Scene 58: Love, Devotion, Commitment
February 22, 1888: Marriage
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The sky was clear and the air crisp as Lawson and Lucie met at St. Marks Methodist Episcopal Church on the evening of February 22, 1888, in New York City to unite their hearts and lives. The city skyline framed the backdrop. Lucie, twenty-three, was accomplished, artistic, and beautiful. Lawson, thirty, was ambitious, visionary, and confident. Much drew them together. They were in love, of course. But they also shared a devotion to their race and an abiding belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The future stretched before them—full, promising, open with possibility.
Reverend Henry Augustus Monroe assisted in the ceremony. Once a thirteen-year-old drummer boy in the Civil War, he was also the godson of Frederick Douglass. The service was performed by Dr. Henry Lyman Morehouse, author of the hymn “Friends of Sinners,” a song that seemed to capture the foundation of the young couple’s faith:
Trusting thee, O Christ, my King,
Shall my soul thy praises sing;
Saved by thee, thou Holy One,
Not by works which I have done;
Heart and tongue confess again,
Thine and glory, Lord. Amen.
The Scruggses—now a family—soon returned to Raleigh to continue their journey together. Children would come. They would labor side by side for the uplift of their race, for health rooted in Christian love—until tragedy struck.
Meanwhile, Josephine Turpin Washington had also committed to her love. After graduating from Howard University, she married physician Samuel Somerville Hawkins Washington and moved with him to Birmingham, Alabama. She remained close to Lawson, and her friendship and collaboration would continue to shape his quest.
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Sources and Notes
"New York Marriages, 16861980," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6HYXFV : 10 February 2018), Lawson A. Scruggs and Lucy T. Johnson, 22 Feb 1888; citing reference ; FHL microfilm 1,557,049.
Women of Distinction, p. 333: https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/SB7LxQEACAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=lucie
Weather from Feb 23 New York Tribune
Morehouse
https://archive.org/details/henrylymanmoreho00cran/page/238/mode/1up: obituary
“Friends of Sinners”: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Baptist_Hymn_Writers_and_Their_Hymns/_tcNAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=H.+L.+Morehouse+hymns&pg=RA2-PA672&printsec=frontcover
Monroe
was Frederick Douglass’ god-son, enlisted in Union Army at 13yo: https://thelionofanacostia.wordpress.com/2018/08/16/drummer-boy-of-54th-massachusetts-infantry-regiment-reverend-henry-augustus-monroe-knew-frederick-douglass-before-his-enlistment-at-age-13-pt-1/
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/26332599/rev-henry-a-monroe-obit/