Vaughn—Steps from the Past

By Bobby J. Harlan and Donnie Vaughn

When starting a family history project, where do you begin? For me, the answer is simple: Genesis. Being a man, a man of science, I find that as I get older, science has proven more and more that the truth is very simple. In the opening statements of Genesis, God created the universe as we know it and also created the stars. How is such a thing possible? We are children of God. You know, children are like their creator, full of wonder. Wonder, why? Genesis states, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.

As we learn more on just how we got here, along comes a brilliant young scientist named Stephen Hawking. He explains in mathematical ways how the universe started with a big bang, started from nothing, and burst forth faster than the speed of light. Stars formed and gathered together to form galaxies then matter collected to form planets to circle around the stars. There was eternal darkness, and then there were the stars and light. As time passed, God planted the seeds of life. What is time?

As we read the Bible, we were always in conflict with time. How do we feel comfortable with the evolution of life and the time frame of the Bible? Here, again, I find the answer is simple. Time, to us, is something we made up to understand what goes on around us; God is on his own time. I like to use baking an apple pie as my example of time and what it takes. Heres the question I ask, how long does it take to bake an apple pie? The answer I get is about an hour. I reply with Oh, you can?

So here is my response to the one-hour apple pie:
Where did the apple come from?
How long did the apples take to grow?
Where did that variety of apple come from?
How long did it take for the seed to grow into a tree?
How did you get the apple? At a store?
How did the store get there?
How did the refrigeration and transportation come to be?
What about the cinnamon and sugar you used, where did it come from? (Cinnamon comes from Indiadried tree bark.)
What about the tin used to make the pan used to bake the pie?
When was electricity harnessed to be used by man, the modern stove?

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524643447

Book preview

Vaughn – Steps from the Past

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BOBBY J. HARLAN & DONNIE VAUGHN

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2016 BOBBY J. HARLAN & DONNIE VAUGHN. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/08/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4345-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4343-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4344-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916836

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Table of Contents

About the authors

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1.   Vaughan Steps from the past

Chapter 2.   William Vaughan Jr. Coming to America

Chapter 3.   George W. Vaughan A patriot is born

Chapter 4.   Benjamin Vaughan Georgia is my home

Chapter 5.   Jesse J. Vaughan Black & yellow pines

Chapter 6.   James Sylvester Vaughan The flat lands of Georgia

Chapter 7.   John Henry Vaughan Swamps & gators

Chapter 8.   Horace Hodge Vaughn Milltown

Chapter 9.   Charles Plem Vaughn Briars & mules

Chapter 10.   Donnie Vaughn Steps from the past

Chapter 11.   Vaughn Family Tree

About the authors

Bobby Joe Harlan:

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Born May 31st 1953 in Columbus, Ohio to Phyllis J. Cornell and Justice L. Harlan; shortly after birth he was placed with his grandmother, Lydia Cornell of Ashton, West Virginia. Bob was the youngest of nineteen family members that resided on a small frame home with no electricity, running water and no inside plumbing. The farm located some twenty miles from the magnificent Ohio River, would be the place of one adventurous youth, fishing and hunting and plenty of room to roam the hills. Bob would state his life was in great poverty as a child but his family lived a very rich life due to the love and caring of Lydia Cornell. Bob went on to marry, have three children, ten grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Bob joined the Air Force and spent twenty years traveling the world, at one point the family lived three years in Greece. Bob’s wife, Terri, of forty three years passed away in 2014. Today Bob is retired in South Georgia, getting ready to travel America with his second wife, Shoyle Elaine Harris, of Soperton Georgia.

Bob has co-written several family history books; Mud in my Face about the life of a long term friend Donald Vaughn and Where an Angle is born which is a collection of short stories about his grandmother Lydia Cornell and the fourteen children that lived under her roof, which included Bob and his sister Penny.

Donnie Vaughn:

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Donnie the youngest of twins was born on July 10th, 1957 at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia. Donnie’s father, Charles Vaughn was currently serving a tour overseas during the birth but on his return took the family to Mountain Home Idaho. Donnie’s earliest dreams are of the family outings in the local mountains. From there the family would move often as military assignments changed.

Before even receiving their high school diploma, both Donnie and Ronnie enlisted in the Army. Donnie spent some twenty years as a pharmacist technician; he served one tour in the Middle East. Just as his military career was starting he married and had two children. His son Christopher would later enlist in the Army and served several tours in the Middle East. Today Donnie and his family resides just a few miles from where he was born at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

Donnie working with other family members has researched his family history for over fifteen years. Working with Bob and other family members he has spent the past year putting this family writing project to print.

Acknowledgements

To all of those that have helped make this book go to print. We want to acknowledge their contributions. The selfless hours spent in researching through countless sources on the computer and in dusty old court houses throughout the Great State of Georgia. The many miles some of us spent on the highways to and from these courthouses and libraries. Thank you for all of your help it could not have been possible without each of you.

Charles & Grace Vaughn

Donald & Carolyn Vaughn

Jimmy and Dianne Vaughn

Paul and Jenny Vaughn

Christopher Adam Vaughn

Daniel Curtis Vaughn

Sherry Ann (Vaughn) Murray

Bobby Joe Harlan

Donnie & Brenda Vaughn

Duane Little – Cover Design

I would like to acknowledge My Heavenly Father for all of his love and blessing he has bestowed upon this endeavor. Thank you Lord.

Vaughan Steps from the past

When starting a family history project, where do you begin? For me the answer is simple; Genesis. Being a man, a man of science I find as I get older science has proven more and more the truth is very simple. In the opening statements of Genesis God created the universe as we know it, created the stars; how is such a thing possible? Being the children of God; you know children are like their creator, full of wonder, wonder why? Geneses states: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was over the face of the deep. As we learn more on just how we got here, along comes a brilliant young scientist Steven Hawkins; he explains in mathematical ways how the universe started with a big bang, started from nothing; burst forth faster than the speed of light. Stars formed, gathered together to form galaxies; then matter collected to form planets to circle around the stars. There was eternal darkness, and then there were the stars and light. As time passed God planted the seeds of life; what is time?

As we read the bible were always in conflict with time. How do we feel comfortable with the evolution of life and the time frame of the bible? Here again I find the answer is simple; time to us is something we made up to understand what goes on around us; God is on his own time. I like to use baking an apple pie as my example of time and what it takes. Here’s the question I ask; how long does it take to bake an apple pie; the answer I get is about an hour; I reply, oh you can? So here is my response to the one hour apple pie:

Where did the apple come from?

How long did the apples take to grow?

Where did that verity of apple come from?

How long did it take for the seed to grow into a tree?

How did you get the apple, at a store?

How did the store get there?

How did the refrigeration and transportation come to be?

What about cinnamon and sugar you used; where did it come from (cinnamon comes from India (dried tree bark)?

What about the tin used in the pan used to bake the pie?

When was electricity harnessed to be used by man, the modern stove?

If making a simple apple pie involves so much history and evolution of life and technology; give God the credit he is due, he has planted the seeds of life, the time is far greater, the path far more involved than we can comprehend; it’s Ok, were still the children of God.

What about that start of life, I go back again to Geneses and God’s start of the stars. The stars are the formation of all matter we know, the atoms that compose all that we see. Deep in the stars with great compression atoms of hydrogen are compressed to bind together to form new atoms of oxygen, carbon and all the elements we know that make up our bodies. In Geneses God makes men in his imagine from the soil of the earth, this is so true, we came from the dust of stars, found all over our planet. Geneses states: Then God said let us make man in our image, after our likeness The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The Lord god said it is not good that man should be alone. The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

So now on this blue planet we have night and day, creatures that walk the earth, and along comes a man and a woman; God stated be fruitful and multiply; we sure did. But where is the location of the first man and woman? If we are to believe modern folks talk, you would of thought they came from Hollywood, all prettied up with a thick coat of make-up. The truth is once again simple. During the time of first man (Adam) the world was full of life of all kinds; animals and plants, plenty of fish in the waters. The bible talks of the Middle East, a section of Africa as the location of Eden. Science has tracked the geniis history of man and the best they can see at this time that this in fact is true. Not only can we trace early man back to this region, science has shown that we all come from a single source. A key point to remember is God created man; not Chinese man, not India man, not American Indian man, not European man; he created man. All of us on this planet came from the start of two.

As you look around and see all that is, don’t forget where we came from. In the early days of man there are no cities, no towns or cars or anything, man lived in the open. During early man there are far more animals and creatures than man, some even wanted man for dinner. For many generations man lived in the area of Eden. The sun beat hard upon early man; his skin was darkened from the brutal sun, so it went for many, many generations. At one point due to warm weather and lowering sea levels man tracked across the Arabian Peninsula to establish new lives. From there early man traveled on to what we now call India. This was a central location that allowed all of mankind to branch out. Some went onto China and up to Mongolia. From Mongolia a branch of man crossed over a land bridge to come to the America’s; we know this to be the start of the American Indians. From India man spread to the West, towards Europe. As each generation goes further west, further north; their skin slowly turns from dark to tan, to very light; a reaction to the lack of sunlight, nothing more. Many generations ago during a period of low seas man tracks from the area of Denmark and Germany make’s their way to the British Isles. Most of the decedents of Britain followed this track; but not all.

In the early days of man’s history not all tracked across the Arabian Peninsula and on to India; some stayed in Africa, some traveled west along the coast then on to Egypt. At some point in history groups of ancient man traveled across the Iberian Straights in Spain and settled in the area of Spain and France. From their groups made their way to Ireland; then crossed over to settle in the area of Wales. Genetic tracking shows the population of Wales to be in stature and genetic closer to the people of Spain and Egypt than mainland Europe.

For an exceptional long time the area of Wales was unchanged due to the rugged mountain area and harsh living conditions. Fighting among local tribes and the general British population from the east insurrections into Welsh lands never lasted for long. This started to change just 43 years after Jesus’ death when the Romans invaded England. Over an extended period of time the Romans made headway into certain parts of Wales; never fully conquering the area they set up small towns and outposts. The last roman left the British Isles in 407 A.D.

Once again the area returned to local infighting and continued attacks from the Saxon’s (British general population), this continued till around 900A.D.. The Vikings attacked the Saxon’s and tried to make excursions into Wales, but were stopped. The Saxon ruling of the area started taking shape with William the Conquer around 1066 A. D.; through he did not attack Wales more dealings between the Saxons and the general population of Wales took place. William II from 1087 to 1100A.D. increased his attacks of Wales but failed to conquer the area. Under Edward I in 1277A.D. became the first of the British Kings to place Wales as part of the Kingdom. But who do kings answer too?

Prior to the Romans occupation of the British Isles in 43 A.D. the Welsh people had many different beliefs, but no central religious faith. During the first parts of the Roman occupation the local beliefs of the Saxons and Welsh blended in with the Roman Gods to form local religions. This slowly changed as the Catholic Religion of Rome slowly took hold all over the British Isles. It was the Roman Church that sponsored the early Kings such as William and Edward to conquer Wales. The Catholic Church was in full control of the Isles religious affairs during the time of the Black Plague that ran from 1348 to 1349 A.D., Well over half of the population of the isles passed away during this time frame. But after the plague a protest movement started to take shape in the region; the Protestant movement. During the realm of King Henry VIII his desire to get a divorcé which the Pope refused resulted in the King totally breaking from the Roman Church and establishing the Church Of England in 1534 A.D.. Shortly after the kings’ death his daughter, Queen Mary returned to the beliefs of the Roman Church and had three Protestant martyrs burned at the stake in 1553 A.D. Just a few years later in 1558 Mary’s sister Elizabeth becomes Queen. With Elizabeth the Church of England prevailed and is still the main religious structure in the British realm. In 1588 the Bible was translated into Welsh. For many the control of the church over the daily lives of local people had some looking for religious freedom; time to move to the new world.

Shortly after the first voyages of Columbus the Spanish established their first new world outpost in Panama; 1510. A lot of exploring and exploiting local American population had the Spanish establish the oldest New World City of Saint Augustine (Now Florida) in 1565. By this time the British was gaining ground in the America’s and established their first permanent outpost in Newfoundland, Canada in 1583. Two years later in 1585 the Roanoke Island, North Carolina settlement was established. The settlement that set the stage for future British settlements was in 1607 with Jamestown. A few years later in 1625 a small settlement called New Amsterdam was established; we now know it as New York City. From 1607 to 1640 over 40 major British settlements were established on the east coast of the America’s. Migration from the British Isles to the America’s increased every year. Over the past 300 years some 250,000 Welshmen alone have come to America.

Vaughan

Howel Vaughan 1395

Llewelyn Vaughan 1425

Ynyr Vaughan 1450

Llewelyn Vaughan 1475

Robert Vaughan 1498

Thomas Vaughan 1524

Robert Vaughan 1548

Edward Vaughan 1579

Roger Vaughan 1611

Thomas Vaughan 1645

John Vaughan 1669

William Vaughan Sr. 1691

William Vaughan Jr. Coming to America

When did the first man come to the area of the Welsh, who knows? For the average man and woman the most common mode of getting about was on foot, only the nobles and those with wealth had horses. Boat travel was a whole different story. The earliest of boats were nothing more than rafts with sails. As time went the more common V haul design wooden boat with sails were used. Now keep in mind these were not luxury liners, they were as basic boats as you get. All food and water was carried in clay pots or skins. And what about that pot; when you have to go, you have to go. So you do, right over the side or a honey pot you dump over the side. All those people close together for days; where’s the shower; the truth is average people of this time rarely had a bath; on average once a year. In our modern world around our modern things we may think less of our ancestors; just keep this in mind they lived in a slower, very tough world. They in fact had to endure what we cannot; they were truly tougher men and women than we’ll ever be. Most of the homes were one room mud walled frames with a thatched roof overhead. For heat the area has plenty of peat bogs and coal. So how did the early ancestor’s get to Wales; the hard way. Who were the earliest we know about?

We’ve tracked as far back as 1200 AD, and found the Vaughan line with a Welsh man named Ynyr AP Meyrick Vychan, from there the name of Vaughan slowly takes shape. In 1290 AD we have Meurig Vychan Ynar Vychn. Step forward several generations and we see Howel Vaughan lived in Merionethshire, Wales in 1395 A.D., As we look at the family history and where they lived we see the family line mostly stayed in the region of northeast Wales and the area that is now part of England; Shropshire. Wales is part of the main British Isle, some two hours plus northwest from London by car. Wales is a rugged area with substantial mountains and hills in the central area. The tallest peak is over 3,500 feet above sea level. The best way to think of Wales is compare it to the Appalachian Mountain Range area of West Virginia in America. The area of Shropshire which is just outside the northeast corner of Wales’s, transients into rolling hills and fields, small villages; Less than 3% of Wales is fit for agriculture; over 70% of the land is used for grazing. This part of England along the Welsh border is where William Vaughan Sr. was born; May 1st, 1691.

The land of William’s youth is sparsely populated; the land just north of Shropshire is quit fertile. The area is fairly hilly with the tallest peak of Brown Clee Hill being around 1,772 feet above sea level. In the area are the copper and lead mines still being worked from ancient times? Not far is the oldest border settlement in the area; Oswestry. Just five miles away from the Anglo-Welsh border is the 3,000 year old site of Old Oswestry. The Severn River runs through providing transportation to and out of the area. William III and Mary II are the King and Queen of England. During his reign he signed a treaty to end the war in Ireland (Treaty of Limerick), yet lost the War of the Great Alliance (English and Dutch) to the French. Upon his death from a horse accident in 1702, the Queen’s sister Anne becomes Queen of England. What’s a new Queen have to do; hold on to power.

For hundreds of years the area of present day England was in some sort of conflict. We watch the local news and feel our world is in chaos, you may find it hard to believe, today were in a calm period of history, man has always been in conflict; started with Cane and Able. The Romans, in 43 AD, the black death which resulted in over 50% death rate, with the last major Bubonic outbreak in 1665; then came the Vikings invasions. Wales for sometime had been in conflict with the Saxons; British. During the start of the 1700’s it was the Spanish, the French. Through arranged marriages it seems just about all the Kings and Queens in Europe were related as cousins or even closer. A leading event of the time was who would be King of Spain upon the death of the ailing Charles II. He was the end to the ruling reign of the Habsburg Family line that had its start in 1020 A.D., in a local area in Switzerland called Castle of Habsburg. Spain being a major world power with new world holdings, the Kings of England, Germany, and France all related to one another through the Habsburg Line wanted their pick; then who would control the known world. This negotiating of who would be King of Spain lasted from 1701 to 1714. In the end the King of France (Louis XIV) placed his Grandson on the Spanish Throne. At one point the English King demanded the French King, Louis, take his army and forcibly remove his Grandson from the Spanish Throne; it didn’t happen. War and Kings was not the only thing that shaped the time frame of William.

The time frame we call the dark ages was coming to an end, this would be a period of new discoveries; both in science and the world. In 1687; four years before Williams’s birth, Isaac Newton published his greatest work Principles of Mathematica, the foundation of modern physics. In 1698 William would have been around nine years old; Thomas Savery invented the steam engine. Across the ocean the discoveries of the new world had Spain, France and England at odds with each other. Spain had fully established themselves in South America. The French were in Canada and established a settlement in Detroit, (now Michigan) in 1701; William would be around eleven at this time frame. The shaping of the new world would have a major impact on the life of the people of the world on both sides of the ocean.

When Columbus touched his boots in the New World, his crew bought the start of diseases of which the American Indians living in both North and South America could not survive, mostly chicken pox’s. It was estimated that before Europeans arrived in the America’s there were as many as 50 million natives in both the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, by 1700 the estimate was 13 million. Some died due to battle, but most due to no immunity to the European diseases. The natives of the America’s had their own immunity, they carried Syphilis of which the European’s had no immunity, many contracted it and took it back to Europe, where this disease spread like wild fire. The New England area of America was slowly being settled. In 1610 there were about 350 Europeans in the area, by 1690 the numbers were closer to 210,400 and growing; the American Indians now decimated by disease and war were displaced. But in the end, life continues.

At a young age William Vaughan (Sr.) marries Mary Denton and a son William Vaughan (Jr.) is born in 1718; William Sr. would be around twenty five at the birth of his son. Life had to be hard in the area of Shropshire in 1718; here again compare it to the isolated rural area of West Virginia to make a comparison. From birth to the age of ten, life would have been very hard in rural England; how did the arrangements for a ten year old boy to leave his family, travel to America come about?

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It appears an indentured servant/slave arrangement was made for young William Vaughan Jr. to travel to America in September of 1728 on the British Ship Expedition. The indentured servant/slave was a very common working arrangement for many of the common people coming from Europe. Their passage would be paid; they would work out the arrangement for seven to ten years at the owner’s farm or business in America. Common agreements were at the end of your work servitude, paying back the cost of your passage, you would get a new set of clothes, two acres of land (owning land in Europe was unheard of for common people of Europe) and a woman. Where did the woman come from, more than likely a similar arrangement with a female indentured servant/slave? One of the catches to the arrangement, if your family was backed to come to America, one died, the living had to work out the debt.

Once you are on board a ship coming to America the trip was a journey in itself. There are no passenger ships, just war ships crammed with up to 300 passengers. The trip could take up to five weeks at sea traveling the 3,966 miles from Bristol, England to Charleston, South Carolina or the Virginia coast. The ship around 125 feet long, about 27 feet wide, three decks. No bathing, no privet place to go, all crammed together, sleeping on cots or the floor. Not un-common for water to go sour or food to spoil. Many folks would get sick and die at sea, their bodies just dumped over the side; old, children, newborns. How in the world did a ten year old boy (William Vaughan Jr.) end up traveling to America, becoming an indentured servant/slave; what was his role as he landed in Charleston, late September or early October of 1728?

As young William Vaughan (Jr.) arrived in America he was one of about 629,445 Europeans in the colonies of North America. Now in South Carolina during the 1730’s there were about 30,000 people of immigrant decent. The interesting thing is it’s listed as 10,000 white, 20,000 slaves. Were only black slaves counted as slaves; yes, the Indian slaves were not counted? At this time frame even the Indians would capture other Indians, and then sell them as slaves. William didn’t go get a job at Burger King or live in a nice neighbor hood. In the Charleston, South Carolina area both small and large plantations had sprung up. No doubt one of these had paid William’s way to be a worker, not a guest. In the early 1700’s the cash crop of South Carolina was rice. Tobacco was more a crop of North Carolina and Virginia. Cotton did not take hold until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in the late 1700’s. The other leading crop of this era was a plant called Indigo which originally came from India and Egypt; used in making blue dye. Through not as prosperous as rice it still had a better price than cotton at $.75 per pound. The plant first introduced in 1739 reached its peak production in 1773 with over 1,107,160 pounds shipped to England in support of English textile mills. Why rice production was so prosperous in the Charleston area?

The early Europeans knew very little about growing rice, but the slaves imported from Africa did. The climate of the Charleston area did not work out well for tobacco, but the wet warm