Sons of William and Mary (Wallace) Tapscott. L to R James
William, John, Millard, Joseph. (Courtesy of Sharon Poteet)

Millard F. Tapscott, “Tinker,” the youngest of the sons of William and Mary Angeline (Wallace) Tapscott, of Clark County, Illinois, appears in a most interesting story of probate and litigation.

Born 4 May 1867 in Clark County (two years after the end of the Civil War), Millard spent most of his life as a bachelor farmer. After living for many years with his parents, William and Mary, he was suddenly on his own when his mother died in 1904 and his father moved in with Millard’s sister Emma and her husband William Mallory. Millard stayed on the family farm, apparently inheriting the land, at least eventually, though no probate proceedings are found, and living in his parents’ partially log-constructed house.

Millard was forty-seven years old when he finally married, on 19 Sep 1914 in Vigo County, Indiana, but it was a marriage that was far less than successful. His wife, Samantha, was the daughter of Thomas McNary, an Auburn blacksmith, and Reba (Cox) McNary. And she was the widow of William Henry Johnson, whom she had married 27 Oct 1889, and who had died 3 Feb 1913 of pneumonia after fathering four children, two of whom died young.

Millard and Samantha did not hit it off well. It has been claimed that the two had divorced, but no records show that an official divorce took place. However, around 1920, the couple separated and Samantha “released her rights to the property by contract in writing.” The contract came back to haunt her when Millard died on 17 Nov 1926 at the home of his niece, Alma Thompson, daughter of his sister Emma (Tapscott) Mallory.

Samantha petitioned the court stating that “as the surviving widow of Millard F. Tapscott, she is entitled to her Widow's Award in said Estate.” She stated that “on or about the 11” day of October A.D. 1920 she and the said Millard F. Tapscott signed an agreement, the purport of which agreement your Petitioner did not at that time understand, and that at that time Petitioner did not know her rights pertaining to the property of Millard F. Tapscott, and did not know what a widow's award meant, and did not understand the agreement and should not be held bound by said agreement because of the fraud which said agreement perpetrated against your Petitioner because of petitioners misunderstanding and lack of knowledge as to her rights.” Samantha claimed that “for many months prior to Millard's death, he and her had “resumed the marriage relation, and were living as man and wife, having repudiated aforsaid [sic] contract, and resumed the status of husband and wife.”

Find a Grave.

A child of Samantha from her first marriage, Violet Johnson, filed a claim for $500 against the estate “For care, washing for, ironing , sewing, getting up wood, cooking, keeping house and attention for three years at different intervals” and for $1000 for “Services as per contract.” Just what the “Services” were is not stated. The claim appears particularly unusual since Violet was unmarried and as Millard's stepchild, she was (more or less) a family member. One might expect that she would help out around the house, where she was presumably living, for no charge. Millard's brother and sisters, the estate heirs, got together and settled with both Samantha and her daughter for all their claims for $1000.

R. E. Tapscott, 6 Oct 2014.

Following her death, Samantha was buried with her first husband in Auburn Cemetery. The stone reads “Samantha His Wife.” Millard, who left no descendants, rests alone.

Elizabeth Percifull’s Origins

This site has discussed at length the Fauquier County Tapscotts and the potentials and difficulties in using DNA to confirm and unravel connections (13 Jan 2015, 15 Jan 2013, 17 May 2013, 13 Mar 2014, 30 Mar 2014, 21 Jul 2016, and others). DNA results are starting to roll in from Fauquier County Tapscott descendants and we are now faced with the problem of interpreting the data. A major problem is the reliabilities of published family trees for Elizabeth Percifull (also "Purcifull"), believed to be the progenitor of all Fauquier Tapscotts. A number of trees have been published showing that Elizabeth was a daughter of Elijah Percifull and Elizabeth Carter (almost certainly true), and that her mother was a daughter of John Carter and Sarah Kenyon or Thomas Charles Carter and Elizabeth Sarah Morgan (false, as we shall see).

Elijah Percifull is known to have had at least thirteen children (Polly C., Judith Tayloe, Elizabeth, Neddy, Caty, Thomas, Robert, Ruth, Sarah, Rebeccah, John Y., Nancy, and Edward) and probably four wives with uncertain marriage dates (in likely order of date, Winifred Wildey, Caty Yerby, Elizabeth “Betsy” Carter, and Elizabeth Rivers Davis). It is difficult to assign children to mothers; however, record dates provide strong evidence that Elizabeth Carter was the mother of Elizabeth Percifull, who was born around 1790.

We know little of Elijah’s origins, other than that he was the son of Thomas Percifull and Letitia, the widow of William Parler ("Parter," "Partor") and had a brother Elisha.

George Carter's 1789 deposition

We know more about Elizabeth Carter, whose origins are revealed in a Lancaster County Chancery Court record and are confirmed in several Lancaster County estate divisions. In 1789, Elijah and his wife, Elizabeth, were sued by Elizabeth’s brother, George Carter, over an inheritance from his father, who had died intestate. George’s court deposition specifically states that

“your Orator George Carter of the said County That Your Orator is the Son of William Carter late of this County decd who Departed this Life on or about the [blank] day of [blank] in the year [blank] Intestate, leaving his Widow your Orator's mother and three children To wit William, since dead, your Orator, and Elizabeth now the Wife of Elijah Percifull … and Daniel Carter your Orator's Grandfather on the fathers side.”

George felt that he had been cheated out of his fair portion of his father’s estate (primarily slaves) “by Connivance” of Elijah and “by pretense” of Elijah’s marriage with his sister. George won the suit because the Percifulls failed to make a court appearance. Interesting, but of no significance to the present study, is the fact that James Tapscott, son of Capt, Henry, was one of those assigned to inventory the slaves under dispute.

Thus, court records prove (don’t you love that word?) that Elizabeth Carter, wife of Elijah Percifull, was a daughter of neither John Carter and Sarah Kenyon, nor Thomas Charles Carter and Elizabeth Sarah Morgan. She was a daughter of William Carter and granddaughter of Daniel Carter, who are the actual ancestors of the Fauquier County Tapscotts.

James and Elizabeth (Lowry) Wright

During a very recent family history research trip to the prairie states, I had a chance to visit with my cousin Edgar Tingley and his wife, Marjorie. Though Tapscotts were a major source of conversation, Edgar and Marjorie did show me a photo of James and Elizabeth (Lowry) Wright (see blogs of 9/27/15, 10/11/15, 9/29/15), predecessors of some Clark County Tapscotts. Here is that photo, which shows James and Elizabeth alongside their home.

Clark County home of James F. and Elizabeth J. (Lowry) Wright c1906. Left to right:

(1) (probably) Mary Elizabeth (Wright) Shields, (2) Elizabeth (Lowry) Wright, (3) Richard Wright (son), (4) Dewey Oscar Shields (grandson), (5) James F. Wright, (6) John Wright (son). Photo courtesy of Edgar and Marjorie Tingley.

The youngest person in this photo, Dewey Oscar Shields, was born to Mary Elizabeth Wright and Henry U. Shields on 6 Feb 1899 in Sullivan, Moultrie County, Illinois. Married in 1897, Mary and Henry may have broken up by the time that Mary appears with her son Dewey, but without Henry, in the 1900 census. The marriage was certainly finished by the following year when, on 12 Nov 1901, Henry married Vina B. Grant.

The above photo was taken about ten years before 15 Dec 1915, when Mary Elizabeth (Wright) Shields married her second husband, the widowed Allen Wesley Pennell, a marriage which gave Mary Elizabeth another son, Wayne Andrew Pennell, born 30 Aug 1916.

Earlier, another cousin, Dolores Berbaum, had loaned me the photo shown below of the entire James and Elizabeth (Lowry) Wright family (except for a child that died as an infant)

.

James and Elizabeth (Lowry) Wright Framily, c1891. Standing, left to right:
Robert Wright, Mary Wright, Richard Wright, Edna Wright, Orlie
Wright. Seated, left to right: James F. Wright, John Wright, Elizabeth
(Lowry) Wright. Photo courtesy of Dolores Bierbaum.

Uncle Dickie

Rev. Richard Wright

Rev. Richard Wright, c1865
(courtesy of Patrick Joseph Shade)

We have spoken of Rev. Richard Wright, father of Isaiah Grant Wright, believed to have been the biological father of Grant Frederick Tapscott [posting of 5 Dec 2015]. It turns out that Richard, often referred to as "Uncle Dickie," was also the grandfather of Edna Earl Wright, wife of John Wesley Tapscott, a grandson of Henry the Traveler.

Thus, Uncle Dickie will remain a subject for discussion in this Tapscott Family blog. But more and more information about Rev. Wright is emerging, and he needs a space of of his own. A new series of postings on the "Wrights of the Wabash Valley" will soon appear in a separate blog.

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.