I didn't try to trace my ancestry until about 20 years ago when I had casually mentioned this story to Paul Rossi, a librarian friend of mine at Texas A&M University. He later mailed me a package.
He had searched the first federal census records on microfilm (the internet was not yet invented) and found records of my surname owning plantations in Virginia and Maryland right next to the plantations of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. At the time I wasn't even sure if this was the correct root of the family from which to start.
From these records and later the Internet, I started tracing the family lineage forward. This meant that I had to trace hundreds of dead ends because as you move forward on your family tree it branches out and only one of the many branches leads to you. If you start with yourself and go back in time, the tree gets narrower which means there are fewer false leads.
So I did it wrong and it took me a lot longer, however I did find all of my cousins and eventually, my tip of the branch, but I could not find anything farther back than 1686 in America. I also found that I'm related to George Washington by marriage… after all, he was their next door neighbor.
I had traced my family, from myself, back to my first direct ancestor to arrive in America in 1686, William Edward Tapscott, but I did not know of any information on my ancestors farther back than that or how that first Tapscott had come to America.
So last year my brother, Robert, went to Great Britain and with the help of some libraries, museums, and the Somerset Historical Society as well as countless other persons, traced some of our direct ancestors’ back to the 14th century and found our surname in documents from the early 14th century.
We have also been told, by several different people, that there is a Tapscott Castle in Scotland but we have not been able to find any information on it, so it may be called something else or not exist at all.
Everyday I find or receive from Robert and others, new little bits of unbelievable information on my ancestors. I have compiled a documented record book on my family and my brother is writing a couple of books on the family and the family name. He is planning another trip to The United Kingdom soon for further research.
Most importantly, on his last trip he also discovered, from official government records, the story of William “The Scot” of Culmstock.
In 1685, William “The Scot” of Culmstock, a weaver of cloth for kilts, along with the Duke of Monmouth, tried, unsuccessfully, to overthrow King James II of England in what was known as “The Monmouth Rebellion”. The Scottish and English were always at odds with each other as well as themselves.
When caught, the Duke and other rebels were tortured and executed by beheading with an axe. With the Duke, the executioner had to take several swings to finally sever the Duke’s head from his body.
William “The Scot”, being held in Taunton Prison along with some remaining rebel prisoners, escaped the axe treatment and was sentenced, by Judge Jeffreys, to banishment at hard labor on an English plantation in Jamaica owned by Sir Christopher Musgrave.
In 1686, William “The Scot” and 100 of the rebels were taken from the prison and put on the ship, “Jamaica Merchant”, bound for Port Royale, Jamaica. But as they were arriving, just a few miles off the Jamaican coast, the pirate… opps, I mean privateer, Henry Morgan commandeered the ship.
He needed the ship and men to help raise his own flagship, the "Oxford", which had been sunk off the coast of Haiti by Morgan's own men during a drunken party when they accidentally set the ship on fire and the gunpowder stored aboard exploded, sinking the ship.
Their unsuccessful attempt to raise the “Oxford” resulted in the “Jamaica Merchant” being sunk, drowning Captain Morgan, most of his men, and a considerable number of passengers. Note: There are some reports of Captain Morgan surviving the sinking, living for several more years in Port Royale, Jamaica and inventing Spiced Rum. I am doing a little more research on this, while drinking some of his rum… at least until I find better documentation on his demise... or the rum runs out.
Both ships were recently discovered, next to each other, by a treasure hunting dive team in only 12 feet of water off the coast of Haiti. Many people had not believed this tale, but I had faith it was true. I believe this vindicates my belief.
William “The Scot” was rescued and eventually made his way to Virginia in the New World, where he started several plantations of his own, some of which are still in existence today, such as Edgehill Plantation in Virginia. (http://www.rootsweb.com/~valancas/Edgehill/ EDGEHILL /edgehtm/EDGE50.HTM) There are many stories of the place being haunted, probably by William.
Two years later, in 1688, “William of Orange”, who was married to King James daughter, successfully overthrew King James II, took over the throne and ordered the rebel prisoners pardoned, this being far too late for the executed rebels and of little use to the pirated rebels (both drowned and saved).
Four generations later, during the 1800's, two of William “The Scot’s” descendents, brothers William and James, owned a shipping line with around 20 ships, which brought thousands of immigrants from Europe to the New World. One of the ships, named after one of the brothers, William, wrecked off the coast of England in the 1880's. Parts of it are in the Bude Museum at Stratford England, and parts of William and some of the passengers are in a graveyard on the coast of Cornwall.
If the rebel, William “The Scot”, had been killed in the war of 1685, executed by King James II, killed by the pirate Henry Morgan, or drown on the pirated ship, "Jamaica Merchant", I could never have relayed this story to you as I would not have been on this Earth today.
You see, William “The Scot” of Culmstock’s legal name was William Edward Tapscott, my ancestor from ten generations back and this was why and how he became the first Tapscott to come to America over three centuries ago in 1686, almost 100 years before the Declaration of Independence was written.
Unbeknownst at the time (to me or anyone else), almost three centuries later, I would become the Great (x 10) Grandson and namesake of that rebel, William “The Scot” Tapscott of Culmstock, a Scottish tailor who tried to overthrow an English King.
William Tapscott
The Tenth Generation Of
William “The Scot” Tapscott
in America
