I regret that I never got to meet Mrs. Sarah Victoria Scott Nephew (Vicky to her friends and loved ones), the longest-lived person in Long County. As someone who was raised around older people and had a great-grandmother and great-uncle who both lived over 100 years, I always loved their stories and wisdom. Centenarians have always fascinated me.

Mrs. Nephew’s great-grandmother Sarah was born enslaved in 1840 in South Carolina. She was subject to repeated assaults by her enslaver and bore him five children. She eventually married Benjamin Scott, and she named one of the children born of her enslaver Marcus Scott, Sr. His son, Marcus “Big Bubba” Scott, Jr., (1890-1977) was the father of Victoria. Her mother was Maggie Williams Scott. The Scotts moved from Spartanburg to Burke County in 1895, and to Liberty County in 1908. They owned and operated a turpentine and timber farm in the Broad Level community, in what is now Long County. Maggie died in 1926 and Bubba married Lena Rountree (1906-1972), of Savannah. I got the impression that Victoria was not very fond of Lena. Big Bubba was a member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and served as its clerk. He was ordained to the ministry in 1949 and was an assistant pastor at Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

Victoria attended school, through sixth grade, in Sandfly, and told Margie Love, in a 2017 interview, that her teacher at the Sandfly School, Professor Read, and her great-grandfather, were slaves together. She said through their attending the white children on the plantation, they “picked up a little education there.” [Please follow the link above, and read all of Margie’s wonderful interview. There are some great stories there.]

As a young woman, Victoria was sent to Ossabaw Island to babysit for a Mr. Strouffer, the English gardener of the Torrey Family, who owned the island. While there she married her first husband, Sandy Jackson, whose mother was from Ossabaw and father was from Liberty County. Sandy died during World War II, when a tree fell on him while cutting timber for war ships. They had no children.

Around 1947, Vicky married John Nephew, a Darien native. They lived in the Broad Level community, with John working in turpentine, and were regular members of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church. They had four children. John died in a car crash in 1968.

She told Margie Love that she had been dipping Navy Snuff for about 90 years and that she didn’t take store-bought medicine, preferring local medicinal plants, especially life everlasting (Hylotelephium telephium). There must be something to it, as Mrs. Nephew lived a long and rich life, passing away just a month before her 106th birthday.