VAUGHAN, ETC NEWSLETTER
June 1987
EDITOR: Verna Baker Banes
Page 50
going to Alabama just long enough to do a short stint in the militia, then returning to Virginia.
It is, of course, possible that a man was
in Virginia early in 1818, then moved to Alabama, but it seems quite unlikely
that he would have been chosen that very same year to represent his Alabama
county in the General Assembly, that he would then have returned to Virginia
to be found once again, a year later (1820) on the Brunswick County Tax list.
I briefly checked the deed index in Brunswick
County for Micajah Vaughan; I found only two entries:
Brunswick County, Virginia, Deed Book 20, pg 284. April , 1807.
Griffin Stith of Brunswick County to Micajah Vaughan of same... (I didn't make an abstract of this.)
Brunswick County, Virginia, Deed Book 23, pg 47. January 4, 1815.
Micajah Vaughan and Delilah his wife (residence not given. mg) to Sarah Tacket of Brunswick
County...$25.00...16 acres in Brunswick County...Burchetts Road...John (?)Frasers line...John Sadlers
line...Susan Sadlers line...
his
Wit: Thomas Dr. ___, John Wyche
/s/ Micajah (X) Vaughan
Matthew M. Harris
mark
her
/s/ Delilah (X) Vaughan
mark
To whom it may concern...we John (?)Fraser and Patsy (?)Fraser
wife of said John...for ourselves...and each of our heirs...and
any other person claiming under us...relinquish...all
right and title...have...may have had...by virtue of any conveyance from
Micajah Vaughan...to the described land... [from mg: It
looks as if Micajah might have made an earlier deal with the Frasers, but
that failed to
be completed.] The above deed to Sarah Tacket was
acknowledged by Micajah Vaughan in Brunswick County Court on July 24, 1815.
Note that Micajah Vaughan of Brunswick County signed by mark and could hardly
have been the man who was Clerk of the Court in Blount County, Alabama.
Further confirmation that Melkijah Vaughan
of Alabama was not Micajah Vaughan of Brunswick County, Virginia, is found
in History of Tennessee, Sumner, Smith, Macon and Trousdale Counties.
Goodspeed. (Nashville 1887), page 923. The subject of this biographical
sketch is Dr. T. S. Vaughan who at that time lived near Gallatin, Tennessee,
and who presumably was the person who gave the information for the sketch.
"T. S. Vaughan, M.D....is a native of Wilson County, Tenn,
born in 1820, and the son of Rev. M. S. and Sarah R. (Vaughan) Vaughan.
The father was of Welsh descent, born in Georgia in 1797,
and when a child went to Alabama. He was married in Wilson County,
Tenn, and located in Blount Springs, Ala., after marriage.
At an early age he took an interest in politics, and soon became one of
the leading politicians of Alabama, and one of its most
influential citizens. He was one of the framers of the constitution
of the State, and afterward served in both branches of
the Legislature for several years. About 1832 he moved to Wilson County,
Tenn., and in
1839 entered the ministry, advocating
the Cumberland Presbyterian faith. He was both a circuit and local
minister, having charge
of one church for eighteen years. He was also a
teacher by profession being for twenty-four years principal of the La Guardo
Academy...He died in 1871. For several years he
was engaged in surveying cotton lands in Mississippi for the Federal Government.
He served through the War of 1812. His wife was
born in 1798 in Wilson County, Tenn, She died in 1873..."
I cannot account for the statement of John
Knox in History of Morgan County that the early settler in Morgan County
was the same man found in Brunswick County, Virginia, since that obviously
is not the case. I also cannot name the parents of Melkijah Vaughan
of Alabama and Tennessee, but I believe him to have been the grandson of
Hundley Vaughan who is found in Pittsylvania County, Virginia; and I believe
the Hundley of Pittsylvania County migrated to Union County, South Carolina,
then to Franklin County, Georgia.
My ancestor, John Fowler, went from South
Carolina (probably Union or Laurens County) to Franklin County, Georgia,
then to Morgan County, Alabama, where he died testate ca 1851. Among
his children were three with "Vaughan" names - Aphra (born in South Carolina
ca 1797), Melkijah D., and Hundley V. Fowler. My theory is that John
Fowler married a daughter of the above mentioned Hundley Vaughan, but I have
never found one shred of evidence aside from the Fowler children's names
- to support this theory. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who
has any information tending to prove or disprove my theory. The marriage
- if it took place at all - would probably have been in Union or Laurens
County, South Carolina, about 1795.
I am enclosing some material on Melkijah Vaughan
of Alabama and Tennessee. It is, I suspect, longer than you would want
to publish, but I didn't see any way to shorten it and still make my case
- And it is a case I've been trying to make for 10 years, but always with
negative response. (I find that in genealogy once something gets into
print as in the John Knox book I reference, it is at once as if engraved
in stone and people will believe it in the face of all evidence to the contrary.)
Anyway, just a couple of weeks ago, and quite by accident, I came across
the biographical sketch of Melkijah Vaughan's son (also quoted in the enclosed
sheets) which seems to me to prove my case. Of course, Godspeed is
not original source material, but Tallerand Vaughan was still alive when
the sketch was written- and presumably knew all about his own father, who
had been dead less than 20 years at the time. If you cannot publish
this piece, perhaps you will want to keep it for your files and/or pass it
on to someone else.
Sincerely, Mary Gregg
And I couldn't resist printing this entire research because it is a very
thorough job. Families tracing the name Melkijah/Micajah Vaughan/Vaughn
should find this work very enlightening. -- Verna
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