In 1838, Nelson purchases 773 acres of what would become downtown Crasstown. 
And Nelson has a son named William Strange, and William ends up taking over the farm there, and he marries a lady named Mary Jane Green. And they lived on the farm, and the old homestead was located along the old Unicoi turnpike. It essentially went right through the farm there, and they’d build it, the strange home was located real close to where the Crown Restaurant is today, overlooking the John C. 
Campbell folk school. But, um, William Strange and Mary Jane Payne, or Mary Jane Green, sorry, had a daughter named Lily Alloway Strange. And when Lily was young, Her father, William, passes away. 
Not sure how, I don’t know what he died from, but he passes away. And her mother, Mary Jane, remarries a man named William Jenkins. Now, Jenkins owned the adjoining farm next to the strange farm. 
And so, when they got married, their farms kind of joined together, and they only had the one child, Lily Strange.

Well, getting to the Scruggs part of this, which I have a detailed history of the Scruggs genealogy, but for the sake of this, I’m only going to go back a little ways to a man named Enos M. Scroggs. Now, Enos lived in Hayesville, or the area near Hayesville, back then it was probably Graham, or Macon County, I think is what it was called, back before the Civil War, right before it. 
I think where Hayesville is today was it’s been a few different counties. It’s been, one time it was Buncombe County, and then it was Graham County, Cherokee County, but, um, I believe right prior to the Civil War, it was, uh, it was considered Macon County. And when the Civil War broke out, this is when the, uh, that area around Hayesville was incorporated as a new county. 
That’s when Clay County was founded in 1861. Well, Enos M. Scroggs is my 3rd great grandfather, and he fought for the 62nd Infantry of the CSA, based out of Waynesville. So he goes off, and fights in the war, and comes back to Hayesville afterwards. 
And he marries a lady. Can’t remember her first name, at the moment. I do have it, but she was a Matheson. 
And they had four boys. The oldest was Lucius Leander Scroggs. Then it was John Talmage Scroggs, Columbus Enos Scroggs, and Hamilton Hannibal Scroggs. quite the names, but, um, John Talmage stayed in in Hayesville, and there’s a line of Scruggs that come from him, uh, in Hayesville, and they worked, you know, all through the county there. 
Columbus Enos moved over to near Canton, North Carolina, and he had quite a family as well. But the oldest and the youngest boys, Lucius Leander, and Hamilton Hannibal, the youngest, they, um, they moved to Brasstown because Lucius had married Lily Strange. Um, the, uh, the daughter of William Strange. 


And Lucious, moved into the, you know, the strange home there. And this is where it became the Scruggs farm, essentially started with Lucius marrying Lily Strange. And Lucius’s youngest brother, Hamilton Hannibal, who was my 2nd great grandfather, they both moved to the farm. 
I’m not sure, probably not at exactly the same time, but it could have been. But Hamilton lived on the property as well. And all of the Scroggses that are in Brasstown came from these two guys, Lucius Leander and Hamilton Hannibal. 
And the Strange family had a general store on the farm prior. Williams Strange had a, had a, had a general store there. And, uh, and then after he died and, uh, Mary Jane remarried, uh, William Jenkins, William Jenkins had a general store there. 
But, um, Lucius Leander and Lily Strange had 7 children, and one of which was Fredo Scroggs. And Fredo was an interesting character. He was a rockhound. 
He was big into history and things like this, but I believe he was a school teacher for a while as well, but he, um, He started the Fredo Scruggs store in Brasstown, and this was located, um, at the end of Green Cove Road, where it meets Sedwig Road, uh, right near the post office in Brasstown, and it was, it was there for some time. until, um, the road where old Highway 64 is today was was put in there sometime in the early 20s and and then the folk school was built around 1925. And it wasn’t long after this that the, uh, the Scruggs store was moved down to, um, kind of near where the shops in Brasstown are today. Just because there was more traffic, and it was better set up, but prior to, uh, you know, the the John C. 
Campbell folk school being built, um, Olive Campbell, who started the John C. Campbell folk school, had shopped around a few different mountain town areas to see where would be a good location to build the John C. Campbell folk school. 
And it was Fredo Scroggs, and his mother, Lily.

By this time, Lucius had already passed on. But, um, Fredo and Lily were, uh, essentially donated a good chunk of land, and, um, and Olive Campbell agreed to build the John C. 
Campbell folk school where it is today on what was, uh, the Scroggins farm at the time. And over the years, the Scroggs families had quite a bit to do with the John C. Campbell folk school. 
You know, several of my family members were instrumental in building different structures there, working in different departments and things. Uh, the dairy barns, the lumber mills, the cannery, um, you know, even teaching some of the classes and stuff. But back then the folk school was a was a real hub of the community, and a lot of the local families would, um, you know, purchase milk, uh, uh, dairy products from from the, uh, from the dairy barn there at the folk school. 
They would can their vegetables at the cannery at the folk school and they would have their logs milled over there. And a lot of the houses and things that were built, the lumber was milled at the folk school.

But, um, I have quite a bit of information about the history of Brasstown and the Scruggs family, and if anyone has any questions or, you know, if you’re related to a Scruggs or you’d like to know how, you know, send me a, you know, give me a comment or send me a message and, uh, I’ll see what I can do to maybe help steer you in the right direction. 
I really appreciate everyone who watches these videos and shares and follows our page and stuff because, you know, it’s rewarding to me to get the history out there, that, you know, the more people that know about it, the easier it is to preserve history. And I really appreciate everyone who follows along. So, um, I said, if you have any questions, let me know. 
Drop them in the comments there and uh, I’ll get back to you with some more soon.

Have a good day.

– Johnny Scroggs