Fauquier County Tapscotts - Rodolph

Telem Plato/Tapscott and Margaret Pinn's fourth son, Rodolph, is found in records under a variety of names: “Rhodolph Tapsaco,” “Rodolph Topsico,” “Rudolph Topsico,” “Adolph Topsico,” “Rudolph Tapsico.” He went most often by the name “Rodolph Tapsico.” That he was illiterate made it impossible for him to check the spelling of his names in documents, and agents just wrote down what they thought they heard. One wonders if Rodolph tended to slur his probable name, “Tapscott,” the name eventually used by all his siblings. He is first seen as “Rodolph Pearson” with his parents in the 1860 census, where his age is given as 15, corresponding to a year of birth of about 1845, though other records show a variety of birthyears.

UACT Recruitment Poster (Wikimedia, public domain)

On 11 Jan 1865, Rodolph enlisted at Shelbyville, Tennessee, in the Union Army Colored Troops (UACT). Three months later, on 9 Apr 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Rodolph was one of 179,000 black soldiers (10% of the Union troops) during the Civil War. Rodolph served until 7 Apr 1866, when he mustered out in Nashville, Tennessee.

Following his military service, Rodolph is next seen in 1870 in Golden Pond Pct, Trigg Co, Kentucky, working as furnace keeper. Then, on 3 Apr 1877, “Rhodolph Tapsaco” married Minta Banner in Pope Co, Illinois, where he would end up farming for almost forty years. In 1880 “Adolph Topsico” and Minta were living in Pope County with three children—Eli (b c1870), Louisa (b c1873), and Mary J. (b c1874), none of whom can be found in later records. Since the admittedly questionable ages indicate that the three children were born prior to Rodolph and Minta’s marriage, they may have been Minta’s children from an earlier relationship.

On 21 Dec 1891 in Pope County, a Thomas Degraffenried married “Liza Topsico,” who likely had a connection with Rodolph, though the connection is unknown.

Rodolph's marriage with Minta was short-lived. By 1900, “Rudolph Topsico” was a widower living in Pope County with a “Minnie Rice” and a “Tilda Fowler,” said to be his daughter and granddaughter, respectively. Unfortunately, Minnie’s and Tilda’s ages are not given, and like other possible descendants, they are not seen with any certainty again. By 1910, “Rudolph Tapsico” was living with “Mary M. Tapsico,” listed as his wife by a second marriage for both. They are claimed to have been married 12 years earlier, but that is very unlikely. Mary, born c1843 in Tennessee, was reported in 1910 to have two children, both living. Mary is not seen again.

Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home, Quincy, Ill, 1906 postcard.

On 15 Jul 1914, “Rudolph Topsico,” was admitted to the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home in Quincy, Adams Co, Illinois. It was in Adams County that he died on 25 Sep 1914.

And this ends Rodolph's tale. He may well have left descendants, but who they are may never be determined.

Is a reader out there a descendant of Rodolph? Do you know of a descendant? If so, please let us know.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Pinn Pals

We run into the Pinn/Penn/Pin family off and on while researching for our Fauquier Tapscott tale. Margaret (“Peggy”) Pinn married Telem Plato, the Coachman’s son. Amanda Pinn married William Tapscott, son of Phil. And, as we have just seen, Howard Pinn married Louisa Ford, daughter of Emily Ford, Mack Tapscott’s common-law wife. And there are other connections. This would be a good time to compile a short history of the Pinn family.

Many family historians, with a total lack of acceptable evidence (i.e., substantiation other than other people's trees, family tales by distant relatives, and wishful thinking) begin the Fauquier County Pinns with much earlier, and likely fictional, ancestors; however, we will start with a Pinn for which concrete evidence exists, Nancy. Nancy Pinn appears in the 1830, 1840, and 1850 Fauquier County censuses, but is not found thereafter. She apparently died before the 1860 census.

The 1830 census shows an older female, presumably Nancy, and eight younger family members, who were likely offspring, three males and five females. The 1840 census shows Nancy now with two males and three females. Apparently, some children had married, left home, and/or passed on. The 1850 census finally provides names for three of Nancy’s inferred children—27-year-old “Mandandy” (a misspelling for Amanda), 26-year-old Eli, and 30-year-old David, all given the surname name "Pin" in this particular record.

Based on her name, age, and census neighbors, it is likely that Margaret (“Peggy”) Pinn, who married Telem Tapscott, was also a child of Nancy, but had married too early to appear in the 1850 census with her mother. Margaret’s estimated birth year, 1815, would place her among the four girls aged ten through twenty-three in the 1830 census for Nancy. And in 1860, Margaret and her husband, Telem, were living in the Fauquier County Northeast Revenue District just twelve dwellings away from where her supposed siblings Eli and Amanda were living. Moreover, Margaret does not fit into the only other racially appropriate Pinn line living in Fauquier Co at the time, the Ashby’s District Pinns/Penns.

Several other Pinns can be identified in Fauquier County records as possible, even probable, offspring of Nancy, but since none appear to have had Tapscott connections, there is no need to spend (waste?) time finding evidence for their being in Nancy’s family. With one exception. In 1850 in the census for Turner’s District of Fauquier County was a Mary Pinn, b c1827, apparently working as a servant in the household of a rather well-to-do white farmer and slave owner, Briant Stephens. Tuner’s District was where Nancy and her family were living in 1850 and Mary Pinn’s age, 23 corresponding to a birth year c1827, is what we would expect for a child of Nancy. But there is something much more important. Mary had a child named Taylor Pinn. And Taylor Pinn was also the name of a child of Howard Pinn, Nancy’s grandson. It sounds like this somewhat unusual name might run in the family.

Of these five children we have now identified or evidenced, we already know a lot about Margaret, who married Telem Plato, and Amanda, who married William Tapscott.

Eli, who was born around 1822, lived his entire life in Fauquier County, working first as a laborer and later as a stone mason. No reliable record indicates that he ever married or had a significant marital-type relationship. Eli is seen in the 1880 Fauquier County census but is not found in the 1900 census.

Like Eli, David, who was born c1820, also has no known marriage, nor any known offspring. However, unlike his siblings, he has a known death date. A death register shows that he died of "dropsy" (edema) in Fauquier County on 1 Jan 1878. And the register also gives his parents as James and Nancy Pinn. Thus, we now know the name of the likely father of David and his siblings. Data for the children in the census records for Nancy Pinn's household indicate that James died around 1825.

And our final offspring, Nancy’s likely daughter Mary, seems to have died young. She is not found with certainty after 1850. Her son, Taylor, is found living with and possibly serving the Briant Stephens family without his mother in 1860 and 1870.

In addition to Nancy’s three inferred adult offspring, the 1850 census also names five children in Nancy's household, ranging in age from age one to age ten—Benson Pin, Howard Pin, Sarah Pin, and two unnamed infants, a boy and a girl. These were almost certainly grandchildren of Nancy, probably children of Amanda, Eli, and/or David. Except for Howard, none of these children can be identified with any certainty in later documents, so we will ignore them. A marriage record for Howard Pinn and Louisa Ford nicely identifies Amanda as being Howard's mother.

 

Other than missing people, of whom there are many, is this correct? Please let me know what you think.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Mack

Born in Virginia around 1844, Telem and Margaret’s fifth child, Mack (also “Mac”), began cohabitating with Emily Ford around 27 Feb 1866. The two were never officially married, but we know the date that they first started living together from a 1904 record of divorce proceedings. Why a divorce when the two were not married? Because, they had a common-law marriage, with all the legal ramifications.

In his 1904 divorce suit, Mack claimed that Emily had deserted him three years earlier. In fact, it may have been slightly earlier since in 1900 Emily appears in census records for two different Fauquier County locations, one with Mack in Cedar Run and one with her daughter Louisa in Center Distr. Mack apparently expected her to come back and included her in his household for the 1900 census.

At least one witness thought that the age difference between Mack and Emily was part of their problem. Born in Virginia in 1831, Emily was considerably older than Mack. And she had three children, given the surname “Ford,” from an earlier relationship with an “Albert”–Louisa (b c1855), Josephine (b c1856), and Bell (b c1857). Bell was listed as female in one census and as male in another. And Bell may have been the female “Bell Bruin” who was a servant in Mack’s house in 1910.

On 30 Dec 1875 in Fauquier Co, Louisa Ford married Howard Pinn and left a large number of descendants. Those descendants are not Fauquier Co Tapscotts, but they are connected with them. Howard Pinn's mother, Amanda, was probably the sister of Margaret Pinn, Telem Plato's wife. If so, Telem and Margaret's children were first cousins once removed of Howard and Louisa's children. See Pinn Pals.

Court documents claim that the union between Mack and Emily had produced no children. At first this appears to be untrue since censuses show five family members of the right age to be children of Mack and Emily—Louisa (b c1871), Douglass (b c1874), Isaac (1 Mar 1875–3 Nov 1923), Emily (b Jan 1875), and Rudolph (also “Adolphus,” c1876–14 Jul 1917). All had the surname "Tapscott", and all were born during the time that Mack and Emily were living together. But perhaps these were Mack’s children from a different relationship. In fact, the death certificate for Isaac gives his father as Mack, but his mother as “Unknown,” even though Isaac grew up in a household in which Emily was a member. Of course, the Isaac was not the informant for the death certificate. Moreover, it would be surprising that Emily would name a daughter “Louisa,” when she already had a living daughter with that name.

No evidence has been found showing that any of Mack’s five known children left any descendants, even though two are known to have been married. Isaac had a wife “Mollie” while living in Rankin, Pennsylvania, and Rudolph married Alice Jones, in Lynbrook, New York, on 14 Jul 1917. The lives of Isaac and Rudolph are relatively well-documented, particularly that of Rudolph. In 1917 Rudolph was murdered in New York City, a crime that was reported in several newspapers. According to one article,

His skull crushed with an axe and his throat cut by a razor, the body of Rudolph Tapscott, a negro piano mover, was found in bed in a room of his basement apartment at 60 East 110th street by his wife, who the janitress of the building, early yesterday morning. The axe and razor were found beside the bed. Detectives of the Third Branch are looking for Tapscott’s assailant. whose name was given to them by the murdered man’s widow. The man and Tapscott, the woman said, were quarrelling when she left them earlier in the morning to do her work.

If the culprit was found, his name was never published in a newspaper.

Readers, am I wrong about Mack having no present-day descendants? Do you know of any? I don't.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Telem Tapscott

“The First Vote,” engraving, Harper’s Weekly,
 1867. (Special Collections, Library of Virginia.)

Following the Civil War, slavery ended…well, sort of. In Southern states, former slaveholders passed “Black Codes,” restricting the rights of people of color. In Virginia and elsewhere, the “Black Codes” were little more than enslavement by a different name. In 1866, Congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment, giving people of color citizenship, and passed legislation requiring that former Confederate states hold conventions to write new constitutions. On 22 Oct 1867 an election was held in Virginia to determine whether or not Virginia would hold a constitutional convention and to elect delegates to such a convention. This was the first election in the United States that included African American participants. In Fauquier County 1,139 colored voters participated in the election. Telem Tapscott, grandson of the Coachman, was one of them.

Sometime between 1860, when he appears living with his father and mother, Telem Plato and Margaret Pinn, in the Northeast Revenue Distr of Fauquier County, and 1870, when he was living in the Cedar Run Distr with his wife, Margaret, Telem Tapscott had married.

And who was Margaret? We aren’t certain since no marriage record has been found. The 1860 census for Fauquier County, however, shows only one person with the racial characteristics, name, and age corresponding to the data given for Telem’s wife in the 1870 and 1880 censuses. That person was Margaret Lewis, inferred daughter of Anthony Lewis. Margaret and Anthony were both listed as paupers.

There is no indication that Margaret and Telem had any children. In the 1880 census for Cedar Run they are, however, found housing two male Tapscotts, both listed as nephews—thirteen-year-old Warner and twelve-year-old James. Warner was a son of Telem’s sister Nancy Tapscott. Nancy had passed away on 14 Nov 1877 and her children had scattered. Warner had ended up with his uncle Telem. And who was James? We don’t know for certain, but it seems likely that he was also a son of Nancy. But we know of no son named James. Perhaps he was Nancy’s son Robert, with a different name owing to enumerator error or a decision for a name change. The latter was a frequent occurrence among the early Fauquier Co Tapscotts.

Telem apparently did well for himself. On 29 Jun 1868, he and Margaret paid $70 as a down payment for twenty acres of land from William Doddridge Chichester and William's brother Thomas Thornton, with an additional $330 to be paid in installments. The land had had been devised to the two Chichester brothers by their grandmother Fannie (Sydnor) Chichester. The purchasing power of $400 in 1868 would be almost $9000 today. And a year later, on 26 Jun 1868, Telem and Margaret purchased an additional twenty-two acres from Thomas Chichester, Thomas’s wife, Roberta, and Joseph T. Fishback for $20 per acre, amounting to $440.

Telem died 4 Jan 1888 near Auburn in Fauquier County from a cut by an axe.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Mary Frances

Marcus A. (“Mark”) Russell/Weldon/Brown.
(Posted on Facebook by Kia Long)

Mary Frances Tapscott was born to Telem and Margaret (“Peggy”) in Fauquier County on 5 Sep 1833, though one would not know that from census data. Like a lot of people, Mary Frances knocked a few years off her age in the presence of census takers.

On 4 Jun 1860, in Fauquier County, Mary Frances was wedded to “Mark Weldon.” Mark, it turns out, was born “Marcus Brown” in Fauquier County to William Russell, a white carpenter and mechanic, and Fannie Brown, a black woman. Marcus, who was William and Fannie’s oldest known child, had six known siblings, all of whom used the last name “Brown” for a while, but eventually adopted the name “Russell.” All but two of the children, Marcus and Fanny, appear with their parents in the 1860 census. Fanny, whose marriage record gives her name as “Fanny Brown (also Fanny Weldon)” is almost certainly a child of William and Fannie, not only because of her names, but because in the 1860 census, she and her husband, Albert Coram, are living just two dwellings away from William Russell.

The children of William Russell and Fanny Brown

Marcus Russell was married with the surname “Weldon,” lived for a while with his father-in-law, Telem, using the surname “Brown,” but spent most of his adult life having the surname “Russell.” The origin of the name “Weldon,” used for a while not only by Marcus but also by his sister Fanny, remains a mystery.

Marcus and Mary Frances Russell lived most or all of their married life in Cedar Run Distr, where they raised ten known Russell children: William L. (c1680–17 Oct 1883), Martha A. (5 Dec 1862–7 Aug 1938), Virginia (“Jennie,” Oct 1863–12 Sep 1900), George C. (12 Mar 1866–16 Dec 1949), Rinehart (also “Rhyne H,” c1868–15 Oct 1887), Mary Louise (c1872–28 Jul 1953), Bladen Devaughn (12 Feb 1873–28 Sep 1937), Maggie L. (15 Apr 1875–by 1880), and Drucilla (b Oct 1881). The name of the last-born child, “Drucilla,” is in doubt because it is nearly illegible in one census and is possibly given as the name of a granddaughter rather than a daughter, in another.

Telem and, presumably, William L., were named after their grandfathers. But what do you think of the auspicious names “Bladen Devaughn” and “Rinehart”? Both of these are a little questionable since they were spelled in more than one way in censuses. “Devaughn” became “Devon” or “Devan” and “Rinehart,” “Rhyne H.”

While Mark Russell was fathering kids, he was also a farmer and a carpenter, occupations that appear in censuses from 1870 to 1900. But the calling for which Mark was best known did not appear for him in a census entry until 1910, when “Minister” appears with his name. Mark Russell was a Baptist minister, possibly the first at Double Poplars Church. He was the pastor there in 1872, just two years after the church was founded. In that year he was one of five ministers at the first Council held to form the Second National Ketoctan Primitive Baptist Association (2^nd NKPBA). The 2^nd NKPBA was formed by Black churches, which split from the White 1^st NKPBA. (Before you ask, “Ketoctan” is believed to have come from the name of a stream near a Loudoun Co Baptist Church.) The first Council for formation of the new association was held at Mount Morris Primitive Baptist Church in Hume, Virginia. A church history states that Marcus and his sons had helped build the original Mount Morris church building.  Marcus eventually ending up as pastor at Mount Morris, serving from 1895 to 1915, following his stint at Double Poplars.

Mount Morris Baptist Church, Hume, Virginia.

Mark Russell is claimed to have been a great preacher, but he may have had another side. It is said he fathered a number of children with women other than his wife. In particular, with his wife’s cousin, Cordelia Tapscott. Is it true? We will come back to that when we discuss the James E. Tapscott Line, which includes Cordelia.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Ann Virginia

Ann Virginia (from Michelle Brown)

Ann Virginia Tapscott, the Coachman's second known grandchild (see The Coachman's Descendants), was born in Fauquier Co, in May 1836 according to the 1900 census record, though other records give ages corresponding to birthyears between 1833 and 1842. Like others that we will meet in Fauquier Tapscott blogs, Ann had a multiplicity of ages, providing birthdates that tended to become later with increasing age, a decidedly narcissistic trend.

Ann spent most, possibly all, of her life in the Cedar Run Distr along Cedar Run Creek near the community of Auburn. In the 1900 census, Ann claimed to have borne eleven children, seven of whom were living at that time. (In the 1910 census, Ann is said to have had three children, two of whom were living, apparently the two in the household in that census.) In agreement with the 1900 claim, the names of seven children are known, though Lucy, as we will see, had to be determined by deductive methods. There is strong evidence that two of the children were fathered by William Doddridge Chichester, who might have fathered some or all of the other children. The birthdates shown here for these seven children are the most reliable of the highly variable dates found in records.

Ann Virginia’s seven children were

Robert J. Tapscott, born 18 Feb 1863 in Fauquier Co, and died there in the Cedar Run Distr 8 Sep 1946, who started his working life as a DC waiter in 1889, and transitioned to the DC police force as a mounted officer, a position he held from 1895 to sometime after 1926. (See Robert the Mounted Policeman.)

Mary Eliza Tapscott, born May 1864, died 30 Dec 1923 Dinwiddie Co, Virginia, never married and had no known descendants.

Annie V. Tapscott, born in Fauquier Co, May 1871, died in Dinwiddie Co 5 Nov 1946, was probably born “Ann Virginia Tapscott,” named after her mother. And Annie V. had a daughter named “Annie Virginia.”

Alice S. Tapscott, born 6 Sep 1873, died in Cedar Run 18 Jun 1935, has a death certificate giving her father as William D. “Chichister” and her mother as “Annie Platter.” The latter name is undoubtedly an error for Ann “Plato,” the name given for Ann Virginia in Telem Plato’s estate sale record.

Rosa Lee Tapscott, born Mar 1878, died 2 Jan 1931 in Cedar Run Distr, knocked years off her age as she grew older, claiming an age corresponding to a birth year of c1891 when she married. Her death record gives a birthdate of 28 Mar 1888, but a date ten years earlier is much more likely.

Edward Tapscott, born Jun 1879, appears as a son of Ann Virginia in the 1900 census and is never seen again.

William Doddridge Chichester and
daughter Lucy Tapscott. (AAHA)

Lucy Sydnor Tapscott, born Jul 1881 in Virginia, died 22 Dec 1915 in Washington, DC, is the only one of these seven for whom no direct record exists for being a child of Ann Virginia. There is, however, strong evidence for the relationship. First, Lucy’s living grandchild relates that her grandmother was the child of Ann Virginia Tapscott and William Doddridge Chichester. Second, Lucy’s grandchild and great grandchild both show autosomal DNA matches to living descendants of Elizabeth Percifull and of William Chichester. Third, Lucy’s unusual middle name indicates a relation to William Doddridge Chichester’s grandmother Fanny Sydnor and to his father, William Sydnor Chichester. Fourth, though she is found only in DC records, Lucy was buried in Fauquier County. And, finally, a photograph said to be a photo of Lucy and her father, William Doddridge, is found in the collections of the AAHA.

We will meet William Doddridge Chichester again in these blogs. As we will see, William got around.