Fauquier County Tapscotts - Harriet and Harriott

Today, a Fauquier County relative contacted me arguing that Harriet and Harriott Tapscott are the same person because Elizabeth would not have adopted her own daughter. She has a good point, but I believe the following argument from my book shows that they were different persons.

Harriet Tapscott was one of two people with similar names associated with James. That the Harriet of Fauquier County was not James’s sister Harriott (as assumed by some researchers) is unquestionable. She is designated as “Harriet Tapscott Orphan of James Tapscott” in Elizabeth’s guardian bond, issued at a Fauquier County Court of 23 June 1817, at which Eppa (Epaphroditus) Porter gave evidence that “Harriet Tapscott is the Legitimate daughter and only Heir at law of James Tapscott.” Like James, Porter was a veteran of the War of 1812, but in the Virginia Militia, 41^st Regiment, rather than the U. S. Army. The 3 (or 9) July 1817 notification of the issuance of a bounty land warrant designates the recipient as “Harriet Tapscott only Daughter & Heir at Law of James Tapscott deceased.” That the final land patent was to be sent to “Post office at Fauquier Ct. House Va.” shows that it was for the Harriet living with Elizabeth. Some years later, on 27 August 1834, a Fauquier County court declared

It having been this day proved to the satisfaction of the Court, that Elizabett [sic] Tapscott is the widow of James Tapscott deceased a private in the Army of the United States in the late war - that said Tapscott died in the service of the United States in the Corps of Artillery leaving the said widow and Harriott Tapscott his only child - On the motion of the said Elizabett and Harriett Tapscott, the same is ordered to be certified.

The Fauquier County 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses show Harriet with ages corresponding to a birth year between 1809 and 1820, well past 1798, the year of Ezekiel’s death. Moreover, as shown earlier, Harriott the sister of James was born no later than January 1796, which means that she would have been 21 or older when the guardianship bond was made by Elizabeth and thus would have been of legal age and would not have been made a ward. In fact, the guardianship bond states that “Elizabeth Tapscott her executors or administrators, shall well and truly pay and deliver to Harriet Tapscott Orphan of James Tapscott deceased all such estate or estates, as now is or are, or hereafter shall appear to be due to the said orphan when, and as soon as she shall attain to lawful age,” a ridiculous clause if Harriet were already of legal age.

Thus, the Fauquier County Harriet is a daughter of James and, probably, though not certainly, Elizabeth and was doubtless named after her aunt Harriott, who may have died relatively young. Since a widow was not automatically a legal guardian (i.e., financial administrator) of her minor children, the guardian bond posted by Elizabeth provides no information about her relationship with Harriet. A parent of either sex was often made guardian of his or her child when that child had inherited property or was entitled to real or personal property (such as the bounty land discussed below). It is, however, just possible that Harriet was one of Elizabeth’s two illegitimate children claimed to have been fathered in Lancaster County by Richard Cundiff. James could have adopted one or both, legally or otherwise, and given them his name.

At this point, we need to take a closer look at the bounty land awarded for James’s military service. Sometime around 1817, a notification was sent to “Mrs. Harriet Tapscott only Daughter & Heir at Law of James Tapscott deceased” notifying her that a warrant dated 3 July 1817 (the actual warrant was dated 9 July 1817) had been issued with a note to send the final patent to the “Post office at Fauquier Ct.” A facsimile is shown below:

WAR DEPARTMENT

SECTION OF BOUNTY LANDS.

To - Mrs. Harriet Tapscott only Daughter & Heir at Law of James Tapscott deceased

SIR-Pursuant to the Law of the united States, of the 6^th of May, 1812, appropriating certain Tracts of Land, to satisfy the Claims of the Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates of the late Army, and in conformity with the preceding Regulations, you are hereby notified that the Land Warrant No. 10033 has been issued in your name, under date 3 July 1817, and will be deposited in the General Land Office; at the Seat of Government, where the Patent must issue--there to await your order for its location, which may be made so soon as the survey of the appropriated Lands can be effected; public notice of which will be given in all the Newspapers authorized to publish the Laws of the United States.

Nat Cutting

To be located in Missouri North and the patent to be sent to the Post office at Fauquier Ct. House Va.

Two years later on 6 March 1819, a patent was issued to Harriott Tapscott (the bounty land records give names of “Harriet,” “Harriott,” and “Harriot”) for 160 acres of land, the SW quarter of Section 35, Township 54N, Range 22W (today, Carroll County, Missouri). This patent causes no end of confusion. Why was Harriet (no matter what her relation to James) awarded land when Elizabeth, James’s wife, was still living? Under Virginia intestate succession statutes, a surviving wife would be a co-heir with any children, even if the children were not hers. Moreover, had a will been made (and none has been found), Elizabeth would still be required by law to receive a dower (one-third) portion. Despite this, Harriet is said to be the “only Daughter & Heir at Law.” There are no satisfactory explanations. Perhaps Elizabeth and James, despite the bond, never married (though a Fauquier Court of 27 August 1834 determined that Elizabeth was the widow of James). Perhaps the Elizabeth in the Fauquier County censuses of 1840 and 1850 was a different Elizabeth (exceedingly unlikely).

Harriet died unmarried at the age of 58 (birth year around 1813) on 12 August 1871 near Warrenton in Fauquier County.

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.