Court Action of Henry the Immigrant Against Alexander Swan

Present Day Lancaster County Courthouse (2004)

I have seen several transcriptions of the 1706/1707 court action of Henry the Immigrant against Alexander Swan, but often they are incorrect or incomplete. Below is my own exact (to the extent possible) transcription, archaic spelling and all, taken from the original record at the Lancaster County court house. Brackets enclose my comments, "(er)" stands for a special symbol used by the Lancaster clerk for the letters "er," "y" is the thorn when used in "y^e" (The). The year of 1707 in the reference is from the Gregorian Calendar. The record actually gives a year of 1706 for the court proceedings. 

Court of 12 Mar 1707, Lancaster County, Virginia, Order Book 5, 1690-1713, pp. 168A-168B.

Att a Court held for Lancaster County the 12^th day of March 1706/7 att y^e Court House there from her Maj^ts [Majesty’s] Justices (viz)
Cap^t. Henry Fleet                       Capt Alexd(er) Swan
Maj Edwin Lyler                       Cap^t Richd Ball
Capt Wm Ball                            m(er) Tho: Carter
 . . .
[Margin] Tapscott Swan
Whereas Henry Tapscott Exhibited a Peticon [Petition] to this Court ag(ent) [against] Alexdr Swan And in y^e sd peticon Sett forth that he y^e sd Henery came into this Country und(er) the tuition of Cap^t. Jeffry Baylie in the ship in the ship [sic] Wm. & Orian a free passenger on y^e 12^th day of Jan(er)y Last was seaven years and being desirous to stay in y^e Country y^e sd Jeffery Baylie condescended to lett yo(er) pet(er) [petitioner] stay with Capt Swan who writt Letters to yo(er) Pet(er)s mother to give her Consent that yo(er) pet(er) should be with him until yo(er) Pet(er) arived to one & twenty yeares of age And the sd Cap^t. Alexd(er) Swan caused Indentures to be made for Eight yeares and procured yo(er) pet(er)s consent to Signe y^e same And now detaines yo(er) pet(er) A servant without y^e Consent of ye(er) pet(er)s mother to his great prejudice as appeares by Letters from und(er) her own hand. Wherfore yo(er) petr being ordered to come home for England, by his mother, He therefore humbly prays that y^e sd Cap^t. Alexd(er) Swan may be Cited to this Court to shew Cause if any he can why he detaines yo(er) pet(er) & that thereupon yo(er) Worships will please to ord(er) him to be discharged from the servis of the sd Swan and to allow him for his servis what yo(er) worships in yo(er) Consideracon shall think meet & Convenient And the sd Cap^t Alexd(er) Swan being present att Court att ye reading of y^e sd peticon Appeared agt: ye sd Henery and produced the Indenture aforesd :for ye terme aforesd: Certified und(er) the hand of major Wm Lister one of her Maj^ts Justices for the sd County of the free consent of the sd Henery thereto. And upon all the arguments insisted upon on both sides. It appeareing at y^e Court that y^e mother of y^e sd Henery confided in y^e sd Alexd(er) Swan that y^e sd Hen(er)y should serve no Longer than twenty one years as appeares by her Letter dated Febry the 27th 1706 by which Letter it alsoe appeares that y^e sd Henry was of the age of twenty one years y^e 27th of August last past And further that forasmuch as y^e sd Indenture expressed noe consideracon for the servis of the sd Henery It is therefore ordered that y^e sd Henry be henceforth discharged from the servis of the sd Alexd(er) Swan claimed by virtue of the sd Indenture
From which ord(er) the sd Alexd(er) Swan appeales to ye ninth day of the next Gen(er): [General] Court to be held by Her Majestys Hon(er)able president & Councile of state at the Royale Capittole in y^e Citty of Williamsburgh and hath given security to conform to y^e Laws in that case made & provided un(er) Jn^o. Torbervill serving.

Another Gauntlet

The email I cited earlier had a second paragraph (some deletions):

“I do not accept the appropriation that … Henry, son of Edney , was a son of  Edney's wife, Judith. There is no one named Judith in Henry's family nor anyone bearing her family name of Purcell. That he distanced himself from the other children of Judith is also very telling. He very quickly disposed of the land his father left him and moved to NC.”

I love it when someone throws down a gauntlet. It brings back my days as a research professor. From the 2nd Edition of Henry the Immigrant:

“Sometime before 8 April 1735 he [Edney] wedded his first wife Judith Purcell, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Woodward) Purcell. Some say that Edney had an earlier marriage, which produced most or all of his children, a claim based on the absence of the names “Judith” and “Thomas” among Edney’s offspring. But in view of a total lack of other evidence, the assertion is weak and unconvincing.”

My statement that the “assertion is weak and unconvincing” is itself weak and unconvincing. Sorry to bore you readers, but you deserve something more. Here is a summary of the evidence presented in my book. See Henry the Immigrant for details and sources.

On 11 Jul 1734, Edney sued his mother and her second husband Benjamin George for a portion of the estate of Henry, his father. Henry's gift of deed stated that Edney would receive his share when he turned 21. Edney probably instituted this “friendly” suit shortly after he turned 21, and was, therefore, likely born a little before 11 Jul 1713. This seems quite reasonable since Edney was the oldest and his parents were married between 15 Mar 1709 and 16 May 1711. He and Judith Purcell were married by 8 Apr 1735 because the Lancaster County will of Judith Purcell’s grandmother Elizabeth, signed on that date states “I do appoint my Grandaughter Judith and her husband Edney Tapscott Executors of this my Last Will & Testament.” On Apr 1735, Edney was around age 22, somewhat young since most Colonial Virginia men first married around age 25 or 26 (a reliable statistical number). In fact, Edney was sufficiently young, 22 or younger when he married Judith, that it is highly unlikely that he had a previous wife.

How long were Judith and Edney married? There is no way to tell for certain. Certainly they were no longer married when Edney took Mary, the widow of William Waugh Jr., as his second wife around 15 Feb 1762 (bond). That was 27 years or more after his first marriage, and more than sufficient time to have the seven children that we know Edney had, presumably with Judith. Even had Judith died well before Edney married Mary Waugh, there was more than sufficient time.

Judith and Edney’s first child was Henry, who would become known to us as “Henry of Caswell.” In the 1800 census, he was aged 45 or older, corresponding to a birth year of 1742 or earlier. When he married Winifred Hill around 1763 (based on a chancery court record) he would have been aged 21 or older. As we have pointed out, Virginia men tended to marry around 25 or 26, making it likely that Henry was born around 1737 or 1738, the birth year one might expect for a marriage of Edney and Judith in 1735 or earlier. No matter how one juggles the numbers, Henry of Caswell was almost certainly a child of Judith.

So far everything holds together. There are no conflicts, no negative evidence, nothing that needs to be resolved. But we still have to look at the names of descendants.

For the second generation of Edney's descendants, counting Judith Purcell and Edney as the first, no one is named “Thomas” or “Judith.” One must go to the third generation, where we find Judith Clayton, daughter of Edney’s daughter Elizabeth and Judith George, daughter of Edney’s daughter Susannah. Thus we have two granddaughters of (presumably) Judith Purcell and Edney who are named “Judith.” Many (including the writer of the above memo) would say that this provides good evidence that Elizabeth and Susannah Tapscott were daughters of Judith Purcell. I'm not convinced that this evidence is all that good though I do believe that Elizabeth and Susannah were daughters of Judith. And these two “Judiths” are all we have, even going through six generations (admittedly some of the lists of descendants are incomplete).

But we do have a slug of descendants named “Thomas” when we go through six generations (admittedly a little far). There are a whopping eleven for Henry of Caswell (two 4^th generation, five 5^th generation, and four 6^th generation). For Ezekiel there is one with a middle name "Thomas," 6^th generation. Are any of these named for Thomas Purcell? For 4th generation and beyond, as all these are, I doubt it. The relationship distances appear to be too great.

But, the thing to realize is that people didn’t always name children after ancestors. Indeed, the brother of Edney, Capt. Henry Tapscott, first married Margaret Stott and had a huge number of descendants by this first marriage, 254 by my count through the 6^th generation, but there are only five named “Margaret” (and these do not appear until the 4^th generation and 5^th generation) and nobody is named “Stott”. What is particularly striking is that Margaret’s father was named “John,” an exceedingly common name, but out of all of the descendants of Capt. Henry and Margaret, only one John is found before the 5^th generation. There are no “Margarets” at all among the 61 identified descendants of William, the last child of Margaret and Capt. Henry. Does this mean that William was not a child of Margaret and Capt. Henry? Certainly not. The will of John Stott shows William to be a child of Margaret. I'll say it again. People did not always name descendants after ancestors, as is demonstrated here.

One final note. I and other descendants of Edney Tapscott have autosomal DNA matches with a number of people descended from Purcells of the Isle of Wright County, Virginia. This is where Thomas Purcell appears to have originated. At this point it is far too early to draw any conclusions, and perhaps we will never be able to do so.

All evidence strongly indicates that Edney had but one marriage producing children, and that was with Judith Purcell.

Proof, Fact, or Conclusion?

Today, I received an email that included the following:

I have just been made aware that you have ascribed a James Edney as the father of Ann Edney Tapscott George. I have already seen several Tapscott descendants listing that as fact. That you found a person named James with a daughter Ann somewhere in the vicinity would not hold water if a person is going to attempt membership in any reputable historical or genealogical organization. There would need to be a paper trail to firmly establish that, such as a deed or will in which he named Ann Tapscott or George as his daughter. It would be better to say that it is plausible that he is her father with the qualifying statement that it is not a proven fact. We have to consider the possibility that Ann could have been brought into the country under the same conditions that Henry came; under the sponsorship of the captain of a ship just in time for Henry to be searching for a wife.

To me this was a pleasant surprise. Why “pleasant”? It means that there are some “researchers” who rely on more than leaps of faith or unsourced trees, both abominations to me. In fact, I am only upset by one thing in the email — the statement that “I have just been made aware …” The first edition of Henry the Immigrant with the James Edney conclusion (not “fact") was published in 2006, ten years ago!

I have partially addressed some of the Ann Edney question in my blog of 5 Jan 2016 “The Elusive Miss Ann,” but something more is needed. The second edition of my book Henry the Immigrant contains ten pages of information and reasoning about Ann Edney and her marriage to Henry with more than 100 sources provided in footnotes (pp. 48-57), far too much to be put in a blog. If any of you would like a free electronic pdf copy of the book, send me an email and I will immediately return a copy as an attachment.

It is not always necessary that there be “a deed or will” if the evidence is sufficiently strong. No one doubts the existence of the atom, but who has seen one? Although my book never uses the words “proven” or “proof” for Ann Tapscott's parentage, the Board for Certification of Genealogists provides a list of requirements for a statement to have sufficient credibility to be “proved”:

1. Reasonably exhaustive research;
2. complete, accurate citations to the source or sources of each information item;
3. tests—through processes of analysis and correlation—of all sources, information items, and evidence;
4. resolution of conflicts among evidence items and
5. a soundly reasoned, coherently written conclusion.

1. Was there reasonably exhaustive research? I have been to Northumberland and Lancaster County Courthouses several times (in one case spending more than a week on site), reviewing ALL of the court records between 1700 and 1727 (and, of course, outside this time period) and also several trips to the Library of Richmond in Virginia, which maintains microfilms of court records in Lancaster and Northumberland Counties. The book, Henry the Immigrant, contains 2514 sources, nearly all original, contemporary, or from academic historians. Out of these only two family trees are referenced. I refer to one of these as “questionable.” I cite the other only to show that it is ridiculous.

2. All citations are 100% complete. Don’t believe me? Get a pdf file of the book and let me know if you find any incomplete citations.

3. Testing is a matter of opinion. However, the probable ages of Henry’s wife and James Edney’s daughter based on various records (e.g., guardianships, usual marriage ages) are approximately the same, the geographic location of both is the same, associates are the same, dates correspond, etc. Note that Henry and James Edney were not “somewhere in the vicinity.” They appear to have been in what became the Wicomico Parish 6th Processioning Precinct as laid out in 1711.

4. There are NO conflicts, not one, a fact pointed out in the statement in my book that “there is no negative evidence, nothing that needs be explained away.”

5. The conclusion? Rather than repeating what has already been printed, I urge that you refer to the blog of 5 Jan 2016 “The Elusive Miss Ann,” for a synopsis of the evidence from my book. And the synopsis ends with a conclusion, not a “fact”: “The evidence detailed below allows us to conclude that Ann Edney, the daughter of James Edney of Wicomico Parish, and Ann Tapscott, the wife of Henry, were one and the same.”

Again, I could not be more pleased about an email. Some people are thinking for themselves. Perhaps some day we can have an academically oriented “Tapscott Conference.”

Dolores Hope (Tingley) Berbaum

Four generations of Wabash Valley Tapscotts
Edna Earl (Wright )Tapscott, Nellie (Tapscott) Tingley,
Jerry Berbaum, Dolores Hope (Tingley) Berbaum, July 1943.

Dolores Hope (Tingley) Berbaum, who passed away 22 Nov 2016 in Urbana, Illinois (obituary), was my cousin and the source of much Tapscott information for my still unfinished book “The Wabash Valley Tapscotts.” She gave me her copy of The Merry Cricket, which describes the lives of the relatives and neighbors of the Tapscotts who inhabited Martinsville, Auburn, and Anderson townships in Clark County, Illinois, at the turn of the last century (blog of 29 Sep 2015) and provided for copying several photos of Tapscotts and their relatives (e.g., blog of 9 Aug 2016). Dolores and her son Jerry also allowed the recording of an extensive oral history of the Clark County Tapscotts. And she authored a detailed “John Wesley Tapscott Family” tree for June Tapscott Leathers, who passed it on to me. Besides, Dolores was a friend who will be greatly missed.

Dolores was the daughter of Nellie Pearl Tapscott and Walter Albert Tingley, the granddaughter of John Wesley Tapscott and Edna Earl Wright, the great granddaughter of William Tapscott and Mary Angeline Wallace, and the great great granddaughter of Henry (“The Traveler’) Tapscott and Susan Bass who founded the Wabash Valley Tapscotts.

Ithamar

“Ithamar” (Hebrew אִיתָמָר) was the youngest son of Aaron, a Biblical high priest, and the eldest son of "Bell" (Tapscott) and Morgan Sweet. The unusual name makes Ithamar Sweet easily traceable, though one must take into account mistaken and alternative spellings. “Ithmar,” “Ithamer,” “Ithemar,” “Ithenear” are all found for Ithamar Sweet.

Born in Martinsville, Clark County, Illinois, Ithamar’s birth date is a little uncertain. The age of 30 years, 10 months on his grave marker indicates a birthdate of Dec 1887, a date that appears wildly incorrect based on the birth dates of his siblings. His brother Robert is known to have been born on 31 May 1887. A Texas death record shows a birthdate of 29 Dec 1884, a date that agrees with census data, is a reasonable nine months, three weeks following Bell and Morgan’s marriage, and fits in well with the birth dates of the other Sweet children.

On 16 Jun 1906 in Danville, Illinois, Ithamar enlisted in the Army, achieved the rank of sergeant, and was discharged 15 Jun 1909, in Walla Walla, Washington. He reenlisted the following day and was shipped off to Fort Stotsenburg, at Luzon in the Philippines. On 15 Jun 1912 Ithamar was discharged at Ft. Clark in Texas, but he apparently reenlisted since he spent the rest of his life as a reserve officer in the Army.

Sometime between 1910, when he was still single in the Philippines and 1913, when his first child was born, Ithamar married Frances Isadora (“Fannie”) Baker, a Texas girl. Born 25 Dec 1889 in Brownwood, Texas, Frances was the oldest daughter of John William and Minnie (Conklin) Baker, a Texas farm family. Ithamar’s transfer by the Army to Texas, had brought with it a chance to meet Minnie.

In 1915 Minnie and Ithamar lived in Marfa, Texas, where soldiers at Camp Marfa patrolled the Rio Grande during the stormy Mexican Revolution. In 1915 the couple lived in Eagle Pass, Texas, where an unsteady Army camp was increasing in strength due to WW I.. In 1917 Ithamar, who was then a first lieutenant, submitted his resignation as a reserve officer, but he was still serving at the Army Post at Eagle Pass on 24 Oct 1918, when he died of bronchopneumonia, probably brought on by influenza. An estimated 675,000 Americans died from the misnamed 1918 “Spanish Flu” pandemic. A much lower 116,708 Americans died from all causes during WW 1 military service.

Ithamar was returned to Clark County, where he rests in Mount Pleasant Cemetery. He left a single child, Eugene Madison Sweet (15 Jul 1915-30 Oct 1989). His and Minnie’s other child, Ithamar Jr., born 5 Dec 1913, died by 1915.

Frances remarried, to George M. Doney, on 27 Sep 1919 in San Antonio, Texas, and Eugene adopted his stepfather’s last name, going by “Eugene Madison Doney” or “Eugene Sweet Doney.” The family settled in Lynwood, California, where George became the Chief of Police. But things did not go well for George. In 1930 the police department was under investigation for misappropriation of funds, and on 31 May 2016 when George was interviewed by members of the district attorney’s office, he named names and implicated colleagues. The following day, Police Chief Doney was found dead in his car with a bullet wound in his chest, and clutching a revolver. He left a note fit for a B-grade gangster movie:

To the District Attorney's office: I told you a pack of lies. The men of this police force are all OK. I was the crook, so drop that statement your man got out of me, because they are square guys and never take a nickel from anybody that I know. This is the truth, so help me God. ____ never paid me or not one else one cent, so drop any charges you have made.

St. Louis Post Dispatch, 3 Jun 1930.

The story made newspapers nationwide. The police department concluded that George had committed suicide out of remorse for turning on his friends in the department. But was it a suicide, or a cover-up by murder? Some thought it was the latter.

Frances, who appears to have been married one more time, briefly, to a man named “Nugent,” lived for a while in Medford, Oregon, but returned to California, where she died 10 Jan 1959 in Shasta County.

Cora Isabelle Tapscott

Family of Richard and Cora

The book, The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley, is coming along, albeit very, very slowly. One problem is the sheer number of individuals covered. Henry the Traveler, who founded the Wabash Valley clan, has 199 descendants with 155 spouses through 4 generations, which is as far as this book goes. The earlier book, Henry the Immigrant, covered only 132 descendants of Ann Edney (both Tapscotts and Georges) with 122 spouses through 4 generations. While many of the Wabash Valley Tapscott men had few descendants (see “not good husband material” in blog of 28 Aug 2015), this was definitely not true of the women, One example is Cora Isabelle Tapscott, daughter of William and Mary Angeline (Wallace) Tapscott, who is the cause of multiple pages in the current book.

Born 21 May 1869 in Anderson Twp, Cora Isabelle (usually called “Bell” or “Belle”), had a brief childhood. Before age fifteen, she was married, on 1 Mar 1884, in Clark County. The groom, Richard Morgan Sweet, was twenty-two. Morgan, the name he always used, was one of fourteen children of Mary Ellen Johnson and Austin Sweet Sr., a Clark County veterinarian and farmer.

Richard Morgan and Cora Isabelle
Sweet, at Martinsville home, c1932.
 (Courtesy of Sharon Poteet.)

Bell and Morgan, who lived all their married lives near Martinsville, wasted no time. Their first child, Ithamar, was born 29 Dec 1884, their last, Nila, was born 4 Apr 1908. In between were born twelve children, a child every two years.

On 23 Oct 1932, Bell Tapscott passed away. Morgan, who went from farmer to blacksmith in his later years, lived another few years, dying on 13 Apr 1937 at his daughter Nila’s house. Bell and Morgan are interred in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, in Martinsville Twp.

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.

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 the Fauquier County Tapscotts are descended from Henry the Immigrant. This site has proposed the use of autosomal DNA to provide additional evidence of a relationship (see, e.g., Sunday, January 13, 2013; Thursday, March 13, 2014; Sunday, March 30, 2014). Needed has been a DNA match between a descendent of the Fauquier County Tapscotts and a descendant of Henry 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 the 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.)