Grant Frederick Tapscott

Our previous post (30 Nov 2015) told of Joseph and Mary Emma (Sanders) Tapscott, but the story was incomplete (as all stories must be). When Mary Emma married Joseph, she already had a son and therein lies a most interesting tale.

Grant Frederick Tapscott (collection of Patricia Phillips).

On 3 Oct 1884 in Clark County’s Anderson Twp, Mary Emma gave birth to a child, Grant Frederick, who took the last name “Tapscott” when his mother married Joseph Tapscott, three years later. No original birth record has been found for Grant Tapscott; however, in 1949, decades after his birth and years after the deaths of his claimed parents, he obtained a delayed record of birth, giving Joseph as his father. The birth date of 3 Oct 1884 on that record is a little suspicious considering that Joseph and Mary Emma were married 3 Oct 1887. Could it be that Grant did not know his actual birth date and picked 3 Oct because it was a familiar date? Perhaps, though 3 Oct 1887 date does agree with census data.

Who then was Grant Tapscott’s biological father? One of Grant’s children stated that her “Aunt Edith” [Edith Mae (Tapscott) Bruner] told her that her father's real father was a Wright. And a grandchild relates that "...my mom always told me that Grant Wright's father would not let him marry Mary Emma Sanders. I believe she said that the Wright family was more well to do than the Sanders family and Grant Wright also felt he was too young to marry.” Were this the only evidence for Grant Tapscott’s actual father, conclusions would be questionable. One document, however, the record of Grant Tapscott’s 1905 marriage to Lena Clouse, gives his father’s name as “Grant Wright.” Given this document and the family tales, it is likely that Grant Tapscott’s biological father was a person named “Grant Wright.”

Part of Grant Tapscott and Lena Clouse marriage record.

And who was Grant Wright? Only one person by that name is found in Clark County, Illinois, at the time in question—Isaiah Grant Wright (who went only by “Grant” in his youth), son of Richard and Joanna (also “Joan,” “Joann, “Johanna”) Wright. Richard, a prominent Methodist Protestant clergyman and part-time farmer, resided just southeast of the town of Auburn (Clark Center) and two or three miles northwest of the Anderson Twp farm of Mary Emma’s family. Born in 1863 or 1864, Grant Wright was just three or four years older than Mary Emma.

Was Isaiah Grant Wright the biological father of Grant Frederick Tapscott? Probably. The name is right, the location is right, and the ages are right. And the Wrights were probably financially better off than the Sanders, who had only a 40-acre farm for support. Richard had both a 40-acre farm and a cleric's income. And as first president of the South Illinois Methodist Protestant Conference, Rev. Wright certainly had status. Finally, recent autosomal DNA testing by a great grandchild of Grant Frederick Tapscott shows matches with at least six descendants of Richard Wright, father of Isaiah Grant Wright.

This tale is of particular interest to me, since I am descended from both Wrights and Tapscotts. Joseph Tapscott was a brother of my grandfather, John Wesley Tapscott. Isaiah Grant Wright was a brother of my great grandfather, James F. Wright. If our conclusion is correct about the parentage of Grant Tapscott, his male line descendants (and there are several living) could show an autosomal DNA match to me, but not a yDNA match. Is there anybody else out there interested? - Robert E. ("Bob") Tapscott