Little Jimmy Tapscott

Jimmy Tapscott, one of the Wabash Valley Tapscotts and son of James Byron and Sabra Ellen Tapscott, was just about lost in the mists of time. Except that in Sabra’s obituary is the statement “to this union four sons were born Omer, Howard, Jimmie and Joe.” And that the 1900 census shows Sabra as the mother of four children, only three of whom were living at the time (indicating that a child had died before the taking of that census). But nothing was known of “Jimmy.” Nothing, that is, until the discovery of a very short article, just two sentences, in the Thu 22 Mar 1900 Clark County Herald:

Freedom Baptist Church, built 1889, 2014.

The remains of little James Tapscott, who died at his home in Edgar county on Thursday, were brought here for interment Friday. Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Andis.

So there was indeed a “Jimmy Tapscott,” who died 15 Mar 1900 at home in Kansas Twp, Edgar County, where James Sr. and Sabra were living at the time. And we now have a second article, from the Clark County Democrat of 21 Mar 1900, giving the age at death of 9 yrs, 8 mos, and 3 days, allowing calculation of the birth date as 12 Jul 1890.

The funeral was conducted by Rev. Wiley P. Andis, pastor at Freedom Baptist Church, in Anderson Twp. James Jr. was buried in an unmarked grave in Auburn Cemetery, where his father would one day rest. At last, Jimmy has been rescued from total oblivion.

Uncle By

James Byron Tapscott, "Uncle By",
c1920 (courtesy of Sharon Poteet).

Whether his middle name was “Byram” or “Byron” [post of 23 Nov 2015], James Tapscott was simply “Uncle By” to some family members.

On Independence Day, 1879, Uncle By gave up some of his independence when he was married to Sabra Ellen Mundy by a Clark County Justice of the Peace. Sabra was the daughter of Squire Mundy Sr. and Sarah Ellen Sanders, an Anderson Twp farm family.

Following their marriage, James Byron and Sabra moved from place to place in Illinois, living (and usually farming) in Shelby County in 1880, Clark in 1882 and 1898, Edgar in 1900, and Coles in 1910. Then, in 1920 we find Sabra living in Champaign, Illinois, claiming to be a widow and working as practical nurse. But James was not dead, just absent from what was an apparently shaky marriage, made more shaky by the early death of one son, "Jimmy" [4 Feb 2016 post] by the violent death of a second son, John Howard [28 Oct 2014 post], and by the scofflaw attitude of their son Omer [7 Sep 2014 post]. By 1930 James Byron and Sabra were back together in Marshall Twp, Clark County, where James was once more farming.

On 8 Jan 1937, after making his final move, James died at his home in Martinsville Twp, Sabra passed away a few years later, on 14 Jan 1945 at her home in Marshall, Illinois. Having had some problem living together, the couple were separated in death. James was buried in Auburn Cemetery; Sabra, in Marshall Cemetery.

James and Sabra had four children: “Jimmie," Omer Frank, John Howard, and Joseph Cleo. They had no known grandchildren.

Byron or Byram?

The middle name of James, the son of William and Mary Angeline (Wallace) Tapscott of Clark County, Illinois, has been a mystery. Most records give his name as “James B.” Four records—two documents from the probate file for his brother Millard, an obituary for his wife, and an obituary for his sister Cora—give it as “James Byron.” Two—a newspaper article and an obituary for his brother Millard—give the name “Byram.” His middle name is said to be "Byron" by at least some relatives, but it is consistently given as “Byram” in on-line trees, likely due to the copy and recopy syndrome suffered by their authors. One cannot ask James’s direct descendants. There are none. But we do know one thing. Two signatures in Millard’s probate file appear to read “James Byron Tapscott.” Although the vowel could be either “o” or “a” in the signatures, the last letter is almost certainly “n” rather than “m.”

Thus, against a tide of public opinion, I am taking James’s middle name as “Byron.” This appears to be what James and at least some family members used, regardless of the name James may have been given and regardless of what people creating unsourced trees may think.

Comments?

Samuel's Saga, Continued

On 25 Jun 2015, I blogged the story of my great great uncle Samuel Tapscott’s first, and as far as we know most serious, misadventure - his murder of Alexander Thompson in 1871. But his crimes did not stop there.

On Wednesday, 7 Nov 1877, the following article appeared in the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

Samuel Tapscott some ten days ago knocked down and robbed a man named Munday at Marshall. On the evening of the 28th, Tapscott was found by Sheriff Flood and City Marshall Nolan in the woods near that place, but attempted to escape by running. The officers immediately fired upon him, two shots taking effect, one in the head and another in the shoulder. At last accounts he was dying.

Four days earlier, the Terre Haute Saturday Evening Mail had gone so far as to state that Samuel had been "fatally shot" by Flood. A longer article appeared in the 31 Oct 1877 edition of the Clark County Herald:

On Sunday last [28 Oct], Sheriff Flood, Flem Neal, and John Mundy attempted to arrest Sam. Tapscott, near Auburn, for robbing the latter named person on the streets, a few weeks ago, but Sam, not liking the looks of things, broke and ran. The officers after called on him to halt, commended firing on him, two balls taking effect before he was brought down. One shot took effect near the left ear, and the other struck him while in a stooping attitude entering just before the shoulder blade, and lodging above the right nipple. All three of the parties in pursuit fired at him, and all having the same king of revolver it is not known which one inflicted the wounds. Tapscott is now lying at his own house, the chances being that he will never leave it alive. Whether or not the officers were justifiable in using such measures to capture their prisoner, we do not at this time pretend to say, but the facts will undoubtedly develop in a few days. The amount he was charged with stealing was $0.25. Later.-We learn from parties who were present that the officers were perfectly justified in taking the steps they did. Tapscott, had made threats against Sheriff Flood, sweating that he would never be taken, &c. He was halted a half dozen times before a shot was fired, and, even after he was hit the first time in the side of his head and knocked down, he jumped to his feet and again started, and was again halted several times, but he took to the brush, and the course the officers adopted was the only one to secure him. Tapscott is reported to be a very dangerous man. He was arrested in Terre Haute some time ago for killing a man, named Thompson, with a spade, and was once arrested for horse stealing in this county. The night he robbed Mundy, he knocked him down and rifled his pockets. Tapscott was still living at noon yesterday.

John Mundy was the brother-in-law of James Byron Tapscott, Samuel's nephew.

Samuel was confined at Southern Illinois Penitentiary,
now Menard Correction Center), Chester, Illinois (2010).

Samuel survived and in Apr 1878 was tried and acquitted. He lived another quarter century, providing him time to rack up new violations. In an 1881 court in Marshall he was charged with malicious mischief (quashed), assault (guilty plea for a $10 fine plus costs), and an unstated charge that included one Jacob Hill, costing the two defendants a total of $41.65 plus costs. From 28 Mar 1898 to 4 Sep 1900 he was incarcerated for burglary at the Southern Illinois Penitentiary in Randolph County, Illinois.

Registry of prisoners incarcerated at Southern Illinois Penitentiary, Vol. 1, p. 165 ( State of Illinois Digital Archives).

Samuel died under mysterious circumstances. On 15 Jun 1903, he was found near death in a barn belonging to the husband of his niece Lydia (Siverly) Moore. He died shortly afterwards of "concussion of brain" and was buried the next day in an unmarked grave in Auburn Cemetery. The following story was contained in the Herald:

Sam Tapscott died at the home of Aden Moore in Clark Center Sunday evening. He had been to Marshall on Saturday and went to Mr. Moore's that night. The next day just after dinner he started to go to see his daughter Mrs. [unclear], but only got as far as the barn, where he fell and was not discovered till several hours later. He found he was able to arise but could not talk. He died that evening at 7 o'clock.

All genealogical data reported in these blogs are based on primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or transcriptions thereof, and never on online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability.

A Killing in Borton

Among the Wabash Valley Tapscotts, James Byron and Sabra Ellen (Mundy) Tapscott and their three sons were the source of both comedy and angst. And since none of the sons had offspring (or at least known offspring) we can discuss the family without offending close relatives. Tragicomedy was provided by the oldest son Omer Frank Tapscott, whose passion for gambling and culpability in a homicide was discussed in an earlier blog. Outright tragedy was provided by the middle son, John Howard.

Mattoon Morning Star, 4 Mar 1905.

Howard was born in September 1887, probably on the family farm in Kansas Township, Edgar County, Illinois. In April or March 1905, James and Sabra moved a few miles west to a new home near Humboldt, Illinois, in adjacent Coles County, leaving seventeen-year old Howard behind to take care of some matters before rejoining the family.

On Friday 6 March Howard and some young neighbors decided to go to a revival meeting in nearby Borton, a tiny community of a few scattered houses. This would be the last opportunity for all the teens to get together since Howard was scheduled to join up with his family the next day. A revival seems a strange venue for a get together, but social events were decidedly scarce in rural Edgar County in the early 1900s. Among the participants was Will (William) Chaney, who lived on a neighboring farm with his mother and father, Andrew and Maria, and four brothers and sisters. Will and Howard had known each other for years.

During the church services that evening, the two boys started quarreling and continued to squabble after church had been let out. As the group walked through Borton, the argument, said to have been over a girl, erupted into a fight. Some claimed that Howard, larger and older, had pushed Will Chaney off a sidewalk. Whatever the cause, Will pulled a knife and stabbed Howard, who bled to death within minutes.

It was first reported that Howard was stabbed in the throat and died from a severed jugular, but it was later revealed that death was due to a punctured artery near the heart from a chest wound. The details are immaterial. Howard Tapscott, at age seventeen, was dead and fourteen-year-old William Chaney was the killer.

110 years ago, the sleepy little town of Boyton saw violence in its streets (Jun 2015) .

On Thursday, 15 March 1906, just over a year later, Will was put on trial for manslaughter at a circuit court in Paris, the seat of Edgar County. The defendant claimed that he was assaulted in the dark and was unaware of the assailant’s identity until after the killing. The trial was brief. On the second day, Friday, the jury was charged, and on Saturday brought back a guilty verdict after deliberating overnight. William was sentenced to reform school.

The tragedy hit the families hard. Will’s family moved to North Dakota, likely to escape the condemnation of neighbors. And for a while. James Byron and Sabra split up.

Notorious

Less than reputable people lend spice to histories. A while back we heard about the dissolute Samuel Tapscott, son of Henry of Kentucky and a chief protagonist in The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley. Here is the story of Samuel’s grandnephew Omer Frank Tapscott, who is also appearing in the book.

77-year-old Omer walks up the Coles County
courthouse steps for a preliminary hearing on
a murder charge (Decatur Herald, Decatur,
Illinois, Fri 24 Apr 1959, p. 4.)

Omer, son of James Byron and Sabra Ellen (Mundy) Tapscott and great grandson of Henry of Kentucky, worked for many years as a brakeman for the Illinois Central Railroad and for a while as a pipeline laborer in Marshall, Illinois. But only briefly married (another story) and living with his parents most of his life, financial security eluded him. In 1939, at the age of 56 and the sole support of his widowed mother, he worked only ten weeks and earned but $200.

Either his failure brought him to a wayward life or his wayward life led to failure, but in either case he suffered from numerous brushes with the law. In June, 1915, he was arrested in Decatur, Illinois, for selling bootleg whiskey in nearby Arthur, Illinois. The arresting official was none other than Arthur’s Mayor. Omer was fined $100 (a huge sum in those days) and sentenced to 40 days in the county jail. In January, 1919, Omer was one of fourteen arrested in a gambling raid in Champaign, Illinois. Once again a mayor, Mayor Tucker of Champaign, was directly involved in the arrests.

Menard Penitentiary (now Menard Correction Center),

Chester, Illinois, Omer’s temporary residence (2010).

Omer's biggest scrape with the law occurred in Charleston, Illinois. There, Cooley’s Pool Hall at 505 Monroe Avenue, run by Purne A. Cooley, was a center for Coles County gambling and a magnet for Omer. In 20 April 1959, while playing poker in the back room of Cooley's, Omer became involved in a violent argument with one Buford Hill. Some say that Omer went home and returned with a pistol. Wherever it came from, Omer pulled the pistol from his coat pocket and shot Hill, who died the following day, just shy of age 51. In part because of Omer's age of 77, a Coles County jury failed to reach a verdict and the charge was reduced to manslaughter. Omer pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and requested probation. His lawyer claimed that his client was acting only in self-defense and shot Hill because he feared for his life. The lawyer went on to say that “Any sentence, even if it be only one year, is a death sentence because age and poor health have numbered Tapscott's days.” The judge refused probation. On 14 Nov 1959 Omer was sentenced to four to ten years at Menard Penitentiary. He took his sentence well, stating “I’ll have over $3,000 saved up from my pension checks when I get released.”

Omer failed to learn from his lesson. Several years later, in 1965, at 4:30 pm on a Thursday, 9 December, Illinois State Police simultaneously raided three Coles County establishments suspected to front gambling activities—Knight's Buffet, White Owl Truck Stop, and Cooley's Pool Room. Thirty-four people were arrested. One was Omer, at age 83 still a frequenter of Cooley’s.

Omer passed away less than two years later on 6 April 1967. Today, only a parking lot is found where Cooley's Pool Room once stood. Omer rests alongside his mother in the city cemetery in Marshall, Illinois. Buford lies in Roselawn Cemetery in Charleston.