All that remains of the Scott Family farm in Cloverdale is a small copse of old fruit trees. The 7 acres that Henry Houston Scott and his family farmed have been transformed into a subdivision and power transmission right-of-way. The Surrey Historical Society has been working to honour this family that ventured north to the Fraser Valley, where they became respected farmers and members of the community.
Henry was born a slave in 1854 in Fannin County, Texas. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, but it wasn’t until 1865 that slavery was finally abolished under the 13th amendment. Henry met Amy Florence Alridge of Mississippi and in 1905 the couple received a homestead grant in Oklahoma. Census records suggest they eventually had ten children.
The Scotts and their three youngest children were drawn to the fertile lands of the Fraser Valley in 1912 where they grew hay and later farmed dairy cattle along today’s 64th Avenue. (There may have been seven other children who remained in the U.S.) After Henry and his wife died in 1934, youngest son Jesse continued to work the farm; he was also a professional baseball player with the IOCO (Imperial Oil) senior baseball team (see photo below). Another son, Roy, worked at a lumber mill and took a job as a porter on the CPR. The youngest, Benola Myrtle was a noted singer who died in 1971 and rests with her family in what were unmarked graves at the Surrey Centre Cemetery. In 2018 the Surrey Historical Society placed a gravestone at the family plot to honour the Scotts. Read more HERE.
Jesse Scott stands behind the bat boy with his 1923 teammates on the IOCO (Imperial Oil) senior baseball team. (Photo courtesy of the Port Moody Station Museum– Acc. # 2000.018.001)
The three Scott siblings who came to Canada did not marry; their story ended with Benola’s passing. The Surrey Historical Society asked Surrey Parks and the city’s Heritage Committee to turn the small patch of land with fruit trees into Henry Scott Park and to acknowledge their story on a heritage sign. (The land is designated a park, but is unused and unnamed.) Surrey Historical Society board member Jim Foulkes often drives past the old farm site. “In spring, the blossoms of their old orchard tell of the endeavours of the Scott family to build a new life in Canada.”
In April 2018 the Surrey Historical Society placed a granite slab with the five family members’ names engraved in the stone. (See top photo) It rests beside a Douglas fir tree, just a few metres from the old Christ Anglican Church. The society paid for the stone and engraving, and the City of Surrey waived the placing fee. Some 84 years after his death, Henry is now being honoured, along with his family.
On April 16th, 2019 the Henry Houston Park was dedicated at a brief ceremony. Congratulations to the Surrey Historical Society for their efforts in honouring the Scotts. Listen to an interview with SHS president Michael Gibbs, on Valley Voices HERE.
