Malina Hedgeman Bailey

Malina (myCentralJersey.com)

I was saddened to hear of the death of Malina Hedgeman Bailey (Courier News, Somerville, New Jersey, Thu 10 Dec 2015). Although she lived most of her life in New Jersey, Malina was related to the Tapscotts of Buckingham County, Virginia, specifically the line originating from Thomas Cobbs Tapscott and Amanda Davis [post of 5 Jan 2013]. Others connected to this line, but only by marriage, not by blood, were entertainer Bill Cosby and Eugene Charles Allen, whose life (with poetic license) was portrayed in the Hollywood movie, “The Butler” [post of 15 Aug 2015]. 

Malina was the granddaughter of Sarah ("Sarah Ladaan"?), wife of George Thomas Tapscott Sr. I once thought that Malina was descended from Sarah's first marriage with Robert Hubard, but (thanks to Malina's daughter, Ora) I now believe that is not correct.  Robert reportedly died in Sep 1880, well before the birth of any of Sarah Ladaan's known children - Addison Wilmington, Nannie E., John A., Sarah Malina, and George Thomas Jr. DNA studies indicate that Sarah Malina, and presumably the other children, were probably offspring of George Thomas Tapscott.

Buckingham County, where Malina was born, was one of Virginia’s “burned counties.” In Feb 1869, the courthouse, containing virtually all of the county’s records since its 1761 founding, went up in flame and Buckingham county historians have been immersed in murky waters ever since. For some time I have corresponded with Malina’s daughter, Ora Bailey-Hill, a well-known educator, writer, social activist, and genealogist (with DNA interests). Ora has helped me immensely in lifting a little of the fog from the Buckingham County Tapscotts and their connections. And that is how I learned of Malina.

Thomas Cobbs Tapscott, Amanda Davis, and Bill Cosby

I just received the following note on Facebook from Robert J. Tapscott, Great Grandson of George Nicholas. and Ann Ethyl (Scruggs) Tapscott (and Great Grandnephew of Thomas Cobbs Tapscott)

re Black Tapscotts possible link in Buckingham: There was a black man named George Tapscott in Buckingham in the 1930s. A possible link might be Thomas C Tapscott, a brother of George Nick, who was never married but willed some land to a black woman and her offspring???

Since my comments are a little lengthy, I thought I would put them here.

Coleman and Samuel Cosby were children of
Zacharia and Louisa Crosby

Thomas Cobbs Tapscott founded a large line of mixed-race descendants. Never legally married, Thomas is believed to have fathered two children, Amanda Lee Davis and George Davis (who later adopted the name “George Thomas Tapscott” ), probably with Amanda Davis, a black cook living in nearby Maysville Township.  The two children, born around 1864, were living with Thomas (Amanda as a servant and Gorge as a farmhand) at the time of the 1880 census.  Thomas’s 9 November 1881 will left some land to “Amanda J. Davis,” probably the daughter rather than the mother.  Thomas’s grave, birth date 14 February 1814, death date 6 May 1882,  lies on or near his father George’s land on Rock Island Creek.  The plot contains a second stone with no markings.

Of particular interest is that Amanda, the daughter, married Enoch L. Parson. In 1900 she and her husband were living in Buckingham County, Virginia, and had taken in as a boarder her first cousin once removed, Napoleon Bonaparte Tapscott (grandson of George Tapscott Sr.). This possibly surprising connection helps verify Amanda's relationship to the Tapscott family.

Perhaps of even greater interest is that Amanda and Enoch's daughter Edna E. Parson married Coleman Vernon Cosby, great uncle of the well-known entertainer Dr. William Henry "Bill" Cosby (See Johni Cerny," From Maria to Bill Cosby: A Case Study in Tracing Black Slave Ancestry," National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol 75, No. 1, pp. 5-14.) Thus we Tapscotts are connected to Bill Cosby, but not by blood since Cosby is descended from Coleman Vernon's brother Samuel not from Vernon Coleman.

Some of this appears in the second edition of my book, perhaps I will include all of it.