y-DNA

I have ordered an upgrade from 67 markers to 111 markers for my y-DNA testing to obtain more accurate assessments of possible relationships with subjects who do not bear the Tapscott surname (in particular Bolding/Bowlin/Bowling and Stone) but who have close matches at 67 markers. Since some of these have undergone a 111-marker test, we should be able to get immediate and more reliable comparisons. Testing at a higher number of markers is needed since the predicted haplogroup of those being compared is the exceedingly common R-M269 (R1b1a2). It is indeed unfortunate that when it comes to our y-DNA, we Tapscotts are commoners.

I am increasing my search for individuals bearing the Tapscott name in Canada, Australia, and England or descended from the New Jersey Tapscotts to undergo y-DNA testing.

For more information, those following this blog may wish to see the website http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Tapscott/

Tapscott Name

What's in a Name?

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

The Tapscott name and its variations first appear in the middle 1500s, almost fifty years before Will S. wrote his famous lines. The earliest Tapscott records are found in Southwest England, the “West Country,” which encompasses the counties of Somerset, Devon, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Cornwall, and the City and County of Bristol. The name emerged shortly after 1538, when Thomas Cromwell, the Vicar General under Henry VIII, decreed that Anglican clergy should record in a book all christenings, marriages, and burials for the preceding week after each Sunday service in the presence of the churchwardens. Before then the few records made were written on loose sheets, which were almost always lost.

The second syllable of “Tapscott” almost certainly comes from Old English (OE) “cott” (related to Old Norse “kot”), meaning a small hut. From this origin come the words “cottage” and “cot.” Early English place names with the suffix “cott” were attached to humble settlements, often small farmsteads, and were frequently compounded with a personal name, probably that of an early tenant. “Tapp” is a county name, originally found almost solely in Devon and Somerset. The standard singular OE possessive ending was usually “s” or “es” (no apostrophe). Eventually the location of Tapp’s cottage or farmstead (“Tapps cott”) would become known as “Tappscott,” and names such as “William of Tappscott” would become “William Tappscott,” an early variant.

Today, no place name in the Somerset/Devon area remotely resembles the name “Tappscott,” other than Tippacott (near Lynton at the far west side of Exmoor) and Tascott, both in Devon. The latter neighborhood, which is occasionally listed with North Petherwin near the Cornwall border, is named after a local family rather than the converse. Any “Tappscott” settlement has disappeared in the mists of time. “Tapps,” a manor of Baldwin de Brionne in Devon, is listed in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086, and a cottage, farmstead, or small settlement associated with this manor could have become a place name source for “Tapscott,” though there is no evidence of this.

Many West Country names have derivations similar to that described here—”Nethercot” (lower cottage/farm, from OE “nether”), “Westcott” (west), “Estcott” (or “Estcot,” east), “Prescott” (priest, from OE “prēost”), “Woolcott” (or “Wolcott,” stream, from Middle English “wolle”), and “Chilcott” (from the OE name “Ceola”). A common name source, however, does not necessarily mean a common bloodline. Unrelated persons may have been associated with a settlement, farm, or cottage known as “Tappscott,” and more than one location may have had this designation. Nevertheless, the Tapscott name arose in a limited area, for relatively few individuals, who may have been related.

Trees

Great news. Today I found that "One World Tree" generated by Ancestry.com has been discontinued. Ancestry.com "stitched together" trees submitted by users to make "One World Tree." "One World Tree" was then being used as a "source" for information in family trees which were then used to create One World Tree. A vicious cycle promulgating massive errors. You may ask what this has to do with the Tapscott family. As of today, Ancestry.com has 156 trees posted showing Henry Tapscott, the immigrant, having a father Edward. Most of these also show his mother as Elizabeth Hill. Of course there are no reliable sources for any of this fiction, but the source most often cited is "one World Tree." Unfortunately, it is now impossible to stop these errors. In a few months time there will be many more than 156 trees, all copying each other with the same (or more) misinformation. I am going to repeat what I have said in the past and what is now in the draft of the second edition of my book:

It is often stated that three Tapscott brothers, including an Edward Tapscott, came to America in 1659.[i] Edward is said to have lived in Virginia until 1730[ii] (in Northumberland County according to many), to have married an Elizabeth Hill,[ii] and to have had a second wife, Ann Lee Davis,[iii] though others state that Ann Lee Davis (sometimes just Ann Lee) was Henry Tapscott’s wife. It is also claimed that Edward was Henry’s father and came to America with John and Lawrence Washington.[iv],[v] No primary or reliable secondary source is provided for any of these statements, and none has been found. Many of the claims are, in fact, nonsensical, placing Henry’s father, whatever his name may be (“Edward,” an exceedingly rare Tapscott name, is unlikely), in America at the time of Henry’s conception in England, and having Edward Tapscott live in Northumberland County until 1730 without his name appearing on a single contemporary record in that well-documented county. Moreover, as we will see, upon Henry’s arrival in America, a letter was sent his mother requesting permission to indenture Henry as a servant. Why would there have been correspondence with Henry’s mother if his father was with him in Virginia? The fact is that Henry Tapscott traveled to the New World alone, without father or any other relative. And there is no reliably documented connection with an Ann Davis or an Ann Lee. I apologize for the polemics, but the truth demands to be told.

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[i].         “Historic and Genealogical Notes,” William and Mary Quarterly, Ser. 1, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1900, p. 209.

[ii].        Mary Louise Marshall Hutton, Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., 1983, p. 247.

[iii].       Ancestry.com family trees.

[iv].       Ancestral Records and Portraits, Vol. 1, The Grafton Press, New York, 1910, p. 313.

[v].        Higdon, pp. 1, 3.