Workday Wednesday: Law Enforcement and Judicial System

 Since I now work with the Judicial System in North Carolina as a Deputy Clerk of Court, it occurred to me recently that several members of my family have served in law enforcement or the judicial system.  Can choice of career run in families?

James L. "Jim" Tapley, my grand uncle
 Deputy Sheriff, Johnson County, Georgia
    I don't know exactly how long Uncle Jim was a Deputy Sheriff, but at least from 1918-1930, probably longer.  I know he was a Deputy Sheriff in 1918 because he was mentioned in the FBI reports on his son, Gordon, when Gordon went AWOL during World War I.  Then in 1920, he ran for Johnson County Sheriff:

From "The Wrightsville Headlight," January 1, 1920

  He lists his occupation as "Deputy Sheriff" on the 1930 census.


Bentley Allen "B.A." Lampp, 1st cousin
  Deputy Sheriff, Jefferson County, Georgia

 

  B.A. retired as a Deputy Sheriff sometime before 1998.

 Gilbert Earl Tapley, my father
  Deputy Sheriff, Emanuel County, Georgia

Daddy became involved in law enforcement later in life.  When I was 18 and left for college, he joined the Sheriff's Department in Emanuel County as a prisoner transport deputy.  He enjoyed it immensely.  

 He was also an "honorary" Johnson County Deputy Sheriff:

James Thomas Drake, Great grand uncle
  Officer, Adrian Police Department, Adrian, Georgia

He was an officer for 25 years, retiring at the age of 80.

  Warden, Macon County Work Camp, 1910-1912

    - from The Wrightsville Headlight, Wrightsville, GA, Thursday, May 8, 1958, Centennial Edition, page 1.

Ellen Tapley Young, 2nd cousin
  Probate Judge, Washington County, Georgia

Ellen is Uncle Jim's granddaughter. 

George Washington Tapley, 2nd great-grandfather
  Magistrate and Justice of the Peace, Johnson County, Georgia

Patricia Tapley, 2nd cousin
  Clerk of Court, Johnson County, Georgia

Solomon Page,  2nd great-grandfather
  Judge, Inferior Court, Johnson County, Georgia, 1859
 
    - from The Wrightsville Headlight, Wrightsville, GA, Thursday, May 8, 1958, Centennial Edition.  Reprinted from the Johnson County Court Records dated May 5, 1859.

There are probably several more that I don't even know about!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Semi-Random Research

From Randy over at Genea-Musings:

Dear genealogists everywhere, it's Saturday Night!  Time for some Genealogy FUN.  

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to:

 1)  We're going to do a little bit of Semi-Random Research tonight...

2)  Go to your family tree database of choice (you know, like RootsMagic, Reunion, Ancestry Member Tree), and determine who the very last person on your list of names is.

3)  What do you know about this person based on your research?  It's OK to do more if you need to - in fact, it's encouraged!

4)  How are you related to this person, and why is s/he in your family tree?

5)  Tell us about it in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook Status post or Google+ Stream post.

Here's mine:

2)  The last person in the index of my 4,679 person family tree in Family Tree Maker 2012 is:  Savannah J. Young.

3)  Savannah J. Young was born in February 1868 to Jesse Young and Silverah Connell Young.   She was married to John (or James) B. Russell about 1888 probably in Jefferson County, Georgia and was the mother of nine children.  (The 1910 United States Census indicated she gave birth to 11 children with 9 living.)  She spent her entire life in Jefferson County.  She died 03 Jan 1940 and is buried at Mount Horeb Baptist Church cemetery in Wrens.  
  
    I found corrections to information I had and new information with a quick search on Ancestry.com, using the 1880 and 1910 censuses, the Georgia Deaths 1919-1998 database, and a family tree.  I also used FindAGrave.com.

    An interesting mystery... Sources on Ancestry.com indicate Savannah's father, Jesse, did not die until 1925.  However as early as the 1880 census, when Savannah was 12, her father was not listed in the home.  In 1910, her mother was living with her and her family, and again, her father was not in the home.  So where was he all those years?  Did they get divorced?  When I have some time, I may pursue the answers to these questions.

4)  According to FTM, Savannah was the "wife of 1st cousin, 1x removed of  wife of grand uncle."  Isn't that a mouthful?!  In other words, Savannah's husband, John (or James) B. Russell, was the 1st cousin, 1x removed of my grand uncle, Franklin Morgan Tapley's wife, Laney Minton Tapley.  She is included in my database because I tend to include extended family as well in my family tree.  I never know when that name may come up again.

5)  Done!