The grounds of Scone Palace are nothing short of spectacular. Scone Abbey once stood on the site where early medieval Scottish monarchs were crowned atop the famous ‘Stone of Scone’. Centuries later, in 1661, Charles II was crowned King of Scotland at Scone whilst exiled from Cromwellian England. There are few visible remains of the medieval buildings; the current neo-Gothic palace, the seat of the Earl of Mansfield, dates from the early 19th century. A small graveyard is situated near what remains of the original gates. James Justice does not rest here, though he is commemorated on his parents’ headstone. James died thousands of miles from Scone in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on November 16 1918, aged thirty-two. The text of the headstone explicitly states that he died from pneumonia. When I acquired his death certificate from the Illinois Department of Public Health, “broncho pneumonia” was the primary cause, and “influenza” the secondary. His remains lie in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Illinois.
James Justice was born on December 19, 1886 at Perth Road, Scone, the fourth child and third son of Alexander, a cooper (barrel maker) and Mary (nee Cameron). When the Census was taken in 1891 the Justice family lived at 2 Mitchell Place on Perth Road. Aged four, James was too young to attend school. He was no longer the youngest sibling, his brother Donald having arrived the year before. Ten years later, he had left education and in employment, though I cannot ascetain exactly what from sources consulted, though I believe it was in the textile industry, the former being a staple employer in Perth County.
By 1911, James was residing in Merchant’s Quay, Dublin. He boarded in the home of the Carruthers family and worked as a feather dyer. That same year, on August 23, James married Mary Colgan in Dublin. Their son John (also known as Jack) was born the following year on June 1. Tragically, James would lose both his parents in May 1913, within days of each other, a very painful bereavement – one I have seen regularly with Spanish flu fatalities.
Around the same time as his parents’ deaths, John emigrated to the USA. His ‘entry’ was officially recorded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mary and John followed John in November, crossing the Atlantic on the Caledonia and docking in New York on the 25th. The family initially settled in the neighbouring state of New Jersey. In 1915, they resided at Kearney, James still worked as a dyer. On April 6, their twin sons James Jr and Harold were born. At some point between the 1915 Census and James’ death, the family left the East Coast for the Midwest. They lived at 4824 Prairie Avenue, Chicago, and James found employment as a laundryman.
He would battle influenza for nine days and pneumonia for four before finally succumbing to the illness. His remains were buried on November 18, two days after his death. This is unsurprising given the rapid escalation of Spanish flu cases and deaths in US cities during the pandemic’s second and deadliest wave.
James’ passing left Mary in the precarious position of being the single parent of three young sons: John, who was six, and the twins, three, the latter likely having little recollection of their father. The family eventually relocated from Chicago to New York. In 1930, they were residing at 1380 Third Avenue in Manhattan. Despite living in the USA for seventeen years, Mary and John were not Naturalised US Citizens and were listed as “aliens” on the Census. Mary eventually became a Naturalised US Citizen in February 1940.
Mary did not remarry. She spent the rest of her life in New York. Shed died on December 21 1967. She was survived by her three sons and twelve grandchildren. She was interred in St. Raymond’s Cemetery.
Sources: Ancestry, Find a Grave, Illinois Department of Public Health, Newspapers.com, Scotland’s People.
Broken Columns 