Mr. Scott shares a modern, simple, pink granite headstone with his son, John L. (1875 - 1912), his first wife, Sarah (1834 - 1917), and his second wife, Bernice (1898 - 1982). They are located in Section 18 of Gainesville's Fairview Cemetery.
While the headstone says "1826 - 1926," according to Ron Melugin's book about Fairview Cemetery, "Heroes, Scoundrels and Angels", Scott was born August 10, 1825 and died in Gainesville on February 3, 1926. The white community knew him as "Uncle Bob," but unfortunately for his reputation in the black community, he did act like a different kind of "uncle."
Bob's owner, Rufus Scott, is also buried in Fairview, in section 2, and while Colonel Scott was off in the Civil War, Bob protected the Scott family. In 1862, Bob drove the wagon carrying the condemned in what is today called the Great Hanging at Gainesville (Waymark WMF3WM (
visit link) ).
A Texas Historical Marker in front of the cemetery office references Scott as a centenarian, and research done for the cemetery's historical marker was done by Melugin himself (who is referenced on the marker's incise). It says:
Originally the Howeth family cemetery, this site traces its history to 1854, when a tornado struck the Howeth family cabin near Gainesville. First buried here were Thomas and Louisa Howeth, young children of William and Harriet Bell Howeth. William Howeth deeded the ten-acre cemetery to Cooke county in 1868. In 1878 the Cooke County commissioners turned over the site to the city of Gainesville in a 999-year lease. A city ordinance reserved a section for freedmen.
The cemetery's name was changed in 1897 to East Hill, and in 1904 the name was changed again to Fairview. A separate Jewish Cemetery adjoined this site from 1881 until 1964 when the two graveyards were combined.
Among the estimated 18,000 graves are those of Civil War Veterans; Preston Conlee, a San Jacinto Battle veteran and Bastrop County sheriff who lies in an unmarked grave; 34 victims of the 1918 influenza epidemic; Bob Scott, ex-slave and centenarian; and former U.S. Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey.
A chapel and Sexton's office, designed by Dallas architect Will Scott Richter, was constructed in 1938 at a cost of $6,296. The arched gate dates to 1964. This Victorian-era cemetery continues to serve the city. (1997)
Significant events that occurred in Scott's lifetime:
1825 - Bolivia gains its independence from Spain as a republic with the instigation of Simón Bolívar.
1835 - The Texas Declaration of Independence is first signed at Goliad, Texas.
1845 - Frederick Douglass publishes his autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave."
1855 - Michigan State University is established.
1865 - The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (which completely and permanently abolishes slavery) is declared ratified by three-quarters of the states.
1875 - Brigham Young University is founded in Provo, Utah.
1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
1895 - The Dreyfus Affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island.
1905 - The Bloody Sunday massacre of Russian demonstrators, at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, helps trigger the abortive Russian Revolution of 1905.
1915 - The controversial film, The Birth of a Nation, directed by D.W. Griffith, premieres in Los Angeles, California.
1925 - Mount Rushmore is dedicated.
1926 - Magician Harry Houdini dies of gangrene and peritonitis that developed after his appendix ruptured.