Fauquier County Tapscotts - Elizabeth’s Children

Those I often term “Fauquier County [Virginia] Tapscotts” are not all descended from a male Tapscott. But they are all descendants of Elizabeth Percifull, either through her 1811 marriage to James E. Tapscott, son of Ezekiel, or through relationships with others, which produced children she named "Tapscott." Those not descended from James sometimes express disappointment since they feel they cannot claim Revolutionary War soldier ancestry.  (Ezekiel Tapscott was a Colonial soldier.) But that is not true. In fact all Fauquier County Tapscotts (or descendants thereof) are DAR- or SAR-eligible, for Elizabeth’s father, Elijah, was a Revolutionary War combatant. On 17 Jun 1779 Elijah signed an oath as an ensign (the lowest ranking military officer) in the Lancaster Militia.(1) The war would continue for well over two more years.

(1) John Hastings Gwathmey, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, 1775-1783, The Dietz Press, Richmond Virginia, 1938, p. 617.

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Robert Francis Tapscott, Revisited

Over the years this blog has often brought up the mystery of Robert Francis Tapscott (see, in particular, the posting of 26 Jul 2014). The second edition of my book Henry the Immigrant, the First Tapscotts of Virginia, contains the following page about Robert:

This information remains essentially correct (though the birth name of Lucy Frances Wood’s mother may have been “Kirk” rather than “Kirtley”). Until very recently, we were still searching for Robert Francis Tapscott's origins. But thanks to DNA we have the answer.

First, yDNA results for two male descendants of Robert Francis Tapscott show conclusively that Robert Francis was not a descendant of Henry Tapscott, the Immigrant, at least by an all-male line. The name “Tapscott” may have come from Robert Francis’s mother, but not his father. In fact, the DNA results provide extremely strong evidence that Robert’s father (or possibly his paternal grandfather, etc.) was named "Holder." Robert's male-line descendants show strikingly close matches to many males with the surname "Holder" — genetic distances as close as an exact match for 111 markers.

Second, four descendants of Robert Francis Tapscott show autosomal DNA matches to eight different descendants of Elizabeth Percifull (abt 1790 – abt 1855), daughter of Elijah Percifull of Lancaster County, Virginia. (See posts of 13 Jan 2015, 15 Jan 2013, 17 May 2013, 13 Mar 2014, 30 Mar 2014, 21 Jul 2016, 19 Oct 2016.) Moreover, several Fauquier Co Tapscotts, known descendants of Elizabeth Percifull, show autosomal DNA matches to other descendants of Robert Francis. And, finally, a descendant of Robert Frances Tapscott shows matches to the Percifull family of Lancaster County, Virginia.

Third, Robert Frances's 1843 Clarke Co, Virginia, wedding license gives his residence as Fauquier Co, a statement now verified by Fauquier Co property tax records in which Robert Tapscott appears in 1839 (when he had just turned 22) and in 1840. The 1840 tax record also shows Elizabeth "Tappscott."

Fourth, in 1834 Robert Tapscott, "child of Betty Tapscott" was indentured to Robert Gordon in Fauquier County to learn the trade of blacksmith. An 1842 Chancery Court case shows "Bob Tapscott" running the blacksmith shop of James McLearen in Warrenton, Fauquier Co. By 1850 our Robert Francis Tapscott was in Clarke County, Virginia, just north of Fauquier, working as a blacksmith. "Betty" is, of course, a name often used by those with the name "Elizabeth." 

                              What does all this mean?

Robert Frances Tapscott Marker, Old
Chapel Cemetery, Clarke Co, Virginia.

Elizabeth Percifull was the wife of James E. Tapscott, her only legal husband and a son of Ezekiel and grandson of Edney. Of particular importance is that Elizabeth and James lived in Fauquier County, Virginia, where, according to his marriage record, Robert Francis Tapscott had lived. James E. is known to have been deceased by 23 Jun 1817, but could have died as early as 1812. After James’s death Elizabeth continued to use her married name and bore several children out of wedlock, children who were given the name “Tapscott.” And a child, Telem, born prior to Elizabeth's marriage to James, also took the name "Tapscott." (Telem's descendants also show DNA matches to Robert Frances's descendants.) Elizabeth’s children born after James’s death, had birth dates between 1814 and 1828, encompassing that of Robert Francis, who was born in 1817. All in all, it is almost certain that Robert Francis Tapscott was a child of Elizabeth and a male by the name of “Holder,” several of whom were living in Fauquier County at the time. This would explain the DNA results.

Among the ten or so male Holders living in Fauquier Co at the time of Robert Francis's birth, one stands out as having the appropriate age - Taliaferro, who would have been 25 when Robert was born, and in later years was living in Turner's District, where many of Elizabeth's descendants were living. But we still need more DNA work to confirm this.

And we now know that in 1834 a Robert Tapscott, son of "Betty" (almost certainly Elizabeth) Tapscott, was living in Fauquier Co and was trained as a blacksmith, Robert Francis Tapscott's trade when he was a resident of Clarke Co.

We can make but one conclusion. We now have another line of "Fauquier County Tapscotts," the Robert Francis Tapscott line. See Fauquier Tapscott Lines .

Fauquier County Tapscotts - Pickles

I just heard from Gregory Tapscott, that Selby William Tapscott passed away Tuesday, 9 Jan 2018. Born 27 Jun 1930 to Samuel Selby and Daisy (Lofty) Tapscott, “Pickles” was the GGG grandson of James E. and Elizabeth (Percifull) Tapscott, and thus, the GGGG grandson of Ezekiel Tapscott.

With a deep interest in and love for friends and family, he was heavily involved in family history, which he enjoyed immensely. As the unofficial switchboard for Fauquier County Tapscott news, "Pickles" put himself in charge of distributing, receiving, compiling, and digesting items of interest to the family. In the words of Greg,

“One major family historian has gone on to be an ancestor.”

Fauquier County Tapscotts and DNA Testing, Once Again

Classical “paper-trail” genealogy is a challenge when researching the Tapscotts of Fauquier County, Virginia. Most were black or mixed-race descendants of slaves, without good records. And, there were often name changes and births outside of matrimony. Thus, only with the inclusion of unreliable family history and questionable conclusions, can classical methods indicate that some Fauquier County Tapscotts are descended from Henry the Immigrant. Of course, some Fauquier County residents bearing the name "Tapscott" were actually descendants of Elizabeth (Percifull) Tapscott by relationships with men other than descendants of Henry the Immigrant. This site has proposed the use of autosomal DNA to provide additional evidence of relationships between at least some Fauquier Co Tapscotts and Henry the Immigrant (see, e.g., Fauquier County Tapscotts; DNA Testing, Revisited; Once Again. Needed has been a DNA match between a descendent of the Fauquier County Tapscotts and a descendant of The Immigrant outside of the Fauquier County group.

We now have not one match, but two. Two separate individuals indicated by classical, though questionable, genealogical research to be descendants of Harriet Tapscott of Fauquier County, great granddaughter of Edney Tapscott, show autosomal DNA matches (one "moderate," one "good") with a descendant of Edney’s son Henry of Caswell County. Paper studies indicate that the matching individuals are 6^th cousins once removed. The DNA-predicted relationship for both is 5^th to 8^th cousin. To protect individual privacy, names are not being released.

    

Is all of this exact proof? Not exactly. The matching descendant of Henry of Caswell is 7 generations from Edney Tapscott, the common link. That person has 126 total parents and grandparents going back to Edney. The ancestral distance from Edney is even greater for the two Fauquier County subjects—8 generations, with 254 ancestors. Thus, there could be non-Tapscott connections between the individuals, though it isn’t likely since the Henry of Caswell line was located geographically far from Fauquier County. Due to the site containing the data and the small number of matches, chromosomal mapping and phasing, which could increase reliability, cannot yet be carried out.

Nevertheless, we can now say that autosomal DNA evidence indicates that some Fauquier County Tapscotts are descended from Edney Tapscott, presumably though his son Ezekiel, grandson James, and great granddaughter Harriet.

Fauquier County Tapscotts, once again

I recently received an email from a descendant of residents of Fauquier County, Virginia, having the name "Tapscott." The email noted that some Fauquier County Tapscotts had been tested and that other potential candidates would be contacted for testing. My response, slightly modified, may be of interest to others.

Remember that, because of female members of all reasonable descendancy lines, yDNA testing will almost certainly show no Tapscott matches for Fauquier County Tapscott descendants. Only autosomal testing has promise to show a genetic relationship between Fauquier County Tapscotts and James/Ezekiel Tapscott (members of the Edney line).

I have been autosomal tested on both Ancestry.com and FamilyTreeDNA. So far I have found no autosomal matches between myself and people originating in Fauquier County who show Tapscott names in their ancestry. This is true even though I have found several matches with non-Fauquier County Tapscott descendants on the Edney line, one going all the way back to the original Henry, eight generations! There are three possibilities: (1) Potential matches thus far are too far back with too few and too small identical DNA sequences showing up to be declared a match. (2) There is no genetic relationship between any Fauquier County Tapscott and the descendants of Henry the Immigrant (though I believe there is). (3) People undergoing testing are not providing information on their ancestry when they take their tests, something I discuss at the end of this email.

I suggest that if your cousins, etc. do autosomal testing through FamilyTreeDNA ("Family Finder"), they join the "Tapscott Project" hosted by FamilyTree. Joining a project costs nothing and can be done through the FamilyTreeDNA website. Joining the "Tapscott Project" allows me, as project administrator, to more easily check for matches.

I also suggest that if they test through Ancestry.com, they download their results to FamilyTreeDNA and then join the "Tapscott Project." The download is done through the Family Finder Transfer Program (see https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/imports/transfer-autosomal-ancestry/family-tree-dna-family-finder-transfer-program/). Unfortunately it does cost ($69 last time I checked), but the charge is worth it. Transfer not only allows joining a project, it greatly expanding the database of potential matches.

Whether they test through Ancestry or through FamilyTreeDNA, if people you are in contact with would send me the test name they used, I can easily check for matches. Some people use strange test names that have no relation with the submitter's actual name. I have no problem with your giving out my email address.

Unlike many of those tested, I use my actual name for my test results. The name for my Ancestry.com results is "Robert Tapscott" and for FamilyTreeDNA it's "Robert Edwin Tapscott." Thus, your contacts can quickly check for matches with me. (They should also search the name "Tapscott" in their match results.)

As a final note. It is absolutely essential that individuals undergoing testing include a ancestral tree (even if it is inaccurate) or at least (in the case of FamilyTreeDNA) a list of ancestral surnames (a list that includes "Tapscott," otherwise why be concerned with Tapscott matches?). Without a family tree or a list of descendants is is almost impossible to find Tapscott matches. If a person's tree is kept private or if there is no tree, they will not show up when I search for my Tapscott matches. When people make trees private they greatly hinder effective use of DNA testing. They might just as well save their money by not doing the testing. One of my major frustrations is people who for some reason or other feel that names of their fathers, mothers, grandfathers, etc. should be kept secret. Why? All it does is greatly reduce the potential for collaboration in family history research. My name is Robert Edwin Tapscott, my mother was Mary Emaline Imle and my father was Glenn Daniel Tapscott, and I don't care if the whole world knows it. Giving the names of ancestors is not equivalent to passing out social security or bank account numbers.

Fauquier County Tapscotts and DNA Testing

Today I received an email from a descendant of Cordelia Tapscott asking if she could get involved in DNA testing to show a connection with the Tapscotts possibly through testing with a male relative (e.g., a cousin). I wrote the following (slightly modified):

Thanks a lot for the offer. Unfortunately it appears to be almost (but not quite) impossible to use DNA to show relation between descendants of Ezekiel Tapscott, whose son James E. Tapscott was involved (somehow or other) in founding the Fauquier County Tapscotts, and descendants of Cordelia. The problem is that no matter how the descendancy occurred, any connection between you and a Tapscott involves a line with both males and females. A male descendant (a male Tapscott cousin for example) has the same problem. At some point there is a male/female break in the line so that it is neither paternal nor maternal and neither mtDNA nor yDNA testing can be used.  For the Fauquier County Tapscotts, there will always be a break (if our genealogical research is correct).

The only possibility to show your connection with Tapscotts would be with autosomal DNA and the results will not be easy to interpret since there will be many false negatives (due to large relationship distances) and many false or at least unimportant positives. Nevertheless, matches from autosomal tests could show something. For example, you and I are probably connected and could match with autosomal testing (which I have already had done through Ancestry.com). If we did match, it would be strong evidence that you are descended from Tapscotts. If we do not match (which is likely due to the distant relationship) nothing is proven. You may, therefore, wish to have Ancestry.com testing (which is only autosomal) done, though it is a gamble.

The mtDNA test, which you have had done, can be used to follow your maternal line, but this will not get to the Tapscotts, though it might be possible to get back to Elizabeth Percifull, wife of James E. Tapscott. One possibility would be to find living descendants of Elizabeth's sisters through female lines. It is quite likely that such descendants exist, but tracing and finding them would be exceedingly difficult. But a positive match between you and them would be very, very exciting.

I wish I could be more optimistic about proving a Tapscott connection for the Fauquier County Tapscotts using DNA.

Fauquier County Tapscotts

I was contacted yesterday by someone who believes she is a descendant of Harriet Tapscott of Fauquier County Virginia, and who also had an Ancestry.com autosomal DNA test done as did I. Unfortunately we have not yet been notified of a match. Nevertheless matches are still being made and perhaps something will show up. I wrote her the following.

There are two Fauquier County Tapscotts with similar names—Harriott and Harriet.

Harriott Tapscott was a sister of James E. Tapscott and a daughter of Ezekiel Tapscott and Hannah H. George of Lancaster County. Ezekiel Tapscott was my 5th-great uncle.

Harriet Tapscott (courtesy of Monica Samowar).

Harriet Tapscott, on the other hand, was the daughter of Elizabeth Percifull and likely also of James Tapscott and the granddaughter of Ezekiel.

Harriott was my first cousin five times removed. Harriet was my second cousin four times removed. Harriet was the niece of Harriot. A lot of people have confused the two, but I have extremely strong evidence that they were different people, evidence I'll be glad to post.

To a large extent, the descendants of Harriet and her mother Elizabeth Percifull populated Fauquier County with Tapscotts. This is probably accepted by everyone. Thus perhaps excepting some recent arrivals, the Fauquier County Tapscotts of mixed race are descended through mixed-gender lines. This means that only mtDNA or autosomal DNA tests can be used. We can pretty well rule out the use of yDNA (though we might get a surprise).

A larger problem is that any descendants of Elizabeth (Percifull) Tapscott who were not also descendants of her husband James have no known Tapscott gene connection. This is a problem because Elizabeth is known to have had descendants who were not fathered by James but who, in most cases, were given the surname "Tapscott." Before she married James, a Lancaster County court case showed that Elizabeth had two illegitimate white children, whose fate is unknown, fathered by Richard Cundiff. But of much greater importance here, Elizabeth is also believed to have had the following children of mixed race who ended up in Fauquier County—Telem, Catherine, William, Jackson, and Edmond Abraham, all of whom were given the last name "Tapscott."  In fact Harriett is likely the only child of both James and Elizabeth, who were married only a short time, six years or less. In court Elizabeth claimed that Harriet was a child of James and Harriet did receive land based on that claim. If that is true then Harriet's descendants through her children—Cordelia ("Delia") and Maria—should show autosomal DNA matches to Tapscotts related to Ezekiel. The problem is that Elizabeth may have been lying about Harriet in order for Harriet to obtain land from James's service during the War of 1812. (The whole land thing is still confusing.)

If we can find some autosomal matches between Fauquier County Tapscotts believed to be descendants of Harriet and Tapscotts related to Ezekiel of Lancaster County (I am presumably one) then we have evidence that Harriet was indeed James's daughter. I would very much like to see this happen. If we find no matches (after really trying) this indicates that Harriet was not a child of James (but also adds proof to Harriott and Harriet being separate people).

One other possibility is to look for mtDNA matches through female lines between Fauquier County Tapscotts and descendants of Elizabeth (Percifull) Tapscott's sisters, and there were a lot of them—at least seven, daughters of Elijah Perciful. A match would lend weight to the connection to Elizabeth Percifull though not to James or Ezekiel. Of course tracing female lines would be quite difficult owing to the name changes.