Wabash Valley Tapscotts - John Conrad Tapscott

John, 1956

John Conrad Tapscott

26 November 1950 - 29 July 2016

John Conrad (“Tapper”) Tapscott passed away at JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey, Friday morning, 29 July 2016.

Born 26 November 1950 in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Glenn and Mary Emaline Tapscott, John grew up in Denver, Colorado, where his family moved while he was still a baby. There, when less than two years old, he lost his father and was raised by his widowed mother and his five older brothers and sisters.

Wedding photo, 29 May 1971

From 1968 to 1971, John served with the U.S. Army, in Berlin and in Viet Nam. On 29 May 1971, he married Victoria (“Vicki”) Angela Maria Pytell in South Amboy, New Jersey. John and Vicki spent their married lives in New Jersey, where John received BS degrees in Computer Science and in Social Cultural Anthropology from Lawrence College, Rutgers University and worked as a computer analyst. John spent the last ten years of his life living alone, Vicki having passed away 8 Sep 2006, but had an enormous number of friends in the VFW, Moose Lodge, Elks, and American Legion and he remained close to Vicki’s family. Her sister, Kathy, and brother-in-law, Bob McGovern, looked after him during his final days.

John is survived by two brothers, Bob (Mary Frances) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bill (Nyla) of Corpus Christi, Texas; by two sisters, Mary Anne McKenzie (Russ) of Lakewood, Colorado, and Margaret Jacot of Westminster, Colorado; by sisters-in-law Elizabeth Tapscott and Kathy (Bob) McGovern of Old Bridge, New Jersey; and by a number of nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews. In addition to his wife, Vicki, he was predeceased by his parents and a brother, Jim.

Services were held Wed 3 Aug 2016 at McCriskin-Gustafson Home for Funerals in South Plainfield, New Jersey. On Fri 5 Aug 2016, John's ashes were interred with Vicki's at Holy Cross Burial Park and Mausoleum, East Brunswick.

John was a Wabash Valley Tapscott, a great great grandson of Henry the Traveler of Clark County, Illinois.

Fauquier County Tapscotts and DNA Testing, Once Again

Classical “paper-trail” genealogy is a challenge when researching the Tapscotts of Fauquier County, Virginia. Most were black or mixed-race descendants of slaves, without good records. And, there were often name changes and births outside of matrimony. Thus, only with the inclusion of unreliable family history and questionable conclusions, can classical methods indicate that some Fauquier County Tapscotts are descended from Henry the Immigrant. Of course, some Fauquier County residents bearing the name "Tapscott" were actually descendants of Elizabeth (Percifull) Tapscott by relationships with men other than descendants of Henry the Immigrant. This site has proposed the use of autosomal DNA to provide additional evidence of relationships between at least some Fauquier Co Tapscotts and Henry the Immigrant (see, e.g., Fauquier County Tapscotts; DNA Testing, Revisited; Once Again. Needed has been a DNA match between a descendent of the Fauquier County Tapscotts and a descendant of The Immigrant outside of the Fauquier County group.

We now have not one match, but two. Two separate individuals indicated by classical, though questionable, genealogical research to be descendants of Harriet Tapscott of Fauquier County, great granddaughter of Edney Tapscott, show autosomal DNA matches (one "moderate," one "good") with a descendant of Edney’s son Henry of Caswell County. Paper studies indicate that the matching individuals are 6^th cousins once removed. The DNA-predicted relationship for both is 5^th to 8^th cousin. To protect individual privacy, names are not being released.

    

Is all of this exact proof? Not exactly. The matching descendant of Henry of Caswell is 7 generations from Edney Tapscott, the common link. That person has 126 total parents and grandparents going back to Edney. The ancestral distance from Edney is even greater for the two Fauquier County subjects—8 generations, with 254 ancestors. Thus, there could be non-Tapscott connections between the individuals, though it isn’t likely since the Henry of Caswell line was located geographically far from Fauquier County. Due to the site containing the data and the small number of matches, chromosomal mapping and phasing, which could increase reliability, cannot yet be carried out.

Nevertheless, we can now say that autosomal DNA evidence indicates that some Fauquier County Tapscotts are descended from Edney Tapscott, presumably though his son Ezekiel, grandson James, and great granddaughter Harriet.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 7

In the cemetery at Raisin City, California, a few miles southwest of downtown Fresno, are found four nearly identical, crudely wrought square markers, each bearing a name and the year 1933. One marks the burial of Everett John Sweitzer, eldest son of John W. and Leora (Savoree) Sweitzer, and grandson of George A. and Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer. The tragic story of the four markers bearing a single year is not for tender ears.

Everett, who spelled and signed his name his name “Evertt” in his younger days, was born in Clark County, Illinois, on 3 Aug 1890. Possibly as a result of having served at stateside military hospital duty during WWI, Everett ended up in California. In 1918 he was working in Fresno County for A. Mattel, a wine maker, and in 1920 he was a farmhand at a Fresno County “grain ranch.”

In 1921, in Fresno, Everett married Elmira Juda (also “Judy”) Sherfey. Born around 1867 in Nebraska to Christopher C. and Mary Catherine Sherfey, Elmira had been married twice before. In 1885 she wedded George E. Goodwater, and the couple farmed in North Dakota. Then in 1903 she married William Dennis York, and the two homesteaded in Colorado. The first marriage, which ended in divorce, produced three children—Eva, Florence, and Walter Edward. The second marriage, which ended with Williamk's death in 1918, was childless.

Around 1920 Elmira moved to Fresno County, California, where her father, Christopher, and brothers Robert and Levi were living. There she met and married Everett.

Despite a large difference in age (Elmira was about 23 years older than Everett!), the marriage appeared to be successful. The couple, which operated a small dairy and poultry ranch, was eventually joined by Elmira's son Walter, whose marriage to Pearl E. Christian had disintegrated, and then by Walter’s two girls, Ella Mae and Mary Eunice, who had been living with relatives after their parents’ breakup. And Everett could not have been happier. He loved the girls.

But things were not all that rosy. Everett had financial problems. The ranch was heavily encumbered. And Everett became fanatically religious, filling the small farmhouse with religious calendars and books.

Friday, 22 September 1933 appeared perfectly normal on the Sweitzer ranch. Everett had been working all day and had been joined by Elmira’s brother Robert who helped fix a pump. When Robert met Everett at the ranch house door that evening, he heard Everett say “'I am the only one left alive. You go home and call the coroner.” Instead, the sheriff was summoned.

When deputies arrived at the ranch and confronted Everett, he dashed into the house put a pistol to his head, said “God be with me,” and fired a single shot. Inside the house the deputies found Elmira and her two granddaughters, dead. Notes scattered throughout the home told the story. Elmira, seated in a chair, had been poisoned the preceding day. A note read “My wife dead 2:30 noon September 21st. I poisoned her. I hope and pray she has gone to a better world. I know she was a good woman and is better off.” The two granddaughters, wrapped in a sheet, had been clubbed to death that morning, apparently with a claw hammer. A note declared “Girl's dead 6 A.M. I know they are better off and go to a better place.” Ella was thirteen; Mary was ten.

At a funeral the following Tuesday morning, four coffins, containing the bodies of Elmira, Ella, Mary, and Everett, were placed in the Church of the Brethren in Raisin City. A grief-stricken Walter was present, but the girls' mother, Pearl, said it was impossible for her to attend. Following the service with the sermon “Suffer the Little Children,” the four victims were buried in a single large grave. One of Everett’s notes at the murder scene requested a gravestone for each and this was done though the markers were crude and some names misspelled. The “U.” in Mary’s name apparently stands for “Eunice.” “Switzer” should have been “Sweitzer” and “Everette,” “Everett.”

Everett’s Clark County relatives seemed more concerned with Everett’s property than with his fate. Within days of the multiple killings, Charles Sweitzer wrote the Fresno sheriff asking what was to become of his brother's estate. Notes left by Everett at the scene of the tragedy indicated that Elmira's son Walter Goodwater, father of the murdered girls, was to get the farm. But it was not to be so. Everett left a will giving everything to his wife if she survived him. She, of course, did not, preceding him by a day. Everett’s father, John, and brother, Charles, ended up with the $4,000 estate. Why Everett's sister, Ethel Mae, was not included is unknown.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 6

Following her divorce to John Sweitzer, Malinda Robinson, lived in Casey with her brother-in-law Harry Shipley. One newspaper article concerning her move to Casey referred to Malinda as "Jennie Shipley Switzer Shipley," though there is no evidence that she and Harry were ever married. Malinda, however, was married three more times. In Effingham, on 30 Oct 1905, she married Thomas McKeever a marriage that ended in Mar 1910 with a divorce due to “drunkenness, cruelty and desertion.” Then, again in Effingham, Malinda married Dixon S. Carter on 10 Apr 1911. This time the marriage lasted just 2½ years. A divorce was granted in Nov 1913 on grounds of desertion. Finally, in 1914, Malinda married George W. Shull. This time the marriage lasted until death did them part, with Malinda passing away 17 Feb 1924. Malinda Jane’s last four marriages were to younger men, with a near 30-year age difference in the case of Thomas McKeever. Perhaps the suitors were fortune seekers rather than Romeos.

Walnut Prairie Cemetery marker.

York Twp.contained the Schweitzer homelands.

By 1910, John W. Sweitzer was residing with his three children (Everett John, Ethel Mae, and Charles) in York Twp, where he lived out his life, dying 28 Mar 1937. In the 1900, 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses, John listed himself as widowed. But on their joint marker in Walnut Prairie Cemetery, Leora and John both have the same clearly inscribed death year “1937". This cannot be, can it? The answer is "no". From the 23 Jun 1897 Clark County Herald: “Mrs. John Sweitzer … passed away last Thursday morning … the remains were taken to the Brick Cemetery…”

John’s youngest son, Charles, whose life was almost ended by his father’s gunshot, spent most of his life in York Twp, as West Union’s long-time barber. His first marriage, to Goldia (or Goldie) Murine Cain, ended after less than two years when she died at age eighteen. Charles, who died in 1958 at age 63, and Goldia are buried in Walnut Prairie Cemetery. Ethel Mae, who lived to be 100, dying in 1994, spent much of her life with her husband Harold Smith in Champaign County, Illinois. They rest in Rupp Cemetery near Martinsville. John’s oldest child, Everett, traveled west, ending up in California. No evidence exists for biological offspring from any of John Sweitzer’s three children. And it might be just as well considering the next phase of our tale.

I had hoped to make this the end of the Sweitzer sage. No such luck. I ran across a newspaper article with the following headline. We’ll eventually see what all of this means, though it may take a while. I’ll be away for a few weeks.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 5

On 1 Jul 1873, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she had been living, Malinda Jane Robinson, daughter of L. D. Robinson, probably Clark County’s wealthiest farmer, married Frederick K. Shipley, a recent British immigrant. What Malinda was doing in Grand Rapids is anybody’s guess. Perhaps she was searching for her own fortune. Her father certainly had money to fund such adventures.

Portion of 1892 Plat Map, York Twp.

For a while, Malinda and Fred lived in Michigan, but then Malinda returned to Clark County with Fred in tow. There, by 1892, they acquired 80 acres (N ½ SE ¼ Sec 5) in York Twp northeast of Walnut Prairie. And there, on 11 Mar 1897, Fred died. But living in York Twp at the time was John W. Sweitzer, a widower with three children—Everett John, Ethel Mae, and the youngest, Charles L.  Malinda and John, who was fifteen years younger (though the marriage record knocked nine years off her age), were married 20 Oct 1898 and settled on the Shipley farm.

The marriage was very brief. Sometime during the winter of 1898/1899 Malinda is said to have “become tired of him [John] and drove him away,” keeping the youngest child, Charles. Then Harry Shipley, brother of Malinda’s first husband, arrived on the scene. Harry saw a treasure trove, for not only did Malinda have the farm, she was a beneficiary of her wealthy father, L. D., who died 13 Jul 1899. Malinda had received personal and real property valued at about $7500 ($215,000 in 2017 dollars). Harry ingratiated himself, effectively becoming Malinda’s business manager and generally running the household. All of this greatly upset John, who wanted his rightful place again as head of the family and, presumably, the economic opportunities the position entailed.

When all efforts to reverse things failed, John W. resorted to force. The night of 14 Nov 1899, near the Shipley farm, John stopped a buggy containing Harry, Malinda, and Charles and fired three shots at Harry. All three missed their intended target, but one struck 4-year-old Charles in the forehead. This mishap further incensed John, who pistol whipped Harry savagely.

York Twp was accustomed to violence. The first murder in Clark County is said to have been committed there around 1842 when a person by the name of Lacy was killed by Joseph Evans. In 1869 or 1870, William H. Ayers was shot by Jack Dixon in the town of York. Ayers, a scoundrel, survived. And in 1896 David McDonald and John Clements murdered Charles L. Bell as he tried to escape by leaping from a buggy in York Twp.

And John seemed to be intrigued with his revolver. In the 14 Jul 1889 edition of the Clark County Herald is the following story:

Last Thursday, John Sweitzer and Butler Miles started to go to a house near the Grand Turn to do some work. they stopped at Ernst Rohl's, where they drank a lot of sour wine, which made them drunk, and then proceeded to their destination. When they got there, Sweitzer said he was going back for more wine. On the way he came to the house of one Lloyd, which he entered and ransacked, \searching for whisky, he says. He fire several shots from his revolver in a random way, scaring the family considerably. As soon as he left, word was send to town and Farr and Harlan went down and arrested him. He was examined before Martin and was jailed in default of $200 bail.

Butler Miles was a rascally character who had served time in the penitentiary for stealing wheat.

The child, Charles Sweitzer, survived, as did Harry. John, who pleaded guilty to carrying a concealed weapon and to assault with a deadly weapon, was fined $250 in March 1900, the same month Malinda was granted a divorce. Deemed "A Generous Wife," by the Clark County Democrat, Malinda paid the fines, court costs, and attorney's fees for her ex-husband. 

Fearful of John or of publicity, Malinda, Harry, and Charles appear to have hid out for a while. They are nowhere to be found in the 1900 census. It is, however, possible that they missed the census enumerator since following the divorce, Malinda sold her farm just north of Walnut Prairie and moved to Casey.

John, on the other hand, does appear in York Twp with his 9-year old son, Everett (for some reason listed as "Benj. E.," though the first name "Benjamin" is found no where else). John's 7-year old daughter, Ethel, is found boarding with Charles and Maude Phillips, a Clark County family with no known ties to any of the protagonists in this portion of our tale, which we will wrap up next time. (Oops! Spoke too soon.)

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 4

Levin Dixon Robinson (Ancestry.com).

In the second half of the 1800s, Levin Dixon Robinson (who always went by "L. D." was the wealthiest man in Parker Township, Clark County, Illinois, and quite possibly the wealthiest in the county. Born in Dixon County, Tennessee, on 28 Jan 1819, Levin (“Leven” on his grave marker) at age 2 traveled with his parents, Richard and Sally (Dixon), to Edgar County, Illinois, and later to Clark County, where the family had 720 acres in Parker Twp. Following his father’s death in 1843, Levin really went to work to acquire land, possessions, and children. By 1860, the affluent farmer had built up $10,000 in land holdings, had obtained $4000 in personal property, and had fathered eleven children. At the time of his death in 1899, Levin had 1400 acres of good farmland with an estate (personal and real) valued at $90,000. In 2016 dollars that would be about $2.6 million.

Levin was married three times, to Elizabeth Connelly around 1837, Malinda Johnson on 18 May 1845, and Abrilla Jones on 8 Aug 1848. His first two wives died quite young, Elizabeth at age 24 after giving birth to six children (which may explain her early death) and Malinda, at age 21, with but a single child. His last wife, Abrilla (or “Abarillia,” “Abrila,” “Aborila,” “Abrella,” “Arabella,” “Aberillah,” depending on which record you believe), bore four children and lived to be 96. That the second wife, Malinda, died just a little over three weeks after giving birth on 24 Feb 1846 to her only offspring, probably led to that child being named “Malinda” to memorialize her, even though the family already had a Malinda, born 19 May 1841. Yes, that is correct, the family had two Malindas, an 1841 Malinda born to Elizabeth Connelly and an 1846 Malinda born to Melinda Johnson.

The presence of two Malindas caused no end of confusion when unravelling the 1899 shooting by John W. Sweitzer revealed in the last blog, for it was the 1846 Malinda, whose full name was “Malinda Jane,” who was involved in the 1899 misadventure. It helps that the two Malindas (and Levin Dixon’s other children, who often went by variable names) usually gave their correct ages in contemporary records. On the other hand, it hurts that the second Malinda often went by only her middle name, “Jane,” and in later years by “Jennie.” Nevertheless, the full story of John W. Sweitzer and the 1899 shooting has pretty much been uncovered. You will hear more about it in the next blog.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 3

The eldest of Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer’s six children was John W. Sweitzer, born 9 Sep 1861, and married in Clark County to Leora Savoree on 29 May 1890. Leora died in or near the village of Snyder (Hatton) in Darwin Twp, Clark Co, Illinois, on 17 Jun 1897. Two years later, on Thursday, 23 Nov 1899, an article appeared in the Clark County Herald:

SHOT HIS OWN CHILD.

John Switzer sends a Bullet, Intended for Harry Shipley, Into His Child's Temple.

Several years ago J. W. Shipley married a daughter of L. D. Robinson of Parker township, the wealthiest farmer in Clark county, who died but a short time ago. They settled on a farm close by Walnut Prairie and after a few years Shipley died. Some time after, the widow married John Switzer, a young fellow of the neighborhood. He was a widower with one child. This was about two years ago. They lived on the wife's farm for a few months, when she became tired of him and drove him off, but still kept his child. About that time Harry Shipley, a brother of her first husband, came home from the West, and he took charge of Mrs. Switzer's business, making his home on the farm. Switzer made several attempts to oust Shipley and resume marital relations with his wife, but failed. He became desperately jealous and angered and sought revenge. Last Thursday Shipley, Mrs. Switzer and the little boy came to Marshall. They started for home in the evening and along by the Daniel Prust farm Switzer waylaid them. He stepped out in the road, caught the horse by the bridle and, after cursing and denouncing Shipley fired three times at him. Two balls went wide, but the third struck the little boy in the foreheat, inflicting what was at first thought a fatal wound. Shipley sprang out of the buggy and attacked Switzer, but was knocked down and badly beaten over the head with the revolver by the latter. Switzer finally released him and went his way while Shipley and Mrs. Switzer hurried on with the little child, whom they feared was dying. The wound proved not to be serious, however, the ball glancing on the skull and inflicting merely a flesh wound. We heard directly from him yesterday noon and he was mending rapidly

Sheriff Hurst and States Attorney Scholfield went down to West Union the next day and Switzer was arrested. He waived examination and was committed to jail in default of $800 bail. The charge against him is assault with intent to commit murder.

John actually had three children, Everett, Ethel, and Charles. Moreover, John and Malinda were married only a little over a year earlier. And the person that married L. D. Robinson's daughter was F. K., not J. W., Shipley. But the remainder of the story appears to be correct. Four months later, on 15 Mar 1900, the Herald published a follow-up article:

John W. Sweitzer of West Union, who attempted, on the evening of Nov. 17th last, to kill Harry Shipley, Brother of wife's first husband, and shot his own child instead, was indicted by the grand jury last week on the charge of assault to murder, and also for carrying a concealed weapon. By agreement he plead guilty to the latter charge and was fined $50. he also plead guilty to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon and was fined $200, and was to stand committed to jail until the two fines and the costs were paid. And to make matters still harder for him his wife secured a divorce last week.

John W Sweitzer! And, what is the whole story? The tale has proven to be incredibly complex and the research, time consuming. But the end result is absolutely fascinating. As you will see in future blogs.