Golden Arthur Tapscott

One of my dad’s many Tapscott cousins was Golden Arthur Tapscott. "Golden" always seemed to me a most unusual name. But there were several Clark County residents with that name including the euphoniously-named Golden Buckle, who lived in Martinsville Twp near the Sweets and the Lowrys and not far from the Tapscotts. (Of course there were some Clark County inhabitants whose names were not so euphonious including Rosie and Harry Bottom. I kid you not.) Unusual or not, there have been, as far as I can tell, no other Golden Tapscotts, in Clark County or elsewhere.

Born to William Riley and Minerva (Rountree) Tapscott on 8 Oct 1892 in Clark County’s Anderson Twp (according to the birth record) or in Clark Center (according to Golden), Golden Arthur sometimes seemed at loose ends. Skinny as a rail, and not always in good health, he worked for many years as a farmhand. His first relationship may have resulted in an illegitimate child, something discussed at length in a post of 18 Aug 2015.

After being drafted into the Army during WW I, Golden was discharged 29 Dec 1918, having served just a little over seven months. On 14 Jun 1922, he married Mary Combs in Clark County. The bride, daughter of Milo C. Combs, a Dolson Twp farmer, and Rosabelle Lycan, was eighteen; the groom, thirty. In 1925, the short marriage ended in divorce. Mary went on to marry Benjamin Harrison Waymire Sr., whose first marriage to Emma Pearl Sweet, had ended abruptly on 8 Jul 1922 when the buggy in which Emma, her husband, her sister, and her two-year-old child were riding home from Chrisman, Illinois, was struck by an automobile. Emma died almost instantly. The automobile driver, Miss Madge Boone, did not stop. It turns out that Emma Sweet was Golden’s first cousin.

National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Danville
Illinois (Veterans Health Administration Historical Photo).

Golden continued working as a farmhand, lodging with farmers and finally, in 1940, living with his widowed mother Minerva, also a lodger. During this time he spent well over a year, 4 Sep 1929 to 22 Jan 1931, at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, Danville, Illinois, being treated for chronic prostatitis and lumbago, peculiar illnesses for such a long stay.

After his mother died, in 1944, Golden moved across the river to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he presumably met Mary Elizabeth Robinson, a widow. The two were married 19 Dec 1946 in Vigo County, Indiana.

As he aged Golden’s driving ability may have diminished. On Tue 25 Nov 1975 during the first Terre Haute snowfall of the year, he slid into another car. On Fri 25 Feb 1977, at the ripe old age of 84, he drove into the path of a motorcycle, though Golden may not have been at fault. The motorcyclist received hip and leg injuries.

Aging problems forced Golden and Mary to enter Casey Nursing Home in Clark County. There Mary passed away on 5 Aug 1980. Golden lasted just a few weeks longer, dying 25 Oct 1980. The couple are interred in Casey’s Cumberland Cemetery. With the possible (probable?) exception of Russell Raymond Tapscott (see 18 Aug 2015), Golden left no descendants.

All genealogical data reported in these posts are from primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or reliable transcriptions thereof, and never from unsourced online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability. Permission is granted to use any posted material for any purpose as long as the source is cited.