Uncle By

James Byron Tapscott, "Uncle By",
c1920 (courtesy of Sharon Poteet).

Whether his middle name was “Byram” or “Byron” [post of 23 Nov 2015], James Tapscott was simply “Uncle By” to some family members.

On Independence Day, 1879, Uncle By gave up some of his independence when he was married to Sabra Ellen Mundy by a Clark County Justice of the Peace. Sabra was the daughter of Squire Mundy Sr. and Sarah Ellen Sanders, an Anderson Twp farm family.

Following their marriage, James Byron and Sabra moved from place to place in Illinois, living (and usually farming) in Shelby County in 1880, Clark in 1882 and 1898, Edgar in 1900, and Coles in 1910. Then, in 1920 we find Sabra living in Champaign, Illinois, claiming to be a widow and working as practical nurse. But James was not dead, just absent from what was an apparently shaky marriage, made more shaky by the early death of one son, "Jimmy" [4 Feb 2016 post] by the violent death of a second son, John Howard [28 Oct 2014 post], and by the scofflaw attitude of their son Omer [7 Sep 2014 post]. By 1930 James Byron and Sabra were back together in Marshall Twp, Clark County, where James was once more farming.

On 8 Jan 1937, after making his final move, James died at his home in Martinsville Twp, Sabra passed away a few years later, on 14 Jan 1945 at her home in Marshall, Illinois. Having had some problem living together, the couple were separated in death. James was buried in Auburn Cemetery; Sabra, in Marshall Cemetery.

James and Sabra had four children: “Jimmie," Omer Frank, John Howard, and Joseph Cleo. They had no known grandchildren.