Thomas Cobb Tapscott's Buckingham County Land

Today I received an email from Paige Anderson, a J. D. candidate at the University of Virginia School of Law and Executive Editor of the Virginia Law Review, providing information on what became of the land Thomas Cobb Tapscott left to his children Amanda Davis and George T. Tapscott. Here is her email in full:

I posted on your blog the other week about Thomas Tapscott’s land in Buckingham County, VA; sorry it has taken me a while to get back to you, but I was out of town and just pulled out my notes.

As I know you know, Thomas left land for George and Amanda on his death – 60 acres and 34 acres, respectively.   George died intestate.  The property went to his children and their spouses: George T. Tapscott, Jr. & Kate Allen Tapscott, Adson W. Tapscott, Nannie T. Berkely & Fletcher Berkely, and Malina T. Fields.  The land was not divided, and on Jan 21, 1966, the children sold it to C. Douglas Branch & Clayton C. Bryant.  There are two other transactions after that, but they were essentially paper transactions (or so it appears, because the names on them are of land dealers in the area).  My husband’s late father acquired that tract in 1991.  The deed still refers to it as the George T. Tapscott tract.

Amanda inherited 34 acres, but it was not recorded until 1890.  She and her husband, Enoch, both died intestate; Gay O. Parsons and Edna Parsons Cosby were the heirs.  In 1979-1980, there was a suit, Cosby v. Parsons, in Buckingham County Circuit court regarding the disposition of the land.  I only have the deed resulting from this suit, not any of the court papers.  The deed transferred the 34 acres (as well as 46 acre parcel acquired separately) to Roland & Sharon Parson and Travis & Wanda Parson.  The owners of the 34  acres had been: Gay O. Parsons (1/2) & Dorothy Robinson (1/8), George E. Cosby (1/8), Zack Cosby (1/8), and Edna Taylor (1/8).  [I think I’m correct on this] This deed specifically refers to the 34 acres as being placed in the Buckingham County books in 1890 under the name Amanda Tapscott.  (Which is interesting – this is the only place I have ever seen her using the name Tapscott, not Davis prior to her marriage).  In 1998, Travis & Wanda Parson sold the land to C. Douglas Branch.  (I’m not sure what happened to Roland & Sharon’s share—they may taken land on the 46 only?)  My husband’s father purchased the land a few months later.

I hope this information is helpful to you!