Fauquier County Tapscotts - Joseph Baker Tapscott

     Continuing our investigation of the Holder branch of the Fauquier Tapscotts.........

According to his brother Beverly, Joseph Baker Tapscott, Robert and Lucy’s oldest child, was born 5 Jan 1844. His middle name probably came from the name of the minister Joseph Baker, who had conducted his parents’ marriage.

Joseph was raised in a slave-owning environment. His grandmother, Elizabeth, had owned slaves, eight in 1840. His presumed grandfather, Taliaferro, who of course Joseph did not know, owned seven slaves in 1850. His grandfather Alexander Wood had owned three slaves when he died in 1830. And Joseph saw slavery in his own home, for his father, Robert, owned three slaves in 1850, when Joseph was a child. Thus we may understand why on 25 Sep 1862 at Bunker Hill, VA (today WV), Joseph enlisted in Company I, 2 Regiment, Virginia Infantry, Confederate Army for the duration of the Civil War.

Military records report that on 24 Jul 1863, Joseph deserted from the Confederate Army, but that was not true. He had actually been captured by Union forces, on 1 Aug 1863 according to Union records, at Brandy Station, VA. He was confined at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington DC between 1 Aug and 15 Aug 1863. He was then transferred to Point Lookout, MD, followed by imprisonment at Elmira, NY. On Aug 7 1865 at Elmira he signed an oath of allegiance to the United States.

By 1870, Joseph Baker Tapscott was back home, working on the family farm in Clarke County. In that county, on 28 Jan 1875, Joseph married Amanda R. Alexander. Amanda Rose (also “Rosalie,” “Rosa,” “Rose Lee”) had been born 8 Nov 1852 in Loudoun Co, VA, to James Franklin Alexander and Lydia Jane Boggess. Amanda fit well into Joseph's family. Her father, like Joseph, had served in the Confederate Army and records showed that he had deserted. But in James’s case, the records appear to be correct. He really did desert.

Joseph Baker Tapscott, c1926 ( Source: Laura Chasty.)

Born c1835 in Loudoun County, Lydia Jane died there on 14 Dec 1878, just a little over three years after her daughter Amanda and Joseph were married. Following his wife’s death, James took off to Marshall Co, KS with his youngest four children. James had little choice about leaving the house in which he and Lydia had lived, though why he chose Kansas is unknown. He had to move because his wife had inherited a right of occupancy  of their house, from Jemima Reed Trussell (apparently a friend). Upon Lydia Jane’s death the property was to go to all her children. To divide the property it was sold, leaving James homeless. Born 1 Feb 1829 in Virginia, James died near Axtell, Marshall Co, KS, on 3 Sep 1907.

Joseph and Amanda lived out their lives in Clarke Co, VA, where they had eleven known children, six of whom died young. Two of the latter were unnamed male stillborn infants delivered on 10 Feb 1887 and 10 Feb 1888. Yes, brothers stillborn on the same date one year apart does sound suspicious, but the records appear to be correct. Louisa V., born Dec 1880, died 24 Aug 1889 at age eight of cancer of the eye. And three children who appear in Clarke County birth records for the 1870s and 1880s are not found in the 1900 census, nor in any record after that, indicating deaths prior to June 1900: Robert A. (b 2 Nov 1875), Daisy (b Aug 1882), and Thomas (b 4 Oct 1884). Only five children are known to have reached adulthood: Beverly Wood Tapscott (17 Apr 1877–15 Jul 1948), Flora (also “Florenda”) Martin Tapscott (26 Oct 1885–9 Dec 1967), Gertrude Virginia Tapscott (18 Feb 1889–18 May 1975), James Clifton Tapscott (26 Jan 1891–31 Oct 1966), and Charles William Tapscott Sr. (24 Dec 1892–23 Jul 1962).

Amanda died 27 Jun 1915 in Battletown Distr, Clarke Co. Joseph Baker lived several years longer, dying, it is claimed, on 10 Mar 1932.

Disagreements? Suggestions? Complaints? Corrections? Please let me know.