Eastward Bound: The Marriage of Ruth Lovis and John Scott

I love writing about my 19th century ancestors who were American pioneers, moving west as the country opened up, homesteading in places like Minnesota and Colorado, and working hard to claim their portion of the American dream.  But I have at least two ancestors who went east, instead, from the shores of the Atlantic coast back to the British Isles. And when they made their homes in England and Scotland, and married natives of the British Isles, they added another dimension to my heritage that I find equally fascinating.

I'll start with the story of Ruth Lovis, my fifth great-grandmother. I first learned of her in the memoirs of my great-great-grandmother Mary (Huggins) Sprott. Mary wrote "John Scott’s wife was an American, Grannie said her name was Lovelace. She was a young widow and came to England about some lawsuit. John Scott was her lawyer, won the case and the widow. Grannie said she came from Boston . . ."

It took a while for me to identify Ruth since her surname was Lovis, not Lovelace. I found that she was indeed from Boston, with deep colonial roots that go back to early days in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her parents were Thomas Lovis and Ruth Mansfield. In 1789, when Ruth was about 21, she married Alexander Moore, a ship's cargo master. Barely two weeks later, Alexander embarked on a lengthy shipping voyage from which he never returned. In 1791, while still on the journey, he died.

The Independent Chronicle, Nov 24, 1791, Vol XXIII, Issue 1204, page 3, Boston

Alexander Moore’s estate was administered both in Boston and in Canterbury, England. Apparently, Ruth did go to London since on October 1, 1794, Ruth Moore, a widow, married John Scott at St. Pancras parish church in London, England. Ruth was of the parish of St. Pancras, while John was of the parish of St. Mildred Poultry.

London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Pancras Parish Church, Register of marriages, P90/PAN1, Item 055. Ancestry.com. 

Saint Pancras Parish Church (now known as St. Pancras Old Church)

John Scott operated a law practice and was said to be a King's Counsel, a barrister of the highest rank. In 1794, he was 31 years old and listed in Kent's London Directory as an attorney at 6 St. Mildred's-court, Poultry. St. Mildred's Court was a short dead end lane just east of St. Mildred's Church, located in the heart of London in an area known as "the City." The Bank of England, the Mansion House, and the Exchange are in the immediate vicinity. The Scott law offices remained at this address for about 50 years, well into the 1840s. I assume they also had living quarters here.

1795 St. Mildred's Court is left of the Bank of England.

1872

St. Mildred's Church was demolished in 1874. Here's how the area looked in 2007, when I visited.

 St. Mildred's Court is the alley between the two buildings. A close up view of the alley:

This sculpture is on the building that stands where the church was, a reminder of the medieval history of the location as the center of the poultry market.

Notes and Sources:
1) The Memoirs of Mary Constance (Huggins) Sprott, privately published, are in our family's personal library.

2) In the second paragraph, "Grannie" is a reference to Sarah Hamer (Scott) Clarkson, a daughter of John and Ruth (Lovis) Scott.