Wabash Valley Tapscotts - John Conrad Tapscott

John, 1956

John Conrad Tapscott

26 November 1950 - 29 July 2016

John Conrad (“Tapper”) Tapscott passed away at JFK Medical Center, Edison, New Jersey, Friday morning, 29 July 2016.

Born 26 November 1950 in Terre Haute, Indiana, to Glenn and Mary Emaline Tapscott, John grew up in Denver, Colorado, where his family moved while he was still a baby. There, when less than two years old, he lost his father and was raised by his widowed mother and his five older brothers and sisters.

Wedding photo, 29 May 1971

From 1968 to 1971, John served with the U.S. Army, in Berlin and in Viet Nam. On 29 May 1971, he married Victoria (“Vicki”) Angela Maria Pytell in South Amboy, New Jersey. John and Vicki spent their married lives in New Jersey, where John received BS degrees in Computer Science and in Social Cultural Anthropology from Lawrence College, Rutgers University and worked as a computer analyst. John spent the last ten years of his life living alone, Vicki having passed away 8 Sep 2006, but had an enormous number of friends in the VFW, Moose Lodge, Elks, and American Legion and he remained close to Vicki’s family. Her sister, Kathy, and brother-in-law, Bob McGovern, looked after him during his final days.

John is survived by two brothers, Bob (Mary Frances) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Bill (Nyla) of Corpus Christi, Texas; by two sisters, Mary Anne McKenzie (Russ) of Lakewood, Colorado, and Margaret Jacot of Westminster, Colorado; by sisters-in-law Elizabeth Tapscott and Kathy (Bob) McGovern of Old Bridge, New Jersey; and by a number of nieces, nephews, great nieces, and great nephews. In addition to his wife, Vicki, he was predeceased by his parents and a brother, Jim.

Services were held Wed 3 Aug 2016 at McCriskin-Gustafson Home for Funerals in South Plainfield, New Jersey. On Fri 5 Aug 2016, John's ashes were interred with Vicki's at Holy Cross Burial Park and Mausoleum, East Brunswick.

John was a Wabash Valley Tapscott, a great great grandson of Henry the Traveler of Clark County, Illinois.

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.