When writing Henry the Immigrant, I had occasion to read a most interesting and informative book, At a Place Called Buckingham, by Joanne Yeck. Those of you interested in Virginia or Tapscott history might want a copy.

Buckingham County, Virginia, played a big role in Tapscott history (or vice versa). George Tapscott Sr., son of the first James, helped populate that county with Tapscotts and many of his descendants still live there. Joanne Yeck not only wrote a book about Buckingham County, she now posts articles about the county, “Slate River Ramblings” (http://slateriverramblings.com/). Two of her recent posts concern Fallsburg Mills and that brought back some memories.

While researching Henry the Immigrant I found numerous family trees posted on the internet showing that George Tapscott Jr., who died around 1826, did so in Fallsburg, Kentucky. (You all know what I feel about most posted trees, so I won’t bore you with that harangue.) I found this most strange since there was no evidence that George Jr. had ever left Buckingham County (though he undoubtedly did, Albemarle being just across the James River), let alone the state of Virginia. The Kentucky death probably originated from a statement by Clayton Allen Tapscott, George Jr.’s great great nephew. In some genealogical notes (see post of 7 Jul 2015) Clayton wrote “George Tapscott married Cobbs Killed at Fallsburg.” The reason for the word “killed” is unknown (but exceedingly intriguing); however, “Fallsburg” is the name of a creek that flows into the James River from the south a mile upstream from the Warren Ferry site, near which George Sr. and his descendants lived. In 1823 George Jr’s brother James was a trustee in a sale of land “at Fallsburg” in Buckingham County. Whether Clayton had it right, I don’t know, but there is no doubt that he was referring to Fallsburg, Virginia, not Fallsburg, Kentucky. Some of George Sr.'s descendants went to Kentucky, but George Jr. was not one of them. This correction appears in my own internet trees and in my books. Nevertheless, as of today (1 Mar 2016) sixty-three different trees on Ancestry.com still say that George died at Fallsburg, Kentucky, making it exceedingly difficult to trace the latter part of George Jr.'s life, let alone the lives of his descendants. Only thirty-three trees (correctly) give Buckingham County as his place of death. Is anybody out there listening?

The Warren Ferry, established in Albemarle County in 1789 (about the year of George Tapscott Sr.’s death), operated at this James River site until swept away by Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Brothers George Sr. and Henry Tapscott lived on the south side in Buckingham County. Fallsburg Creek is just a mile upstream. Today, many of George’s descendants live nearby (2010).

Thomas Cobbs Tapscott, Amanda Davis, and Bill Cosby

I just received the following note on Facebook from Robert J. Tapscott, Great Grandson of George Nicholas. and Ann Ethyl (Scruggs) Tapscott (and Great Grandnephew of Thomas Cobbs Tapscott)

re Black Tapscotts possible link in Buckingham: There was a black man named George Tapscott in Buckingham in the 1930s. A possible link might be Thomas C Tapscott, a brother of George Nick, who was never married but willed some land to a black woman and her offspring???

Since my comments are a little lengthy, I thought I would put them here.

Coleman and Samuel Cosby were children of
Zacharia and Louisa Crosby

Thomas Cobbs Tapscott founded a large line of mixed-race descendants. Never legally married, Thomas is believed to have fathered two children, Amanda Lee Davis and George Davis (who later adopted the name “George Thomas Tapscott” ), probably with Amanda Davis, a black cook living in nearby Maysville Township.  The two children, born around 1864, were living with Thomas (Amanda as a servant and Gorge as a farmhand) at the time of the 1880 census.  Thomas’s 9 November 1881 will left some land to “Amanda J. Davis,” probably the daughter rather than the mother.  Thomas’s grave, birth date 14 February 1814, death date 6 May 1882,  lies on or near his father George’s land on Rock Island Creek.  The plot contains a second stone with no markings.

Of particular interest is that Amanda, the daughter, married Enoch L. Parson. In 1900 she and her husband were living in Buckingham County, Virginia, and had taken in as a boarder her first cousin once removed, Napoleon Bonaparte Tapscott (grandson of George Tapscott Sr.). This possibly surprising connection helps verify Amanda's relationship to the Tapscott family.

Perhaps of even greater interest is that Amanda and Enoch's daughter Edna E. Parson married Coleman Vernon Cosby, great uncle of the well-known entertainer Dr. William Henry "Bill" Cosby (See Johni Cerny," From Maria to Bill Cosby: A Case Study in Tracing Black Slave Ancestry," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol 75, No. 1, pp. 5-14.) Thus we Tapscotts are connected to Bill Cosby, but not by blood since Cosby is descended from Coleman Vernon's brother Samuel not from Vernon Coleman.

Some of this appears in the second edition of my book, perhaps I will include all of it.