DNA Comes Through

Great news. At last we have proof that the U.S. Tapscotts descended from Henry the Immigrant of Virginia are related to at least one British Tapscott. A Tapscott who never immigrated from England and who is descended from the Somerset line shows a match with me and another U.S. Tapscott with a yDNA genetic distance of 3 for 67 markers and with another U.S. Tapscott with a distance of 4 for 37 markers. We all share a common ancestor, probably from Somerset (or possibly Devon), with a 50% probability of being 10 generations back. Not only that we all closely match the Jamaican discussed in my blog of 21 Oct 2014.

And speaking of the Jamaican, it is thought that William Tapscott, the Rebel, who was transported around 1686 to Jamaica, ended up in Monmouth County, New Jersey. (See blog of 8 Feb 2014).  I now have a close autosomal match with a known descendant of Lydia Tapscott of Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Two "successes", but we are still awaiting others. We are still awaiting results for the descendant of Robert Francis Tapscott of Virginia. The test analyses have been postponed. And we still need yDNA test volunteers from the Tapscotts of Ohio, Canada, and Australia. But what a day!

On another subject, demand has been far greater than I expected for the 2nd Edition of Henry the Immigrant. But I still have a few copies left.

Robert "King" Carter (1662/63 - 1732) of Lancaster County, Virginia, at the time the wealthiest man in Virginia, if not all of America, was a businessman, a planter, and an employer of Henry Tapscott, the Immigrant, who did some carpentry for him. From Jul 1726 to Sep 1727, Robert served as acting governor of Virginia following the death in office of Governor Hugh Drysdale. During that time Virginia was hit with a dreadful pandemic.We don't know what the illness was--perhaps smallpox, or typhoid fever, or yellow fever--but Governor Carter believed it resulted from the sinful condition of Virginians. Accordingly he issued the following proclamation:

Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God for the punishment of our sins to afflict this Colony with a long and violent sickness and grevious Mortality And to the End all persons may be excited to a Speedy Repentance that So the Almighty may be moved to avert his Judgments I have thought fitt by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council to appoint That Wednesday the Tenth day of May next be observed and kept throughout this Colony and Dominions a Day of Publick Fasting and Humiliation...

"King" Carter's proclamation was issued 21 April 1727, the month and year that Henry the Immigrant is believed to have died. Thus Henry may well have been a victim of the "violent sickness," passing too quickly to be aided by "fasting and humiliation." A rapid onset would explain why Henry died without a making a will.

Author Anne R. Davis discusses the proclamation (though not Henry) in her soon to be published monograph Distempers and Physic: Eighteenth Century Health in Lancaster County, Virginia. (TimeLines, Foundation for Historic Christ Church, Vol. 10, Issue 2, Fall 2014.)

Henry the Immigrant , 2nd edition

Today about 188 lbs of books arrived at my front door. Fifty copies of Henry the Immigrant, The First Tapscotts of Virginia, 2nd Edition, Revised and Expanded, are hot off the press. Most of the books are going to close relatives and libraries. But there will be a few remaining. The 497-page, hard bound book cost $48 to print. With packaging the 3 lb 12 oz book will run $4.61 for media mail postage and about $1.50 for packaging.  To cover all direct costs for printing, packaging, and distribution, I am asking $55 per book.

I will be contacting those who have already expressed interest in a book.

Three Clark County Illinois Tapscotts of Unknown Origin

In Auburn Cemetery, Clark County, Illinois, are two markers for two Tapscotts whose parentage cannot be identified.

A Civil War military marker for Wesley Tapscott is contains neither birth nor death dates; however, probate and other Clark County records show he died in Marshall Illinois 21 Nov 1894. But the extensive records show no connection with any other Tapscott. I am now obtaining all the files for his Civil War pension application, but whether those will provide a connection is unknown. [Since this was written, the mystery has been solved. He was James Wesley Tapscott, a son of Henry the Traveler. See "A Brick Wall Demolished" 12/29/17.]

The marker for John Tapscott is sufficiently worn that there are uncertainties. My wife and I have seen the marker and have transcribed it as

JOHN TAPSCOTT

DIED

AUG.(?) 28, 1850

AGED

41(?)Y  2M & 12D

Records in the Clark County Genealogical Society give an abbreviated transcription of [TAPSCOTT], John  d. May 23, 1850 - 41 y 2 m 14 d.

Neither transcription corresponds with a Tapscott who could be John [Again the mystery has been solved. He is another son of Henry the Traveler. The transcription is wrong. See "An Uncertain Life" Part 1 (6/5/17), 2 (6/12/17), 3 (7/5/17).]

A third Clark County Tapscott of unknown origin is found in a newspaper article supplied by Bob Walls:

The following persons were buried this week by undertaker Harlan: Mrs. McKinney of Wabash tp., Mrs. Kirby of Darwin; William Tapscott of Anderson. Mr. Tapscott was an old pioneer, being about 84 years of age. He was living by himself, was taken suddenly ill, and when found was in a dying condition. Marshall Weekly Messenger, Thu 13 Apr 1876, p 5.

Marshall Weekly Messenger, Thu 13 Apr 1876.

William's approximate birth date makes him the same generation as Henry the Traveler, who founded the Wabash Valley Tapscotts. But no known William Tapscotts fit the bill. Could a mistake have been made in the name? Henry Tapscott the Traveler is known to have died in the 1870s, probably in Anderson Twp. And in 1876 he would have been around 80. But he should not have been living by himself. Henry’s wife, Susan, was still living at the time. Still, all in all, it would seem that this might be the best guess – that “William” Tapscott was really Henry. Newspaper reporting is certainly not error free. And it is quite possible that Henry's full name was "Henry William Tapscott." After all, his father was William and his grandfather was Henry. What do you think?

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.

Tapscott DNA Project Update

This will bring you up to date on the yDNA test results for the Tapscott Project at Family Tree DNA (http://www.familytreedna.com/)

1. Some time back I noted that I had a 1-step (genetic distance of 1) 37-marker match to a mixed-race Ford from Jamaica, indicative that they may have been descended from William Tapscott the rebel (with a name change as was often the case in interracial relationships). The person matching me has now expanded his testing to 67-markers and shows a 2-step match with my 67-marker test results. This is a very close match for this many markers, making it highly likely that he and I have an identical paternal ancestor. He also shows a 3-step match with a male Tapscott descendant of Capt. Henry Tapscott. Interestingly, the Jamaican individual matches several Boldings and Bowlings with a very close 1-step for 67 markers. Things are starting to fall together. Eventually I plan to see which markers show variations, which may allow a proposal for the point(s) at which Ford, Tapscott, and Bolding/Bowling families separated, assuming, of course, that they do share a common male ancestor. I suspect that any break happened in England before 1700.

2. The Tapscott DNA project has, or will soon have, a participant from England and a participant, who is a descendant of the "mysterious" Robert Francis Tapscott of Virginia.

3. I am still looking for yDNA participants from the New Jersey Tapscotts, the James Tapscott line, and Canadian and Australian Tapscott.

Books

Just returned from a trip to Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois to research the Tapscotts for my new book on the descendants of Henry son of William the Preacher. The tentative title is Henry the Traveler, The Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley. Found some interesting things that I will be blogging during the next few weeks.

The "Second Edition, Revised and Expanded" of Henry the Immigrant, The First Tapscotts of Missouri, was sent to the publishers yesterday. The printing cost is expected to be $44 per book. I am having fifty copies printed, which I hope will be finished by Christmas. About half of the hard-bound, 497-page, 8 1/2 X 11 book will be distributed to family members and libraries. The rest will be sold at cost (probably $55 to cover printing, packaging, and postage). Interested people should contact me at retapscott@comcast.net.