Leonard G. Scott was born in Manhattan on February 17, 1907 to Rev. James E. Scott and Hattie A. Scott. The 1930 US Census records the occupation of the 48-year-old father, James E. Scott, as “Minister” at a Methodist church. He and Hattie lived on Essex Street in Millburn in 1930 and had four children: Lionel (23 years old), Leonard G. (23 years old), Ella (19 years old), and James (11 years old).
The back of their former house on Essex Street can be seen in the 1957 centennial parade photo here, but the home has since been demolished.
Leonard G. Scott graduated from Millburn High School in 1925 and, as the yearbook noted (click on photo above to enlarge it), “’Scotty’ has the honor of being the first colored boy to graduate from Millburn High School. He is noted as an all-around athlete. In upholding the honor of Millburn in football, ‘Scotty’ sustained a severe injury last fall. Scott is planning to go to N.Y.U., where we are certain he will make good. ‘Keep up the good work, Scotty!’”
By 1935 Leonard G. Scott was living in Bridgeton, N.J. and in 1937 he married Rubietta Johnson, with whom he had one son, Leonard G. Scott, Jr., and two daughters, Jacqueline and Linda. A biography of Leonard Scott, on the Cumberland County NJ website noted:
“Times were different in 1938, when a young physician hung his shingle in Bridgeton. Dr. Leonard Scott was the only African American doctor in the area. The Ku Klux Klan burned a cross on his front yard. Undaunted and armed with two unbeatable allies – commitment and courage – Scott persevered and went on to become one of Cumberland County’s most loved and respected doctors.”
“Patients sometimes paid Scott in eggs or chickens or produce. Regardless, Scott was there for each and every one, no matter what the color of their skin. An extra ten minutes were scheduled just so that Scott could talk with them and see to the healing of both mind and body.”
“He was one of the original physicians on staff at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden when it opened in 1950. And he was admitted as the first black doctor on staff at Bridgeton Hospital in 1958.”
“A decade later, Scott was elected president of the Cumberland County Medical Society and had already served as president of the New Jersey State Medical Association. He was a graduate of Upsala College and McHarry Medical College, and took post-graduate studies at Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Hahnemann and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospitals.”
Dr. Scott hoped his son, Leonard G. Scott, Jr., would follow in his father’s physician footsteps. He was a little disappointed but very supportive in his son’s decision to instead become a priest. The family was not certain whether the new bishop would ordain a black seminarian, but Leonard G. Scott, Jr. was ordained in Rome in 1964 and eventually rose to become Reverend Monsignor Leonard G. Scott, J.C.D. (Doctor of Canon Law).
When Dr. Leonard G. Scott died in January 1998, his only son, Rev. Msgr. Leonard G. Scott of the Camden Roman Catholic Diocese, remembered his father as a devoted husband, loving father, compassionate doctor and courageous man. He further noted his father would “…talk to school groups, and then tell them to work hard, study hard and do whatever God gave them the talent to do.”
We are happy to report descendants of Millburn’s Scott family still live in town, attended Millburn High School, and work and worship with us in town. We look forward to enjoying the company of many more generations of accomplished Scott family descendants.