Fauquier County Tapscotts – the Martins

“Martin” is a common name among Fauquier County Tapscott ancestors, and most of these Martins were descendants of Maria Ann Tapscott, who married John Martin and then Alfred Martin. And who were John and Alfred? Here we answer that, but the story is long, complicated, and, to many, boring. You are forewarned.

John and Alfred were likely brothers. We know a lot more about Alfred than about John. The record of Alfred’s marriage with Maria shows his parents to have been John and Peggy Martin. In Fauquier County on 15 Aug 1803, Peggy Elliott, daughter of Samuel, had married John Martin (the Elder).

Samuel Elliott had fought in the Revolutionary War, so you Martin descendants are eligible for DAR or SAR membership. And your ancestor, Samuel, had a meritorious service record. According to his pension file, he first served as a Minute Man and had then enlisted in the Continental Army in Fauquier County on 20 Aug 1776, serving as a private in Capt. William Blackwell's company, Col Daniel Morgan’s 11th Virginia regiment. He had been wounded in the Battle of Brandywine, being struck on the left breast by a ball, was in the battles of Germantown and Monmouth, was at the Siege of Yorktown, and at the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781. His pension file contains a massive amount of data for the family, listing all his children, including Peggy (“Margaret”), with their birthdates.

In the 1850 census for Turner’s District in Fauquier County we find a 30-year-old Alfred Martin living in a household headed by a Henry Allen and his wife, Harriet. Harriet was Harriet S. Martin (b c1832), who had married Henry Allen in Fauquier County 26 Dec 1848, and was Alfred’s sister. Two others in this 1850 household were Milly Martin (b c1804) and James Martin (b c1834), also likely to be Alfred’s siblings (or, in the case of Milly, possibly a sister-in-law). But there is one other person in the household, whose relationship is uncertain, 50-year-old Margaret Martin. Margaret appears to be too old to be a sister of Alfred, but too young to be his widowed mother.

In fact, we know that this Margaret is not Alfred’s mother, because his mother is found elsewhere in the Fauquier County census for 1850. Shown in that census is Henry C. Martin and his wife, Elizabeth Ash, who were married in Fauquier County on 20 Dec 1827, and living with them is 74-year-old Margaret Martin. In Samuel Elliott’s pension file, a record dated 1837 describes Margaret as the “widow Martin.” That and other data indicate that John had died around 1836. We know that the Margaret Martin living with the Henry C. Martin family is very likely Margaret (Elliott) Martin, because Henry C. Martin, presumably her son, provided an affidavit about the family for an 1837 application by Samuel’s widow, Winifred (Lee) Martin for a pension based on Samuel’s service.

Living  next door to Henry and Harriet Allen in 1850 was a Thomas Martin (b c1810), his wife Jane (b c1811), and their inferred son William C. Thomas is another very likely family member, probably the Thomas Martin who provided surety for the bond for Maria Tapscott’s first marriage. And living just two dwellings away from Henry and Harriet Allen’s household in the 1850 census was Alexander Martin, who had married Catherine Tapscott. Alexander is another candidate for being a son of John and Margaret (Elliott) Martin. More on Alexander and Catherine will be provided in a future blog.

In the 1860 census, the elder Margaret Martin is not to be found and has presumably died, but the younger Margaret Martin, now with an age given as 65 (b c1895) is found living in Fauquier County with her possible siblings (or siblings-in-law?), James D. Martin and Harriet S. Martin. Harriet’s marriage had apparently broken up since Henry Allen is seen living elsewhere in Fauquier County and Harriet has taken back her birth name. But she is left with a child, James Martin (b c1857). And guess who is living next door to Margaret and her two offspring 1860—John and Maria (Tapscott) Martin. That, and the fact that Alfred would one day marry John’s widow, makes it highly likely that John was, like Alfred, a child of Margaret (“Peggy”) and John (the Elder) Martin.

 

What a mess. But perhaps this chart provides some clarification.

Anything you disagree with? Anything you can add? Please comment or email me to let me know.