Mary Cornelia Tapscott

Mary C., Henry and Elizabeth (Sowers) Tapscott’s first known child, was born in Clarke Co, VA, on 4 Apr 1882. On 3 May 1899, the following was published in the Clarke Courier:

In Memorial.
In loving remembrance of my dear father, HENRY C. TAPSCOTT, who died March 10th, 1899: 

Rest in peace, my noble father,
For God's will must be done,
Thou art gone, but not forgotten
In the mind of every one. 

How sadly we grieve for the loss of our father.
And many are the tears we shed;
Our home is so dreary which was once so bright,
Since our poor father is dead

Though the world is full of trouble,
Full of sorrow and pain;
Yet to us it would be heaven.
If he were only here again.

By his daughter,
MARY C. TAPSCOTT 

Mary appears in a number of records with the middle initial “C,” but in only one, a marriage record, with the initial “E”, probably entered in error. Despite this, nearly all family historians give her the name “Mary E.” On 24 Oct 1899 in Clarke County, “Mary E. Tapscott” married Holmes E. Lloyd.

There were two people with the unusual name “Holmes E. Lloyd” living in Clarke County at the time. According to the marriage record, the Holmes E. Lloyd who married Mary was born c1880 to Nathaniel and Rose Lloyd in Clarke County. His parents were Nathaniel Lloyd and Rose E. Everhart, who had been wedded on 1 Oct 1879 in Berryville, Clarke Co, Va. Nathaniel died by 1900, when Rose Lloyd appears as a widow in the Clarke County census. The other person with the name “Holmes E. Lloyd” living in Clarke County was Holmes Edward Lloyd (also, “Edward Holmes Lloyd”), born Jan 1888 (dates of 3 Jan and 22 Jan are given) to John Letcher and Mary Frances Lloyd. (Warning! Numerous family trees mix the two Holmes E. Lloyds.)

In the 1900 census we find Mary and Holmes married and living with Mary’s widowed mother, Elizabeth and Mary’s four living siblings, in Baltimore City, MD. But the census enumerator has entered Mary’s name incorrectly as “Mary C. Cornelia” and, therefore, her husband with the name “Holmes E. [Cornelia].” The enumerator may have misunderstood the name “Cornelia” as Mary’s last name, rather than her middle name, which it may well have been. (Another warning! Numerous family trees give Holmes the last name "Cornelia".)

The marriage did not last. In Baltimore on 9 Mar 1902 Mary filed for divorce claiming that Holmes had abandoned her and had been unfaithful. And then Holmes seems to disappear. Three years later, Mary married a second time, in Baltimore on 1 Feb 1905, to William Floyd. This marriage was also short. In October 1905, William was taken to court in Baltimore for deserting his wife. He pleaded guilty and was released. But then he discovered that he hadn’t been legally married to Mary Tapscott Lloyd after all, because her divorce from Holmes Lloyd had not been finalized. The two were still married. On 3 Jun 1906, a Baltimore newspaper printed the following story: 

ARRESTED ON BIGAMY CHARGE

Mrs. Mary C. Floyd Accused By Alleged Second Husband.

Mrs. Mary C. Floyd, 24 years old, who gave her address as 204 East Woodberry avenue, will be given a hearing tomorrow afternoon before Justice White, at the Northern Police Station, on the charge of bigamy, preferred by her alleged second husband, William Floyd.

William Floyd, the alleged husband, was arrested October 24 last on a warrant sworn out by Mrs. Floyd charging him with non-support. In default of $500 bail imposed by Justice White, who heard the case, Floyd went to jail. When tried before Judge Phelps he was paroled for one year.

Immediately after his release he says he heard his wife had another husband, from whom she had never been divorced, and after a search of the records of the Circuit Court he says he found that while a divorce was granted the woman the decree was never signed, as the costs had not been paid. Floyd says he consulted State's Attorney Owens and procured the warrant for her arrest.

Mrs. Floyd appeared before Justice White yesterday afternoon and asked for a postponement of the case until Monday, so as to give her time to secure an attorney.

Then a few weeks later, another news article announced that Mary had been paroled.

MRS. LLOYD-FLOYD PAROLED

Was Charged With Bigamy, But Thought She Was Divorced.

Mary C. Tapscott, arrested several weeks ago on the charge of bigamy, pleaded guilty in the Criminal Court yesterday and was released on parole by Judge Harlan, as the evidence showed that she believed she was divorced from her first husband when she married again, and that the divorce decree would have been signed upon the payment of court costs.

Tapscott was her maiden name. The charge of bigamy was made against her after she had her second husband arrested on the charge of not supporting her. She married her first husband, Holmes E. Lloyd, October 24, 1899, at Berryville, Va., where she was born. In her bill for divorce filed March 9, 1904, she alleged that her husband had abandoned her in December, 1901, and that she had lived here five years. On February 1, 1905, she married her second husband, William Floyd.

It took several years, but Mary’s divorce from Holmes Lloyd was finalized 21 Jun 1919. The following year Mary appears in the 1920 Baltimore census, living by herself and working as a seamstress in a shirt factory. Mary is probably the “Mary Jones” seen in the inscription with her mother and two brothers on the Tapscott marker in Ivy Hill Cemetery, Laurel, MD. If so, she was evidently married at least one more time, to a Jones. Mary Cornelia Lloyd Floyd Jones had no known descendants.

Did Mary Tapscott marry a Jones? Who was he? Was her middle name "Cornelia"? When and where did she pass on? Did she have any descendants? Contact me if you know.