Henry’s Children, the Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley

For a couple of years now I have been working on the book I first intended to write back in the year 2000, when I became involved with family history - Henry’s Children, The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley. That Henry, of course is Henry Tapscott, The Traveler (Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois), who with his wife Susan (Bass) Tapscott founded the Wabash Valley Tapscotts. But other books kept getting in the way, including Henry The Immigrant, the First Tapscotts of Virginia. Henry The Immigrant was, of course, Henry The Traveler’s great great grandfather.

Writing the book, which I hoped to have had finished by this time, is going slow, SLOW, SLOW, SLOW. The problem is the number of people, even though I am limiting it to the first five generations. In addition to Henry and Susan the book names 575 descendants through generation five (1206 going through all generations), 539 spouses for those descendants (9033 spouses for all descendants), plus parents (and sometimes siblings) for nearly all those spouses. And every once in a while I stumble onto a new descendant or spouse or parent of a spouse. And the book attempts a history of each of the individuals and their spouses through generation four (generation five individuals are usually just named).

 

A major gridlock are the Sanders, descendants of Sarah Ann Tapscott – lots of marriages and lots of kids. That is where I am now, about half way through the Sanders, who are half way through Henry’s descendants.

Right now the half-finished book has 2,623 source references (with nary an undocumented tree), plus a few footnotes, and 258 pages. I expect these numbers to double. Henry The Immigrant, the First Tapscotts of Virginia has 2415 sources (with only one tree, which is pointed out as having no sources and thus, questionable) and 497 pages.

I turned eighty-one this year. I hope I see the book completed. And if you are a Wabash Valley Tapscott, you should too, since I plan to distribute free, rather than sell, most of the copies.

1899

I’m still working on the descendants of Sarah Ann Tapscott, who married William M. Sanders. One of their children was Edward F. Sanders, who was born 22 Nov 1861, near Glenns Valley in Marion County, Indiana.

Edward’s story is intriguing, with most of the intrigues arising as a result of his first marriage, involving people other than Edward, and centered around the year 1899. It is said that Edward lived his entire life in Marion County, Indiana, where he was born. He did live most of his life there, but he lived a few years in rural Marshall, when his father moved there about 1877 after his mother, Sarah, had died. It was in Clark County that on 27 Dec 1887 he married Emma Lucy Tingley, the sister of Edward’s sister-in-law Alfaretta.

Emma and Edward’s marriage was short-lived. Around 23 Dec 1896 in Marshall, Emma was granted a divorce after Edward failed to appear for a hearing. He may have been back in Marion County, Indiana, where he would live most of the rest of his life.

And now we get to the intrigues.

On 8 Nov 1899 in Clark County, Emma married J. W. Smith. J. W. was  Jacob Warren Smith, a local homeopathic physician.  The doctor went by “J. W.” professionally, “Jacob W.” in his early life, and “J. Warren” in later years, making family history research difficult.

The year 1899 ended with Dr. Smith marrying Emma (Tingley) Sanders, but it began with being shot four times, later being tried in Kentucky for murder, and then being divorced from his first wife. What a year! The story was told by the Clark County Herald.

On 1 Jan 1887 in Clark County Jacob W. had married Rosanna (Ulery) Soward, the widow of Michael Soward. At the time J. W. was not a doctor, so Rosanna used the money she received from her late husband to send Smith through medical school. But Rosanna’s son Guy was not happy about his heritance being spent and he became increasingly angry at his step-dad. Then on New Year’s Eve, 31 Dec 1898 things came to a head. At his home in Martinsville, where he had his office at the time, Dr. Smith encountered Guy and the new year started with a bang. Five bangs in fact, as Guy emptied his revolver at his step-father. Dr. Smith was hit four times, in the hand, the arm, and twice in the back, but the injuries turned out to be minor.

Clark County Herald, 10 Aug 1899,

Guy was arrested. The Herald reported “Young Soward has been rather on the wild order for several years. It is related that he was very fond of riding his horse at breakneck speed when just outside the city limits, firing his revolver as he rode, cowboy fashion.” Eventually, Rosanna would also be indicted for attempted murder. The family situation forbad domesticity and Dr. Smith moved from Martinsville to Marshall, living at the Marshall House hotel and setting up his office first above Ferry's drug store and then over Beamer's grocery. Rosanna, threatened with a charge of attempted murder, developed a plan to turn the tables—transform the victim into an accused.

When Smith was a boy of sixteen, he had killed a seventeen-year old boy, Henry Craig, in Bath County, Kentucky. Though there are differing tales about how it occurred and what happened afterwards, it appears that, under indictment for murder, Smith left Kentucky, going to Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, and his original home in Seymour, Indiana, before ending up in Martinsville, where he met and married a well-to-do widow who paid for his education, Rosanna. Unfortunately Dr. Smith told his wife about what happened in Kentucky, providing Rosanna a way to distract her accusers. In August 1899 Rosanna traveled to Kentucky and told her story. But officials there were not eager to spend money traveling to Illinois to bring Smith back for trial. So Rosanna actually paid for their travel, twice since two trips were needed owing to a problem with the original warrant. On 9 Sept 1899, a warrant for Smith’s arrest was delivered to the Marshall sheriff, and Smith was conveyed to the city jail in Owingsville, Kentucky, the seat of Bath County.

In a nutshell, Smith was tried, beat the charges, and returned to Marshall, where both Roseanna and Guy had now been indicted for his attempted murder. On 7 Nov 1899, Guy Soward was allowed to enter a plea of guilty to the charge of assault and to that of carrying concealed weapons. He was fined $50 on the first charge and $25 on the second. It was at Dr. Smith's request that this leniency was shown. At the same court Dr. Smith was granted a divorce from Roseanna. Less than twenty-four hours later, he married Emma (Tingley) Sanders, apparently the woman with whom he had “conducted himself improperly” according to charges related by the Herald.