Wabash Valley Tapscotts - The Two Nancys of Kentucky

Hi, Tapscott history aficionados -

Despite a dearth of Tapscott family blogs, I have not abandoned family history research. I’ve just been working day and night writing The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley, a book covering Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott and their descendants. Unfortunately there are many, many descendants. Planned for inclusion are detailed biographies on four generations - 210 descendants and 191 spouses - with names and some limited data provided for a fifth generation (another 253 descendants). Several months' work have allowed the lines of Henry and Susan’s four oldest children (William, John, James, and Thomas) to be “biographized,” but there are eight more lines to go. Nancy Tapscott, Henry and Susan’s fifth child and oldest daughter, has now been reached.

A large number of family trees on the internet confuse the Wabash Valley Nancy with her cousin Nancy of Casey County, Kentucky. This is understandable since the two Nancy Tapscotts were both born in Kentucky and have similar birth, marriage, and death dates. But their histories are quite different.

Photo by Ritch Fuhrer

Photo by Ritch Fuhrer

The Wabash Valley Nancy was born in Green County, Kentucky, around 1835, to Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott, married farmer William Siverly on 29 Feb 1856 in Clark County, Illinois, and, after giving birth to twelve children, died sometime between 1880 and 1900, probably in Clark County. Her crude grave marker in Clark County’s Shad Cemetery (also known as Siverly or Shotts Cemetery) gives her name, but no dates. Though badly deteriorated, her husband’s marker in that cemetery is more informative.

Photo from Find A Grave

The other Nancy was born in Casey County, Kentucky on 22 Dec 1836 to William Stewart and Rhoda Jane (Coppage). There she married blacksmith George W. Coffman on 23 Dec 1852 and, after raising five children, died on 8 Nov 1914 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. George and Nancy’s gravestone in Middleburg Cemetery, Casey County, is almost illegible, but her name is clear.

Some trees erroneously show the Nancy born in Green County as marrying George Coffman, others show the Nancy of Casey County marrying William Siverly, and several show a single Nancy marrying both George and William. Moreover, several trees claim that Nancy traveled to Clark County and then back to Kentucky to die. I doubt that this blog will result in corrections, but hope springs eternal. Contact me for reliable, contemporary sources for the brief biographies shown above, or for more detailed histories.

But I must get back to writing about Nancy of the Wabash valley, whose line is comprised of 71 people (descendants and spouses) scheduled for biographies. Perhaps I should consider multiple volumes.

Richard and Cyntha

Born around 1810 or 1811, in Virginia according to him, but possibly in North Carolina, where the family was living at the time, Richard Tapscott was the youngest of William the Preacher and Winifred’s five children. He was barely a toddler when he traveled with his father (and mother?) around 1812 to Green County, Kentucky, living there (for the most part) until after 1837, when he appears in the tax list with 100 acres of land. He may have been out of the county around 1830, when his father and brother Henry appear in the census for Barren County. If so, he had returned by 1831.

Richard had a hard upbringing. William was an impecunious preacher man, who had little to give his children in the way of property or education. All of his sons were illiterate. When the Preacher died around Mar 1837, his estate brought only $63.13 to be divided among five (or six? See “Wesley,” 7 Jun 2015) children.

Richard Tapscott farmed along Brush Creek in Casey County (2013).

Following William’s death, Richard and two of his brothers, George Rice and William Stewart, moved to nearby Casey County. There, Richard farmed 100 acres along Brush Creek, giving him an opportunity to use the only thing he is known to have received from his father — a clevis and chain (harnessing equipment) that he had purchased at the Preacher’s estate sale for 63 cents. And there on 13 Feb 1840 he married Cyntha A. Followell (born 1817 – 1820). By 1853, Richard owned land in both Casey County (65 acres) and adjacent Marion County (65 acres), and by 1855, “Dick” Tapscott had 115 acres in just Marion County. But the following year’s Marion County tax list gives only “Cynthia” Tapscott as the property’s owner. Richard had died, leaving behind four young children, William W., Kasiah, John W., and George W. The oldest, William, was still a teenager; he youngest, George, was probably under six.

In Casey County on 4 Oct 1859 widowed Cyntha married a somewhat younger Christian Weatherman. Born in North Carolina to Cornelius Weatherman and Catharine Runager around 1825, give or take a couple of years, Christian had moved to Kentucky in the 1850s.

Apparently the marriage was short-lived, as were Cyntha and Christian. Neither appears in any document after the 1860 census. Their fate is unknown. No burial site is known, no death record has been found. It does not help that on 5 Jul 1863 Morgan's Raiders burned the Marion County clerk's office destroying its contents.

Our next post takes a look at some of the children.

Richard Tapscott and the Followells

A post of 15 Nov 2015, about William the Preacher’s children (Henry, Winifred, George, William, and Richard), noted that “Little is known of Richard’s descendants, primarily because little family history research has been done for that line.” It also didn’t help that the boys were illiterate (giving rise to name spelling problems and a scarcity of records) and poor (making informative wills unnecessary). Three weeks ago, I received an email from Frank Jarke, a descendent of Richard Tapscott.  Frank, a family historian and the first of Richard’s successors to contact me, filled me in on what he knew of Richard’s descendants. I immediately took another look at Richard and found that I could not stop, even though it pulled me away from my primary interest (the Wabash Valley Tapscotts) and turned me into a temporary recluse (explaining my seeming absence for the last few weeks). Frank’s providing some badly needed starting points has produced some new Tapscott history. Today we take a look at the parentage of Richard’s wife. Additional history will be found in future posts.

Contemporary records show that Richard married “Sintha Followay” in Casey County on 13 Feb 1840. Richard’s wife was actually Cyntha Followell, though neither he nor she would have known of the spelling error in their marriage record, both being illiterate. “Cyntha,” a rather common Kentucky name of the period, rather than “Cynthia,” assumed by many Tapscott family historians, is probably correct, since “Cyntha” or the homophone “Sintha” is found in most contemporary sources.

The 1870 census, which shows Cyntha’s granddaughter, “Syntha” Tapscott, living with her “cousin” “Margret” and Thomas Cox, provided the lead needed to unravel Cyntha’s origins. Margaret Cox’s mother, was Paulina McAnally (or “McAnelly”). Paulina, also illiterate, is named in records as “Linna,” “Linny,” “Linney,” “Lidia,” “Mary,” and “Malinda,” in addition to “Paulina” (which is found only once). The first three designations may be nicknames for Paulina. The source of the others is unknown, though Paulina may have had a sister named “Malinda.”

The discovery of the “cousin” designation was followed by the uncovering of a deed for heirs of Abraham Followell that named Cyntha and Richard Tapscott; a marriage bond giving Paulina’s father as Abraham Followell; and death certificates for two of her children showing Paulina’s maiden name to be Followell. A little more work made it apparent that Cyntha and Paulina were daughters of Abraham Followell and his wife Keziah Miles. “Syntha” Tapscott, Cyntha Followell’s granddaughter, was actually a first cousin once removed of Margaret Cox. (Why the granddaughter had the last name “Tapscott” is a future story.) This is shown in the accompanying, greatly abbreviated, chart (contact me for sources and details).

Abraham and Keziah were residents of Washington County, Kentucky, an area with several Followell families. Married in that county on 18 May 1802, the couple raised ten or so kids along Rolling Fork Creek, becoming residents of Marion County when it was created from Washington County, 25 Jan 1834. Abraham, Keziah, and the other Followells did not change locations, but their lands did. Around Apr 1853 Abraham died in Casey County, the next county over, where their daughter Cyntha and son-in-law Richard Tapscott were raising four children. The administrator of the estate was Moses Coppage, probably the step grandson of Winifred (Tapscott) Mann, Richard Tapscott's sister (See post of 23 Aug 2014. A Moses Coppage was a grandchild of Joseph Mann from his first marriage.). We find no record of Keziah’s death, but the account of her husband’s estate sale shows that she was still living at the time of Abraham’s death.

My Old Kentucky Home

On 25 Sep 1825 in Green County, Henry Tapscott, the Traveler, married Susan Bass. We know little reliable about Susan, who, unlike Henry, was literate. She is said to have been the daughter of Josiah Bass Jr. and Ann Moody. Josiah and Ann were married 27 Mar 1799 in Green County, Kentucky, and were there in 1806, around the time of Susan’s birth (probably between 1806 and 1808). But reliable sources showing that these were Susan's parents are lacking..

In 1830 Henry, his wife, Susan, and sons William and John, were living in Barren County, southwest of Green County. The household contained two additional boys, aged 5 to 10 and 10 to 15, too old to be any of Henry’s children and far too young to be any of his still unwed brothers, at least those of whom we have knowledge. The household of Henry’s father, William, who was also living in Barren County at that time, likewise contained unexplained children. Henry may have had siblings about whom we know nothing today, possibly because of childhood deaths. Or perhaps they were offspring of Henry’s second cousin once removed, Raleigh Tapscott, grandson of Henry’s great great uncle James and also a resident of Barren County in 1830. Raleigh (Rawley, Rolley, Rolly, Rolla) Tapscott had a prodigious family and may have been very willing to farm out some of his children.

By 1835 Henry and Susan (and William Sr.) were back in Green County, where Henry is shown landless in tax records for 1835, 1836, and 1837.

Henry’s father was also landless. When William the Preacher died around March 1837 he possessed only a black mare, a cow and calf, and some harnessing equipment, an estate bringing a paltry $63.13. Unlike today’s television evangelists with their crystal cathedrals, nineteenth-century preachers almost never gained wealth and seldom achieved fame. Saving souls from perdition was reward enough.

As a teenager and young adult, Henry lived in Green and Barren counties, Kentucky (U.S. Census Bureau).

The Preacher’s Family

We know what happened to Henry, the oldest of William’s children. He traveled to Clark County, founding the Wabash Valley Tapscotts, and is the subject of an upcoming book (I hope). But what of his siblings - Winifred, William, George, and Richard?

Winifred, whose life has been difficult to unravel, deserves a posting of her own, and she has it (23 Aug 2014).

With no land, little inheritance, and only memories of an impecunious, motherless life to hold them in Green county, William’s three youngest sons, William Stewart, George Rice, and Richard, moved to nearby Casey County, living along Martins and Brush creeks.

George, who married Rachel Coffman, last appears at age 74 in the 1880 census for Casey County, where he lived out his life. Some of his descendants went to Illinois, but not near Clark County. A number are interred in the Tapscott Cemetery near Martin’s Creek.

William, who also remained in Casey County, Kentucky, married Rhoda Jane Coppage, and died young, killed by a falling tree at age 50. A number of his descendants also ended up in Illinois, but there are still a large number in Kentucky.

Richard married Cyntha Followell and moved to Marion County, Kentucky. It is said that he died there in 1855, but no reliable evidence has been presented. Cyntha remarried on 4 Oct 1859. Little is known of Richard’s descendants, primarily because little family history research has been done for that line.

The Traveler, Childhood

Lately we have been spending a lot of time on relatively recent Wabash Valley Tapscotts, but we may have failed to lay a good foundation for these recent folks – for Carl, and Golden Arthur, Nellie Mae and Wesley, and dear old Samuel. Off and on I will do so.

Our story of the Wabash Valley Tapscotts really starts with Henry Tapscott the Traveler, son of William the Preacher. His Virginia birth, North Carolina childhood, Kentucky maturation, Indiana residence, and Illinois adulthood provide us with a designation to distinguish him from a multitude of other Henry Tapscotts (eighteen by the latest count, not including many others with the middle name “Henry”), descendants of the Traveler’s great, great grandfather “Henry the Immigrant,” the subject of many postings).

William the Preacher's Green County home lay alongside
Robinson Creek (now in Taylor County) (2013).

The Traveler was born in 1797 or 1798 to William Tapscott and, possibly, Winifred Cobb. We say “possibly” because William’s wife died relatively young and no proof has been found for her name, a situation discussed in great detail in my book Henry the Immigrant (see post of 13 Aug 2013). At the time of Henry’s birth, his parents were living in Caswell County, North Carolina; however, three U.S. censuses give his birthplace as Virginia. That Caswell County lies near the Virginia border and that Henry’s parents had come from Virginia make that state a plausible birthplace. Henry’s mother could have returned there for his birth.

Henry, the oldest, had three brothers, George Rice, William Stewart, and Richard, and a sister, Winifred, all born in North Carolina or Virginia. After the birth of Richard, William Sr. pulled up stakes and headed with his offspring for Kentucky, arriving by 1812, probably as a widower. There William worked as a preacher, supplementing his scant income with hardscrabble farming.

William the Preacher settled along meandering Robinson Creek in Green County. (Today that site lies in Taylor County). There his five children, including our Henry, had what was probably a motherless upbringing by an impecunious, itinerant cleric, in an uncultured backcountry, which provided little opportunity or need for schooling. The Preacher could read and write, or at least sign his name. His sons could not.

Wesley

Wesley Tapscott grave marker, Auburn Cemeter

Most family history books have a good mystery, what some call a “brick wall.” With my last book, Henry the Immigrant, Robert Francis Tapscott provided the mystery (see posts of 26 Jul 2014 and 15 Jan 2015). For the book now in writing, Henry the Traveler, The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley, it is Wesley Tabscott, of unknown parentage (see blog of 16 Nov 2014).

I now have copies of Wesley’s 12-page probate file from the Clark County, Illinois, courthouse, his 63-page Civil War pension file from the National Archives and Records Administration, and his 4-page Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home file from the Illinois State Archives. It is amazing that these 79 pages of documents provide no smoking gun. Let me summarize the findings from these and Wesley's very few other records.



Sailors and Soldiers Home Application provides Birth information.

Except on his grave marker, Wesley’s name was always spelled “Tabscott,” likely because he was totally illiterate. He claimed to have been born on 28 Sep 1829 in Green County, Kentucky, and is known to have died 21 Nov 1894 in Marshall, Illinois. Of course a birth date given by an illiterate person is questionable, In fact his age on a Civil War muster role indicates a birth year of 1840 rather than 1829.  Wesley appears in not a single census, at least with that name, despite the fact that according to his medical records, excluding time in the military and in the Soldier;s home he was living in or near Anderson Township in Clark County as early as 1856 (about the year that Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott arrived from Darwin Twp. in Clark County). He served two stints in the Civil War as a Union Army private with the 133^rd Indiana Infantry (17 May 1864 to 5 Sep 1864) and with the 149^th Indiana Infantry (2 Mar 1865 to 11 Jul 1865), enlisting both times at Terre Haute, Indiana. He took sick at the end of his last enlistment at Decatur Alabama, ending up in a hospital in Huntsville Alabama, where he was discharged from the Army. Extensive medical records show that he lived the rest of his life primarily in Clark County as a near invalid with an assortment of nasty physical conditions. He resided in the Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home (an institution for disabled, ill, and elderly military personal in Quincy Illinois) 30 May 1894 to 30 Oct 1894. He then discharged himself and returned to Marshall, where he died less than a month later, apparently in poverty. At his death he had personal property consisting of household goods and horse and buggy with a total value of $100, but with debts of $211.65, much of it for care during his final days.

Not a single word appears in any record about Wesley’s parents; however, many documents give the following Clark County Tapscotts and their relatives as Wesley's witnesses and contacts, but without mentioning their connection with him --- William Riley Tapscott, William Sanders (widower of Sarah Ann Tapscott), William Sanders's daughter Susan Shade, and William Sander’s son-in-law Joseph Shade. Joseph Shade was named Wesley’s executor. That Wesley was born in Green County Kentucky shows that he was almost certainly a descendent of the Tapscotts of Virginia, but there are four possibilities.

1. He was an unknown child of Henry the Traveler, coming with Henry and Susan during their trip from Kentucky to Clark County, but not appearing in the 1850 census, which has been thought to list all of Henry’s children. If born in 1929, Wesley would have been around age 21 at the time and could have easily been away from home when the census was taken. But all of Henry’s children were literate, why would Wesley have been illiterate? Moreover, Henry and his wife, Susan, had a child, John, born 9 Mar 1829, a date conflicting with Wesley’s birth date of 28 Sep 1829. Of course birthdates are often incorrect.

2. He was actually James W. (“Wesley”?) Tapscott, a child of Henry the Traveler, born around 1830 or 1831 and dying sometime after 1870. We have very little information about James who appears in 1850 and 1870 censuses for Clark County. James, like Wesley, never married (as far as we know). But the two censuses do not indicate that James was illiterate. And if Wesley were James, why would be appear as “Wesley Tabscott” in everything militarily connected, but nowhere else? Moreover, Wesley is known to have been alive when the estate Henry the Traveler's son John was being settled in 1872, but, unlike most (but not all) of John's siblings, was not mentioned as an heir.

3. He could have been a child of William the Preacher, born late in William’s life. That might explain Wesley’s illiteracy. None of William the Preacher’s sons were literate. (Note, however, that Wesley was very young at the time of William's death and the Preacher's apparent lack of belief in education for his children should have had little effect on Wesley.) He might have been a son of William’s wife, (believed to be) Winifred Cobb. Winifred, were she still living, would have been around age 50 give or take a few years at the time of Wesley’s birth, unlikely but not impossible. Wesley could, in fact, have been the cause of the demise of Winifred, who was dead by 1830. And he could be a product of another relationship. It is interesting that William the Preacher’s household in the 1830 census contains one child, whom we cannot identify, aged under 5 (Wesley?), and also a woman aged 20 to 30 (a new consort?). The census also shows other unidentifiable household members. Wesley would have been only seven years old when William the Preacher died and could have accompanied his older brother Henry the Traveler to Clark County.

4. And Wesley could have been a descendant of Raleigh and Judith (Stanton) Tapscott, who were living in Barren County Kentucky, essentially next door to Green County) at the time of Wesley’s birth. Raleigh, William the Preacher’s 2^nd cousin, had a massive number of known Kentucky-born grandkids and undoubtedly many others never unidentified.

Right now I am leaning toward possibility 3. In another week I will be in Illinois researching Tapscotts, one of them Wesley. Perhaps land records will help. I might note that Pamela Loos-Noji at Kinwork Connections, Email: kin1889@me.com, www.kinworkconnections.com, did an outstanding and very reasonably priced job of getting Wesley’s pension files. She has worked for me in the past and is always thorough, efficient, and highly knowledgeable. I recommend her highly for genealogical research. If anyone would like digital copies of the contents of Wesley’s Pension, Illinois Soldiers and Sailors Home, and Probate files, I’ll be glad to email them to you.

Henry Tapscott in Indiana

I just got through posting the following on Ancestry.com, but I may reach other people through this blog.

Following the death of his father, William the Preacher, in March 1837, Henry Tapscott head north from Green County, Kentucky, traveling through Indiana and ending up in Clark County Illinois in 1840. During this three-year trip, Henry and his wife, Susan Bass, had two children, Sarah Ann Tapscott and Frances Ann Tapscott, both born in Indiana. (Before making the trip Henry and Susan had six other children born in Kentucky and after the trip, four additional born in Clark County Illinois.) In a few weeks I will be making the same trip to research a book on Henry and his descendants, but I face a serious problem. So far I have been unable to determine what Indiana counties Henry passed through or in which Indiana counties his children Sarah and Frances were born. It is sometimes claimed that they were born in Allen County Indiana, but not only is there no reliable evidence for this, Allen County does not lie on any reasonable route between Green County Kentucky and Clark County Illinois. Does anybody out there have any evidence of where Henry was in Indiana?

Books

As I announced in my last blog, Henry the Immigrant, The First Tapscotts of Virginia, 2^nd edition is finished and I fully expect to have it printed before Christmas. I will keep you posted. It will be hardbound, lots of pictures, close to 500 pages with 121 in color. The book contains a list of the first six generations originating from Ann Edney covering both Tapscotts and Georges with spouses (a little over 1200 people total), an index, and 2512 endnotes. Unfortunately, I suspect the production cost will be substantial, about $45 per book. I am printing enough to distribute free to my close relatives and as gifts for a few people who helped a lot. There will be sufficient to sell at cost to those wanting copies.

I am now working on a book about the descendants of Henry Tapscott, son of William the Preacher. Henry, who claimed to have been born in Virginia, lived in North Carolina, then Kentucky, then Indiana, and finally ended up in Clark County Illinois. Henry Tapscott of Kentucky and his wife, Susan Bass, had a large number of descendants (I am one of them), most of the early ones living in the Wabash Valley—Marshall, Illinois, Terre Haute, Indiana, etc. Right now I count 565 direct descendants and 321 known spouses, but the number will greatly increase. I am tentatively titling the book The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley.

Because the book about the Wabash Valley Tapscotts will come down to the present time, many descendants are living (a problem I did not face with Henry the Immigrant, but did face with a book I wrote on my wife’s family, Bier und Brot, the Wehners of Southeast Missouri). Because some people are concerned about confidentiality, I usually mention living people giving only their names but omitting birth dates, marriage dates, locations, occupations, etc. However, I make an exception for people who specifically approve inclusion of their specifics. If you are a descendant of Henry the Traveler and would like the “detailed” story of your family to be included, please give me information on your history, particularly your recent history, which is often difficult to uncover. I want to warn you, however, that I may reduce the amount of material submitted to keep the book to a reasonable size, and I will edit and rewrite as needed. Also, if you have photographs, etc. please let me know. My profile on this site contains a way to contact me.

Winifred Tapscott, daughter of William the Preacher

William Tapscott, "the Preacher," who ended up in Green and Taylor counties in Kentucky, is claimed to have had four sons (Henry, my GG grandfather and the subject of my next book, George Rice, William Stewart, and Richard) and a daughter Winifred. Although the Preacher was reticent about his family, there is relatively good evidence for the four boys, but there is nothing concrete about Winifred. However, I think I have now found strong evidence for her and where she ended up at. The following (still a draft) is part of the second edition of my book, Henry the Immigrant. (Yes, I am still proofing it). I hope the footnotes come through OK.

On 10 March 1817 a “Winney Tabscott” (likely Winifred Tapscott) married Joseph Mann in Green County.[644] Since William’s family was the only source of Tapscotts in Green County at the time, Winney was probably William’s daughter. Joseph Mann appears in Green County census records for 1810 through 1840,[645],[646],[647],[648] records that show one or more children who could not have resulted from Winney’s marriage. Thus, Joseph probably had an earlier marriage and, indeed, in Green County on 21 December 1799, a Joseph Mann married a “Betsy Hill.”[649]

In 1848, when Taylor County broke away from Green County, it carried a lot of Manns (Men?) with it. The 1850 census shows fifty-one people with the Mann surname in the newly formed county, and nary a one left behind in Green County, which did, however, have six “Man”s. But in 1850 the Manns of Taylor County included no Joseph and no Winney (or Winifred). Were this the end, our tale would suffer from a severe case of “subjunctivitis”; a disorder of wishes, maybes, possibilities, chances—an infection due to William Tapscott’s familial taciturnity.

But this is not the end, for in the 1850 census for Morgan County, Illinois, one finds a Joseph Mann, born in Kentucky, with five children (Sarah, Martha, Fanny, Louisa, and Catharine), also born in Kentucky, the eldest in 1816 or 1817 and the youngest in 1844 or 1845.[650] And the wife’s name is, you guessed it, “Winney,” who was born in Virginia around 1799 or 1800. Shouldn’t our Winney have been born in North Carolina? Not necessarily. There is an indication, a suggestion, that William’s wife traveled to Virginia for the birth of at least one of her children, and Caswell county lay less than 25 miles from the Virginia state line. And, of course, Winney may not have known her birthplace.

Why Morgan County, Illinois? One possibility is that in 1850 there were twenty-two people with the surname “Coppage” living in Illinois, all in the adjacent counties of Morgan and Brown, and most had been born in Kentucky. Joseph Mann’s first marriage produced Margaret Mann, who married Uriah Coppage,[651],[652] brother of Rhoda Jane, who married William the Preacher’s son William Stewart Tapscott.[653],[654] The Manns, Tapscotts, and Coppages were close. The Coppages of Morgan and Brown counties in Illinois were likely connected with those of Green and Taylor counties in Kentucky, though we will leave that for others to determine. When Joseph and Winifred Mann pulled up stakes to seek their fortune, Morgan County may have been targeted because of tales heard from Coppage relatives.

The 1860 census shows Winney and Joseph Mann living in DeKalb County, Missouri, with an Asa Mann, presumably widowed, and Asa’s four children (Elizabeth, John, Dema, and Alexander).[655] In 1850 Asa had been living with his wife Lucinda in Kentucky, in Marion County, next door to Taylor County.[656] It is not unlikely that Asa was a child of Winney and Joseph, probably, as indicated by his age, their first child. And this is the final part of our tale. After 1860, we see no more of Joseph or Winney.

Is our story of Winney correct? Probably, at least most of it. But we are still awaiting that smoking gun, that absolute proof.

---

[644].       Jordan Dodd, Kentucky Marriages, 1851-1900, Joseph Mahan and Winifred Tapscott (“Winney Tabscott”), Ancestry.com, Database On-line, Provo, Utah, 1997.

[645].       1810 U.S. census, Kentucky, Green Co, Greensburg, Joseph Mann household, p. 258 (stamped), line 19.

[646].       1820 U.S. census, Kentucky, Green Co, Joseph Mann household, p. 99 (stamped, lower left), line 5.

[647].       1830 U.S. census, Kentucky, Green Co, Joseph Mann (“Man”) household, [page unmarked], line 26.

[648].       1840 U.S. census, Kentucky, Green Co, Joseph Mann household, pp. 35-36, line 19.

[649].       Jordan Dodd, Kentucky Marriages, 1851-1900, Joseph Mann and Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Hill, Ancestry.com, Database On-line, Provo, Utah, 1997.

[650].       1850 U.S. census, Illinois, Morgan Co, Joseph Mann household, p. 207 (stamped, front), dwelling 477, family 503, 20 Aug 1850.

[651].       John E. Manahan and A. Maxim Coppage, The Coppage-Coppedge Family 1542 - 1955, Commonwealth Press, Radford, Virginia, August 1955, p. 74.

[652].       William H. Perrin, J. H. Battle, and G. C. Kniffin, Kentucky: A History of the State, 4th Ed., 1887.

[653].       William Rice Tapscott, 3 Jan 1924, Chesterfield, Macoupin, Illinois, Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 (Ancestry.com).

[654].       Death Certificate, Nancy Coffman, Kentucky State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, File No. 19242.

[655].       1860 U.S. census, Missouri, Dekalb Co, Washington Twp, Asa Mann household, p. 88, dwelling 591, family 591, 25 Jul 1860.

[656].       1850 U.S. census, Kentucky, Marion Co, Distr 2, Asa Mann household, p. 422 (stamped, front), dwelling 385, family 385, 10 Sep 1850.

Trip

Traveling through Kentucky and North Carolina researching Tapscotts. Spent two days at the Kentucky Dept for Libraries and Archives. Great place and I may have to go back for a week. They have every record from every county on microfilm, but almost nothing on the internet. Spent two days in Daviess county KY, where William Tapscott, son of Capt. Henry, lived. Mary Frances and I are now in Glasgow KY, our location for the next three full days for exploring Barren, Green, and Casey counties (and a little of Allen). My GGG grandfather, William the Preacher, spent his later life in Green. Henry, his son, my GG grandfather, spent his childhood in Green and married there, then moved to Barren for a few years around 1830, before going on to Indiana and then Illinois. Three of William's sons (William Stewart, George Rice, and Richard) moved to Casey County from Green. Richard later went to Marion County KY. I'll let you know what I find on this trip when I have a chance to digest it and look at my notes.