In early years, an east-west road connected Hillsborough and High Rock, and a north-south road was known as the Yanceyville-Fayetteville Road. They intersected at Union Ridge.
Just up the road from the church crossroads is a medical clinic that had its origins when Dr. Floyd Scott came to Union Ridge to practice medicine in 1919.
Since then, his history was closely linked to the Union Ridge community, as so many of his patients were members of that church over the years.
The community, of course, enjoyed the medical benefits of having Dr. Scott so close, but there were other benefits as well. He was always concerned about his patients and wanted to be able to minister to them in the best possible way.
At one point, he realized he needed to stay in touch with them more closely, so he brought a telephone system to the Union Ridge community. It was a joint effort, as he purchased the equipment and his patients installed the system.
In 1948, a member of Union Ridge gained recognition for a telephone. Following the end of World War II, a major effort was made to take the telephone to rural areas. And in 1948, the one millionth phone was installed in the home of Willie Pace. N.C. Governor J. Melville Broughton was at the Pace house that day, and he and Pace received a call from President Harry Truman at the White House.
Dr. Scott carried his communications effort a step further when he installed a two-way radio system between his office and his car. He was the first rural doctor in the nation to do that. It allowed him to move from one patient to another without having to drive back to his office for information.
Dr. Scott’s son, Dr. Sam Scott, was in the congregation Sunday. He followed his dad in the clinic and was there until his retirement some years ago. The clinic continues to operate under other ownership. Buildings have come and gone, people have come and gone, pastors have come and gone. But Union Ridge Church lives on and looks to the future with great optimism. The same is true across the road at Union Chapel. It looks as if there will be many more years of preaching at this Alamance County crossroads.
Don Bolden is editor emeritus of the Times-News. His column, now in its 58th year, appears every Sunday. He can be contacted at DBolden202@aol.com 452
A remarkable run of preaching the Gospel
There has been a lot of preaching over the years at the Union Ridge intersection in northern Alamance County.
Maybe more than any other spot in the county.
Union Ridge Church sits on the northwest corner of that intersection of Altamahaw-Union Ridge Road and Union Ridge Road, and Union Chapel UCC sits on the southeastern corner. The Union Ridge church has been there 200 years, and Union Chapel has been there 145 years.
That’s 345 years of preaching at that one crossroads.
It is not unusual to find churches with long history here in Alamance County, but it is unusual to find two so close together with such longevity. It’s pretty remarkable that those two churches have been neighbors there all these years — and good neighbors they are. Union Ridge serves a predominantly white congregation. Union Chapel is African-American.
Union Ridge celebrated its 200th anniversary last Sunday, and during the service the Rev. Irvin Milton, pastor of Union Chapel, came across the road in his robe and brought greetings from his church. It was obvious that he and the Rev. Dan Finklin of Union Ridge are great friends.
Rev. Milton congratulated Union Ridge on its 200 years and noted his church will soon mark its 145th year. He looked to the years ahead for both churches, and then he made a comment that was a really good sermon in just a few words. He said “we don’t know what the future holds, but we do know who holds the future.”
The celebration started with the unveiling of a highway marker that gives a brief history of Union Ridge Church. Land was purchased in 1815 from James Watson, a blacksmith, for the church site. One half acre was bought for 20 shillings.
Actually, there had been a presence on that site since before the Revolutionary War. There was a brush arbor that could be used as a worship site by any minister who came by. When land was purchased and a log building erected, the church became part of the Christian Church.
James Graham later gave two acres of land for a new building, and in 1846 the organizational meeting of the North Carolina/Virginia Conference of the Christian Church was held there. After that, 11 sessions of the conference were held there.
And it was Union Ridge Church that originated the idea of an institute of higher learning and made that proposal to the conference decades before an academy was opened in Graham, one that led to the founding of Elon College in 1889.
The church history also reveals that on one occasion when the college was in a difficult financial situation, Union Ridge member Sheriff R.T. Kernodle rode on horseback to Elon College and presented the school with a gift of $5,000 in cash.
The Union Ridge community is rich in history. Settlers were there before the Revolutionary War, and there was a lot of traffic by the site now occupied by the church. In early years, an east-west road connected Hillsborough and High Rock, and a north-south road was known as the Yanceyville-Fayetteville Road. They intersected at Union Ridge.
Just up the road from the church crossroads is a medical clinic that had its origins when Dr. Floyd Scott came to Union Ridge to practice medicine in 1919.
Since then, his history was closely linked to the Union Ridge community, as so many of his patients were members of that church over the years.
The community, of course, enjoyed the medical benefits of having Dr. Scott so close, but there were other benefits as well. He was always concerned about his patients and wanted to be able to minister to them in the best possible way.
At one point, he realized he needed to stay in touch with them more closely, so he brought a telephone system to the Union Ridge community. It was a joint effort, as he purchased the equipment and his patients installed the system.
In 1948, a member of Union Ridge gained recognition for a telephone. Following the end of World War II, a major effort was made to take the telephone to rural areas. And in 1948, the one millionth phone was installed in the home of Willie Pace. N.C. Governor J. Melville Broughton was at the Pace house that day, and he and Pace received a call from President Harry Truman at the White House.
Dr. Scott carried his communications effort a step further when he installed a two-way radio system between his office and his car. He was the first rural doctor in the nation to do that. It allowed him to move from one patient to another without having to drive back to his office for information.
Dr. Scott’s son, Dr. Sam Scott, was in the congregation Sunday. He followed his dad in the clinic and was there until his retirement some years ago. The clinic continues to operate under other ownership. Buildings have come and gone, people have come and gone, pastors have come and gone. But Union Ridge Church lives on and looks to the future with great optimism. The same is true across the road at Union Chapel. It looks as if there will be many more years of preaching at this Alamance County crossroads.
Don Bolden is editor emeritus of the Times-News. His column, now in its 58th year, appears every Sunday. He can be contacted at DBolden202@aol.com 452