“When the soldiers came”
Roger McWhorter recalls hearing Lessie Clay tell stories of her ancestor saving Monticello’s silver in the Revolution.
Theme: Oral History Transmission
Lessie Young Clay
Lessie Young was the great-granddaughter of Reuben and Susan Scott, enslaved foreman and domestic servant brought to northern Alabama by Jefferson's great-grandson William Stuart Bankhead in 1846. She, like her ancestors, worked for Jefferson's descendants and, for many years, was cook for Bankhead’s granddaughter Miss Cary Hotchkiss. Her husband, Elbert Clay, was farm foreman. Bankhead descendants preserved Lessie Clay’s recipes, heard her talk of her ancestors at Monticello, and recorded her memories in a joint interview with Miss Cary in 1971.
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Excerpts
“Lessie always petted me”
Roger McWhorter remembers weekends watching Lessie Clay make butter in his great-aunt Miss Cary’s kitchen.
Ancestry
- Jupiter 1743–1800 Suck 1758–post 1796
- Susan Scott
- Mildred Scott Young 1848–post 1930
- Lessie Young Clay 1907–post 1977
Related People
- Johnny James Young brother
- Roger McWhorter Bankhead descendant