Jesse Carl Scruggs was born on April 12 1896, to Lemuel Richard Scruggs, and Ella Kuykendall Scruggs. His birthplace was in a home which is now 199 Glazener Rd. The original house burned down in 1959. At that time, his parent's farm encompassed appx. 144 acres primarily centered around the hilltop of Glazener Cemetery and extending in all directions. LR & Ella inherited this farm from her grandmother, Mary King Glazener, when they took her in as an elderly lady and cared for her until her death. The land goes back further still to Mary's father, Samuel King Jr., who was a long hunter in the high mountains of Cagle Rock, Wolf Pen Cove, and the Balsams. With the proceeds from the sale of skins and furs, Samuel King purchased vast tracts of land for pennies an acre. Little is known of Jesse Scruggs as a youth, except for a few small tales. He was known as a happy child, sometimes whistling and singing. When he and his siblings visited their Grandfather Thomas "Mass" Kuykendall at their cabin at Kuykendall Creek, Jesse would whistle until his GF paid him a dime to stop! He is also said to have broken his leg at about age 10, although no cause was given. Jesse worked as a carpenter for the Southern Railway helping to build Railroad bridges in various parts of Transylvania Co. He also worked in the tannery on Cashiers Valley Rd. On June 5, 1917, at age 21, Jesse registered for the draft as the US was entering WW1. Several of his brothers did the same, although only Jesse, Frank, and Henry served overseas in France. Jesse first trained at Camp Jackson, Columbia, SC and was assigned to the 81st "Wildcat" Division. This division was moved to Camp Sevier in Greenville, SC in spring of 1918. With a furlough in his pocket, and having already been acquainted with Miss Iantha Brown prior to enlistment, they were married on Sunday, June 9, 1918 in Brevard, with just a pastor and a few family members at a location outside under a broad Chestnut tree, on the lower part of the Scruggs farm, close to the Rosman Hwy. Appx location of this very quick wedding ceremony is present 100 Stonefly Lane. Jesse took his bride back to Camp Sevier for appx 6 weeks, and was then shipped over to France in August 1918. He traveled to England and France aboard the troopship USS Leviathan, a former German luxury liner which had been confiscated by the US in July 1914 at the outbreak of hostilities. Interestingly, this same troopship was previously known as the SS Vaterland, a German luxury liner, which in early July 1914, carried a young immigrant, Theresa Molnar, from Hungary to New York City. Jesse served with the 81st Division, 323rd Field Hospital, 306th Sanitary Train. It is not known for sure what his duties were, but vague mention was made of his being a cook, or some kind of corpsman at the field hospital. We don't think he was in an actual combat role. When the war ended, he spent several months in Paris before being sent back to USA to be mustered out in June 1919. His first child, Nell, was born in April, 1919. Carl Richard was born in 1925, and Nancy Carolyn in 1929. A stillborn son was born in 1922, and another son was born in 1924, but lived just 3 weeks. In the 1920s. The young family lived on Oaklawn Ave., near downtown for appx 2-3 years, before Jesse purchased land on Carolina Ave. and proceeded to build the house at 45 Carolina Ave. (now 274 Carolina Ave) in 1922. That area & street was known as Brevard Park up thru the 1940's. Jesse also owned 50 acres of land in the Dunn's Rock section of Transylvania County. This land belonged to his grandfather Lemuel Durham Scruggs, who lived there for many years up until about 1910. That area was called Reba at that time. Jesse faithfully tended to his elderly GF and this 50 acres was his GF's gift to him. Unfortunately, Jesse never legally recorded the deed and thus never truly owned the property. Jesse, and his father, and later his widow Iantha Scruggs, apparently paid the taxes on the land all the way up to 1966, but Grandmother Scruggs ultimately sold it to the brand new Connestee development. There was some talk about other cousins of Jesse also claiming to have rights to their grandfather's land, and as it had never been legally recorded, Grandma Scruggs wanted to avoid a squabble, & just sold it. Jesse continued to work for the Southern Railway as a bridge carpenter, and he also worked the family farm. Jesse's brothers Frank and Charlie lived close by on Carolina Ave, and on Forest Hills Rd., and all helped to build each other's homes. Brother Hamp Scruggs lived at 85 Rosman Hwy, which is now a commercial stone yard. Jesse Scruggs was said by many people to have been thrifty, strong, hardworking, no-nonsense, friendly, and highly skilled in carpentry and in many other ways. In 1932, Jesse's health began to fail due to hypertension and kidney disease, both of which were not well treated at that time. In May 1933, he was taken to the VA Hospital at Oteen, near Asheville, where he died on May 14, 1933. Visitation and the service were held at the house on 45 Carolina, in the front living room. His casket was passed through the large living room window on its way to Glazener Cemetery. At the conclusion of the funeral and burial that afternoon, relatives remember that there was a violent and destructive spring thunderstorm in Brevard.