Draft Book Section - George Wilbert Tapscott

Paul V. Tapscott's life was not all that interesting. That was certainly not true of his brother George. Let me know of suggested changes, corrections, additions.

Born 25 Oct 1884 in Hendricks Co, Indiana, George Wilber Tapscott was a life-long Indiana farmer. As a teenager he worked as a farmhand, as his father did at the time, and went on to operating rented farms in Hendricks, Boone, and Marion counties. On the way he got married and raised four kids. And it was the marriage that makes George’s story interesting, for the woman he married had a fascinating history.

On 6 Jul 1915 in Hendricks Co, George W. Tapscott  married Ellen J. Head. But Ellen was not a native of Hendricks Co or even of the United States. She had been born Ellen Jane Booker on 9 Mar 1885 in Chichester, England to William M. and Augusta Emma (Peskett) Booker.

On 21 Apr 1908, the S.S. Minnehaha steamed into New York harbors, arriving from London, England. On board, with Los Angeles her ultimate destination, was Nellie Campbell. Nellie, it turns out, was Ellen Jane Booker. “Nellie” was the name Ellen would use most of the rest of her life and Daugald Archibald Campbell was the father of her unborn child. Nellie had arrived in the U.S. three months or so pregnant. She would later claim that she had been married to a person of high standing in the Royal Navy, who had died at sea and been buried there.

In Los Angeles, on 30 Oct 1908, Violet Campbell was born to Ellen Jean [sic] Booker and Daugald Archibald Campbell. Though the birth was recorded as legitimate, it had occurred at Door of Hope, 3500 S. Main Street, a women's shelter.

In 1909 Nellie was apparently taken ill and placed in a California hospital. It was there that she met William T. Head, a well-to-do Boone Co, Indiana, farmer. As a result of that meeting, it was said that “the spark of love was kindled which time fanned into a flame, resulting in their marriage.” The two were united in Danville, Illinois, on 5 Apr 1910.

Born 20 Jun 1852 in Bullitt Co, Kentucky, William Thomas Head had outlived two previous wives, the second of whom died 29 Aug 1909, around the time that he met Ellen (“Nellie”) Booker Campbell. William was thirty-three years older than Nellie, and he had children by both of his previous marriages.

The “spark of love” was soon extinguished between William and Nellie. On 1 Sep 1910, less than five months after the marriage, William filed for a divorce. In an article titled “Nellie was very Naughty” a local newspaper reported William’s claims:

. . .during his courtship Nellie represented that she was a pious, religious, and virtuous woman, a church member of long standing and had sang in the choir of one of the churches near her home; that she had previously been married to a man of high standing in the English navy, but that he had died on a voyage and been buried at sea; that as a result of her former marriage she had one child, but he declares that all of said statements were false and made for the purpose of deceiving him and inveigleing him into a marriage with her.

 

He says that he explained to her that he was a farmer and would give her a good home; that he needed some one to look after his grand daughter, and that she would be expected to do the work usually performed by farmers' wives. At her request, he brought her child to his home where it has since remained.

Soon after their marriage she began to complain and find fault with the furniture and other things about the farm; circulated the report that she did not love him; but married him for his money; called him a d-d old fool, and used vile and indecent language in the presence of his grand daughter, and when he remonstrated with her, she would tell him to "go to hell," she would do as she pleased.

 

He says that he explained to her hoods regarding him to his children, and caused them to cease visiting him; that she would use vile, suggestive and indecent language in the presence of strangers; that while professing to love him, she was planning to leave him, and was planning to visit lawyers with a view to compelling him to divide his property with her. Hat she averred she had been with other men, and they had taken liberties with her. He declares that he does not believe her child is the legitimate offspring of her former marriage. He says there no children and no hope of a reconciliation.

Was there any truth to this? Possibly. But much seems to be unsubstantiated. Then, just two weeks later, the suit for divorce was dismissed. The couple stayed married until William's death, but how good the marriage was is difficult to say. The couple did, however, have a child, Thomas George Head, born posthumously 30 Mar 1914 in Union Twp, Hendricks Co.

William Thomas Head Sr. died 27 Feb 1914 and was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, Attica, Fountain Co, Indiana, with a marker listing his first two wives. And Nellie was free to marry again, which she did, the following year, when she married George Tapscott.

During the years that George traveled from county to county to rent and run farms, he and Nellie had four children, Esther, George, Marion, and John. Nellie’s first two offspring, Violet and William Thomas Jr., were also part of the family.

George died young, on 11 Jan 1936 in Indianapolis, of heart failure following removal of a cancerous kidney. Nellie continued living in Marion Co, in rural Indianapolis, raising four children (the two girls were  married by the time George died). Then, on 18 Jul 1960, Ellen J. (“Nellie”) Tapscott was found dead on a bed in the rural Indianapolis home of her daughter Violet with a plastic bag tied over head. She had committed suicide.

George and Ellen (Booker) Tapscott markers (Find A Grave)

Ellen and George rest side by side in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, Lizton, Indiana. His cemetery marker is clearly inscribed with an obviously incorrect death of 1938. The year 1936 in his death certificate is confirmed by a newspaper death notice.