Fauquier County Tapscotts - Henry C. Tapscott

 The subject of the last blog was Robert Francis and Lucy Tapscott’s first-born, Joseph Baker. Today it is their second oldest, Henry C.

Henry’s middle name is claimed to be “Carter,” but a reliable record showing this remains to be found. According to notes by his brother Beverly Alexander, Henry was born 1 Oct 1845, presumably in Clarke Co, VA, his parents' residence. On 17 Nov 1880 at the Baptist parsonage in Berryville, Clarke Co, Henry was married to Elizabeth F. Sowers, daughter of William B. C. and Lucy Sowers. Elizabeth Sowers was born September 1858 in Kansas, presumably in Douglas County, where her parents were living at the time, though records also give Elizabeth other birthplaces.

And why were Elizabeth’s parents, both natives of Virginia, in Kansas when Elizabeth was born? William B. C., whose middle name is said without evidence to be “Brodus Crawford,” and Lucy Bonham were married in Clarke Co 16 Sep 1850, and William, still living in Clarke County, was an exhibitor at the 1855 State Agricultural Fair. But the following year, “Wm. B. Sowers” appears in the 1856 census for Kansas Territory. In 1859 he appears in the Kansas census, this time specifically in Willow Springs Twp, Douglas County.

In 1830, The Indian Removal Act had set aside land now in Douglas County as Indian Territory. The U.S. government promised that these lands would be “secured and guaranteed… forever” to the tribes. But, of course, it was a falsehood. In 1854 the land was opened to non-indigenous settlement by the Kansas-Nebraska Act. New land was probably what attracted William to Kansas.

On 10 Aug 1860 William purchased approximately 160 acres, PLSS (Public Land Survey System) NE¼ S14 T15S R19E, in Douglas County from Reyes Maldonado, who had obtained the land owing to his military service as a teamster for the New Mexico Militia during the “Apache Indian Disturbances.” That same year W. B. Sowers and his family appear in the census for Willow Springs Twp, twice. But duplicate record entry was not the only error. In both records, the family name is given as “Jones.” The inclusion of Lucy and their three children (at the time), Clayton, “Lizzie,” and Robert, with ages corresponding to birthdates found in other records, leaves no doubt that the record is for William B. Sowers, father of Henry Tapscott’s wife. It seems strange that William was given the wrong name twice and one wonders if it had anything to do with the forced sale of his property at NE¼ S14 T15S R19E for nonpayment of 1858 taxes. Did he lie about his name, or was it an enumerator error?

William is last seen living in Willow Springs in 1863, when he registered for the Civil War draft. By 6 Nov 1866 he was back in Clarke Co, VA, where, listed as widowed, he married Catherine K. Turley. It is not unlikely that his first wife, Lucy, had died while they were in Kansas. William would marry one more time. Following the death of “Kate” on 21 Jan 1878, he married Julia Avery Lucius on 10 Feb 1880 in Loudoun County, VA. When William died in Clarke County on 20 Aug 1884, he was buried in Green Hill Cemetery in Berryville with his second wife, Catherine. The grave marker, which gives an erroneous death year for Catherine, includes an inscription for Albert Sowers, William’s brother.

Following their marriage, Henry and Elizabeth Tapscott lived in Clarke County until 10 Mar 1899, when Henry died of pneumonia, leaving Elizabeth with five children to care for. Neither her father, who had died in Clarke County on 20 Aug 1884, nor her stepmother Julia, who had died in Shepherdstown, WV, 30 Nov 1897, were around to help. She needed a place where the kids could find jobs, and the area near the little communities of Berryville and Millwood, where she lived in Clarke County, was not it. Elizabeth headed to Baltimore, MD, which had a dense chain of water‑ and steam‑powered textile mills. There, in 1900, she was living with all five children. (A sixth child, Herbert Tapscott, born around Jan 1887, had died near Millwood of typhoid fever on 26 Mar 1889.) Her oldest son, Henry K., found a job as a cotton weaver. Benjamin H. was a sweeper. And, at age ten, daughter Lillian was a doffer, a person (often a child in the 1800s) who removed full bobbins from spinning frames and replaced them with empty ones in a fabric mill. Elizabeth’s oldest child, Mary, had gotten married, and her husband, who lived in the household with his in-laws, worked as a cotton weaver. At age 5, Elizabeth’s youngest, Thomas M., was as yet too young to work, but would eventually work as a doffer. Child labor may have helped the family survive, but the resulting impact on the children's education coupled with their impecunious environment may have led to their unusual life stories.

By 1910, Elizabeth and her three sons were living in the small mill town of Laurel, MD, about twenty miles southwest of Baltimore. Laurel would become the family hometown. She was also living there in 1920, but then she vanishes, apparently having died.

About that time an obituary for Elizabeth Tapscott appeared in the 11 Aug 1921 edition of the Baltimore Sun newspaper. Elizabeth! Wife of the late Henry Tapscott! Died in Baltimore! She had to be Elizabeth Sowers. But she wasn’t. She was Elizabeth Jane Masdon, wife of Henry Tapscott Jr., grandnephew of Ezekiel Tapscott. There are a lot of trees out there stating that Elizabeth Sowers died in Baltimore on 9 Aug 1921. She didn’t as far as we know. We don’t know when or where she passed away, though the location was likely Laurel, MD.

In Ivy Hill Cemetery, Laurel, MD is a marker, without dates, for Elizabeth and three of her children: Mary, Benjamin, and Henry. Separate stones are found in the same cemetery for two other children of Henry and Elizabeth, Lillian and Thomas. Elizabeth’s husband Henry and their infant son, Herbert, both of whom died in Clarke County, are interred in Green Hill Cemetery, Berryville, VA, though no marker is found for Henry.

Several of the six children of Henry and Elizabeth led extremely interesting lives, but we face a major problem in researching those lives. Only one of the six, Lillian, is known to have had children. and her children had few descendants. The limited number of descendants means few family members were keeping track of their family history. Moreover, Elizabeth and her immediate descendants were destitute following Henry’s death. There was little money for obituaries and gravestones. All this leads to many uncertainties as we will see.

Do you know of any reputable source showing that Henry's middle name was "Carter" or that William's middle names were "Brodus Crawford"? Do you know a death date and/or death location for Elizabeth Sowers Tapscott or for Lucy Bonham Sowers with proof? Do you see obvious errors or stupidities? Contact me.

 

By the way, a family tree is neither proof nor a reputable source. Information provided by a very, very close relative (sibling, child, spouse, or, possibly, grandchild) might be.