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.

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.

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?