I have made a lot of great connections with cousins and other researchers over the years when they start searching online for my families and find my blog, Find A Grave information, or other places where I can be linked to my forebears so as to be available to exchange information. I have felt for a while that if I don't put "out there" (on the internet) more of my family information that I could miss some of these connections in the future. In particular, I worry that I'll miss the chance to break down a brick wall if no one knows I am trying to knock it down.
So I've decided to list my 10 biggest brick walls (in two parts), both what I know and what I hope to know, in hopes that in the future someone else with information that could help will be Google-searching (or whatever future search engine we're using) for my family and find my blog and reach out to me. So here they are, the conundrums in my family I have been unable to overcome (in no particular order of difficulty or importance):
1. THE VAUGHAN BRICK WALL
Arguably my biggest brick wall concerns my 4th great grandparents in my Vaughan family. For as long I've been into genealogy, over 15 years now, I have wanted to know about my 4th great grandparents Vaughan. My 3rd great grandfather was Stephen C. Vaughan; his middle name was believed to be Clinton. He was born in Tennessee in 1828 and died in Conway County, Arkansas in 1880.
His father is believed to be a James Vaughan who was in Pope County, Arkansas at the same time Stephen and his purported brothers were in the 1850s and 1860s. I think he likely was. The problem is that in 1860, James was not married to Stephen's mother, he was married to a much younger woman, who according to family legend may have been his 3rd or even 4th wife.
James is unfortunately absent from basically any records at all prior to 1860. The man is a complete enigma. The 1860 Census says he was born in Tennessee about 1801. We don't know who his parents were. We don't know any of his siblings. We don't know anything about him except that he eventually came from Tennessee to Arkansas and he had a number of children by at least 2 or 2 women.
Some people give him the middle initial "A", but offer no proof. Worse, people have applied all sorts of names for his wives...again, without proof. Supposedly somewhere out there there was once a family record or family bible that had all the names of his wives and children, names and dates and everything. The problem is...no one seems to know IF it truly existed, where it is now or where it used to be. No one can prove it ever existed; Vaughan researchers just absorb the information attributed to this family record into their trees and never question its origins. Proof matters, but apparently not to most Vaughan researchers. They're willing to take what the internet has offered for over 20 years at face value and not question it.
But I have serious problems with relying on the information of a document that no one can verify. If it can be trusted, we should know where it is or where it was. There should be a scan or a picture of it somewhere, or should have been published in a trustworthy publication that had access to the original source. But there is nothing. Zilch. Zip. Nada. And I'm not okay with that, so I'm not going to buy into what it says without proof.
The biggest piece of information this mythical document provides is the supposed name of Stephen's mother: Mary Hawtree Tinnell/Finnell/Pinnell. It depends on who you ask which last name you think it is. Most have Tennell, but I have seen numerous (a half dozen or more) trees with either Finnell or Pinnell. People have taken this name and tried to attach this mythical Mary to various Tinnell and Finnell and Pinnell families from Tennessee. All without proof, or even proof of what he name was. Worse, people have taken this "Hawtree" name to mean "We MuSt Be NaTiVe AmErIcAnS!" Because it sounds Native American.
An unproven name from an unsourced, possibly mythical document is the ONE AND ONLY SOLITARY source for dozens of Vaughan descendants claiming Native heritage. It's pretty sad, in my opinion, but I can't change what other people want to believe. If they want to climb on board with Elizabeth Warren and claim Native heritage based on nothing, then they're free to do so to their own detriment. Those who know better will always think they're being foolish, whether or not they'll say it to their faces. They will ignore the dozens of census and vital and military records that list the Vaughans as White, White, White, some more White, extra White, as White as Mayo--most of them even blue eyed for crying out loud--and claim that the mythical document knows better--"The Vaughans were Indians, gosh darnit! Look at that Hawtree name from the family record I've never seen before! And my cousin had dark hair and high cheek bones! So there! We're Indians and that's that!"
Reuben Polk Vaughan gives his physical description when he applied for a federal pension for his Civil War service. Eye color? Blue. Hair color? Light. Complexion? Fair. Today you'll find some 1/8 and 1/16 Native Americans that meet that physical description. But Reuben was born in 1838. Any people who were 1/8 or 1/16 Native at this time were very few and far between. Reuben wasn't one of them, and therefore, his mother--whoever she was, whatever her name was--was not Native either. Deal with it.
If you can't tell, this is a touchy subject for me. I worked for 4 years in the capital of the Creek Nation and I saw the struggles of today's Native people up close and personal. And even as a non-Native, few things get my goat than a white person trying to latch themselves to a history and culture that does not belong to them. I'm not P.C. or any of that nonsense by any means--you'll never hear me cry "cultural appropriation"--but these people were persecuted worse than any other people in our country's heritage, and you make a mockery of them every time you try to pretend you're one of them and have tasted their struggles. If you're a Vaughan and claiming Native heritage because of "Mary Hawtree Tinnell", then shame on you. You need to do some serious reflection on who you are as a person if you think you have the right to attach yourself to a culture that is not your's for no other reason than the self-satisfaction you get in telling yourself that you're a Native of this land. If you are, it's not from the Vaughan family. Sorry, but I'm not sorry.
Sorry about that rant, but that's something that's needed to be said about my Vaughan family for a long long time. If it offends you, so be it. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I like facts and proof, and no one has either for this idea, so it's best to move on from it.
If anyone has access to this mythical document or factual information on James Vaughan, his wife, or his parentage, I would be thrilled. A man named Enoch Vaughan also moved to Pope County and intermarried with the Napier family just like James's family did, but DNA tests have proven the two men were not kin, so if you have James and Enoch as brothers in your tree--sorry, that's wrong too. That's why this is such a big brick wall--there's just so little information to go on, unfortunately.
There is one good lead that has not yet born much help. If we are to believe that among Stephen C. Vaughan's siblings were Eliza Jane Vaughan, Mary H. Vaughan, Melissa Elizabeth Vaughan, Reuben Polk Vaughan, and William Riley Vaughan, then a good theory starts to form. Eliza Jane Vaughan, who married John Brown, was born in 1829 and she reports her birthplace as Missouri. This would indicate that her father (presumably James) was in Missouri in 1830. And there is a James Vaughn in the 1830 Census in Harmony, Washington County, Missouri. He has a son under 5 (Stephen) and a daughter under 5 (Eliza). And nearby? An elder Reuben Vaughn. Since James went on to name his second known son Reuben, we can logically conclude that Reuben Vaughn MIGHT have been James's father. We then should look for a Reuben Vaughn/Vaughan in Tennessee between 1801 (when James was born) and presumably 1828 (when James's son Stephen was born, if Reuben was still in TN) and go from there.
Unfortunately, I have not come up with any promising leads on the Reuben Vaughn front, so it continues to be a mystery. Likewise, since we don't know James's wife, we don't know her family. So finding all this out would give me a HUGE chunk of my family tree which is currently empty/missing.
The last helpful bit of information we have on James is a timeline of his residences from the time Reuben Polk Vaughan was born. Reuben misunderstood a question on his pension application that asked for all his places of residences since his discharge from the army. Instead, he listed all of his residences from his place of birth forward, which tells us where James was at these times: "From Green Co. to Carroll Co., Ark. when a child, thence to Yell Co., Ark. in 1849, thence to Pope Co., Ark. in 1852, thence to Conway Co., in Oct. 1865, thence to Faulkner Co. in Feby. 1879, thence to Stone Co. in 1888, thence to Cleburne Co., Ark. in 1893." For those keeping score at home, that is 8 Arkansas counties over a 55 year period. That is a lot of movement!
Anyone with information on our mysterious James Vaughan/Vaughan, his parentage, his spouses, or anything else related to him, please feel free to contact me--as long as you're not going to try and sell me on Native heritage myth.
2. THE COWAN BRICK WALL
My next big wall is on my Cowan line. I know my 3rd great grandfather was John David Cowan, per my 2nd great grandmother's delayed birth certificate. He was born in Georgia and died in Collin County, Texas in the late 1880s (presumably, have never found record of his death only my 3rd great grandmother remarrying). We believe he is the brother of two other Cowans in the household of Ann Reed in 1870 in Collin County. It is believed that Ann was their aunt.
The death certificate of John's brother William Andrew gives his parents' names as Marion Cowan and Mary Moreland. The informant was a child of William's that never knew his grandparents, so their information must be taken with a grain of salt. We have been able to find a family that appears to fit the bill: an Andrew P. Cowan and his wife Martha, who was probably Martha Moreland. Their Bradley County, TN household in 1860 includes John's brothers at the right ages (John wasn't born yet). DNA has linked us to William Moreland of Bradley County, who had a daughter Martha of the same age. At least three (probably four) of William's likely children also came to Collin County, Texas, bringing the circumstantial evidence full circle.
What is more difficult is working out the Cowan connection. Y-DNA testing from a great grandson of William Andrew Cowan shows we descend from a man named David Cowan who left a will in Sevier County in 1811 naming his children. We believe we have to close a two generation gap between David and Andrew P., but have not been able to definitively do so. Some of David's children can be well-traced and we can rule them out because they don't connect back to Bradley County. But other questions remain, like David's son James. Could he be the James of McMinn County, which is near Bradley? We don't know.
Could Andrew P.'s father be an elder Andrew who died in Bradley County in 1846 and came from McMinn County? We think so, but can't prove it. Andrew P. appears to be living with a brother (David Cowan) as a 15-18 year old in 1850 in Bradley County, indicating his parents were likely deceased. The elder Andrew fits well, but we can't prove it. Nor can we prove that Andrew Sr. was the son of James of McMinn who was the son James named in David Cowan's 1811 will. None of it can be proven, all the evidence is circumstantial and it drives me crazy!
With DNA and additional circumstantial evidence, I have been able to piece together the families of William Moreland and Andrew Cowan (presumably) fairly well, but I can't take the Cowan line back any further and technically can't prove the Moreland line without MORE DNA evidence. I have what I think to be a solid amount of genetic proof, but not yet an overwhelming amount. I am giving these lists so that descendants of these families looking for information can find and contact me.
For William Moreland, I have:
1. Harden Moreland (1812-1899) - Died in Walker County, GA. In 1850, he was in Murray County, GA, which is adjacent to Bradley County, TN.
2. John Kennedy Moreland (1816-1897) - Went from Bradley County, TN to Collin County, TX, where he died and was buried.
3. Nathaniel W. Moreland (1821-1878) - Went from Murray County, GA to Collin County, TX.
4. Eveline Moreland (1825-1874) - Married Leroy Hodges. Went from Bradley County, TN to Collin County, TX.
4. Margaret Ann Moreland (1819-?) - This one is more of a gamble. There is a Margaret A. Reed living next door to William Moreland in 1850. She is roughly the same age as the Ann Reed my Cowan brothers are living with in 1870. I believe she was Margaret Ann Moreland, a daughter of William. She was married to William Reed and it does not appear they had any children.
5. Martha Moreland (1835-pre 1870) - This would be my likely ancestress. She is living with William Moreland in 1850. Based on William Andrew's birth in 1853, I presume she married Andrew P. Cowan about 1852. Does it hurt that their first child was named William Andrew when I believe their fathers' names were William and Andrew? Certainly not. It's not proof, but it helps. I believe she died prior to 1870, when her sons are found with Ann Reed. She may have even come to Texas after her husband's death.
I found a list of indigent families from Johnson County, Texas comprised of wives left widows by the deaths of their husbands in Civil War service. Johnson County is close to Collin County with only Dallas County separating them. Among the indigent families was that of an "A. P. Cowan". This was not a common set of initials, and I found an A. P. Cowan that enlisted in Dade County, Georgia (which is near Bradley County) around the same time my John David Cowan was born in Georgia. Again, all circumstantial. If Andrew died and the family came to Texas, this could be them--but I can't prove it. The list of indigent families can be found here: https://txjohnson.eppygen.org/CW_Indigent_Families.htm
6. Caroline Moreland (1837- ) - She appears in William's 1850 household. I believe she is the Caroline Moreland who married John Mitchell Kinnamon and ended up in Whitfield County, Georgia, where both she and Harden Moreland can be found in the 1870 Census.
For the children of Andrew Cowan and his wife Mary, whose headstones states they died in 1846 and 1842, respectively, I have:
1. John N. Cowan (1814-1869) - The large Cowan family memorial at Fort Hill Cemetery in Cleveland, TN, which includes Andrew, Mary, and a number of their presumable children and grandchildren, was erected by J. N. and J. M. Cowan according to an inscription on the monument. John died in Bradley County.
2. Lewisey A. Cowan (1817-1842) - She is on the family headstone as Lewisey A. McDonald. In 1850, her children are in the household of John N. Cowan.
3. Houston "Hugh" Evans Cowan (1820-1892) - I have the least amount of proof for this child, but he is in Murray County, GA in 1850 and 1860 and is in Bradley County in 1870. DNA matches between my family and multiple descendants of H. E. Cowan indicate he was likely a brother of my Andrew P. Cowan. Since we're assuming Andrew P. was the son of the elder Andrew, then Hugh would also be Andrew's son. There is also room for him in Andrew's 1830 household in McMinn County; he has two sons aged 10-14, so if John is a little younger than his headstone indicates or else was already out of the home by age 16, then the other 10-14 year old would presumably be Hugh.
However, it is worth noting that his 1850 household is adjacent to or a part of the household of William Montgomery Cowan, a son of Christopher Columbus Cowan. Both were natives of Sevier County. So Houston may belong to that family, or if he does belong to mine, they were still cousins, since we know my Cowans get back Sevier County eventually anyway. There is no documentation either way, but DNA strongly indicates a closer cousin connection between my family and Hugh's descendants than would be indicated if he were the son of Christopher rather than Andrew.
4. James M. Cowan (1823-1874) - The other Cowan who erected the family headstone.
5. David C. Cowan (1825-1874) - Andrew P. Cowan is residing with him in 1850. At least one of his sons also came to Collin County, Texas where my Cowans came. And there is room for him in Andrew's 1830 household as one of the two 5-9 year old sons.
6. Francis M. Cowan (1831-1852) - He is on the family headstone. He is residing with a Fletcher family in Bradley County in 1850. I don't know of any connection to the Fletchers unless perhaps Mary was a sister to James Fletcher or to James Fletcher's wife, Anna Sandridge. One interesting theory I've had leads me back to William Andrew Cowan's death certificate. It states his father was a Marion Cowan. The given names of Francis Marion were quite common in this time period; I have 5 men in my tree all born between 1832-1849 who I can prove were named Francis Marion.
So there is a solid chance this man's name was Francis Marion Cowan. I have considered the possibility that he married Mary Moreland, and she was pregnant with William Andrew when he died. Then Francis's brother Andrew married his brother's widow. The ONLY way this is conceivable is if either Francis's date of death on the headstone is wrong, or if William Andrew's date of birth on his records is wrong. William Andrew was born 1 year, 11 days after the death of Francis M. based on the dates we have, so in that case this theory would not be possible unless our records are off by a few months. But since Marion Cowan is on William Andrew's death certificate, I feel it is a theory worth mentioning.
7. Andrew P. Cowan (1832-?) - My presumable ancestor. Andrew Sr.'s 1840 household in Bradley County has two males 5-9 so both he and Francis fit.
8. Nancy Ann Cowan (1833-1852) - She is on the family headstone, but I can't find her in the 1850 Census.
I would welcome contact with anyone that has further information on these Cowan or Moreland families. I would love to bridge the gap between Andrew P. Cowan and David Cowan beyond just my guesswork. I am fairly satisfied that the son James that David's will mentions is the James of McMinn County, and that Andrew who went from McMinn to Bradley was his son, but I would appreciate more documentation that ties them all together.
3. THE MILLER BRICK WALL
Up next is another extremely frustrating brick wall, and unfortunately, I have the least amount of helpful information for this one than all my others. And due to how common the names of the involved family is, my chances of ever breaking this down barring a miracle seem slim to none.
On 20 Nov 1821 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, my 4th great grandparents were married. Their names were Watts Marks and Sarah Miller. Sarah's father, John Miller, signed consent for them to wed according to the original record, which I have a copy of. Under normal circumstances, one would simply search the 1820 Census in Jefferson County for men with the name as the one who signed the consent, right? But with a name like JOHN MILLER, that's a little easier said than done.
There are six John Millers in the 1820 Census for Jefferson County, Kentucky. Assuming Sarah was under 21 but approximately the same age as Watts, she would have likely been enumerated in the 16-18 or 16-25 age brackets. Well, we get lucky in that only two of those six John Millers have females enumerated in their households in either of those age ranges; in this case, two of them each have one female aged 16-25 in their households. And that's still just assuming she wasn't on the high end of the 10-15 age bracket. She could have been almost 16 in 1820 and just turned 18 by Nov 1821. If that were the case, you could add two more John Millers, who each have 3 females aged 10-15 in their 1820 households.
But anyway, if we presume she was 16 or older in 1820, narrowing it down to two households is as far as our luck extends. Both of these John Millers lived in Louisville proper. But I have no way of differentiating them in any previous or later records because they share the exact same name. I have never been able to find the names of any other relatives of this Miller family. No siblings for Sarah, no nieces or nephews, no mentions of Miller cousins, nothing.
I have tried tracing Watts's migration pattern to see if he could be closely aligned with any Millers. It would be unusual--though not unheard of necessarily--for them to travel across the country like they did without some other family members in tow. Watts's siblings are known and easy to trace, and none of them traveled to Illinois with the family. So it would follow that it would be possible some Miller relatives made the trek to Illinois with them but...I can't find any. I can't prove that anyone in their vicinity were Millers.
We know they were in Illinois by 1833. We know they were in Pope County in 1835, Johnson County in 1838, and possibly in Massac County, where two of their daughters married in the mid-1840s. But we can gleam little else of their movements, nor identify any Millers in their direct vicinity or that they had any legal interactions with.
So my best hope is that eventually someone finds some probate records for a John Miller naming a daughter "Sarah Marks, wife of Watts" or something along those lines, or some other deed or record that names her as a sibling to a Miller. Hopefully one of these days something along those lines will turn up.
4. THE LOLLAR BRICK WALL
My third great grandmother was Sarah Jane "Jennie" Lollar, wife of Eli Calvin Baker. My 2nd great grandmother, her daughter Ella, was the informant on her death certificate which gives her parents as James Lollar and Sarah Jane Price.
I know from Jennie's children from her first marriage that she was previously married to Arch Bolton, and she married him Jackson County, Alabama. Tracing her back to Alabama, I can find her in the 1860 Census with her mother, Jane, who was widowed by that time. Tracing her mother and siblings back to 1850 in Jackson County, I find her father's name was actually Jacob Lollar rather than James. Given that Jennie was born about 1854 and her father was dead by 1860, she would have barely known him and Ella would never have known him. So it's fair to take her identification of her grandfather's name with a grain of salt. It does call into question whether or not the Price is name is accurate or not either, although she was living with her grandmother at least as a small girl so the chance of her knowing her maiden is better than her knowing her long-dead grandfather's name.
This brick wall is another two-fold one like the Vaughans in that I cannot satisfactorily trace either line. I have not identified a Price family that Sarah Jane could have belonged to. Complicating that search is the fact that she herself seems to have limited knowledge of her beginnings.
1850 Census: [Sarah] Jane Price Lollar says she was born about 1806 in North Carolina
1860: About 1800 in Tennessee
1870: About 1815 in South Carolina
1880: About 1810 in Alabama
That's right. Four censuses, four ages, four birthplaces. It doesn't get much more convoluted than that. In that 1880 Census, she claims her parents were born in Alabama as well, which is unlikely since white people had not settled Alabama by the time her parents could have been born (based on her age range of 1800-1815, I would say her parents would not have been born any earlier than about 1790 and could have been born as early as 1755 or so).
I am inclined to attach her to a particular Price family that I have not completely pieced together. The Lollars and Prices can be found living in immediate proximity to one another in early Jackson County, even signing an 1819 petition at the same time.
1819 Cherokee County, Alabama petition: http://www.jchaweb.org/chronicles/1980ChroniclesV6N21-23.pdf
James Lollar
John Johnson
Bryant Williams
Wilson Allen
Kinchin Price
Joel Wimberly
David Martin
Samuel Scott
Jacob Lollar (T 2, R 8E, S 20)
John Price (T 2, R 8E, S 31)
Merri Harmon
Levi Sides
James Schrimpsher
Wiley Williams
Edwin Price
Isaac Lollar
Henry Lollar
John Lollar
The document states: "The Township (T), Range (R), and Section (S) for each subscriber listed above
was taken from original Jackson County Plat Book records."
This shows Jacob Lollar and John Price not only signing this petition one after the other, but living in immediate proximity according to early plat books. The 1830 Census for Jackson County has James Lollar on the same page with Edwin Price and Kinchen Price, both listed above who are next door to each other that year. John Price is two pages away. Both Kinchen and John appear to be old enough to be Sarah Jane's father. Edwin is the appropriate age to be a brother, but that is not a given.
Kinchen Price came from Warren County, Tennessee to Jackson County, Alabama along with three other Price families: the aforementioned John Price, as well as Meredith and Reuben Price. (Source: http://www.combs-families.org/combs/records/tn/war12.txt) Other Prices are also listed, but the families of Meredith, Reuben, and John are documented in both Warren and Jackson counties.
Edwin and Meredith Price are both listed as defendants in a number of Jackson County suits in the 1830s and 1840s: http://www.jchaweb.org/chronicles/2001ChronicleV13N1-4.pdf
It would appear based on age and proximity that Jacob was likely the son of a James Lollar. Perhaps that is where Ella Baker Marks came up with the name to put on her mother's death certificate, mixing up her mother's father and grandfather. I cannot prove beyond circumstantial geographical evidence, but Lollar is an uncommon enough name that it seems unlikely that Jacob and James were not father and son.
A Thomas Russell names James Lollar a neighbor in his Revolutionary War application: http://www.revwarapps.org/w2700.pdf
John Price appears to have had a sizable family, and I am actively seeking out documentation of his children to look for ties between them and the Lollars: http://www.jchaweb.org/chronicles/2008ChroniclesV20N1-4.pdf
The Lollars appear to have come from Lincoln County, North Carolina, where it appears the same James and Isaac Lollars that signed the 1819 petition in Cherokee County also signed a petition in 1779: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gowenrf/genealogy/Gowenms096.htm
Beyond these bits and pieces, I really cannot properly put this family together. I hope that eventually documentation will come to light tying everything together, but for now this family (or rather families) remain a solid brick wall.
5. THE BARNETT BRICK WALL
The two Eastern Kentucky branches of my family have a number of brick walls. Three of them (Holland, Radford, Hensley) at least have solid leads that can connect me to where the family came from, and in time, I believe I will probably be able to work out those three walls. But my Barnett brick wall is one that does not have nearly as much supplemental information to give me a direction to pursue.
My 2nd great grandfather Andrew Jackson Barnett was the son of a Jackson Barnett, son of Joshua Barnett, son of an elder Joshua Barnett. They were from the counties of Perry and Breathitt in Kentucky. The elder Joshua's origins are unknown. We know he died between 1840-1850, presumably in Breathitt County, where he is found in the 1840 Census and his widow is found in the 1850 Census. Speaking of his widow--we also have no idea who she was. We know her name was Mary or "Polly". We know she was born in Virginia about 1787 according to the 1850 Census. But we don't know her maiden name or origins, and I have found no leads to pursue.
Many also believe Joshua Sr. was born in Virginia, but offer no proof. Some family trees has the couple marrying in Ohio in 1809...but without any proof. It appears Polly was deceased by 1852 when her children deeded land together to a Mr. Sewell. This tell us the family was composed of Joshua Barnett Jr., David Barnett, Harmon Barnett, and Franky Barnett Hays (her husband Archibald Hays also supposedly went by the surname Angel but I have not worked out all that out yet).
Some attach the War of 1812 service of a Joshua Barnett in the 2nd Kentucky Volunteers (Jennings') to this Joshua, but it's not clear to me they are the same person.
The best lead we have for the origins of Joshua Sr. are his son Joshua Jr.'s 1900 Census which says his father was a Virginia native. So I have combed Barnett families of Virginia for a Joshua but to no avail. I have DNA samples for my grandfather, his brother, and their Barnett first cousin, but I have yet to find reliable matches outside of the known descendants of Joshua Barnett. There are connections to other Eastern Kentucky Barnett families (there were at least three distinct families that we cannot connect to each other) but every time I find that, it appears they match us from another Eastern Kentucky family. Endogamy was rampant in this region so most DNA matches I have to Eastern Kentucky kin connect to at least two mutual families, and I even have an example of FIVE different sets of shared ancestors.
So DNA is only going to get me so far when I don't know if a DNA match is because of a Barnett connection, or a connection to another Kentucky family. Y-DNA is probably my next step, but I would love to find a cluster of Barnett matches that are from the same family that we match that might point us to a sibling or parent of Joshua. Until then, perhaps someone's Barnett family is missing a Joshua and when they try to find him, they'll find our's.
Part two of this list is forthcoming, but both are far from definitive. Like all researchers, I have numerous other brick walls. I have brick walls in my Selph, Jay, May, Downing, Sain, Bolin, Holmes, Graham, and numerous other family lines. But (some or most of) these brick walls are either closer to me in my family tree (generation wise) or ones I have spent frustratingly large amounts of time on to little avail. Maybe one day I'll do a part two to expand on these brick walls, but for now, these remain my larger concerns, and I hope by getting this information out there I might get lucky and eventually have one of these walls knocked down.
Showing posts with label Pope County. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pope County. Show all posts
Friday, March 29, 2019
Monday, August 13, 2012
John Lafayette Vaughan: A Biography of An Oklahoma Pioneer
Originally written 13 Aug 2012
Updated 12 Feb 2020 and 27 Mar 2020
For generations in my family, it was a rumor that my great great grandfather, John Lafayette Vaughan, had some personal connections to and/or was a friend/associate of the infamous outlaw Belle Starr and her family. This bit of family lore was shared with me at a young age, and after asking my great aunt and one of her first cousins, I ended up with solid proof of this friendship/association, and after that, came into even more information.
Years ago, I met a cousin who had heard similar stories about John Vaughan being associated with Belle Starr, stories which were relayed by his grandmother, John Vaughan's daughter Lou Ona Vaughan White. But he was under the impression that certain factions of his large extended family (Lou had many children, and subsequently many grandchildren) did not believe this family legend, and thought Lou was just making it up. So I thought I would begin sharing the information I have in hopes that anyone else descended from John Lafayette Vaughan wondering about his connection to Belle Starr could find this and enjoy it as much as I have. I have since updated this information as-needed.
Originally, I had three pieces of evidence concerning John Vaughan's ties to Belle Starr: typed testimony from his daughter Lou Vaughan White, mentions of him in Glenn Shirley's Belle Starr & Her Times: The Literature, The Facts, and the Legends (1990), and a photocopy of a newspaper article published in the McAlester News-Capital titled "Death of Belle Starr Recalled", a piece by Baird Martin which was a re-telling of an article written by Charles H. Cowles some 35 years prior to the revision. Cowles had actually interviewed John Lafayette Vaughan about Belle Starr and her death. Unfortunately, my photocopy was undated, though I was able to figure out it was published about 1967-68, and Martin did not cite the date of publication for Cowles' original article, so short of sifting through every page of the news paper for two years I had no way to find the original full interview.
Fortunately, in January, 2020, a librarian at the McAlester Public Library named Christopher Elliott took the time to dig through recently-digitized issues of the McAlester News-Capital to find the original article for me. The digital version of the paper is only accessible on-site at the library, so I could not go through it myself from my residence in Michigan. But after playing with several terms in Martin's rehashed article, he located and sent me the original. I have published a full transcription of the full interview here: https://thesaltofamerica.blogspot.com/2020/03/john-lafayette-vaughan-and-belle-starr.html
Finally, a few years ago, a grandson of the aforementioned Lou Vaughan White found a tintype photo he had been looking for: a picture of John Lafayette Vaughan with Sam Starr, husband of Belle Starr. This was the strongest evidence yet of a connection between John and the Starrs-literal photographic proof. But it was still difficult to put the entire figurative picture of John and the Starr family into context without that interview, and now with all these things together, the evidence of their relationship speaks for itself.
All of this information, along with everything else I have collected on John from records and testimony from his grandchildren and other relatives by blood and marriage, has culminated in the biography of John Lafayette Vaughan which I will present here. I feel the information within it is complementary to the testimony he gives in his above-linked interview, and together they paint an interesting picture of a fascinating individual.
John Lafayette Vaughan was born July 19th, 1866 in Pope County, Arkansas. He was the son of Stephen Clinton Vaughan and Amanda Smith Napier. His father contracted chronic diarrhea during the Civil War, and it ailed him so badly that he was hardly able to work, and thus his family lived at near poverty-level. His grandfather, Archibald Hubbard Napier, was a well-known doctor (likely holistic doctor, rather than an MD) in the area and cared for Stephen until his death, at which time Stephen was cared for by a slew of other doctors, most notably a Henry Jones.
John was born at a time of great strife in Pope County, Arkansas. A year prior to his birth, his uncle Captain Archibald Dodson Napier was named sheriff of Pope County at the end of the Civil War, and was subsequently murdered as the first victim of what became known as the Pope County Militia War, which essentially was a local guerrilla war fought between local Union loyalists and Southern sympathizers. The violence in the area became so intense that many families felt compelled to leave the area, including the Vaughans, who settled in Conway County, where his father died of his ailment in 1880. The next year, John and his mother left for Indian Territory, where John was largely left to his own devices, and spent time with Indians and area outlaws. His mother Amanda later became involved with and eventually married one of his father's previous doctors, Henry Jones.
The information on John's early life is confirmed both by his own testimony and a brief write-up on the Vaughan family history by his daughter, Lou Vaughan White. "John Lafayett Vaughan rode a horse into Oklahoma when he was 14 years old, he weighed 85 lbs. He lived with and around the Indians for 9 years, then he rad around with some outlaws. He rode with Belle Starr, he was sweet on her daughter, Pearl." It is worth noting that she spelled Lafayett without an 'e' at the end as it is typically found. The family record kept by John's mother spells his name without the 'e' which may be why Lou opted to spell it that way. In nearly all other circumstances in John's life, Lafayette was spelled with an 'e' at the end.
John himself reported in a 1934 interview with the McAlester News-Capital that he was "turned loose" in Indian Territory in 1881 at the age of 15. “I could be a good boy. I could steal. I could kill. I had no school; no education. Instead of trying to study mathematics and penmanship, I studied horsemanship and gunmanship. But I always managed to keep the good will of the good people. I was born in National park in the Ozark Mountains July 19, 1866. My father was a soldier four years in the Union army and my uncle, Capt. [Napier], also. After the Civil War, my uncle was killed from the brush by a mob while he was sheriff. My father was dead. I was brought here by my widowed mother and older brothers. I rode horseback quite a bit and I practiced shooting and got to be pretty good at it. I have killed many a deer, turkey, and squirrel with a six-shooter."
John's associations with famed outlaws Tom Starr and Belle Starr are well-documented. He was reportedly friends with Tom's son and Belle's husband, Sam Starr, and heard the shot that killed him, and was present in the aftermath of Belle's death. From his 1934 interview: “I lived on the place of Martin Crowder, an aged Indian, 40 miles northwest of McAlester on the Canadian river five miles from Tom Starr’s home, and this aged man became very friendly with me and told me what Tom Starr had imparted to him. ... I lived there on the Crowder place and I heard the shot that killed Sam Starr. I was within a mile of the spot where he met death."
As it is in many families that descend from colorful characters, rumors and legends about John have been told for generations. Some have been debunked while others have been seemingly confirmed. One legend about John that has not been proven or disproved is that prior to his first recorded marriage, he had taken an Indian bride and had a child by her.
This is similar to an additional legend that he may be the mystery father of Pearl Starr's daughter, Flossie. In 1887, Belle sent her daughter Pearl away to have an illegitimate child she had been impregnated with, a girl named Flossie who was born in April of 1887. John would have been about 21 years old and still unmarried at this time, and he admits that Pearl was his date to a number of dances when he was a young man, so its not something that can be entirely ruled out, but also can't be proven. Per his 1934 interview: "I went to [Belle's] place lots of times and carried her and her daughter, Pearl, to dance. I carried Pearl to a good many."
Likewise, no record of this supposed Native child has ever been established. But the legend contends that in the 1980s, John's daughter Lou received a phone call from a woman claiming to be a long-lost half-sister by John's relationship with her Indian mother. The caller's name is not known today. Stoking the fires of this legend is a newspaper clipping saved by descendants of the Lou White family that some believe could be a clue to this mystery child. On 11 Sep 1988, a letter to the editor of the McAlester News-Capital included the following tidbit: "My mother is approaching 90 years and certainly qualifies of at least respectful attention. Having been borned of an Indian mother and a red-headed, blue eyed father, who, by virtue of having been raised by the Indians bears a Cherokee roll number. Her papers claim she was born north and east of Scipio."
Now John Vaughan certainly does not have a roll number, but he was red-headed, blue-eyed, and lived northeast of Scipio in Ulan 90 years before this letter's publication. He also resided with Indians as a teenager and young man. How many people in that vicinity could meet all that criteria? Not very many, but the letter-writer and his mother's origins remain a mystery. It was signed "Wakana Hanunwau". It is apparently and Indian or even Hawaiian name, but records for a person with this name have not been located, nor has any substantive evidence of a long-lost child of John Vaughan. Some legends are destined to remain so.
John married Sarah Ann "Eva" McCarty on July 9th, 1892 near Scipio; she bore him two children, Mattie Mae in 1892 and William Riley in 1895. (My research concerning her mysterious parentage can be found here: http://thesaltofamerica.blogspot.com/2017/08/using-dna-to-solve-family-mystery-sarah.html.) When Eva went into labor with their third child, John left to get help, and returned to find her and the newborn dead. By this time, most of his family had moved to Oklahoma as well; his brother Stephen died at Whitefield in 1885 and his mother Amanda near Thurman in 1891, and his brother Archibald settled nearby him in the Scipio area while his brother Thomas settled in McIntosh County.
It was while visiting his brother Thomas that he met his brother's sister-in-law, Leona Waller. "[John] and Leona met and fell in love over the breakfast table the first day Leona was in [Oklahoma]. Leona was engaged to a boy named Wells in Arkansas. [John] and Leona ran away to get married, they swam the Canadian River on horseback, they were married at Hullowe, near Scipio [Note: There was a town named Hullowe in Pittsburg County, but they were actually married in Indianola, however, the minister who married them was named Hugh Low, which is probably what led to the confusion]." (Source: Family History by Lou Vaughan White) They were married on February 23rd, 1898.
Further rumors about John revolved around his association with various outlaw gangs, supposedly including the Dalton gang. No one was sure exactly what the extent of his relationship with these groups might have been. Some have been adamant that he never participated in illegal activities, while others are certain that he did. There are several John Vaughans who were arrested and tried (and some sent to jail) in Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1880 to 1900 for various illegal activities in Indian Territory and northwestern Arkansas, but it has not been confirmed whether any of these John Vaughans were John Lafayette Vaughan or not. However, even beyond his own assertions of his connections to Belle Starr and her crowd, there is documentation of his presence in the aftermath of her death.
In 1990, Glenn Shirley and the University of Oklahoma Press published Belle Starr & Her Times: The Literature, The Facts, and the Legends. Much of the information concerning Belle Starr's death stemmed from witness accounts of various neighbors of Starr, and residents of the surrounding area where she was murdered. John, who went by "Fayette" or "Fate" as a shortening of his middle name Lafayette, was mentioned by name in the testimonies of three individuals.
p. 237: Alice (Mrs. Joseph) Tate, who lived a mile from the ambush scene and a half mile from Edgar Watson, heard two guns [shots] in the evening about half an hour by sun. "My husband & Billy England were standing out back of house talking when guns fired. Ben Statham came to our house about dark & told us, & me & my husband & Fayette Vaughn & Billy England went down from our house."
p. 237-238: Ray England, who lived two miles from the White place and a half a mile from Watson, was well acquainted with Belle but he had not seen her for a month until "I seen her dead at Alf White's. Fayette Vaughn on the 3rd day of February 1889 at after dark came to my house to let me know she had been killed and wanted the neighbors to go & take care of her.."
p. 239: Turner England also received news of the killing Monday morning: "Fayette Vaughn brought me word...I went over there...seen blood in road, seen tracks of man I thought done shooting..."
These short excerpts do not give a lot of information as to the extent of Vaughan's relationship to Starr, but they still help flesh out his involvement in the scenes after her death and corroborate the statements in his interview to an extent, though it should be noted that these neighbors claim the shooting occurred in the early evening, while Vaughan said it took place at 2:00 in the afternoon.
John divulged several interesting details about what led to Belle's death and his involvement in the aftermath of it in his 1934 interview. He reported that Belle's son got mixed up into some horse-stealing because of a neighbor by the man of Edgar Watson. Belle threatened to have Watson prosecuted for getting her son into trouble, and he vowed to kill her. Though historical authorities today contend that Belle Starr's killer is unknown and unproven, John insists that it was Watson. After her killing, he reports that he and some other associates investigated the scene of the crime themselves and he shared his conclusions.
"There was brush along the fence for quite a ways and there was an open place in the rail fence. Where the brush stopped there was a small walnut tree on the inside of the fence. That is where Watson hid. He let her pass him and then fired on her. I could see the place where she was shot as the horse stove his feet into the ground there. Three buckshot ranged from her shoulder to her heart. She stuck to the horse about 30 or 40 feet. Then there were the tracks. I could see where he had jumped the fence. She rode sideways all the time. I never saw her without a nice dress. She fell on her right shoulder and arm. There were the tracks where he ran up and shot her in the side of the face with a load of fine shot. She was not dead then, for she had raised her hand to protect her face. He shot the ring from her left ear and we never could find it.
Allan Archibald AKA Allen Narchubby was a member of an extremist Choctaw faction called Snake Indians. Per Dr. Kenny Brown, "The Snake Indians were traditionalists who were against land allotments. Allen Archibald was a traditionalist Choctaw who had joined the much-noted Snake Indian movement, refused to take allotment, came under arrest for his activities, and died in jail after suffering the humiliation of having his hair shorn." The story from the aforementioned stranger to Dale Vaughan was that John was present when the authorities came to take him to jail and supposedly signed paperwork giving the rights to his allotment to him, but since Archibald refused to take allotment, the story did not make very much sense.
Documentation provided by Dr. Brown, however, proves that John rented land (most likely farmland) from Allen Archibald, and then from his son Smedlow after Allen's death even though he was just a young boy; Dr. Brown posits that since Allen's wife was Creek on Choctaw land, John could not rent from her. As a white man, John could not own land at this time and had to rent from a Native. A possible translation of the story from the stranger combined with the known facts could be that Allen told John he could buy his land from him, and perhaps John did buy the land once white men were able to purchase Indian land in the Indian Territory. Dr. Brown cites Choctaw Nation Records, Bound Volume #425, Tobucksy County Permits and Licenses, 1899-1905 for the four images of permits between John L. Vaughan and the Archibald men over a four year period.
Dr. Brown reports that once Archibald was arrested and later perished, he "left behind two Muskogee Creek widows who came from the nearby Creek Nation. They also soon died, leaving several parent-less children who were eventually rounded up and sent to an orphanage." Before Archibald's children were rounded up, the federal government sent an Indian Agent to the area where John was living to investigate reports of Archibald's children running wild without care or supervision: Josanna, age 15, Smedlow, age 10-11, twins Cain and Abel, age 8, and a girl called "Etta", "Adda", or "Belle", about age 4. All but the youngest girl were Archibald's children; "Etta" was born after Archibald's death in 1898, reportedly an illegitimate child of Archibald's widow and an unknown white man. The children were occasionally looked after by an older sister, Elsie, age 17, but she came and went and often left them alone for long periods.
Benjamin Mossman, Esq., came from Muskogee in May 1908 to Indianola. A Mr. Herstein had reported his concerns over the unsupervised children, and Herstein took Mossman to "J. D. Vayghan", whose name he later spells as Vaughan. There were no other Vaughans near Indianola at this time, and Dr. Brown believes Mossman was referring to J. L. Vaughan. Mossman reported that Vaughan "has lived in that part for fifteen years and speaks both Choctaw and Creek. He took us, by boat, two miles up a river or creek then two miles on foot along trails and through forest to a one roomed log hoval [sic] where what remains of the Allen Archibald family exist."
Mossman continued: "The roof is open with holes and the chinks between the logs are mostly gaping. The floor is of earth. There are no beds, but piles of some sort of rag-looking stuff and parts of blankets on the ground serve as such. ... There is no one to care for this little brood unless Elsie can be credited with that office. She is reported to have "gone wrong" and frequently absents herself for days or weeks." Archibald had married a woman unable to have children, so he married her sister as well who bore him his children. Both died in the years following his death and no one took responsibility for the children until Mr. Mossman intervened at this time.
Mossman posited that perhaps Judge George W. Choate, who lived nearby, might accept guardianship of the children. Further, he reported: "Mr. Vaughan stated to me that he would willingly adopt Etta if she were given him by the courts." But neither of these scenarios played out, and all the children were sent to an orphanage for Indian children.
John and his second wife Leona went on to be parents of seven children, six of whom lived to adulthood. Their first, Early Coatner Vaughan, died in 1907 at the age of 8, and was buried next to John's first wife Eva, their newborn baby, and John's brother Archibald in Choate Prairie Cemetery near Ulan. The others were, in order: Sampson Lafayette, Lou Ona, John Dodson, Charles Teddy, Nicey Jewell, and Dewey Miles. After giving birth to Nicey in 1909, Leona became very ill; it took her years to recover. When she finally had, she became pregnant with Dewey. Giving birth to Dewey nearly killed her; she apparently actually died momentarily after his birth before being resuscitated.
Leona was never the same after that. She was able to nurse Dewey, but was unable to hold him during, so Lou would. She was able to cook for the family, but unable to do any lifting or major housework. In 1919, she was diagnosed with Pellagra, a devastating disease most common in 3rd world countries, typically caused by a vitamin deficiency; it can lead to a plethora of serious side effects, including but not limited to skin lesions, insomnia, weakness, sensitivity to sunlight, mental confusion, and eventually dementia. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra). The doctors decided to try and cure her by cleansing her system with vials of rattlesnake venom. Her screams of agony proving too much to bear, John left the house mid-treatment to go down to the Scipio Creek to pray. When he returned, he found she had died on the second-to-last vial of venom with Lou by her side.
Another hardship befell the Vaughan family not long before Leona's death. John's oldest son, Bill, had married and had John's first grandchild, a little girl named Essie. John was reportedly very taken with the little baby. But she died, at apparently less than a year in age, and was buried out at Choate Prairie where John's first wife, two children, and brother also lie. His granddaughter Sharon White recalls being told that after Essie's death, John vowed not to allow himself to get too attached or close with any other grandchildren because the loss had effected him so deeply he could not bear another one.
Always looked to by his family, John persevered and led them through these hardships. He re-married in 1920 to Florence Bell Lytle, and continued to work on the farm, which he purchased with pension money he received for his father's Civil War service. He drew that pension from the time he was 14 until he was 21, and used the money to purchase his home near Ulan, Oklahoma; a small portion of the oil rights that land garnered remains in the Vaughan family to this day. He spent much time with his grandchildren, who all viewed him with awe and admiration.
Around the same time or shortly after his marriage to Florence, John was named one of two judges in Scipio Township. He presided over the Union Prairie precinct within the township, which later became Ulan. He would have heard only minor local cases. He held court in the Union Prairie/Ulan schoolhouse. His court clerks were J. P. Grantham and W. T. Rye.
In addition to his own children and grandchildren, John took on the responsibility of raising step-children and other children who did not belong to him. When they married in 1920, Florence brought to John's home a 17-year old son, Raymond, 14-year old daughter Vertie, 11-year old daughter Clara, and 35-year old Maude, who was disabled. He helped care for Maude until her passing in 1932, and also regularly took in Florence's children and grandchildren when the need arose. In addition, school census records show that John was the guardian of Zular Westmoreland in 1926-1927. Zular was a son of Fannie Waller, a deceased sister of John's deceased wife, Leona. So even though he shared no blood with Zular, he took him in and had him in school for at least two years.
John's inclination to take in both Zular Westmoreland, and before that little Etta Archibald, in addition to his children and step-children is a testament to his nature. There have been conflicting reports in the family about John Vaughan's personality and character. His granddaughter Glenda reported that she was told John was a hard, mean, cruel man. Other grandchildren, including those who met him as children, reported him to be kind, doting, and of a cheerful disposition. As with anyone, perceptions of him surely varied based on the eye of the beholder, but most parties describe John as a compassionate, family-oriented man. His willingness to take in children that do not belong to him seemingly supports that illustration of the man.
The aforementioned Kenny Brown was the son of Leona Dickens Brown, a neighbor of the Vaughans who grew up in their area. Late in life she wrote a memoir about her childhood home and the people she knew, and she wrote of John Vaughan:
"There was another family who lived on Scipio Creek, northwest of Ulan. Their name was Vaughan. Where Mr. Lafayette Vaughan came from I never heard, but he was a good friend of Grandpa Dickens and my father. He was red headed, had a handle bar mustache, wore gold rings in his ears, a red bandanna handkerchief around his neck, and a big black stand up crown black hat."
At one time he said he rode with Belle Starr and her gang. Anyway, he knew some of them. He always said that he heard the shot that killed Belle Starr. My father always said that Mr. Vaughan (they called him Fayette) was superstitious. He always believed in stories about black cats and whipperwills singing or calling close to the house.
Mr. Vaughan had a good house or home, and we never knew how he managed to have a good place, land, and buildings. I remember he had a big pond and kept ducks. He had a big garden spot and an orchard, also a big yard with big trees. He usually celebrated his birthday by having a big crowd around, drinking and playing marbles, then a dance at night.
He had been married three times; his first and second wives died. By his first wife he had two children, a son, Bill, and a daughter, Mattie. ... My parents knew the second Mrs. Vaughan, and they liked her a lot. She and Mr. Vaughan had several kids--Sampson, Lou, Charlie, Nicie, and Dewey. We called Dewey "Cutter." Then after the second Mrs. Vaughan died, he married a widow that he had known for a long time. She lived at Blocker, and she had several kids. Her name was Autrey.
... The third Mrs. Vaughan was a short and heavy woman. Mr. Vaughan had a Model T Ford. He and Cutter would ride in the front seat, and she would ride in the back. I think he had the first car in the country around Ulan. People traveling in wagons would have to get a way out to the side of the road whenever they met Mr. Vaughan, for the teams to the wagons would get frightened and run away."
In 1937, his son John Dodson Vaughan came down with pneumonia, and died at his home, leaving behind a widow and three children. His death proved too much to bear for John. He was always the prototypical male role-model: strong and invincible, feared and admired; devout, stern, fair, and kind. He was not a man easily shaken. But after having buried two wives and two children on top of all the other losses he had suffered throughout his lifetime, the loss of his beloved son John Dodson Vaughan finally broke him. He had to be carried out of the funeral.
After his son died, John saw to it that his fatherless grandchildren were well-taken care of. They would often walk to his farm to hear him to tell his stories for hours, some of which were so scary that Dewey would have to walk them home afterword. John's daughter Colleen had vivid memories of him and his kindness, including one night when they stayed at his home during a thunderstorm, and John comforted her when she was afraid of the lightning. He was a soft-spoken man, but one whose presence filled any room he was in, and a man who was immeasurably cherished by his family. He died September 20th, 1944 and was buried next to Leona in Ulan Cemetery.
Updated 12 Feb 2020 and 27 Mar 2020
For generations in my family, it was a rumor that my great great grandfather, John Lafayette Vaughan, had some personal connections to and/or was a friend/associate of the infamous outlaw Belle Starr and her family. This bit of family lore was shared with me at a young age, and after asking my great aunt and one of her first cousins, I ended up with solid proof of this friendship/association, and after that, came into even more information.
Years ago, I met a cousin who had heard similar stories about John Vaughan being associated with Belle Starr, stories which were relayed by his grandmother, John Vaughan's daughter Lou Ona Vaughan White. But he was under the impression that certain factions of his large extended family (Lou had many children, and subsequently many grandchildren) did not believe this family legend, and thought Lou was just making it up. So I thought I would begin sharing the information I have in hopes that anyone else descended from John Lafayette Vaughan wondering about his connection to Belle Starr could find this and enjoy it as much as I have. I have since updated this information as-needed.
Originally, I had three pieces of evidence concerning John Vaughan's ties to Belle Starr: typed testimony from his daughter Lou Vaughan White, mentions of him in Glenn Shirley's Belle Starr & Her Times: The Literature, The Facts, and the Legends (1990), and a photocopy of a newspaper article published in the McAlester News-Capital titled "Death of Belle Starr Recalled", a piece by Baird Martin which was a re-telling of an article written by Charles H. Cowles some 35 years prior to the revision. Cowles had actually interviewed John Lafayette Vaughan about Belle Starr and her death. Unfortunately, my photocopy was undated, though I was able to figure out it was published about 1967-68, and Martin did not cite the date of publication for Cowles' original article, so short of sifting through every page of the news paper for two years I had no way to find the original full interview.
Fortunately, in January, 2020, a librarian at the McAlester Public Library named Christopher Elliott took the time to dig through recently-digitized issues of the McAlester News-Capital to find the original article for me. The digital version of the paper is only accessible on-site at the library, so I could not go through it myself from my residence in Michigan. But after playing with several terms in Martin's rehashed article, he located and sent me the original. I have published a full transcription of the full interview here: https://thesaltofamerica.blogspot.com/2020/03/john-lafayette-vaughan-and-belle-starr.html
Finally, a few years ago, a grandson of the aforementioned Lou Vaughan White found a tintype photo he had been looking for: a picture of John Lafayette Vaughan with Sam Starr, husband of Belle Starr. This was the strongest evidence yet of a connection between John and the Starrs-literal photographic proof. But it was still difficult to put the entire figurative picture of John and the Starr family into context without that interview, and now with all these things together, the evidence of their relationship speaks for itself.
All of this information, along with everything else I have collected on John from records and testimony from his grandchildren and other relatives by blood and marriage, has culminated in the biography of John Lafayette Vaughan which I will present here. I feel the information within it is complementary to the testimony he gives in his above-linked interview, and together they paint an interesting picture of a fascinating individual.
Biography of John Lafayette Vaughan
by Nathan Vaughan Marks
John Lafayette Vaughan was born July 19th, 1866 in Pope County, Arkansas. He was the son of Stephen Clinton Vaughan and Amanda Smith Napier. His father contracted chronic diarrhea during the Civil War, and it ailed him so badly that he was hardly able to work, and thus his family lived at near poverty-level. His grandfather, Archibald Hubbard Napier, was a well-known doctor (likely holistic doctor, rather than an MD) in the area and cared for Stephen until his death, at which time Stephen was cared for by a slew of other doctors, most notably a Henry Jones.
Amanda Smith Napier, mother of John, wife of Stephen, and later wife of Henry Jones.
Stephen Clinton Vaughan, Missouri 8th Cavalry (USA)
John was born at a time of great strife in Pope County, Arkansas. A year prior to his birth, his uncle Captain Archibald Dodson Napier was named sheriff of Pope County at the end of the Civil War, and was subsequently murdered as the first victim of what became known as the Pope County Militia War, which essentially was a local guerrilla war fought between local Union loyalists and Southern sympathizers. The violence in the area became so intense that many families felt compelled to leave the area, including the Vaughans, who settled in Conway County, where his father died of his ailment in 1880. The next year, John and his mother left for Indian Territory, where John was largely left to his own devices, and spent time with Indians and area outlaws. His mother Amanda later became involved with and eventually married one of his father's previous doctors, Henry Jones.
Archibald Dodson Napier and his wife Mary Elizabeth Vaughan. Dodson was the brother of John's mother Amanda and Mary was the sister of John's father Stephen.
John himself reported in a 1934 interview with the McAlester News-Capital that he was "turned loose" in Indian Territory in 1881 at the age of 15. “I could be a good boy. I could steal. I could kill. I had no school; no education. Instead of trying to study mathematics and penmanship, I studied horsemanship and gunmanship. But I always managed to keep the good will of the good people. I was born in National park in the Ozark Mountains July 19, 1866. My father was a soldier four years in the Union army and my uncle, Capt. [Napier], also. After the Civil War, my uncle was killed from the brush by a mob while he was sheriff. My father was dead. I was brought here by my widowed mother and older brothers. I rode horseback quite a bit and I practiced shooting and got to be pretty good at it. I have killed many a deer, turkey, and squirrel with a six-shooter."
This is John in his early-to-mid teens. This was probably taken about the time he arrived in Oklahoma. Courtesy of his granddaughter, Colleen Vaughan Allen.
John's associations with famed outlaws Tom Starr and Belle Starr are well-documented. He was reportedly friends with Tom's son and Belle's husband, Sam Starr, and heard the shot that killed him, and was present in the aftermath of Belle's death. From his 1934 interview: “I lived on the place of Martin Crowder, an aged Indian, 40 miles northwest of McAlester on the Canadian river five miles from Tom Starr’s home, and this aged man became very friendly with me and told me what Tom Starr had imparted to him. ... I lived there on the Crowder place and I heard the shot that killed Sam Starr. I was within a mile of the spot where he met death."
As it is in many families that descend from colorful characters, rumors and legends about John have been told for generations. Some have been debunked while others have been seemingly confirmed. One legend about John that has not been proven or disproved is that prior to his first recorded marriage, he had taken an Indian bride and had a child by her.
This is similar to an additional legend that he may be the mystery father of Pearl Starr's daughter, Flossie. In 1887, Belle sent her daughter Pearl away to have an illegitimate child she had been impregnated with, a girl named Flossie who was born in April of 1887. John would have been about 21 years old and still unmarried at this time, and he admits that Pearl was his date to a number of dances when he was a young man, so its not something that can be entirely ruled out, but also can't be proven. Per his 1934 interview: "I went to [Belle's] place lots of times and carried her and her daughter, Pearl, to dance. I carried Pearl to a good many."
Sam Starr, husband of Belle and son of Tom, on left. John L. Vaughan on right. Courtesy of Jerry White.
Likewise, no record of this supposed Native child has ever been established. But the legend contends that in the 1980s, John's daughter Lou received a phone call from a woman claiming to be a long-lost half-sister by John's relationship with her Indian mother. The caller's name is not known today. Stoking the fires of this legend is a newspaper clipping saved by descendants of the Lou White family that some believe could be a clue to this mystery child. On 11 Sep 1988, a letter to the editor of the McAlester News-Capital included the following tidbit: "My mother is approaching 90 years and certainly qualifies of at least respectful attention. Having been borned of an Indian mother and a red-headed, blue eyed father, who, by virtue of having been raised by the Indians bears a Cherokee roll number. Her papers claim she was born north and east of Scipio."
Now John Vaughan certainly does not have a roll number, but he was red-headed, blue-eyed, and lived northeast of Scipio in Ulan 90 years before this letter's publication. He also resided with Indians as a teenager and young man. How many people in that vicinity could meet all that criteria? Not very many, but the letter-writer and his mother's origins remain a mystery. It was signed "Wakana Hanunwau". It is apparently and Indian or even Hawaiian name, but records for a person with this name have not been located, nor has any substantive evidence of a long-lost child of John Vaughan. Some legends are destined to remain so.
John in his early-to-mid 20's. This is likely what he looked like at the time of Belle Starr's death. Courtesy of Colleen Vaughan Allen.
John married Sarah Ann "Eva" McCarty on July 9th, 1892 near Scipio; she bore him two children, Mattie Mae in 1892 and William Riley in 1895. (My research concerning her mysterious parentage can be found here: http://thesaltofamerica.blogspot.com/2017/08/using-dna-to-solve-family-mystery-sarah.html.) When Eva went into labor with their third child, John left to get help, and returned to find her and the newborn dead. By this time, most of his family had moved to Oklahoma as well; his brother Stephen died at Whitefield in 1885 and his mother Amanda near Thurman in 1891, and his brother Archibald settled nearby him in the Scipio area while his brother Thomas settled in McIntosh County.
Grave of Stephen Barnabas Vaughan, brother of John, at Whitefield Cemetery. Died 1885.
It was while visiting his brother Thomas that he met his brother's sister-in-law, Leona Waller. "[John] and Leona met and fell in love over the breakfast table the first day Leona was in [Oklahoma]. Leona was engaged to a boy named Wells in Arkansas. [John] and Leona ran away to get married, they swam the Canadian River on horseback, they were married at Hullowe, near Scipio [Note: There was a town named Hullowe in Pittsburg County, but they were actually married in Indianola, however, the minister who married them was named Hugh Low, which is probably what led to the confusion]." (Source: Family History by Lou Vaughan White) They were married on February 23rd, 1898.
Further rumors about John revolved around his association with various outlaw gangs, supposedly including the Dalton gang. No one was sure exactly what the extent of his relationship with these groups might have been. Some have been adamant that he never participated in illegal activities, while others are certain that he did. There are several John Vaughans who were arrested and tried (and some sent to jail) in Fort Smith, Arkansas from 1880 to 1900 for various illegal activities in Indian Territory and northwestern Arkansas, but it has not been confirmed whether any of these John Vaughans were John Lafayette Vaughan or not. However, even beyond his own assertions of his connections to Belle Starr and her crowd, there is documentation of his presence in the aftermath of her death.
In 1990, Glenn Shirley and the University of Oklahoma Press published Belle Starr & Her Times: The Literature, The Facts, and the Legends. Much of the information concerning Belle Starr's death stemmed from witness accounts of various neighbors of Starr, and residents of the surrounding area where she was murdered. John, who went by "Fayette" or "Fate" as a shortening of his middle name Lafayette, was mentioned by name in the testimonies of three individuals.
p. 237: Alice (Mrs. Joseph) Tate, who lived a mile from the ambush scene and a half mile from Edgar Watson, heard two guns [shots] in the evening about half an hour by sun. "My husband & Billy England were standing out back of house talking when guns fired. Ben Statham came to our house about dark & told us, & me & my husband & Fayette Vaughn & Billy England went down from our house."
p. 237-238: Ray England, who lived two miles from the White place and a half a mile from Watson, was well acquainted with Belle but he had not seen her for a month until "I seen her dead at Alf White's. Fayette Vaughn on the 3rd day of February 1889 at after dark came to my house to let me know she had been killed and wanted the neighbors to go & take care of her.."
p. 239: Turner England also received news of the killing Monday morning: "Fayette Vaughn brought me word...I went over there...seen blood in road, seen tracks of man I thought done shooting..."
These short excerpts do not give a lot of information as to the extent of Vaughan's relationship to Starr, but they still help flesh out his involvement in the scenes after her death and corroborate the statements in his interview to an extent, though it should be noted that these neighbors claim the shooting occurred in the early evening, while Vaughan said it took place at 2:00 in the afternoon.
John divulged several interesting details about what led to Belle's death and his involvement in the aftermath of it in his 1934 interview. He reported that Belle's son got mixed up into some horse-stealing because of a neighbor by the man of Edgar Watson. Belle threatened to have Watson prosecuted for getting her son into trouble, and he vowed to kill her. Though historical authorities today contend that Belle Starr's killer is unknown and unproven, John insists that it was Watson. After her killing, he reports that he and some other associates investigated the scene of the crime themselves and he shared his conclusions.
"There was brush along the fence for quite a ways and there was an open place in the rail fence. Where the brush stopped there was a small walnut tree on the inside of the fence. That is where Watson hid. He let her pass him and then fired on her. I could see the place where she was shot as the horse stove his feet into the ground there. Three buckshot ranged from her shoulder to her heart. She stuck to the horse about 30 or 40 feet. Then there were the tracks. I could see where he had jumped the fence. She rode sideways all the time. I never saw her without a nice dress. She fell on her right shoulder and arm. There were the tracks where he ran up and shot her in the side of the face with a load of fine shot. She was not dead then, for she had raised her hand to protect her face. He shot the ring from her left ear and we never could find it.
We sat up with the body that night. In the morning, when it was good and light, I looked over the ground. There was shotgun paper all over the tracks of the horse where they stove in."
John also reported being directly involved in Belle's burial proceedings and present at her funeral: "Another man and I dug the grave, three feet, and then others came and helped finish it. She was buried in a nice wooden coffin and a walnut box to set it in. The lumber was taken from the house in which I lived. Edgar Watson had the nerve to attend the funeral and help throw dirt on the coffin. He went in the house and came out with a coat and I thought he had an ashen color to his face."
The Starrs were not the only people on society's fringes with whom John is purported to have been rubbing elbows. Several years ago John's granddaughter Dale Vaughan Sitter was working as a nurse in McAlester when she got to talking with a patient. When he found out she was a Vaughan from the Ulan area, he reported remembering her grandfather. He said that John acquired some of his land from an Indian outlaw named "Natchabull". Further research indicated the man was referring to Allen Narchubby, who was more of an extremist than an outlaw.
John also reported being directly involved in Belle's burial proceedings and present at her funeral: "Another man and I dug the grave, three feet, and then others came and helped finish it. She was buried in a nice wooden coffin and a walnut box to set it in. The lumber was taken from the house in which I lived. Edgar Watson had the nerve to attend the funeral and help throw dirt on the coffin. He went in the house and came out with a coat and I thought he had an ashen color to his face."
The Starrs were not the only people on society's fringes with whom John is purported to have been rubbing elbows. Several years ago John's granddaughter Dale Vaughan Sitter was working as a nurse in McAlester when she got to talking with a patient. When he found out she was a Vaughan from the Ulan area, he reported remembering her grandfather. He said that John acquired some of his land from an Indian outlaw named "Natchabull". Further research indicated the man was referring to Allen Narchubby, who was more of an extremist than an outlaw.
Allan Archibald AKA Allen Narchubby was a member of an extremist Choctaw faction called Snake Indians. Per Dr. Kenny Brown, "The Snake Indians were traditionalists who were against land allotments. Allen Archibald was a traditionalist Choctaw who had joined the much-noted Snake Indian movement, refused to take allotment, came under arrest for his activities, and died in jail after suffering the humiliation of having his hair shorn." The story from the aforementioned stranger to Dale Vaughan was that John was present when the authorities came to take him to jail and supposedly signed paperwork giving the rights to his allotment to him, but since Archibald refused to take allotment, the story did not make very much sense.
Documentation provided by Dr. Brown, however, proves that John rented land (most likely farmland) from Allen Archibald, and then from his son Smedlow after Allen's death even though he was just a young boy; Dr. Brown posits that since Allen's wife was Creek on Choctaw land, John could not rent from her. As a white man, John could not own land at this time and had to rent from a Native. A possible translation of the story from the stranger combined with the known facts could be that Allen told John he could buy his land from him, and perhaps John did buy the land once white men were able to purchase Indian land in the Indian Territory. Dr. Brown cites Choctaw Nation Records, Bound Volume #425, Tobucksy County Permits and Licenses, 1899-1905 for the four images of permits between John L. Vaughan and the Archibald men over a four year period.
Dr. Brown reports that once Archibald was arrested and later perished, he "left behind two Muskogee Creek widows who came from the nearby Creek Nation. They also soon died, leaving several parent-less children who were eventually rounded up and sent to an orphanage." Before Archibald's children were rounded up, the federal government sent an Indian Agent to the area where John was living to investigate reports of Archibald's children running wild without care or supervision: Josanna, age 15, Smedlow, age 10-11, twins Cain and Abel, age 8, and a girl called "Etta", "Adda", or "Belle", about age 4. All but the youngest girl were Archibald's children; "Etta" was born after Archibald's death in 1898, reportedly an illegitimate child of Archibald's widow and an unknown white man. The children were occasionally looked after by an older sister, Elsie, age 17, but she came and went and often left them alone for long periods.
Children of Allen Archibald. Cain, Abel, Etta, Smedlow. Taken at The Murrow Indian Orphan’s Home. Courtesy of The Baptist Home Mission Monthly, Volumes 30-31 via Google Books.
Benjamin Mossman, Esq., came from Muskogee in May 1908 to Indianola. A Mr. Herstein had reported his concerns over the unsupervised children, and Herstein took Mossman to "J. D. Vayghan", whose name he later spells as Vaughan. There were no other Vaughans near Indianola at this time, and Dr. Brown believes Mossman was referring to J. L. Vaughan. Mossman reported that Vaughan "has lived in that part for fifteen years and speaks both Choctaw and Creek. He took us, by boat, two miles up a river or creek then two miles on foot along trails and through forest to a one roomed log hoval [sic] where what remains of the Allen Archibald family exist."
Mossman continued: "The roof is open with holes and the chinks between the logs are mostly gaping. The floor is of earth. There are no beds, but piles of some sort of rag-looking stuff and parts of blankets on the ground serve as such. ... There is no one to care for this little brood unless Elsie can be credited with that office. She is reported to have "gone wrong" and frequently absents herself for days or weeks." Archibald had married a woman unable to have children, so he married her sister as well who bore him his children. Both died in the years following his death and no one took responsibility for the children until Mr. Mossman intervened at this time.
Mossman posited that perhaps Judge George W. Choate, who lived nearby, might accept guardianship of the children. Further, he reported: "Mr. Vaughan stated to me that he would willingly adopt Etta if she were given him by the courts." But neither of these scenarios played out, and all the children were sent to an orphanage for Indian children.
John in his late-20's-to-early-30's. Courtesy of Colleen Vaughan Allen.
John and his second wife Leona went on to be parents of seven children, six of whom lived to adulthood. Their first, Early Coatner Vaughan, died in 1907 at the age of 8, and was buried next to John's first wife Eva, their newborn baby, and John's brother Archibald in Choate Prairie Cemetery near Ulan. The others were, in order: Sampson Lafayette, Lou Ona, John Dodson, Charles Teddy, Nicey Jewell, and Dewey Miles. After giving birth to Nicey in 1909, Leona became very ill; it took her years to recover. When she finally had, she became pregnant with Dewey. Giving birth to Dewey nearly killed her; she apparently actually died momentarily after his birth before being resuscitated.
Leona Waller Vaughan with Sampson on her lap and Early Coatner to her side. Only known photo of Coatner, who died at age 8.
John and his family, circa 1909. John is in the middle next to his wife, Leona Aden Waller. In the back are his children from his first marriage, Mattie Mae and William Riley "Bill" Vaughan. To his right are his sons Sampson Lafayette and John Dodson Vaughan. To his left is his daughter Lou Ona Vaughan, and on Leona's lap is his son Charles Teddy Vaughan.
Leona was never the same after that. She was able to nurse Dewey, but was unable to hold him during, so Lou would. She was able to cook for the family, but unable to do any lifting or major housework. In 1919, she was diagnosed with Pellagra, a devastating disease most common in 3rd world countries, typically caused by a vitamin deficiency; it can lead to a plethora of serious side effects, including but not limited to skin lesions, insomnia, weakness, sensitivity to sunlight, mental confusion, and eventually dementia. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellagra). The doctors decided to try and cure her by cleansing her system with vials of rattlesnake venom. Her screams of agony proving too much to bear, John left the house mid-treatment to go down to the Scipio Creek to pray. When he returned, he found she had died on the second-to-last vial of venom with Lou by her side.
Another hardship befell the Vaughan family not long before Leona's death. John's oldest son, Bill, had married and had John's first grandchild, a little girl named Essie. John was reportedly very taken with the little baby. But she died, at apparently less than a year in age, and was buried out at Choate Prairie where John's first wife, two children, and brother also lie. His granddaughter Sharon White recalls being told that after Essie's death, John vowed not to allow himself to get too attached or close with any other grandchildren because the loss had effected him so deeply he could not bear another one.
Always looked to by his family, John persevered and led them through these hardships. He re-married in 1920 to Florence Bell Lytle, and continued to work on the farm, which he purchased with pension money he received for his father's Civil War service. He drew that pension from the time he was 14 until he was 21, and used the money to purchase his home near Ulan, Oklahoma; a small portion of the oil rights that land garnered remains in the Vaughan family to this day. He spent much time with his grandchildren, who all viewed him with awe and admiration.
Around the same time or shortly after his marriage to Florence, John was named one of two judges in Scipio Township. He presided over the Union Prairie precinct within the township, which later became Ulan. He would have heard only minor local cases. He held court in the Union Prairie/Ulan schoolhouse. His court clerks were J. P. Grantham and W. T. Rye.
Ulan/Union Prairie School, 1926.
John Lafayette Vaughan circa 1920 with a jar of moonshine.
John's inclination to take in both Zular Westmoreland, and before that little Etta Archibald, in addition to his children and step-children is a testament to his nature. There have been conflicting reports in the family about John Vaughan's personality and character. His granddaughter Glenda reported that she was told John was a hard, mean, cruel man. Other grandchildren, including those who met him as children, reported him to be kind, doting, and of a cheerful disposition. As with anyone, perceptions of him surely varied based on the eye of the beholder, but most parties describe John as a compassionate, family-oriented man. His willingness to take in children that do not belong to him seemingly supports that illustration of the man.
John Lafayette Vaughan circa 1930. Note his earrings and the pistol strapped to his side, for which he well-known among his grandchildren.
The aforementioned Kenny Brown was the son of Leona Dickens Brown, a neighbor of the Vaughans who grew up in their area. Late in life she wrote a memoir about her childhood home and the people she knew, and she wrote of John Vaughan:
"There was another family who lived on Scipio Creek, northwest of Ulan. Their name was Vaughan. Where Mr. Lafayette Vaughan came from I never heard, but he was a good friend of Grandpa Dickens and my father. He was red headed, had a handle bar mustache, wore gold rings in his ears, a red bandanna handkerchief around his neck, and a big black stand up crown black hat."
At one time he said he rode with Belle Starr and her gang. Anyway, he knew some of them. He always said that he heard the shot that killed Belle Starr. My father always said that Mr. Vaughan (they called him Fayette) was superstitious. He always believed in stories about black cats and whipperwills singing or calling close to the house.
Mr. Vaughan had a good house or home, and we never knew how he managed to have a good place, land, and buildings. I remember he had a big pond and kept ducks. He had a big garden spot and an orchard, also a big yard with big trees. He usually celebrated his birthday by having a big crowd around, drinking and playing marbles, then a dance at night.
He had been married three times; his first and second wives died. By his first wife he had two children, a son, Bill, and a daughter, Mattie. ... My parents knew the second Mrs. Vaughan, and they liked her a lot. She and Mr. Vaughan had several kids--Sampson, Lou, Charlie, Nicie, and Dewey. We called Dewey "Cutter." Then after the second Mrs. Vaughan died, he married a widow that he had known for a long time. She lived at Blocker, and she had several kids. Her name was Autrey.
John L. Vaughan and his third wife, Florence, with their Model T Ford.
... The third Mrs. Vaughan was a short and heavy woman. Mr. Vaughan had a Model T Ford. He and Cutter would ride in the front seat, and she would ride in the back. I think he had the first car in the country around Ulan. People traveling in wagons would have to get a way out to the side of the road whenever they met Mr. Vaughan, for the teams to the wagons would get frightened and run away."
Lou Vaughan, John L. Vaughan, and Ola Autrey.
This is a picture of John Lafayette's son, John Dodson Vaughan. This picture is noteworthy because the 30/30 Winchester rifle John is holding belonged to his father, as did the 1897 Model Winchester Shotgun leaning up against the house to the left of the dog. When John Lafayette died in 1944, his pistol was passed down to his grandson J.L. White, the 30/30 to his son-in-law Tony White, and his shotgun to his son Sampson Vaughan.
After his son died, John saw to it that his fatherless grandchildren were well-taken care of. They would often walk to his farm to hear him to tell his stories for hours, some of which were so scary that Dewey would have to walk them home afterword. John's daughter Colleen had vivid memories of him and his kindness, including one night when they stayed at his home during a thunderstorm, and John comforted her when she was afraid of the lightning. He was a soft-spoken man, but one whose presence filled any room he was in, and a man who was immeasurably cherished by his family. He died September 20th, 1944 and was buried next to Leona in Ulan Cemetery.
McAlester News-Capital - 21 Sep 1944 - Page 2
J. L. Vaughan, of Ulan, passed away last night after a short
illness. He had resided in this vicinity for the past 50 years.
Mr. Vaughan was born July 19, 1866, in Arkansas.
He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Florence Vaughan, three
daughters and four sons. These are Mrs. Mattie Smith of McAlester, Mrs. Lou
White, Detroit, Mich., Mrs. Nicie [Ross], Bakersfield, Calif., Willie Vaughan,
Wewoka, S. L. Vaughan, McAlester, Charlie Vaughan and Dewey Vaughan, both of
Ulan. There are also several grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements, not yet complete, will be announced
later by Humphreys who have charge.
Left to right: Charles Teddy Vaughan, Nicey Jewell Vaughan, John Lafayette Vaughan, Dewey Miles Vaughan, Lou Ona Vaughan, and Sampson Lafayette Vaughan. Taken circa 1940.
John Lafayette Vaughan in the late-1930's-to-early-1940's.
This is the Colt .45 pistol that belonged to John Lafayette Vaughan. He kept it at his side always, though none knew why with certainty. Most believe he was worried someone might come for him one day either because of something he knew or something he'd done, and he would have had to take care of them.
John Vaughan family in front of their home near Ulan, year unknown. John to the right.
Gathering of Vaughan and Kelton families, late 1920s/early 1930s. John left and to the middle with his famous hat and mustache.
John second from the left with various children and in-laws, likely in the mid-to-late 1930s.
John Vaughan family in front of their home, year unknown. John in middle with rifle. Courtesy of Jerry White.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Captain Archibald Dodson Napier
Archibald Dodson Napier, who went by Dodson, was a Captain in the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry (Union) during the Civil War. Prior to that, he was Captain of the Arkansas 15th Militia of Pope County, which disbanded at the beginning of the war. He became a 1st Lieutenant in the 3rd Arkansas, and was later promoted to Captain. He was dismissed from duty on October 15th, 1864. He became sheriff of Pope County following the war and was killed as a result of a "militia war" that began in the county between those of Union loyalty and those of Confederate loyalty. I spent much of today collecting as many references to Dodson as I could find in preparation of my biographical sketch of him for my book.
Dodson was a son of Archibald Hubbard Napier and Jane Carter. I descend from his sister, Amanda Smith Napier, who married Stephen Clinton Vaughan. Dodson married one of Stephen's sisters, and also fathered children with another one of his sisters. I am awaiting copies of his pension files which I'm certain will have some interesting information. Until then, I am going to share here all the mentions I could find of him online.
Report of Maj. gen. Frederick Steele, U.S. Army, commanding the Department of Arkansas.
Headquarters Department of Arkansas, Etc., Little Rock, Ark., August 15, 1864
Record of military operations in the Department of Arkansas for the month of July, 1864:
...29th, Captain Napier, Third Arkansas Cavalry, returned from scout to Greenbrier, having killed the rebel Captain Birr near Red River.
September 2, 1864 - Skirmish near Quitman, Ark.
Report of Col. Abraham H. Ryan, Third Arkansas Cavalry (Union)
Lewisburg, September 7, 1864--7 p.m.
Detachment of forty men with ammunition for Shelby crossed at Dardanelle on Monday last. On the 2d instant Captain Napier and Lieutenant Carr had a skirmish with Colonel Witt, eight miles from Quitman, killed 7, and captured Captain Livingston and 4 men of Witt's command.
Both of these can be found in the "Congressional Serial Set" here: http://books.google.com/books?id=bRAbAAAAIAAJ&vq=Napier&dq=%22Captain+Napier%22+Arkansas&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Dodson is mentioned a couple of times on the website, which summarizes reports from the Red River Campaign. One entry mentions his skirmish with Witt, and later the dismissal of Captain Herring; it does not mention the fact that Dodson and multiple other officers were dismissed the same day. Another entry mentions a scouting report from Dodson.
http://www.forttours.com/pages/redriver06.asp
http://www.forttours.com/pages/redriver05.asp
The entry referring to Herring's dismissal alludes to the possibility that it was because of a skirmish that occurred on September 7th, 1864. The details given of said skirmish say:
"Grandmother told me that Isaac C. Napier, brother of Archibald Dodson Napier, fought with Archibald in Co. H, 15th Ark. Militia, and he, too, was killed the same year,1865, by “bushwhackers” while plowing a field at home.
She said there was a big rock in Pope County that had blood stains of a Civil War soldier, where he fell. She saw it as a little girl and said that it was well known by all that saw it. She also said that all the rain that came never washed the stain away."
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/comments/view-comments.aspx?type=2&entry=2277&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=784
Dodson was a son of Archibald Hubbard Napier and Jane Carter. I descend from his sister, Amanda Smith Napier, who married Stephen Clinton Vaughan. Dodson married one of Stephen's sisters, and also fathered children with another one of his sisters. I am awaiting copies of his pension files which I'm certain will have some interesting information. Until then, I am going to share here all the mentions I could find of him online.
Report of Maj. gen. Frederick Steele, U.S. Army, commanding the Department of Arkansas.
Headquarters Department of Arkansas, Etc., Little Rock, Ark., August 15, 1864
Record of military operations in the Department of Arkansas for the month of July, 1864:
...29th, Captain Napier, Third Arkansas Cavalry, returned from scout to Greenbrier, having killed the rebel Captain Birr near Red River.
September 2, 1864 - Skirmish near Quitman, Ark.
Report of Col. Abraham H. Ryan, Third Arkansas Cavalry (Union)
Lewisburg, September 7, 1864--7 p.m.
Detachment of forty men with ammunition for Shelby crossed at Dardanelle on Monday last. On the 2d instant Captain Napier and Lieutenant Carr had a skirmish with Colonel Witt, eight miles from Quitman, killed 7, and captured Captain Livingston and 4 men of Witt's command.
Both of these can be found in the "Congressional Serial Set" here: http://books.google.com/books?id=bRAbAAAAIAAJ&vq=Napier&dq=%22Captain+Napier%22+Arkansas&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Dodson is mentioned a couple of times on the website, which summarizes reports from the Red River Campaign. One entry mentions his skirmish with Witt, and later the dismissal of Captain Herring; it does not mention the fact that Dodson and multiple other officers were dismissed the same day. Another entry mentions a scouting report from Dodson.
http://www.forttours.com/pages/redriver06.asp
http://www.forttours.com/pages/redriver05.asp
The entry referring to Herring's dismissal alludes to the possibility that it was because of a skirmish that occurred on September 7th, 1864. The details given of said skirmish say:
"On Wednesday, September 7, 1864, General Price and his command and the wagon train crossed the Arkansas, completing this phase of the operation, and they moved to meet Shelby. Shelby was just ordering his scattered command to converge on Pocahontas, Arkansas, where they would join Price, and move towards St. Louis.
General Steele (USA) in Little Rock was dependent on his cavalry. He had sent a dispatch to Major General Canby that he had some 600 cavalry looking for Price. This would have been most of the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry. Steele continued to build up Little Rock. He also makes the statement that the general impression is that Price "intends making a raid into Missouri". He speaks of his defenses as being secure, but no mention of any attempt to engage Price.
In the meantime at Lewisburg things are happening rapidly. Col. Ryan sends dispatches that he has started four flat boats for Little Rock and one to Cadron Ferry, taking out all the government stores there. In a later dispatch he asks for any information about Shelby. In the afternoon the 2nd Arkansas Infantry left Lewisburg on a forced march to Little Rock. Years later John D. Pruitt, in filing for a pension, would state that his disability was due to a heat stroke suffered during the forced march and retreat from Lewisburg, September 7, 1864.
Sometime during the late afternoon or evening of September 7, 1864, Lt. Col. Fuller with 130 men, evidently F and G Companies of the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry, met Price's army somewhere on the Dover to Springfield Road, as they were returning to Lewisburg. A sharp skirmish ensued and from the evidence it appears that F Company was cut off from the rest of the unit. The survivors of the skirmish did not reach Lewisburg until next day when col. Ryan sent two dispatches, which are crucial to our history:
Lewisburg, September 8, 1864 - 7.00 PM
Lt. Col. Fuller, with a scout of 130 men, met Cabell in cavalry and infantry force twenty miles from here, on Springfield and Dover Road, en route for this place. Fuller was surrounded, but cut his way out; Lieutenants Wishard, Carr and Greene, and 30 men missing. Have sent word to Col. Stephenson to start the train for Little Rock immediately. Have sent courier after the other scouting parties. I have everything in readiness to advance or retreat as soon as the scouts get in.
A.H. RYAN
Col., Commanding
Col., Commanding
BRIG. GEN. E.A. CARR
Almost 2 hours later Col. Ryan sent another dispatch:
Lewisburg, Sept. 8, 1864, - 8.40 P.M.
Lts. Carr, Wishard and Greene have come in, Greene slightly wounded. I do not think our loss will exceed 15 killed, wounded and missing. There are three brigades of the enemy- Dockery's, Cabell's and I think Fagan's. I presume the enemy will move to Springfield and try and cut us off from the Cadron, Our horses are pretty well used up; am giving them a few hours. If there are any horses to spare in Little Rock, I trust we can get some, as we need them badly.
A.H. RYAN
Col. Commanding
Col. Commanding
Brig. Gen. E.A. Carr
Lt. Wishard was Second-in-Command of F Company, and may have commanded the Company that fateful day. As will be later shown, there were problems with Captain Herring. There is no other record of the skirmish, and no detailed report of it, save that on September 9, 1864, General Steele (USA) at Little Rock sent a dispatch to Major General Canby in which he states "The rebel cavalry, or at least three brigades of them have crossed at Dardanelle. Price and Fagan are both present with this command. Cabell's brigade and some dismounted men were sent to attack Lewisburg. A scouting party under Lt. Col. Fuller of the Third Arkansas Cavalry, fell in with them and had a skirmish."
No muster roll of F Company would be taken until October 31, 1864, and regimental papers say nothing about the skirmish. Jim Nunnally and many other soldiers went home, and were charged with desertion. There was a great deal of confusion in the skirmish. Cpl. Nathaniel Page and Sgt. Thomas M. Jones were listed as killed in battle. Page was later to return -much later. On a muster roll dated February 28, 1865, he is listed as "returned to Company February 1. 1865, incorrectly reported killed". Nothing further was heard of Sgt. Jones, although on the muster roll his status was changed from "killed in battle" to "missing after battle".
The only report of the battle and it's aftermath came from what Nunnally's wife reported he told her. She told the family that the men were surrounded and cut off and told to scatter and rejoin the Company when they could. No doubt many went home, to check on their families as Prices army had just moved through Yell County. Many were later to return to the Company. Jim Nunnally would never have the chance."
If the results of this skirmish is what led to Captain Herring's dismissal, it is possible that this was the reason for Dodson's dismissal as well. Herring's charges were "neglect of duty and inefficiency". Dodson in charge of Company I, and [Bright W.] Herring of Company F. Captains James F. Clear (Company D), Thomas Boles (Company E), and James H. Reynolds (Company G) were all dismissed the same day, October 15th, 1864. Another Captain, Anthony Hinkle of Company L, was dismissed a week before, on October 7th. It seems likely that all of these dismissals are closely related, but I have not been able to determine the precise reason.
An account of a man named James Bratton, a member of the 3rd Arkansas, was shared here: http://users.conwaycorp.net/tarnhart/arnhart/notes.html
"Napier found easy recruiting in Searcy County, according to James Bratton, "Myself, John Bratton and France Bratton were all conscripted into the Confederate Army (Captain Sam Leslie's Co. F, 32nd Arkansas Infantry), and was with the Army until after the Prairie Grove Battle. Ran away and came home and worked in a saltpetre works on Buffalo and Big Creek, until in December, 1863, when Capt. Naypner [sic Napier], out recruiting for the Union Army, came into the cave, and I and John and France went out with him and stayed with the Federal Army until we were discharged."
A comment from a user on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas website provided the first mention of Dodson's brother, Isaac, also dying during the Militia War.
She said there was a big rock in Pope County that had blood stains of a Civil War soldier, where he fell. She saw it as a little girl and said that it was well known by all that saw it. She also said that all the rain that came never washed the stain away."
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/comments/view-comments.aspx?type=2&entry=2277&KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=500&width=784
I've also found Dodson referenced in several books, most of which are brief mentions of him being the first victim of the Militia War. I am still trying to find evidence of Isaac being a victim of the "war" as well, but it seems possible based on the fact he was deceased by the time his wife re-married in January of 1869.
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