Wabash Valley Tapscotts - Spencer Case, The Rest of the Story

Almost three years ago, I posted the story of the Spencer Case (Tapscott Family History: The Spencer Case). And I promised a future post on the fate of the rascal William Woodrow Rease. Here is, finally, his somewhat mysterious story.

In 1940, as a result of the outcome of the Spencer Case, William was an inmate at the Illinois State Penitentiary, in the town of Pontiac, Livingston Co, Illinois. After release he joined his mother, Emma Curtis (her married name at the time), in the town of Mount Carmel, Illinois, where they were living in 1943. In Mount Carmel, William was married 5 Dec 1947 to an Edna Smith. Then in October 1950 and October 1951 the Mount Carmel Daily Republican-Register published a series of announcements:

“NOTICE WILLIAM REASE is no longer employed by the Electomic Chemical Corporation on River Road.

Had William strayed again? And why were the notices posted only in October?

On 18 Oct 1956 in Lewistown, Fergus Co, Montana. Edna and William were divorced. Edna claimed desertion, and that is likely true. It is known that William, possibly while living in Phoenix, Arizona, did some traveling around Mexico in 1956. After that year, we don’t hear of William again, for certain, for two decades. When his mother, Emma (Arnold) Ramsey (yes, she had married once more, to Frank G. Ramsey, spouse/partner no. 6), died on 14 Aug 1979 in Mount Carmel, her obituary stated that her son, William W. Rease, was deceased. But, since she had no close living relatives (other than possibly her son) at the time, the obituary information is suspect.

Now, the Mysterious Part

The 23 Dec 1977 edition of the El Paso Times relates a detailed interview by a reporter of William “Cherokee” Rease. Rease, self-described as the stubborn son of a Comanche-Cherokee mother and an Irish-Cherokee father, claimed to be seventy-nine years old (born 1898) and to have worked as a gas station attendant, inventor, sign painter, school teacher, magazine writer, Fort Worth cop, private investigator, and man-about-Las Vegas. And he was an autobiographer, authoring his life’s story, which formed the basis of the newspaper article (and all his claims).

El Paso Times.

He was also, it turns out, a wife-killer. On 29 Oct 1977, in a rented barn 25 miles from Van Horn, Texas, Rease put three bullets from a high-powered rifle into the skull of the woman he claimed to have loved, Jacquelyn Rae ("Ray") Rease. It was her 43rd birthday. Nine days later, District Court Judge William H. Emory told Rease he would probate his sentence in exchange for a plea of guilty to the charge of murder. Rease agreed and walked free.

Rease’s autobiography was apparently never published, and in August 1987, Cherokee Bill died while still a resident of El Paso. His SSDI (Social Security Death Index) year of birth was given as 1907, considerably different from the year of 1898 indicated by the age he claimed during his interview by the El Paso Times reporter. Apparently Bill liked to stretch things.

A William Rease born around 1907 (excluding one or two who are ruled out by race or location) is first documented in the record of his marriage on 9 Feb 1977 in Chambers Co, Texas, to Jacquelyn R. Johnson, the woman he murdered later that year. In his interview, William said that he had been married twice before that. And before his death, he was married once more, to Carmen Leyva on 28 Feb 1983 in El Paso. With the possible exception of the SSDI, a 1907 William Rease appears in no record prior to the 1977 marriage record.

But, of course, that William Rease of El Paso born in 1907 cannot be found in early records does not prove a connection to our William Rease born in 1914. But there are two things strongly evidencing this. First, the middle name of William Rease of El Paso was “Woodrow.” Second, the SSDI birthdate of William of El Paso was 2 Feb 1907. William of the Spencer Case was born 2 Feb 1914. Could our William have changed his birth year, perhaps to obtain retirement benefits? Birthdate changes, not at all uncommon, usually involve only year changes. Are the two William’s the same? Probably. What are the odds for two William Woodrow Reases born on 2 Feb? And the William of El Paso was issued his SSN in Michigan, where William of Princeton, Indiana is known to have lived, at least for a while.

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - Frank and Harry Tapscott

 A recent blog concluded that Sam and Susie Tapscott had four children, three girls (Viola, Julia, and Stella) and a boy (Austin). But then ended with

 We May Be Wrong!

 What brings on this declaration?

On Mon 30 Dec 1946 a news article on a court case in Decatur, Illinois, was published in The Decatur Daily Review newspaper. Lola Flint of Paris  and Stella McLain of Terre Haute (.Samuel and Susie’s daughters Viola and Stella) had asked the court to declare their brothers, Frank and Harry, former Decatur residents who had been missing for more than fifty years, legally dead. Who in the world are, or were, Frank and Harry? And what sort of estate would they have inherited? They have not been identified in any document other than the Decatur newspaper. That they had not been seen for more than fifty years implies a birth year prior to 1896. One possibility is that one of them was Austin, who may have had a middle name Harry or Frank (or vice versa). Another possibility is that they were illegitimate children of Samuel, or even of Susie. Or, or course, they could have just been two additional children born to Susie and Sam in the 1880s or 1890s.

 What do you think?

 

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - A Photo

The last blog showed a photo of Samuel with his son and three daughters sent me by cousin Cheryl. The photograph is a little blurred with age making it difficult to estimate children’s ages, and thus the photo date. I decided to try to “improve” the photo by, in turn, enhancing, sharpening, colorizing it. The first and last were done using features available on the My Heritage website. I sharpened it using Microsoft editing. And then I combined all of these variations.

From the photo “improved” with everything, my wife and I think that the boy, presumably Austin, was aged 9 or 10 and the youngest girl, Stella, at the far right, 12 or 13. This means that the photo was taken around 1890 or 1891. The photo also shows that the seated girl has a somewhat rounded face, in contrast to the taller girl standing behind her. Other photos show Viola to have a rounded face, indicating that the seated girl is Viola. And Viola would be expected to be seated owing to the injury to leg caused by Samuel. What do you think?

Original

Enhanced

Sharpened

Colorized

Everything

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - Sam and Susie’s Kids

The preceding blog stated that unknowns surround Susie Bell (Tingley) Tapscott Sturdevant, but more mysteries may surround her children.

First, we don’t know with certainty how many children Susie and Samuel had. The 1880 census shows three, “Lully,” “Maria,” and “Susan,” All born in the 1870s. But no Samuel Tapscott family unit appears in a census after that date.

 “Lully’ it turns out was Viola Jane, “Lully” apparently being a nickname (or a mistake by the census enumerator). She was also known as “Lola.” We are quite familiar with Viola’s life. She was born 23 Aug 1875 (apparently out of wedlock), married 1 May 1898, and died 19 Apr 1973.

“Maria” was Julia Maria, who was born in 1876 or 1877 and was probably the “infant child, as yet unborn” that resulted in Susie’s marriage to Samuel on 8 Jul 1876. Julia committed suicide in 1898 by jumping in front of a train. All about that in my book.

The third child in the census is Susan, age 1 (born between 2 Jun 1878 and 1 Jun 1879). An 1879 issue of the Clark County Herald announced “BORN. TAPSCOTT-In Marshall, May 31, to Samuel and Susie Tapscott-a daughter” and a birth record at the Clark County Courthouse records the birth of a girl named only “Tapscott” to Samuel and Susan Tingley Tapscott. We have always assumed those records were for Susan who appears in the 1880 census. And they are. But then we have a problem. According to her death certificate, Estella Tapscott, who went almost solely by “Stella,” was born to Sam and Susie on 23 May 1879, a date that appears on Stella’s grave marker and fits the age on her  marriage record. But we cannot have two children born eight days apart. Moreover if Stella had been born 23 May 1879 she should appear in the 1880 census with her family. Even if her date of birth was May 1880, as appears in the 1900 census, she should still show up in the 1880 census, which has an official date of Jun 1. And, as we will see, the birth record for her brother Austin states that he is child number 4, not number 5 which would be the case if he had both a sister Susan and a sister Stella. The evidence allows one to conclude that Stella does appear in the 1880 census, but as “Susan.” It is likely that the daughter we know as “Stella’ was really “Susan Estella” or “Estella Susan” and was really born 31 May 1878 as given in the more reliable birth record, not 23 May 1879, a date probably promulgated by human error. (Birth dates on death certificates and grave markers are often questionable.)

Finally, there is Austin T. Tapscott, found in only a single record, a reliable birth record at the Clark Co, Illinois courthouse. The record gives the date of birth as 23 Sep 1881 and states that he is fourth child born to “Sarah Tabscot nee Tingley” and “Samuel Tapscot.” No other record of Austin has been found and it is likely that he died young.

An 1884 article in a Terre Haute newspaper states that during a dispute between Samuel and his wife, she had absconded with two children leaving Sam with two others. Four total. And a photograph, from cousin Cheryl, taken around 1890 or 1891 (my estimation) shows Samuel with four children, three girls and a boy. It all seems to fit together. Samuel and Susie Bell had four children: Viola Jane, Julia Maria, Estella Susan (“Stella”), and Austin T. But, as you will soon see,

We May Be Wrong!

Samuel, Julia, Viola, Austin, Stella, c1890-1891, thanks to Cheryl Naegel.

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - The Mysteries of Susie

I hate to give up when it comes to tracing Susie Bell Tingley and her children  (see blog 22 Jan 2018). But I may have to. Susan (“Susie”) Bell (likely “Corabelle” or “Corabell”) married the last-born of Henry and Susan (Bass) Tapscott’s children—the scoundrel Samuel. Once I finish with Samuel Tapscott and his descendants, the book “Henry’s Children, the Tapscotts of the Wabash Valley” will be complete. (Except for a month or two of editing and indexing.) But, I’m afraid I may have to write Samuel and Susie’s section with some rather large gaps. Let’s start with Susie.

Susie Bell (thanks to Cheryl Naegel)

The biggest problem with Susan (Tingley) Tapscott is that she disappears for over thirty years. Except for a postcard that my distant cousin Cheryl Naegel (a cornucopia of information) sent me, no document is found with her name between 1894, when “Bell Fingley” (transcription error) gave permission for her daughter Estella Tapscott to marry, and Susie's death on 3 Dec 1930 at her daughter’s home in Burnett, Vigo Co, Indiana. She cannot be found in the 1900, 1910, 1920, or 1930 censuses, or anywhere else for that matter.

We do know, from the postcard and death certificate, that she married someone by the name of “Sturdevant” (presumably following Samuel’s death on 15 Jun 1903). But, unfortunately, we don’t know her spouse’s first name. All attempts to find the correct Susan (or Susie) Sturdevant in other records have failed.

We also know, from the postcard, that she was living in Decatur, Illinois in 1927. What is interesting is that in 1920, living in Danville, was a Susan Sturdevant born in 1855 (our Susie’s birth year) married to an Andrew Sturdevant. Wrong Susan as it turns out.

 HELP

Can anybody tell me anything about Susie's missing years?

The next blog will look at Susie’s children, some even more mysterious than their mother.

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - Draft Book Section, George Wilber Tapscott

Paul V. Tapscott's life was not all that interesting. That was certainly not true of his brother George. Let me know of suggested changes, corrections, additions.

Born 25 Oct 1884 in Hendricks Co, Indiana, George Wilber Tapscott was a life-long Indiana farmer. As a teenager he worked as a farmhand, as his father did at the time, and went on to operating rented farms in Hendricks, Boone, and Marion counties. On the way he got married and raised four kids. And it was the marriage that makes George’s story interesting, for the woman he married had a fascinating history.

On 6 Jul 1915 in Hendricks Co, George W. Tapscott  married Ellen J. Head. But Ellen was not a native of Hendricks Co or even of the United States. She had been born Ellen Jane Booker on 9 Mar 1885 in Chichester, England to William M. and Augusta Emma (Peskett) Booker.

On 21 Apr 1908, the S.S. Minnehaha steamed into New York harbors, arriving from London, England. On board, with Los Angeles her ultimate destination, was Nellie Campbell. Nellie, it turns out, was Ellen Jane Booker. “Nellie” was the name Ellen would use most of the rest of her life and Daugald Archibald Campbell was the father of her unborn child. Nellie had arrived in the U.S. three months or so pregnant. She would later claim that she had been married to a person of high standing in the Royal Navy, who had died at sea and been buried there.

In Los Angeles, on 30 Oct 1908, Violet Campbell was born to Ellen Jean [sic] Booker and Daugald Archibald Campbell. Though the birth was recorded as legitimate, it had occurred at Door of Hope, 3500 S. Main Street, a women's shelter.

In 1909 Nellie was apparently taken ill and placed in a California hospital. It was there that she met William T. Head, a well-to-do Boone Co, Indiana, farmer. As a result of that meeting, it was said that “the spark of love was kindled which time fanned into a flame, resulting in their marriage.” The two were united in Danville, Illinois, on 5 Apr 1910.

Born 20 Jun 1852 in Bullitt Co, Kentucky, William Thomas Head had outlived two previous wives, the second of whom died 29 Aug 1909, around the time that he met Ellen (“Nellie”) Booker Campbell. William was thirty-three years older than Nellie, and he had children by both of his previous marriages.

The “spark of love” was soon extinguished between William and Nellie. On 1 Sep 1910, less than five months after the marriage, William filed for a divorce. In an article titled “Nellie was very Naughty” a local newspaper reported William’s claims:

. . .during his courtship Nellie represented that she was a pious, religious, and virtuous woman, a church member of long standing and had sang in the choir of one of the churches near her home; that she had previously been married to a man of high standing in the English navy, but that he had died on a voyage and been buried at sea; that as a result of her former marriage she had one child, but he declares that all of said statements were false and made for the purpose of deceiving him and inveigleing him into a marriage with her.

 

He says that he explained to her that he was a farmer and would give her a good home; that he needed some one to look after his grand daughter, and that she would be expected to do the work usually performed by farmers' wives. At her request, he brought her child to his home where it has since remained.

 

Soon after their marriage she began to complain and find fault with the furniture and other things about the farm; circulated the report that she did not love him; but married him for his money; called him a d-d old fool, and used vile and indecent language in the presence of his grand daughter, and when he remonstrated with her, she would tell him to "go to hell," she would do as she pleased.

 

He says that he explained to her hoods regarding him to his children, and caused them to cease visiting him; that she would use vile, suggestive and indecent language in the presence of strangers; that while professing to love him, she was planning to leave him, and was planning to visit lawyers with a view to compelling him to divide his property with her. Hat she averred she had been with other men, and they had taken liberties with her. He declares that he does not believe her child is the legitimate offspring of her former marriage. He says there no children and no hope of a reconciliation.

Nellie and George

Was there any truth to this? Possibly. But much seems to be unsubstantiated. Then, just two weeks later, the suit for divorce was dismissed. The couple stayed married until William's death, but how good the marriage was is difficult to say. The couple did, however, have a child, Thomas George Head, born posthumously 30 Mar 1914 in Union Twp, Hendricks Co.

William Thomas Head Sr. died 27 Feb 1914 and was laid to rest in Riverside Cemetery, Attica, Fountain Co, Indiana, with a marker listing his first two wives. And Nellie was free to marry again, which she did, the following year, when she married George Tapscott.

During the years that George traveled from county to county to rent and run farms, he and Nellie had four children, Esther, George, Marion, and John. Nellie’s first two offspring, Violet and William Thomas Jr., were also part of the family.

George died young, on 11 Jan 1936 in Indianapolis, of heart failure following removal of a cancerous kidney. Nellie continued living in Marion Co, in rural Indianapolis, raising four children (the two girls were  married by the time George died). Then, on 18 Jul 1960, Ellen J. (“Nellie”) Tapscott was found dead on a bed in the rural Indianapolis home of her daughter Violet with a plastic bag tied over head. She had committed suicide.

George and Ellen (Booker) Tapscott markers (Find A Grave)

Ellen and George rest side by side in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, Lizton, Indiana. His cemetery marker is clearly inscribed with an obviously incorrect death of 1938. The year 1936 in his death certificate is confirmed by a newspaper death notice.

Wabash Valley Tapscotts - Draft Book Section, Paul V. Tapscott

Major and Sarah (Dinsmore) Tapscott had three sons, no daughters. The oldest son was Paul. Here is what I have written. Comments, suggestions, changes, additions?

Major and Sarah’s first born, Paul V., arrived 18 Sep 1880 in Hendricks Co, Indiana. About Jul 1909, when he was approaching age 29 (Major’s male descendants tended to marry late), Paul married Pearl D. Johnson, daughter of a Lebanon, Indiana, brick mason. Pearl was born to Willis D. and Emaline (Lee) Johnson on 10 Jan 1879, presumably in Lebanon. Pearl may have lacked documentation of her birth since in 1942 she asked the Morgan Co, Indiana, Circuit Court “to have the time and place of her birth determined.”

Paul and Pearl, a truly alliterative couple, started out married life in Montgomery Co, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis, living there for a while in the 1920s with Paul’s widowed mother in the town of Crawfordsville. By 1930 Paul and Pearl were residing in the village of Brooklyn, Indiana, just a forty-minute drive to downtown Indianapolis. There, they lived out their married lives.

Brooklyn, Morgan Co, Indiana

When he retired in 1949, Paul had worked forty-seven years for Bell Telephone Company, where Pearl had also worked, as an operator. It may have been due to Paul’s and Pearl’s jobs that two Tapscott nephews, George William and Marion John, ended up working for Indiana Bell.

Paul died suddenly, passing away at his Brooklyn home 20 Jul 1950. Widowed, Pearl moved to Lebanon, Indiana, where she had spent her childhood. She died there on 14 Jan 1963, while living with a niece. She and Paul were laid to rest in the Knights of Pythias Cemetery, Lizton, Indiana. The couple had no children.