Fauquier County Tapscotts – Telem and Peggy’s Final Three

I wish it were the “Final Four,” which is more alliterative and sporty. But there are just three additional children of Telem and Peggy to biograph. I have saved them until last since they led lives lacking drama and left no known descendants. And be careful about my use of the phrase "Final Three," which refers to the last three we are looking at, not the birth order. (Though the two are close. See Telem and Peggy.)

William Tapscott

Born in May 1850 and a laborer, William (“Billy”) led a rather unexciting life. He was single until about age 45 (41, according to the marriage record), when on 21 Oct 1895 in Fauquier Co, he married Mildred Smith. Mildred, was the 39-year-old widow of George A. Smith. Born c1852 to Harrison Smith, George had died of consumption on 7 Jan 1890 in Greenville, an African-American community that no longer exists, located between Marshall and Nokesville in Fauquier County. Mildred died soon after she and William were married. In the 1900 census, William was listed as widowed and was living with his brother Robert in Cedar Run Twp. He is not seen again. No evidence is found to indicate that either William or Mildred had any descendants.

Maggie Tapscott

Telem and Peggie’s last daughter was likely named “Margaret” but she is seen only as “Maggie” in two Fauquier County censuses, first as a child in 1860 with her parents and then in 1870 with some of her siblings following her parents’ deaths. Her ages in the two census records correspond to widely different birthyears, c1853 and c1849. We will use c1851 as her birthyear. Maggie is found in no additional records, probably owing to either an early death or to marriage with a name change.

George Tapscott

George, the final known child of Telem and Margaret, was probably born around 1853, an average from two Fauquier County census records. In 1870 George was a farm worker while living with his sister Nancy. George died in Fauquier County 9 Oct 1878 around age 25, still unmarried. He is said to have died of dyspepsia, but that is unlikely. He may, however, have died from whatever was causing the dyspepsia. George had no known descendants.

If I am wrong about no descendants of the final three (or anything else), please let me know.

And this ends our tale of the Coachman’s descendants, at least the early ones. This blog has named 47 early descendants and 32 spouses of those descendants. But my admittedly incomplete database has a total of 180 Plato descendants and 101 spouses. Some of them are among you readers and some will be attending this year’s Tapscott Family Reunion.

What we have seen so far, the Cundiff and Plato lines, are Tapscotts in name only (excluding some mixed-line descendants, of which there are probably many). Coming up next are genetic Tapscotts, descendants who inherited both the Tapscott name and the Tapscott genes.