A Brick Wall Demolished

Remember Wesley Tabscott/Tapscott? He was that illiterate fellow who lived in Clark County, Illinois, the last half of the 19th century and whose origins were completely unknown (postings 6/7/2015 and 8/6/2015). We knew his birth date and place, death date and place, military record, land holdings, varied name spellings, all sorts of things. Most everything, in fact, except who his parents were. Was he an unknown child of Henry Tapscott, the Traveler, who founded the Wabash Valley Tapscotts? Or a child of Henry's father, William the Preacher? Or perhaps a descendant of William's second cousin Raleigh Tapscott, who lived in Kentucky near William, a descendant who tagged along with Henry when he traveled to Clark County. Perhaps he was really James W. Tapscott, a son of Henry about whom we knew little, though this seemed highly unlikely. James was believed to be literate. Or perhaps he was was not a Tapscott at all, a product of an NPE, non-paternal event - a name change, an illegitimate birth, an adoption. But the brick wall remained ... until Wed 27 Dec 2017, at precisely 2 PM, when it fell with a resounding crash.

At that date and time, while visiting my son, Michael, in Phoenix, and looking through copies of old Clark County deeds, I saw something surprising. On 19 Feb 1877 for $600 Wesley Tapscott had purchased Lots 2, 3, 8, 9, Block 19, in the town of Auburn (today, Clark Center). A few months shy of three years later, on 2 Dec 1879, those exact lots at that same price were sold to a Susan Tapscott (presumably James's mother) by James W. Tapscott, son of Henry the Traveler and Susan (Bass) Tapscott. Between the two sales dates, no record is found showing the sale of land by Wesley to James. Moreover, the latter deed of sale was signed with a mark. Like Wesley, James was illiterate! Suddenly, everything fell into place. James W. Tapscott and Wesley Tabscott were one and the same, presumably James Wesley Tapscott.

The 1850 and 1870 Clark County, Illinois, censuses showed the name “James W.” or just "James," because that is how his family knew him and he was living with his mother and father (Henry and Susan Tapscott) at the time. The name “James W. Tapscott” was entered for his mark in the deed of sale to Susan Tapscott because the justice of the peace acknowledging the signature was James’s brother William Tapscott, who, like the rest of his immediate family, used that name. The occupation “at home” shown for James in the 1870 census is that which was often shown in censuses for nonworking invalids or near-invalids, as Wesley certainly was. Early records, 1852 and 1853 Federal land purchase documents, show the name "James W.," but he became "Wesley" in the military and continued using his middle name throughout his life. At last, the mystery of Wesley is solved. And from knowing little of James W. Tapscott, we now know a lot.

Esther Smith Gaddis O'Farrell Tapscott Mallory

Esther Gaddis Tapscott deed of sale.

During our trip to Illinois last summer Mary Frances and I picked up copies of 35 deeds for Clark County land sales involving Tapscotts. (If you would like scans drop me an email and I’ll send them to you.) We already had a large number from past trips, but these were newly uncovered.

A large number of the deeds involved mystery man Wesley Tapscott (posts of 7 Jun 2015 and 6 Aug 2015), and perhaps they will help unravel his origins.

But the deeds provided a new mystery, a mystery woman. On 17 Oct 1944 Frank Cole sold a block of land in Marshall for $1.00 to “Esther Gaddis Tapscott.” Frank was involved in real estate, abstracts, and brokering and his name appears on records for a huge number of Clark county real estate transactions. The $1.00 was undoubtedly a “nominal consideration,” widely used to keep actual considerations private. But who was Esther Gaddis Tapscott? There were very few Esthers among the Clark County Tapscotts or their spouses, and none with the middle name “Gaddis.” With a lot of labor and little luck I found who Esther Tapscott was. She was, for a short while, the wife of Omer Frank Tapscott (posting of 7 Sep 2014). I never knew that Omer had been married, but he had, briefly.

Esther May was born 17 May 1899, probably in Clark County, to Andrew Johnson and Minnie Bell (Lynn) Smith. She married four times, her last two times to Omer Tapscott and his cousin Elzia William Mallory. Since Esther had four children from her first marriage, to Robert Gaddis, she often used “Gaddis” as her middle name or, between marriages, as a surname. The details and sources are presented in my book on the Wabash Valley Tapscotts (still being written), but the marriages are synopsized in the following diagram.

Elzia Mallory and Omer Tapscott, husband number three and four, were cousins, not through the Tapscott line since Elzia was not a Tapscott by blood, but through the Mundy line. Elzia’s mother, Martha Mundy, and Omer’s mother, Sabra Mundy, were sisters.

Ellen Tapscott; Lottie Tapscott

These pages often contain the phrase “trees citing trees,”  family trees giving other family trees as sources. And those trees giving other trees as sources. Ad infinitum. Here are two more cases, two of thousands found on that wonderful, but terribly flawed internet.

Ancestry.com has 59 family trees showing a marriage between an Ellen Tapscott (1729 – 1807) and Martin George of Lancaster County, Virginia. Unfortunately the only sources cited for this marriage are other Ancestry Family Trees and a questionable DAR application, which does not give the name “Tapscott.” The Martin George in these trees is a child of William George and Rebecca Martin and a first cousin once removed of Benjamin George Jr., who married Ann (Edney) Tapscott. Martin is named in reliable contemporary records. But I know of no contemporary (18th, early 19th-century) record or document naming an “Ellen Tapscott” who lived in Lancaster County during this time period. Does anyone know of any contemporary or even a reliable secondary source with her name or showing a marriage with Martin? To head people off at the pass, an unsourced tree is not a reliable source. (Caution, the Martin George claimed to have married Ellen Tapscott had a second cousin once removed also named Martin George, born around 1770. Do not confuse the two.)

And on Ancestry.com we find 32 trees showing a Lottie Tapscott, born around 1740 in Virginia, marrying Walker Gilmer Snead. Other trees provide the only source for either Lottie Tapscott or her marriage.

Why am I interested in this? Descendants of Lottie and Ellen Tapscott (according to the attached trees) show up in some of the DNA matches I am studying. Nonexistent people cause terrible confusion, and I am certain that Lottie and Ellen are nonexistent. Please prove me wrong.

Austin Sweet Jr.

Austin Sweet Sr. (post of 9 Sep 2017) and his wife, Mary Ellen Johnson, had fourteen children. One of those, Richard Morgan Sweet, married Cora Isabelle Tapscott (post of 21 Nov 2016). Another, Austin Sweet Jr., was a protagonist in a tragic episode.

Austin Jr. received degrees from Westfield College and in 1898 from Northern Illinois Law School, Dixon, Illinois. After working for a year in Marshall for the law firm of Golden and Tibbs, he moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where he practiced law from 1899 to 1929, primarily defending criminals, even those who had little or no funds.

On 28 Aug 1901, in Hartsville, Indiana, Austin married Mary E. Beck. The marriage was brief. A 12 Oct 1904 newspaper article stated “Austin Sweet, who has instituted more divorce suits than any other local attorney, was defendant today in a divorce suit brought by his wife.” A Terre Haute divorce was granted the same day. There were no known children.

A little over two months later, on 22 Dec 1904, Austin married Goldie B. Fulghum in Terre Haute. The marriage was cut short by Goldie's 31 Jul 1907 death, but there was a child, Nina. Born 23 Oct 1906, Nina married Claude Lameer, and in 1927, was working as a stenographer in her father's Terre Haute law firm of Sweet and Edmonds.

On 6 Nov 1909 Austin was married for the third and final time, to Alma Elva Shook, in Marshall, Illinois, allowing the couple to “trot through life in double harness,” according to the Marshall Republican. The “harnessed” couple had two children, Dixon Holmes, born 5 Jul 1911,  and Ellen Jean, born 7 May 1914.

Things were going well for Alma and Austin, who was acquiring legal fame and fortune in Terre Haute, a fortune admittedly limited by Austin's policy of defending low-income individuals. But those halcyon days would soon end.

Big Raccoon Creek, spanned by Bridgeton Bridge (2001).

On Sunday, 7 Apr 1929, Austin, his son Dixon, and his office janitor, Howard Franklin, went fishing at Big Raccoon Creek in Parke County, Indiana. Unfortunately Austin had no Parke County fishing license and was spotted by game wardens. Sweet, known for argumentative outbursts, claimed that he had a permit, but the wardens found none. He then claimed he had not yet put his line in the water and was therefore innocent. Nevertheless, the wardens obtained a warrant and served it to Sweet in Terre Haute the following Thursday, 11 April. A member of the arresting party was Constable John Van Hook, with whom Sweet had been quarreling for years. The feud had undoubtedly increased in 1927 when Austin defended James Caldwell accused of murdering another Vigo County Constable, H. P. Dalton. (Particularly damaging to Van Hook's opinion of Austin was that Austin's law partner, William B. Edmonds, may have attempted to hide Caldwell from the law.)

Terre Haute Tribune,

Fri 12 Apr 1929

During the arrest at the office of Sweet and Edmonds, Van Hook exchanged heated words with Austin, pulled a gun, and shot Sweet once in the head. Austin died the same day. On 13 April a Vigo County grand jury presented Van Hook with an indictment, charging that on April 11 he did “unlawfully and feloniously, purposely and with premeditated malice kill and murder Austin Sweet by shooting with a gun then and there loaded with leaden ball, from the effects of which shooting Sweet died.” Investigation determined, in fact, that John Van Hook was a Deputy Constable with no legal status. He had been present at the attempted arrest of Austin Sweet only by invitation. On 26 Oct 1929 Van Hook was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to serve 2 to 21 years at the Michigan City state prison.

Indiana State Prison, Michigan City,

c1927 (Michigan City Public Library).

Van Hook's victim was laid to rest in Terre Haute’s Highland Lawn Cemetery. Alma, who married again (to J. Frank Meunier), lived another 43 years, dying 26 Sep 1972 in Brazil, Indiana. She also rests in Highland Lawn.

Austin Jr.'s three children have also passed on. Nina (Sweet) Lameer died 21 Dec 1997; Dixon Sweet, who never married, 3 Jan 1969; and Ellen Jean (Sweet) Moss, 1 Sep 2001. Only Ellen had children. One was named “Austin.”

Austin Sweet Sr.

In these blogs, we have often seen the name of Austin Sweet Sr., father of Richard Morgan Sweet, who married Cora Isabelle Tapscott of Clark County, Illinois. Austin Sr., was a veterinarian and farm owner. Here is a story about Austin and two of his grandchildren, Carrie and Mary (“Merrie”) Lowry as told by Mary in her book, The Merry Cricket.

From The Merry Cricket.

As one of the most sought-after veterinarians in the entire countryside, [Grampa Sweet's] practice often took him to some spot near our farm, always to our delight. However, as he had a large farm of his own to work when not out taking care of sick livestock, he could seldom stay long.

Jauntily climbing down from the half-cart, half-buggy in which he made his professional calls, he greeted us all cheerily and gave mother a warm embrace.

This day grampa was in more of a hurry than usual to get back to his farm. His bull, a huge and vicious animal that he kept on a chain in the barn, had been acting up that morning. He was the only one who could do anything with it.

Reluctant to see him go, we all walked out to the road with him. Then, just as he was about to slap his horse with the reins as a signal for it to start rambling off, he suddenly sat up straight, looked at Carrie and me, rubbed his chin thoughtfully and asked if Carrie and I couldn’t go home with him and stay over. We clamored so eagerly mother smilingly consented.

This was a treat, and to make it still more of a treat, grampa let Carrie take the reins and drive us. In truth, the horse knew the way better than Carrie. But he was an amiable animal. Knowing that grampa must have turned the reins over to one of us girls, and sensing that it might be fun to step lively, he picked up his feet and whisked us home smartly.

There were always things to look forward to at grampa’s. There would be wonderful things to eat which pretty Gramma Sweet would prepare especially to delight us. There were strange books to browse over in grampa’s cluttered little office, treatises on animal husbandry with fascinating pictures of sick cows and spavined horses.

And there would be things which grampa would think up for us to do which were always exciting, as the expedition on which he took us that night after dinner.

“Come girls,” he said, when it was dark, “you can help me, I think. This is a good night for it. There’s been a lot of rain lately and the ponds are swollen. Then he filled his lantern, lit it, found a big corn knife, winked at us conspiratorially, and told us to follow him.

We trotted to keep up with him as he walked briskly to a marshy pond not too far from the house. It was a noisy night: the frogs were making such a din we could hardly hear ourselves think. When grampa reached the spot where their croaking was loudest and most distinct he held his lantern down close to the edge of the pond, flicked his knife back and forth and picked up one fat bullfrog after the other, dropping them into our bags. The light blinded them, he explained, and made it easy to stun them with the flat of the blade.

Since it didn’t take long to bag all we could carry, we got back to the house in time for him to cut off the hind legs of the biggest and fattest frogs to gramma to skin and wash them before we went to bed.

A heaping plate full of these was given us the next morning for breakfast. Fried in fresh-churned butter, they were the most deliciously-flavored, finely-textured, white meat anyone had ever tasted.

Visiting England

A few days ago I received a phone call from a fourth cousin once removed. She and some other Tapscott descendants are planning a trip to Tapscott country in England and asked if I had some suggestions. Indeed I do, and I thought others might be interested.

I am going to first quote some paragraphs from my book Henry the Immigrant and then make some suggestions.

West Country

"In the autumn of 2002, to get a feel for our origins, my wife, Mary Frances, and I made a two-week trip to the Exmoor region—a large, rural, and isolated area of moor, forest, and farm. We stayed at a farmhouse inn on the outskirts of Selworthy, a Somerset hamlet of perhaps thirty souls and ten or so houses, most of them medieval, though extensively remodeled in the 1800s. A mile walk to the west was Allerford, a metropolis of fifty houses, or so it was claimed, though outlying farmhouses must have been included, and another mile led to Porlock, large enough to have two pubs and several restaurants, but no bank or ATM. Three miles in the other direction was Minehead, a sizeable town of 10,000, doubling in tourist season. Over a gorse-covered steep hill to the north of the inn, an hour’s climb allowed a view of Bristol Channel. To the south was the heart of Exmoor, which lies in both Devon and Somerset, though mainly in the latter."

"Selworthy looked exactly like the rural English hamlet one imagines as a child when reading Beatrix Potter or A. A. Milne—yellow, thatched-roof cottages, resembling Hobbit dwellings, surrounded by flower gardens and surmounted by large round chimneys. On the lawns were squirrels and pheasants, and the encircling grassy fields pastured sheep and horses. A hundred yards or so from our inn was a 14th-century tithe barn, and a few hundred yards further was the Church of All Saints, dating from the fifteenth century. At this parish church, Tapscotts were baptized, wed, and buried, starting at least as early as 1572 (the parish records only go to 1571). It is in Selworthy that we find some of the earliest Tapscotts recorded."

"I wish I could say that we found numerous stones and monuments with Tapscott names, but we did not, except at Minehead, where Tapscott markers in the St. Michaels Parish churchyard date from the late 1700s. The fact is that the Tapscotts originated more than 4½ centuries ago and most cemetery markers (assuming that they could have been afforded) do not last that long, or at least become totally unreadable. At the Somerset Studies Library, in Taunton, with the help of librarian David Bromwich, and from other sources, we did, however, find written records (or transcriptions) of Tapscotts who flourished around Exmoor in the 1500s, 1600s, and 1700s. The name then starts fading, particularly after 1850 or so, until today only three Tapscott households are found in all of Somerset and only fifty-eight,in all of England (based on phone listings)."

Now some suggestions

1. Before you go, read Lorna Doone to get a feel for the countryside. Most of the villages named in this fictional book were Tapscott places.
2. The early Tapscotts were all in the “West Country,” in the counties of Devon and Somerset. There is more than enough to see in those counties without going elsewhere in England. (Not that the rest of England is uninteresting.)
3. An automobile is essential. Much of the area is rural without good transportation. You can learn to drive on the left. I did.
4. Pick a place to stay for several days (or weeks) and then travel various destinations each day. A farmhouse B&B is best. Unfortunately that in Selworthy is no longer operating. A B&B in a small village is next best. In England, B&Bs are generally cheaper and have larger rooms than hotels. And you can get information from your hosts about history and geography of the area.
5.           You must see:
   ·     Selsworthy: Location of many early Tapscotts. The Periwinkle Tea Room (though not a Tapscott site) should not be missed. And of course the local church is a must.
   ·       Porlock: A Tapscott site with great pub food (pub food is generally best).
   ·       Minehead: A more recent Tapscott site with Tapscott gravestones at the church. It is the largest town in the area and it has ATMs. Most small villages do not.
   ·    Stoke Pero: Very remote location of the earliest recorded Tapscott and an ancient church.
   ·       Oare: Location of another remote church, attended by Tapscotts.
   ·       Exmoor: Great for hiking and sightseeing (wild ponies). No towns.
6. If you have time, the following towns, also occupied at one time or another by early Tapscotts are worthy of a visit: Stogumber, North Molten, High Ham, Bridgewater, Exeter, Culmstock. You can go to the Somerset Studies Library in Taunton and find lots of records with the Tapscott name, but Mary Frances and I did an extensive search when we were there and it is unlikely that anything new will appear. But who knows?
7. Finally, if you visit the the West Country around September or October, be certain to go to a harvest festival. These are usually organized by churches and give you a chance to meet the locals. Mary Frances and I went to one in a small hamlet whose name I forget, and got a lecture on cutting meat by the local butcher. Sounds boring, but it wasn't. We had an absolutely outstanding time. Perhaps it was the wine and beer.

Have fun

From a Branch to a Twig

An earlier blog (28 January 2016) noted that patrilineal (direct male) descendants of Henry Tapscott, The Immigrant, likely all belonged to R-Z8, my haplogroup and a branch on the Y-Chromosone phylogenetic tree. Further testing now shows that my sublclade (a smaller branch, “twig”?) is R-S18890 (also known as R1b1a1a2a1a1c2b2a1b1a1a2b2). Going from the very large branch of M343 to the twig at S18890, we have M343 > L389 > P297 > M269 > L23 > L51 > U106 > Z381 > Z301 > L48 > Z9 > Z30 > Z2 > Z7 > Z8 > Z338 > Z11 > Z341 > Z12 > Z8175 > FGC12057 > S18890, where green indicates positive tests (my verified branches) and brown indicates presumed positive tests (my presumed branches). R-S18890 is probably the haplogroup for all patrilineal descendants of Henry the Immigrant.

A few days ago I received a letter from Annie Barnes, wife of Harvey Barnes, informing me that Harvey, a product of Cornwall, England, also has the haplogroup R-S18890. It is highly likely that Harvey and we Tapscotts have a common patrilineal ancestor, possibly before family names were used, explaining the two different names, “Barnes” and “Tapscott”. And since Harvey and we are known to have matches with Family Group 5 of the Family Tree DNA Bolling Project (http://www.bolling.net/family-group/5), members of that group presumably also share a common ancestor with us.

At that point, I would have stopped since my major interest is in relatively recent history and I am no expert in ancient genealogy. But, it turns out that Annie Barnes is much more knowledgeable than I am in that area. She has published a very informative posting on the migration patterns for Haplogroup R-S18890 and their progenitors (http://www.hibbitt.org.uk/dna/y-dna-barnes.html) and though the posting is for Harvey, it probably applies equally well for patrilineal descendants of Henry the Immigrant. Read it. It’s a great piece of writing.

An Uncertain Life, Part 3

Elizabeth, widow of John Tapscott, and her new husband, Oliver York, soon found that they were being omitted in legal notices about sales of John’s estate. Oliver, Elizabeth, and William Tapscott, John’s brother and administrator, came to an agreement. At the June 1872 term of the Clark County court, agreeing not to press the lack of notification, “Elizabeth E. York & Alvin [Oliver?] York waive further process and enter this appearance being as fully as if they had been served with process two days before the present term of this court.” By 21 June 1872 notices of sales of John Tapscott’s estate included the phrase “subject to the widow’s dower.”

The term “widow’s dower” in William Tapscott’s newspaper notices last appears in a 23 Oct 1873 announcement in the Marshall Weekly Messenger. Then Elizabeth and Oliver York disappear, never to be seen again. What happened to them? Nobody knows, or at least are not saying.

Administration of John Tapscott’s estate drug on for years, and William was under continuous legal harassment for not settling debts. Finally, in Dec 1891, over two decades after John’s death, William “Tabscott” issued a final report, showing $670.24 received from estate sales and 732.88 paid out, including $125.40 going to John’s widow. John had left a burden, not a benefit. The final report included William’s comment

“The undersigned states that he believes the foregoing report to be accurate but that he believes that he has been for a number of years unable to find the papers in said court concerning said estate … and that this report or one due in this case would have been made years ago but for the absence of said papers, which he hopes to be able to get but can not.

An Uncertain Life, Part 2

We left our last post with the death of John Tapscott. On 2 Nov 1871 in Clark County his widow, Elizabeth, married Oliver York. Oliver was born around 1834 or 1835 in Kentucky to John and Drusilla York. On 23 Sep 1830, John York had made bond to marry Drusilla Black in Bracken County, Kentucky. During the 1840s (based largely on children’s ages) John, Drusilla, and their four children (Melvina, Aven, Oliver, and Amanda) arrived in Clark County, Illinois, from Kentucky. (Around the time that John Tapscott's parents had made a similar trip.)

Trees Referencing Trees

We know relatively little of John, Drusilla, and their family. But that is not one sees when looking at family trees on Ancestry.com. Seldom has one seen such ridiculous, scandalously undocumented, and laughable trees. Drusilla Black has become “Drusilla Eveningstar” (in one case, a native American, “Druscilla Princess Eveningstar”); John, who is sometimes from Ulster, New York, marries Drusilla in Clark County, Illinois, even though their children are all born in Kentucky; and their son Aven is morphed into Aven Hall York, who just happened to have the same first name, but the wrong birth date, birthplace, and residence. Of course, the only sources for most of the posted information are other trees. Trees referencing trees. Well, enough polemics.

John Tapscott’s brother, William, took over administration of John’s estate, which was much more difficult that William expected. For two years he tried to settle debts, but failed to do so. Then on 17 May 1872 he published a notice in the Marshall Herald announcing an 18 Jun 1872 court hearing to sell two 40-acre plots of John’s land “or as much thereof as shall be necessary to pay debts against the estate of said John Tapscott. deceased.” Summoned to appear in court were most of John’s living siblings and the children of those deceased, along with husbands in the case of women (sorry, that’s the way things were). Named were

(1) Thomas Tapscott

(2) orphaned children of Jacob Tapscott

Lavina, Andrew, Margaret. Ann

(3) Sarah Ann (Tapscott) Sanders, William Sanders

(4) Frances (Tapscott) Lockard, Samuel Lockard

(5) Lydia (Tapscott) Cardell, William Cardell

(6) Major Tapscott

But some siblings were missing. William, of course, since he was the person arranging the court action, but also James W. Tapscott, Nancy (Tapscott) Siverly, Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer, and Samuel Tapscott. James may have been deceased by the time the notice was published. His death date is uncertain. But the others were certainly living. Were there separations within the family? Later in life Elizabeth exhibited a rather free spirited lifestyle that could cause familial problems (see Enigmatic Sweitzers, 29 May 2016, 30 May 2016) but the court action notice was published before her nonconformist activities. Of Samuel, there is no doubt. He was  a bounder (posting of 25 Jun 2015). If not rejected from family activities he surely should have been. And Nancy? Other than indications of a low economic position and her husband’s illiteracy, probably because he was German-born, there seems to be nothing to set the Siverlys apart. But, of course, family feelings could not legally eliminate heirs. And there was another missing heir—John’s widow.

We will look at that with our next posting.

An Uncertain Life, Part 1

I am still working on the Clark County, Illinois, Tapscotts, having just finished the life of Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott’s oldest child, William. We know a lot about William, his wife Mary Angeline Wallace, and his 960 known descendants (with 674 known spouses). We cannot say the same about his brother John.

The life of Henry and Susan’s second son, John Tapscott, is largely uncertain. We know almost nothing about his wife, who appears from nowhere and then disappears. He had no children, who could have served as a source of information. Extant Clark County Newspapers are almost nonexistent for the latter half of 1870, when John is believed to have died. Death records were not mandated in Illinois until 1877. And his grave marker is so worn that transcriptions are suspect.

John’s badly eroded marker (2014).

Census data indicate that John was born between 1827 and 1829 in, as expected, Kentucky, presumably, Green County. Since John’s Auburn Cemetery grave marker gives his age and date of death, one should be able to calculate a birth date. But two transcriptions of the badly eroded stone, one by your author, give death dates that cannot be correct, 23 May 1850 and 28 Aug 1850. Since probate records show that letters of administration were issued to John’s brother William on 2 Sep 1870, and since John appears in the 1870 Anderson Twp census, the year is certainly 1870 rather than 1850 and August is the more likely month. Accordingly, John’s death date is hesitantly taken as 28 Aug 1870. His age at death is also uncertain. Two grave marker transcriptions give slightly different ages — 41y 2m 14d and 41y 2m 12d, but the major problem is that the number of years, though agreeing in the two transcriptions, is suspect. The latter age allows calculation of a birth date of 16 Jun 1829, in reasonable accordance with ranges calculated from census data, but still questionable.

John took up farming with much of his eventual 160 acres of Anderson Twp land originally belonging to his father. On 15 Apr 1858 in Clark County he married Elizabeth E. Canady, whose middle initial is found only in John’s probate records.

Elizabeth is even more obscure. Born between 1829 and 1832 in Ohio, her parentage is unknown. A number of Canady families lived in 19-century Clark County, but none appear to fit the bill. In 1850 an Elizabeth “Canaday” born in Ohio was living in Darwin Twp. Right location and date to meet John Tapscott and right birthplace, but with a clearly written age of 6 on the census, she cannot be our Elizabeth, unless, of course, the census enumerator made an error. Unfortunately the Canadays disappear from Clark County.

As we have already seen, John died 28 Aug 1870 (or so) at the very young age of 41 (or so) and was interred in Auburn Cemetery. But neither the story nor the mysteries end there, as we will see in a future post.

Emma Pearl Sweet

An earlier posting—Thursday, November 12, 2015—mentions the 8 Jul 1922 death of Wabash Valley Tapscott Emma Pearl (Sweet) Waymire, owing to the collision of an automobile with Emma’s horse-drawn buggy.

Emma Pearl Sweet was one of Richard Morgan Sweet and Cora Isabelle Tapscott’s fourteen childen (posting, Monday, November 21, 2016). Born 12 Oct 1892, Emma married Benjamin Harrison (“Ben”) Waymire, a Chrisman, Illinois, farmer on 5 Mar 1912. At this point someone is going to point out that the Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths index states that Emma was born 12 Oct 1890 and that Ben Waymire’s obituary states that he and Emma were married in 1916. Indeed they do, and they are both wrong.

Photo courtesy of Robert L. Maxwell.

Emma led a short and sometimes tragic life. Before she died at age 29 in that violent automobile/buggy accident, Emma had seen the loss of two of her three children. Her first-born (28 Nov 1913) child, Harold Benjamin Waymire, died at age 2. Her other son, John Morgan Waymire, died 26 Feb 1922, after living only three days and dying the same year his mother met her tragic end.

A marker in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Martinsville Township, is inscribed with the names of Emma, her husband Ben Waymire, and children Harold and John. Despite the marker, however, Benjamin is not buried with Emma. He is interred with his second wife, Mary (Combs) in the Marshall, Illinois, City Cemetery. The others on the Waymire marker—Emma, Harold, and John—do, however, rest in Mount Pleasant.

Emma and Ben’s third child, Sarah Helen, lived much longer than her siblings. Born 8 Dec 1919, and raised after her mother's death by her grandparents, Sarah reached age 78, passing away 23 Feb 1998. But she almost didn’t make it. She had been in the buggy with her mother when it was struck by the automobile.

Wright Family Gathering

In 2002 a c1922 photo of a collection of individuals including some Tapscotts was loaned to me for scanning by my cousin Dolores (Tingley) Berbaum (daughter of Nellie (Tapscott) Tingley). On Monday, August 29, 2016, I posted the photo, which I labeled “Tapscott Family Gathering,” and attempted to identify some of those present. The posting was only partially correct. The date was indeed 1922 and some Tapscotts are present, but it was brought to my attention by Gail Ann (Reed) Schenck that the gathering was probably initiated by or for Nicholas Reed and his wife Mary Malinda (also “Melinda”) Wright (daughter of Rev Richard Wright, see post of 17 Aug 2017), likely at their home in Auburn Twp, Clark County. Since it now appears that all were Wright descendants or their spouses, I have chosen to label the photo "Wright Family Gathering" Gail believes the purpose may have been to celebrate Mary Malinda and Nick Reed's wedding anniversary.

Since Mary Malinda was the aunt of Edna Earl Wright, who married John Wesley Tapscott, Tapscotts are found in the photo. And since Mary Malinda’s first husband (who died very young, aged 31) was Eli Sylvester Shade, Shades also attended. And, of course, Reeds, who may have hosted the gathering, are there since Mary Melinda's second marriage was with Nicholas Reed. Gail (great granddaughter of Nicholas and Mary Malinda), Patrick (“Pat”) Shade (great grandson of Eli Sylvester and Mary Malinda), and I (grandson of John Wesley and Edna) have identified individuals in the photo about whom we have some certainty and the results are shown below. The earlier, inaccurate, and incomplete posting has been removed.

Wright family gathering, autumn 1922. Where possible, numbers are placed on the person designated. Otherwise, the number is placed immediately above that person. 1. Glenn Daniel Tapscott, 2. Lillie Alice Tapscott, 3. Alta Leona (Tapscott) Hiddle, 4. Edmund Hiddle Jr., 5. Edna Earl (Wright) Tapscott, 6. John Wesley Tapscott, 7. Nicholas Reed, 8. Mary Malinda (Wright) Reed, 9. Lee Arthur Reed, 10. Irene (Leggett) Reed, 11. Clark Nicholas (“Nick”) Reed, 12. Jean Arthur Reed, 13. Agnes Maurine Reed, 14. William Hartford  (“Cap”) Shade, 15. Mariah Mae (Hurst) Shade, 16. Edna’s mother Elizabeth J. (Lowry) Wright, 17. Clifford Lloyd Tapscott, 18. Elizabeth Shade, 19. Burns (“Pat”) Shade, 20. Robert Dean Shade, 21. Sylvester Shade, 22. Anna Mae (Reed) Veach, 23. Ernest Eugene Shade.

Connection between people identified in the photo (in red). Many family members have been omitted.

The photo may have been widely distributed when it was made. Copies have been found in possession of members of the Reed, Shade, and Tapscott families. In 1978, Nellie (Tapscott) Tingley, a daughter of John Wesley and Edna (Wright) Tingley (and my aunt), sent a letter to Sylvester Shade, who appears in the photo. The letter, made available by Pat Shade, mentions the photo:

I also have one of the pictures of the reunion at Uncle Nick Reed's. I wasn't there, but Mother and Father, my oldest sister Alta and her husband Edmund Hiddle, Lillie Kuhn, who was a Tapscott then, Glenn and Lloyd were there in the picture.

Thanks to Gail for bringing the connection to the Reeds to my attention and to both Pat and Gail for helping research this photo. Thanks to Pat's uncles Sylvester Shade, who made a list of everyone present with their photo location, and Edgar ("Ed") Shade, we now have identifications for most or all of the people in the photo. Since they are, indeed, all descendants of Rev. Richard Wright or spouses of those descendants, the photo with everyone identified is being put on a new blog site, the Wrights of the Wabash Valley (http://wabashvalleywrights.blogspot.com/), post of Wednesday May 10, 2017.

The Potters of Clark County

On 15 Mar 1917 in Marshall, Walter Ernest Scott (son of Alexander Scott and Martha Ellen Robinson) and Ruby Lavona Mallory (daughter of William Luther Mallory and Emma Tapscott, a Wabash Valley Tapscott) were wed and therein lies an interesting story.

Martha Robinson was not the first wife of Walter’s father, Alexander. A little before 1850, Alexander Scott had arrived in Clark County from Ohio, a very young child, with his parents Jacob and Hettie (Brown) Scott. The family settled first in York Twp and then in Melrose Twp, near where Ohio Chapel Methodist Protestant Church would someday stand. Melrose became the Scott family homeland and Ohio Chapel, the Scott burial ground. The Scotts were among the families donating money and effort to the construction of the church, which was dedicated in 1892.

Sometime around 1868 (their first child was born in 1869), Alexander Scott married Sarah J. Condon, daughter of Henry Condon and Eliza Dixon. The Condons were unusual in that nearly all Clark County records and newspaper articles give their name and that of their descendants as “Cowden,” but many more records outside that county give the name “Condon.” The problem arose because county residents insisted on substituting “Cowden,” a well-known Clark County name, for “Condon,” which was almost unknown in the county.

Between 1866, when they were married in Muskingum County, Ohio, and 1870, when they were living in Anderson Twp, a new couple appeared in Clark County—Uriah Wilbur and Hester M. Stockdale and their son, William, along with Uriah’s parents, Enoch and Mary.

The Wilburs were members of an early family of Ohio potters, the beginnings of the renown 20-century Zanesville art potteries. Abundant clay, firewood, and a navigable tributary of the Ohio River made the Zanesville area perfect for pottery. The Wilbur potters were located in Putnam, Ohio, now part of Zanesville and one of the state’s oldest settlements. Pottery became known as “Putnam Currency,” and in 1827 Uriah’s grandfather, Thomas, developed a pottery with a capacity of 50,000 gallons. Those Wilburs who migrated to Clark County continued as potters, but the area had neither the resources or the market of Muskingum County.

On 19 Feb 1874 the first of several legal announcements appeared in the Marshall Weekly Messenger stating that a notice of “non-residence” of Sarah J. Scott had been filed by Alexander Scott and that unless Sarah showed up in court “on the second Monday of April 1874” to answer complaints a divorce decree would be filed. Sarah had run off – with potter Uriah Wilbur!

On 6 Jun 1874, presumably after the divorce was granted, Sarah and Uriah were married in Boone County, Iowa, where Sarah’s mother and father, Henry and Eliza Condon had moved a few years earlier. Sarah left her two children, Ella and Edward, behind with their father, Alexander. But Sarah soon had a new child, Henry Wilbur, whose birth in 1873 or 1874 may have resulted in Sarah’s demise. On 15 Jun 1876, Uriah was married a third time, in Pettis County, Missouri. to Estella A. Grant. Henry appears with his father, Uriah, and step mother “Stella,” in the 1880 census for Boonville, Missouri.

Like Sarah, Uriah had also abandoned offspring. His son William is found with his mother, Hester, his stepfather, William Jones, and his half-sister, Artie, in the 1880 census for Plymouth Twp in Richland County, Ohio. Hester had married the widowed William around 1876, a couple of years after her husband and Alexander Scott’s wife had “eloped.”

Confused? So am I. Perhaps this chart will help. Or perhaps it will only increase the haze.

Cemetery Data

Yesterday when researching the descendants of the Wabash Valley Tapscotts, I found listings for the same two people in two different cemeteries in both Find-A-Grave and the Illinois Genealogy Trails website for the county involved. In all likelihood there is an error.

I am not going to give the name of the county since people maintaining county genealogy websites are volunteers and their time is limited. But like most, though, not all cemetery listings maintained by county genealogical volunteers, the sources of the data were not provided. Thus, there was no way to determine reliability or where the error might be. There was no indication of whether the data source was death records, burial records, obituaries, marker transcriptions, anecdotes, newspaper articles, family trees, guesswork or (most likely) some combination of all of these. To genealogical society personnel, please, PLEASE, PLEASE provide sources for published cemetery data.

At this point I would like to congratulate the Clark County Genealogy Library in Marshall Illinois. They have a collection of cemetery listings for the county in booklets and these listings are, as far as I can tell, 100 percent verbatim transcriptions of cemetery markers. They may not be correct, but at least we know the source and can evaluate the reliability accordingly. If only others publishing cemetery listings would do the same.

As far as Find-A-Grave (FAG) is concerned, the site is a valuable tool. I use it all the time. But the posted data are, to be blunt, untrustworthy. When I first started doing family history research I assumed that the data posted by FAG on the internet came from cemetery marker inscriptions—Wrong, WRONG, WRONG! I often find serious errors, massive blunders posted on FAG. In some cases the data are at complete odds with the actual marker. It appears that anyone can submit “Virtual Cemetery” or “Memorial” data to FAG without providing reliable sources. FAG data are useful only if a photo of the grave marker is provided so that one can transcribe it themselves. Presumably, the photo is attached to the correct cemetery, though in one case I found it was not. I also tend to use attached obituaries if (and only if) the complete newspaper source is given. I never, NEVER, NEVER use FAG data except from photographed markers or well-referenced obituaries, and even then with a "grain of salt."

Enough of the polemics. And now back to researching the Tapscotts.

Tales of the South Pacific — The Bambridge Family

Tahitian cemetery markers. The stone at the back is for John
Bambridge. The marker is for Mary Ann, her daughter Florey,
and her mother Popua. Photo by Allegra Marshall (2016).

Mary Ann Tapscott, “Mere,” the only known child of John Tapscott and Popoua Taurami, was born 16 Dec 1867 on, it is claimed, Maiana, an atoll in the Gilbert Islands. She died in Pirae, Tahiti, French Polynesia on 28 Nov 1918. Mary Ann and her mother, Popoua, have identical death dates, likely due to the influenza epidemic. (Thanks to Allegra Marshall for suggesting this.) The two died the same month that the disease was introduced to Tahiti by the arrival of ailing passengers on the ship Navuna (Monique Layton, The New Arcadia: Tahiti's Cursed Myth). The pandemic is claimed to have killed one-seventh of Tahiti’s inhabitants.

On 5 Feb 1885 Mary Ann married John Maehaa Bambridge (20 Jun 1859-30 Aug 1898), one of 17 children of missionary Thomas Bambridge (1801-1879) and Tahitian wife, Maraea O'Connor (1817-1881). John’s first wife, Hamoura Roau, had died the year before leaving 4 children.

Mary Ann Tapscott and her children shortly after the death
 of her husband.  Bill, the future actor, is seated at the very
front. (FamilySearch).

John and Mary Ann and had nine children, one of whom, the last born, Florey Nui Bambridge (10 Oct 1898 – 10 Dec 1902), is buried with her parents. Another child, “Bill” Bambridge, born 18 Aug 1892 in Papeete, Tahiti, as William Moari'imaiterai Bambridge, was an actor and assistant director, with roles in the Oscar winning movies “Tabu: a Story of the South Seas” (1931) and “Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). A grandson, Ben Bambridge, had a role in the 1956 movie “The Tahitian,” and was a principal, though questionable, source for the tale of the “pirate” John Tapscott. A major painting by the French post impressionist Paul Gauguin portrayed Mary Ann’s sister-in-law Suzanne Teriimarama Bambridge.

Suzanne Bambridge by Paul Gauquin, 1891
(Wikimedia Commons).

In 2003 the extensive and well-known Bambridge family was the subject of a photographic exhibit, “De Londres a Tahiti - la Famille Bambridge et Allies,” in Papeete, the Tahitian capital of French Polynesia. The display combined photography with genealogy and history to describe the descendants of Thomas and Maraea with their European, Polynesian and Chinese bloodlines.

Descendants of John Maehaa Bambridge and wives
Mary Ann Tapscott and Hamoura Roau, at the Pirae,
Tahiti City Hall (Overblog, “Tahiti Passion,” 2006).

Tales of the South Pacific — The Pirate Tapscott

Marker for John Tapscott (Photo
courtesy of Allegra Marshall, 2016)

One of the Tapscott graves on Tahiti is that of John (said by some to have had the middle name “Novele”), who died 4 Apr 1902 at age 62 (born c1840). John reportedly married Popoua Taurami, a native of Maiana, an atoll in the Gilbert Islands. A marker for Popoua, who died 28 Nov 1918 at age 81 (born c1837), stands in the same family cemetery in which John rests.

John Tapscott’s origins are unknown, though he was likely British. European contact with Gilbert Islanders began as early as the 1500s with visits from whalers, slave traders, and merchants. In the late 1850s American missionaries came to the islands, followed by missionaries from London. The Gilberts became a British protectorate in 1892, and until 1979 were part of the United Kingdom.

Marker for Popoua Taurami (Photo
courtesy of Allegra Marshall, 2016).

Perhaps John arrived as a missionary. But some descendants believe that he was anything but. It is claimed he kidnapped Popoua, with even further misadventures.

In his book Return to Paradise (Random House, 1951) the American author James A. Michener stated that Tapscott was an “English pirate, ... a hell-raising renegade who abducted a wife from the cannibal islands.” It was the Fijis, rather than the Gilberts, that were once given the designation “cannibal islands,” but Michener, who usually wrote fiction based on history, often changed details in the stories he encountered. And where did he get the story? According to Sam Zebba in his book Aspects of My Life (iUniverse, 2013), Ben Bambridge, a resident of Tahiti and John Tapscott’s great grandson, told Michener about his ancestor being a kidnapper and a pirate.

Was John Tapscott a pirate? Probably not. He appears in no contemporary newspaper articles, which did report other Pacific pirates of the period. But who knows?