VAUGHAN, ETC N EW S L E T T ER
JANUARY & APRIL 1984
EDITOR; Verna Baker Banes
Page 27
GENEALOGY COURTISIES
+ Include self-addressed stamped envelope with all requests or in response to queries,
+ Send a financial donation to anyone who has done extensive work on your line.
+ Answer all queries. Someone is hoping to hear from you, even if you cannot help with more facts.
WHO HAS JOE VAUGHAN????
PHILLIP STEELE, P.O. Box 191, Springdale, AR 72764 is working on a book about those who
have claimed to be the "true Jesse and Frank James boys." One such imposter was Joe Vaughan
who in 1926 called his family of 9 Vaughan children together as he lay near death at Wayton, AR,
He told them they were Jameses and not Vaughans, as he had been living under an alias since 1885
and was the one and only Franklin Alexander James, bro of Jesse James from Clay Co MO. He
further directed them to an old trunk where a manuscript he had written was found telling his story
of the James brothers.
The manuscript told that Jesse did not die in 1881 as history records. The man buried as Jesse was
actually Charles Bigelo buried as Jesse to give him freedom from the law. Frank James made a deal
with the Governor of MO to also end his career and help the governor's political ambition. Joe
Vaughan further explained that while Frank James was away running for 17 years, his wife Annie
had fallen in love with a neighbor, Sam Collins. Frank made a deal with Sam Collins, giving him the
James farm, all rights to marry Annie, and $25,000 to use in raising his only son Robert. Sam Collins
thus became Frank James, and after being pardoned by all courts and the governor, Sam Collins, as
Frank James, made money by giving lectures, etc,
The real Frank James went to the AR mountains, took the name Joe Vaughan from a man he had seen
killed during the Civil War, In AR, Joe Vaughan married Nancy Richardson and reared nine Vaughan
children. As he lay near death, he told them to make sure his story was told and to bury him under his
true name—Frank James. He also told this and that his brother Jesse was still alive to the doctor
attending him. Joe Vaughan's grave marker in the old Snow cemetery reads, FRANK JAMES, ALIAS
JOE VAUGHAN, Another grave in Independence, MO also reads FRANK JAMES, 1915.
According to the Vaughans, this grave is really that of Sam Collins.
Before Ebb Vaughan and Sarah Vaughan Snow died, Phillip Steele taped interviews with them. Both
firmly believed their father was the real Frank James. Sara and her nephew Columbus Vaughan
published a book in 1960 "This was Frank James" based on the story that Joe Vaughan told.
Mr. Steele found that Jesse and Frank James were related to the Vaughan family in Clay Co, MO
before they moved to AR. Their father died when they were young children. Their mother, Zerelda
James, then married Rueben Samuel. Rueben's brother Ed Samuel married Nancy Cheruba Vaughan,
Nancy Vaughan Samuel was therefore the aunt of Jesse and Frank. Ed Samuel moved to Clifty, AR, so
Jesse and Frank often used his farm as a hiding place. Many old books reportr'that they often used the
alias of Vaughan.
A pallbearer at Jesse James' funeral in 1882 was named Ji.m Vaughan. Certain James descendants
think this pallbearer was Frank James in disguise. The Joe Vaughan story ia so preposterous and
conflicts so drastically with documented history of the James family that it is considered to be only
James folklore with no truth to it at all. .Mystery has however always surrounded James history, and
although very doubtful, some portions of the Vaughan story may be of value,
Any Vaughan family member that may have information regarding the Joe Vaughan of Arkansas who
claimed to be Frank James or the Joe Vaughan who was a member of the Quantrill forces in the Civil
War (whom Frank had seen die), or the Jim Vaughan who was a pallbearer at Jesse James* funeral
is asked to contact Phillip Stoola.
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