Draft Book Section - Major Josiah Tapscott

I'm now working on Major Tapscott, next to last of the 12 children of Henry the Traveler and Susan Bass. Here is what I have written about Major. Major's descendants come next. Complaints, contributions, interesting stories, etc. appreciated. See previous post.

Where his first name originated is anybody’s guess, but, Major’s middle name may have come from his presumed grandfather, Josiah Bass. Major’s death certificate gives his date of birth as 23 Mar 1848, in agreement with the date of Mar 1848 given in the 1900 census. Most other census data, however, indicate a birth year of around 1845 or 1846. Might he have knocked a year or two off his age as he grew older?

Sarah (Dinsmore) Tapscott. (Contribution
of LeAnna and Meredith McGuire)

In his younger years, he was always called “Major,” but later on he used the name “Josiah.” Major was born in Illinois, presumably in Clark Co, likely in Darwin Twp where he was living with his parents in 1850 but he and his progeny spent most of their lives in Indiana. Major had moved to Indiana by 1870, when he was working as a farmhand in White River Twp, Johnson Co, just south of Indianapolis, for John Presser, a rather well-to-do farmer. It was in that county that, on 6 Oct 1874, Major “Tabscott” married Fanny Dinsmore.

Sarah Fanny Dinsmore was born 6 Aug 1858 in Boone Co, Indiana, to John and Jane (Holder) Dinsmore, an Iowa and Indiana farm family with at least six children. Sarah and Major lived most or all of their married life in Hendricks Co, Indiana, where they raised three boys, Paul, George, and Allen, while Major worked in assorted jobs—farmhand, laborer, school janitor. Some claim that a fourth child, a daughter, Maude, was born and died on 19 Nov 1875, but no reliable evidence has been provided. It is certainly possible, however, since the first documented child, Paul, was born almost six years after Major and Sarah were married.

Major passed away 29 Feb 1916 at the Protestant Deaconess Hospital in Indianapolis. Sarah died 8 Mar 1928 at the home of her son Allen in Indianapolis. The couple were laid to rest in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, Lizton, Indiana, though no markers are found.