Lillian Myrtle King Nelson Buzick Lott Wedeking Capone?

Lillian Myrtle was the youngest child of Mary Elizabeth Tapscott and Samuel King, though not as young as apparently proclaimed. Early records indicate a birth year of 1902 or 1903, but by the time Myrtle had died, her birth date had become 8 Mar 1905. It appears that two or three years were cut from her age as she grew older.

Before proceeding to our major topic, Al Capone, let’s clear up one mystery. In the 1930 census Myrtle appears as “Myrtle K. Nelson,” divorced, working as a housekeeper for her future husband, James Buzick. Apparently Myrtle was married to a “Nelson,” but who that was no one knew, or was at least not telling. It’s taken a couple of weeks of intensive research, but Myrtle’s first husband is now identified. He was Nels Nelson, son of Henry Oliver Nelson and Bertha Cathrine Olson. Myrtle and Nels were married in 24 Feb 1921 in Gibson City, Ford County, Illinois. Within a space of two years, Lillian gave birth to four children, two dying at or near birth and two, stillborn twins. The failed births may have put a strain on the marriage, for it soon ended in divorce. On 25 Jul 1931, Nels Nelson remarried in Bloomington, Illinois, to Mary E. (Herron) Penn.

Scarface

Thus, Lillian Myrtle King was married four times: to Nels Nelson (25 Jul 1901 - 2 May 1970) on 24 Feb 1921, James Clive Buzick (14 Aug 1890 - 16 Mar 1943) on 12 Jan 1934, Henry Robert Lott (7 Dec 1901 - 8 May 1954) on 1 Feb 1947, and Elmer Wedeking (7 Jan 1905 - 16 Jul 1985) in Jul 1961. Now let’s move on to Big Al. 

In the 1940 census, Lillian and her second husband, James Buzick are found living in Ford County, Illinois, with a 14-year-old “Foster Son,” Billy Knight. Chris W. Knight, Billy’s son, has written a book (Son of Scarface, New Era Publishing, 2014, available on Kindle) about his mysterious dad and his unknown origins. Several believe (or say they believe) that Billy Knight was a son of the mobster “Scarface” Al Capone. One of many possibilities proposed in Chris Knight’s book is that his dad was a child of Capone and Lillian Myrtle. True? I very much doubt it. But the book makes interesting reading and reveals some family history about the Buzicks. It also shows the thought processes that go into researching family history mysteries, though Chris's methodologies are quite different from mine.

Vincent Buell and Mary Elizabeth

Let’s finish with Mary Elizabeth Tapscott, granddaughter of Richard and Cyntha Tapscott, so we can get to more interesting or pressing issues.

We last heard about Mary Elizabeth after her second husband, Squire Jasper (“Bud”) Phillips, was forced to leap from a trestle to avoid being hit by an interurban electric train in Bloomington, Illinois. The leap added barely two days to his life.

Mary Elizabeth Tapscott's final days were spent
at her home on Lee Street in Bloomington.

After Bud Phillip’s death on 20 Sep 1930, Mary waited until 27 Mar 1934 before marrying again, to Vincent E. Buell, a retired farmer, who had spent most, though not all, of his life in McLean County, Illinois. Vincent had gone through three previous marriages, all ending by death. Earlier brides had been Mary A. Strickland (22 Mar 1868 - 19 Nov 1903) on 13 Oct 1892, Mary’s older sister Susan (28 Jun 1853 - 23 Feb 1924) on 27 Aug 1904, and Minerva Moore (5 Jul 1857 - 10 Sep 1933) widow of Charles W. F. Keehma on 24 Dec 1924. (Watch out! There were several Charles W. F. Keemas in the McLean County area, all apparently related and one of them a real scalawag—carjacking, draft dodging, incest. Minerva's Charles was not the scalawag.)

The marriage between Vincent and Mary Elizabeth lasted just a little over four years. Vincent passed away in Bloomington on 27 Mar 1934. Mary lasted well over a decade longer, dying in Bloomington on 7 Dec 1946. She left six children, all from her first marriage. A seventh child, William, also from her first marriage, had died young. Contrary to some published trees, she had no children with Squire Phillips.

I had not intended to go this far down the Richard Tapscott tree, but interesting details kept appearing, and I wanted to correct some errors in published trees, particularly confusion of Squire Jasper Phillips with Squire Logan Phillips. We will go just a little further next time to pick up an interesting tidbit or two about Mary Elizabeth and Samuel King’s daughter Lillian Myrtle King and her (proposed) connection to "Scarface" Al Capone.

Squire Jasper and Mary Elizabeth

Squire Jasper (“Bud”) Phillips, second husband of Mary Elizabeth (Tapscott) King, was born 19 Feb 1867 to John and Sarah (Kays) Phillips in Washington County, Kentucky. In that same county lived Bell Barnett, born in 1871 or 1872 to John and Julia (Brown) Barnett and on 6 Jan 1889 Bell and Squire were wed. The marriage may have ended dramatically, for in the 1900 census for Washington County are found Squire Phillips and his only known child, Roy (born 16 Jun 1891), living with his in-laws, John and Julia, but there is no sign of Bell or her fate. The census shows Squire Jasper to be married, not widowed, and since he was living with his in-laws, a divorce seems quite unlikely. However it happened, he may have been unattached when Mary Elizabeth headed to Kentucky to bury her first husband, Samuel.

Mary Elizabeth Tapscott could have married her second husband, Squire Jasper Phillips, in Kentucky, but by 1910 they were living in Bloomington, Illinois, in Mary’s old home county of McLean. Mary could have been drawn back by her two married daughters, Martha and Bessie. And now comes an interesting twist.

In the 1900 McLean County, Illinois, census appear a Squire L. Phillips and his wife Mary A., both born in Kentucky, with respective birth years of 1866 and 1865. Squire Jasper and Mary Elizabeth were born in Kentucky with respective birth years of 1867 and 1865. Could they be one and the same? Some people have certainly thought so and several distorted family trees have been published in an attempt to combine them. But despite similarities in birth, location, and names, Squire Logan Phillips and Mary Ann Lanham have no known connection to Squire Jasper Phillips and Mary Elizabeth Tapscott.

Mary Elizabeth’s and Squire Jasper’s marriage was shaky. And, in fact, it is a 1916 article about that situation from that wonderfully revealing newspaper, the Bloomington Pantagraph, that provides their marriage date, though not the location:

Mary E. Phillips filed a bill for divorce in the circuit court yesterday against Squire Jasper Phillips. They were married Oct 2, 1909, and separated November 12, 1916. The oratrix presents that her husband is guilty of habitual drunkenness and used obscene language in her presence.

The suit was dropped the following year, and the marriage lasted another thirteen years. But then it ended abruptly. The night of 17 Sept 1930, Squire was crossing Sugar creek in Bloomington by walking on the 10-foot-high Illinois Traction System bridge near St. Mary's cemetery when an interurban car suddenly appeared. He leaped from the trestle to avoid being hit and badly shattered his leg. Rescue from the muddy creek only occurred when, according to the Pantagraph, “Weird Moans From Near Cemetery [were] Traced to Injured Carpenter.” He died just three days later and was buried in Bloomington’s Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

Mary Elizabeth Tapscott

I’m still working on the descendants of Richard Tapscott, son of William the Preacher, instead of what I should be doing — researching the descendants of Richard’s brother Henry. But Richard’s descendants are fascinating, and I’m not quite ready to call it quits.

Mary Elizabeth Tapscott. (Ancestry.com)

Of Kasiah Tapscott’s two children, only Mary Elizabeth lived long enough to make interesting reading. Born 20 May 1865 to Kasiah and possibly Garrett Vandike, Mary’s Kentucky birthplace is given in various records both as Casey County and Danville, Boyle County. The latter is unlikely. No Followells, Weathermans, or Tapscotts (or Vandikes)—family members who might help an unwed mother—were living in Boyle County at the time, and friends and relatives were abundant in Casey County.

In 1880, presumably following the death of her mother, Kasiah, Mary was working as a domestic servant for the Robert L. King family in Casey County, and that may be how she met her husband-to-be, Samuel Franklin King, probably a relative. (Samuel had a brother Robert, but he was not Robert L.) On 16 Mar 1882, in Liberty, Kentucky, seat of Casey County, Mary married Samuel Franklin King, a Casey County farmer, born in Aug 1863 to James and Charlotta. Mary and Samuel (who went solely by “Frank”) had seven children—William L. (Jan 1883 - by Jul 1907), Martha E. (3 Nov 1884 - 2 Oct 1971), Bessie Charity (1 Nov 1886 - 9 Feb 1975), James Robert (6 Jun 1892 - 15 Apr 1968), George Leslie (13 Feb 1898 - 21 Apr 1959), John Ottle (25 May 1900 - 22 Mar 1974), and Lillian Myrtle (8 Mar 1903 - 4 Oct 1964)—all born in Kentucky.

In 1904, following the birth of Myrtle, the last child, the family (possibly minus William, who died young, and Martha, who had married and could have traveled separately) journeyed to DeWitt County, Illinois. Samuel lived in Illinois only three years, most of the time as an invalid, before passing away on their farm, the Lewis Clark Riggs place near Farmville, in Santa Anna Twp, on 11 Jul 1907 at the young age of 44. Mary was left in a new state with four kids (and two married daughters), with no other nearby relatives, and with no means of support. Moreover, the family was in terrible financial condition, one son, Robert, having provided most of the income when his father was ill. Things were so bad that a collection was taken up among the South Prairie neighbors to help pay for Samuel’s funeral expenses, which may have been high since Samuel’s body was transported back to Kentucky for burial in Minor Cemetery, Boyle County, home of the Kings.

It was in Kentucky that Mary could have met her second husband, Squire Jasper Phillips. She may have decided to reside, at least temporarily, in Kentucky, where she had family (mostly distant cousins and in-laws) and friends. After all, Squire Phillips was born in Washington County, the next county over from Boyle, where Samuel was buried. 

The story of Squire Jasper and Mary is interesting, but tragic, and deserving of a posting by itself, which it will have. See you next time.