Fauquier County Tapscotts - Telem's Estate

When Telem Plato died in 1863, he left a considerable estate—considerable considering the time and circumstances. He was, after all, the son of an enslaved coachman and Virginia was on the verge of rebellion, with plans to put Yankees and black people in their place.

The personal property inventory (household goods and furniture, farm implements, livestock) ran to four pages and its sale brought $974.12. According to the record of the 17 Mar 1866 estate sale, purchasers included Robt Plato, Ann V. Plato, Telem Plato, Mack Plato, Elisabeth Plato, and Nancy Plato. The Coachman’s grandchildren had taken, or been given, the surname “Plato,” at least for a while, though they would soon go back to “Tapscott.”

Combined with cash on hand of $11.00, the sale proceeds showed a value of $985.12 ($18,109 in 2022 dollars) for Telem Plato’s estate, excluding real estate. And Telem did have real estate, valued at $200 in 1860, which was presumably passed down to his children.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 3

The eldest of Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer’s six children was John W. Sweitzer, born 9 Sep 1861, and married in Clark County to Leora Savoree on 29 May 1890. Leora died in or near the village of Snyder (Hatton) in Darwin Twp, Clark Co, Illinois, on 17 Jun 1897. Two years later, on Thursday, 23 Nov 1899, an article appeared in the Clark County Herald:

SHOT HIS OWN CHILD.

John Switzer sends a Bullet, Intended for Harry Shipley, Into His Child's Temple.

Several years ago J. W. Shipley married a daughter of L. D. Robinson of Parker township, the wealthiest farmer in Clark county, who died but a short time ago. They settled on a farm close by Walnut Prairie and after a few years Shipley died. Some time after, the widow married John Switzer, a young fellow of the neighborhood. He was a widower with one child. This was about two years ago. They lived on the wife's farm for a few months, when she became tired of him and drove him off, but still kept his child. About that time Harry Shipley, a brother of her first husband, came home from the West, and he took charge of Mrs. Switzer's business, making his home on the farm. Switzer made several attempts to oust Shipley and resume marital relations with his wife, but failed. He became desperately jealous and angered and sought revenge. Last Thursday Shipley, Mrs. Switzer and the little boy came to Marshall. They started for home in the evening and along by the Daniel Prust farm Switzer waylaid them. He stepped out in the road, caught the horse by the bridle and, after cursing and denouncing Shipley fired three times at him. Two balls went wide, but the third struck the little boy in the foreheat, inflicting what was at first thought a fatal wound. Shipley sprang out of the buggy and attacked Switzer, but was knocked down and badly beaten over the head with the revolver by the latter. Switzer finally released him and went his way while Shipley and Mrs. Switzer hurried on with the little child, whom they feared was dying. The wound proved not to be serious, however, the ball glancing on the skull and inflicting merely a flesh wound. We heard directly from him yesterday noon and he was mending rapidly

Sheriff Hurst and States Attorney Scholfield went down to West Union the next day and Switzer was arrested. He waived examination and was committed to jail in default of $800 bail. The charge against him is assault with intent to commit murder.

John actually had three children, Everett, Ethel, and Charles. Moreover, John and Malinda were married only a little over a year earlier. And the person that married L. D. Robinson's daughter was F. K., not J. W., Shipley. But the remainder of the story appears to be correct. Four months later, on 15 Mar 1900, the Herald published a follow-up article:

John W. Sweitzer of West Union, who attempted, on the evening of Nov. 17th last, to kill Harry Shipley, Brother of wife's first husband, and shot his own child instead, was indicted by the grand jury last week on the charge of assault to murder, and also for carrying a concealed weapon. By agreement he plead guilty to the latter charge and was fined $50. he also plead guilty to the charge of assault with a deadly weapon and was fined $200, and was to stand committed to jail until the two fines and the costs were paid. And to make matters still harder for him his wife secured a divorce last week.

John W Sweitzer! And, what is the whole story? The tale has proven to be incredibly complex and the research, time consuming. But the end result is absolutely fascinating. As you will see in future blogs.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers, Chapter 2

Our last post reported that the Darwin Twp neighbors Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer and Timothy A. Harmon traveled 200 miles to the tiny hamlet of Markle, Indiana, for their 8 Mar 1887 marriage and we asked “Why”? And how could two of Timothy’s daughters, who came along, meet their future mates and marry them in such short order?

But there is a much greater mystery. Just a little over four months after his second marriage, Timothy was married a third time, on 20 Jul 1887, in Sodus Twp, Berrien County, Michigan, 140 miles north of Markle. The bride was Mary E. (McGoldrick) Adair Sink, a widow who had outlived two previous husbands.

How in the world could Timothy have dissolved his marriage to Elizabeth, traveled to Berrien County, and met, wooed, and married Mary in just four months? And why would he have done so? Timothy’s father, George, had died in Tuscarawas County in 1836 and his widowed mother and at least four of her children had ended up in Berrien County. Moreover Mary McGoldrick’s second husband was Henry Sink, one of the Tuscarawas County Sinks. But these connections do not explain the rapid failure of Timothy and Elizabeth’s marriage and the rapid completion of Timothy’s following marriage.

You might ask, is there any possibility that we have somehow mixed different Timothys and Elizabeths? The answer is “No.” The evidence is irrefutable (see figure).

Part of the "irrefutable proof" is that the Huntington County marriage record correctly gives Timothy's parents as "Geo." and

"Elizabeth Thomas" and Elizabeth's parents as "Henry Tabscott" and "Susan Bass." Moreover, Elizabeth's name from her first

marriage is given as "Switzer."

By 1900 Elizabeth, still bearing the name “Sweitzer,” but listed as a widow, was back in Clark County living in York Twp with her 26-year-old son Lyman, and residing next door to her son John W. Sweitzer. We last see Elizabeth in the 1910 census, still living with Lyman, but now in the town of Marshall. Then Elizabeth disappears.

Many people claim that Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer Harmon died in Cook County, Illinois, on 23 Aug 1927, a date found in twenty-five trees on Ancestry. Wrong Elizabeth Sweitzer. That was Elizabeth born 9 May 1860 and wife of Gerhart Sweitzer as a little investigation shows. Our Elizabeth likely died in Clark Co between the dates of the 1910 and 1920 census.

But our story does not end there. On 4 May 1892, the Clark County Herald published a list of the proceedings of the April 1892 court. Among the cases in the Chancery court was the following:

Elizabeth Sweitzer vs. Geo. Sweitzer, divorce; defendant defaults d. Decree pro confesso. Divorce granted complainant, who pays costs.

Is this our Elizabeth and George Sweitzer? It would seem so. I can find no other couple with those names who could have been living in Clark County at the time. But that would mean that George was still living and he and Elizabeth were still married at the time of Elizabeth’s marriage to Timothy Harmon five years earlier. That would certainly explain why the marriage was so short. It was illegal.

The term “Decree pro confesso” in the newspaper report meant that the defendant, George, made no answer to the bill and its allegation was therefore taken "as confessed." Of course, were George deceased at the time, he would have been unable to answer the bill, but, in this case there would have been no divorce granted. And at the time he was not deceased, as it turns out. From the Clark County Herald, 22 Nov 1900 is George's death announcement:

Walnut Prairie

Geo. Switzer, an aged man living one mile north of this place, died very suddenly last Thursday night [15 Nov]. He had been quite poorly for several weeks, but his friends did not realize that the close of his days was so near. He left a wife, four sons and one daughter to mourn the death of a loving husband and father.

The announcement fits George to a t. About seventy years old, he was "aged." Just north of Walnut Prairie is Darwin Twp, where George resided most of his adult life. And he had four sons and one daughter (eliminating "Allice," who is believed to have died young).

But our Sweitzer story has more mysteries and intrigues, one involving Elizabeth (Tapscott) Sweitzer’s son John W., the subject of our next blog.

The Enigmatic Sweitzers - Chapter 1

Born in July 1844, Elizabeth Tapscott was the youngest girl among Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott’s twelve known children. And she and her descendants present the most confusing conundrums and startling stories found for the Wabash Valley Tapscotts.

On 28 Oct 1858 in Clark County at age fourteen Elizabeth married George A. Sweitzer (“Switzer” in the marriage record), who was twice her age. The marriage may have been legal. Illinois law at the time stated "All male persons over the age of 17 years, and females over the age of 14 years, may contract and be joined in marriage; Provided, in all cases where either party is a minor, the consent of parents or guardians be first had..." On the other hand, the marriage record shows no indication of parental consent.

Born around 1829 in Ohio, to John and Elizabeth (Boyer) Switzer, George Sweitzer’ had grown up in Darwin Township, where Henry Tapscott and his family first settled. George’s family had arrived in Clark County around 1840, about the time that Henry Tapscott had arrived from Kentucky (via Indiana). George may have first met Elizabeth Tapscott when he was well into his teens and she was but a small child. George’s father had been born in Germany, and the family name, originally Schweitzer (“Swiss”), became “Sweitzer” and “Switzer” in America. Both Anglicized versions, often for the same person, are found in Clark County records for John’s descendants.

George and Elizabeth had six children, though one, Allice (yes, that is the spelling in the only known contemporary record) may have died young. After living for a while in Anderson Twp, the Sweitzers moved back to Darwin Twp, where George farmed.

In that same township lived the family of Timothy A. Harmon (sometimes “Harman”) and his wife, Julia Ann Sink. The family, which is said in the obituary of one of their daughters to have had sixteen children (though only nine are known), had moved from Ohio, to Indiana, and finally to Clark County, Illinois. It was there that Julia died on 12 Jul 1883, leaving behind Timothy and several, mostly grown children.

It would appear that George Sweitzer also passed on, for Elizabeth and her widowed neighbor Timothy moved to Markle, Indiana, a small village on the Wabash River, in both Huntington and Wells counties. The couple was married in Huntington County on 8 Mar 1887, with much older Timothy (born Jan 1826) knocking six years off his age in the record, either to fool Elizabeth or just onlookers. Timothy’s two youngest children accompanied (or joined) them and were also married in that area, Matilda T. Harmon to John H. Sink in Wells County in 1887 and Melissa Harmon to William H. Maddux in Huntington County on 18 May 1889. At least two of Timothy’s other children—George H. and Eliza Armenda—remained behind to live out their lives in Clark County, Illinois. Whether any of Elizabeth’s children came along is uncertain, but since Lyman was in his middle teens it seems likely.

Why did Timothy and Elizabeth move to the tiny town of Markle to get married? Markle was almost across the state of Indiana from Clark County. Neither Elizabeth nor Timothy had known relatives there. But the parents (Benjamin and Rosanna) of John Sink, Matilda’s new husband, had been married (on 4 Jan 1841) in Tuscarawas Co, Ohio, where Julia and Timothy Harmon had once lived. The probable presence of some of Julia’s relatives, however, seems an unlikely reason to travel to Markle.

A greater mystery is how Timothy’s daughters who came along, could have met their future spouses and married them in such short order? But things get much, much stranger, as we will see in our next blog.

Chicanery

As I am reviewing my book, the second edition of Henry the Immigrant, stories come to light that I believe may be of interest to the readership. This is one of the tales.  Sources are given in my book.

Martin Shearman and his brother Ezekiel G. Shearman married sisters Alice and Elizabeth Tapscott, daughters of Capt. Henry Tapscott. Following his death in 1814, a new Martin, shyster and charlatan, came to light..

On 18 July 1814 Martin’s brother, Ezekiel G. Shearman Sr., entered into a bond for an astounding $15,000 to administer Martin’s estate. One of those securing the bond was Spencer George. The hefty sum caused Spencer to write in his 1823 will “in Case my estate Shall have to pay any Considerable amount for Ezekiel G. Shearman for my having become Security for Said Shearman that my Executor Shall make Sale of my Negroes.”

The inventory and appraisal of Martin Shearman’s estate on 25 October 1814 make apparent the reason for the large bond posted by Ezekiel. The extremely large estate (whose total value was not given) included twenty-seven slaves valued at a total of $5741, one-half ownership in the schooner Dispatch (appraised at $400), one-half ownership in the schooner Lancaster ($1500), $1529.21 in bonds, and $576.60 in cash. Over the next few months, the personal estate (except for the slaves) was sold, at prices often larger than the appraised value. On 8 November 1814 Nephew Ellis L. B. Tapscott bought half interest in the Dispatch for $499. On 20 March 1815 Charles Yerby used bonds to buy half the Lancaster for $2,035. Another estate sale was held 9 January 1818, with Ezekiel Shearman being a primary purchaser of several high-value items (gig and harness, $70.00; black horse, $30.00; sorrel horse, $40.00, 2 beds and furniture, $26.50 and $16.75, and other pieces). Ellis Tapscott bought a small mahogany desk, andirons, a chaffing dish, cotton cards, a tea pot, and a bed cover. The report of the 25 January 1819 estate settlement ran to two and one-half pages, with $5,567.68½ received.

How did Martin acquire twenty-seven slaves, half-interest in schooners, and large amounts in cash and bonds, not to mention extensive livestock, furnishings, and tools? It appears that much was obtained by chicanery. Reports on two cases before the Virginia Court of Appeals, in November 1827 and December 1838, provide the story.

Almost 80 years before Henry the Immigrant came to the New World, another boy named Henry made the same trip—Henry Fleet (or “Fleete“). Unlike Henry Tapscott, however, Fleet was high-born. His mother was a descendant of Sir Reginald Scott. His cousin, Francis Wyatt, with whom Henry Fleet made his voyage, came to America to be governor of Virginia. Henry Fleet, who would become the patriarch of an old and prestigious Lancaster County family, was one of the first two burgesses for the county, and the landmarks Fleets Bay, Fleets Island, and Fleets Bay Neck (where Henry the Immigrant lived with Alexander Swan) are his namesakes. In 1650, in consideration of his contributions, Henry Fleet (now Capt. Henry Fleet) obtained a land grant of 1750 acres along the Rappahannock River from Mosquito Creek down to Windmill Point, in the far southeast of Lancaster County. That land along with acreage from other grants to Capt. Fleet passed down by inheritance until much of it ended up in the hands of his great-grandson John Fleet Sr., husband of Mary (Edwards) Fleet (Lancaster County marriage bond 29 May 1746). John Sr. died around 1793 (will written 12 July 1792, proved 17 June 1793), making his oldest son, John Fleet Jr., his primary beneficiary. When his widow Mary wrote her own will on 28 November 1794 she made John Jr. her sole beneficiary, and when she died (will proved 16 September 1799), John Jr. ended up with a lot of property.

Martin Shearman knew the Fleets well. He and his father, Rawleigh, had lived near John Fleet Sr. Both families appear on tithables lists for the lower precinct of Christ Church Parish in 1777 (when John is shown with 1200 acres) and in 1782. Martin even witnessed Mary (Edward) Fleet’s will. And Martin became quite close to John Fleet Jr. On 7 February 1800 John Jr. wrote a will leaving his entire estate to Martin Shearman, who was also made executor and on 25 April 1800 he sold to Martin a six-hundred-acre tract in Lancaster County, ten slaves, twenty head of cattle, four horses, hogs, sheep, a variety of household furniture, and other items, for $5000, which Martin appears to have never paid. But why should he pay when he would soon get it all anyway? When John Fleet Jr. died (will proved 19 January 1801), much of the Fleet Family land and possessions ended up in the grasp of Martin Shearman, who was both the legatee and the executor.

Of course Fleet relatives were irate and took the matter to court. The potential heirs, led by R. C. Christian, either the husband or a descendant of Elizabeth (Fleet) Christian, sister of John Fleet Jr., claimed that John Jr. was incapable of making a will or of executing a sale of land and that both be deemed void. Martin, on the other hand, claimed that John Jr. was perfectly capable of making a contract and disposing of his property and had made him (Martin) beneficiary in consideration of his care-giving. Before the case was decided, Martin died and his brother Ezekiel G. Shearman, as Martin’s executor, became the defendant. Eventually a jury found that Fleet was not of sufficient capacity to dispose of his property, by deed or will, and that both documents were obtained by fraud. Unfortunately, by that time much of Fleet’s property, both real and personal, had gone to Martin Shearman’s heirs. And this caused no end of problems for Martin’s brother, but that is another story in Henry the Immigrant. John Fleet Jr.’s handicaps are never revealed.