One of the most fascinating Vaughans I have encountered is my own great x 3 grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Vaughan. He combines that mix of mystery and notoriety that is so characteristic of the family. As I have mentioned his name here several times, I thought it was high-time to do a biography of him. Rather then try to summarize the most interesting parts of his life, I thought maybe it would be best to simply quote the two best sources that document Ben’s life. First is the late Lewis Vaughan, author of “Vaughan Pioneers” which remains the best book on the William and Fereby (Benton) Vaughan family. Before his death, Lewis gave our Vaughan Pioneers group (named after his book) permission to place his book on-line, which we have at our Freeservers site. We also received permission from Mickey Vaughan, author of the book “The Vaughans” which is exclusively about Ben Vaughan and his descendants. We have that book on-line too, with revisions and additions made by members of our group. So I thought I’d quote the sections dealing with Ben. The first is from “Vaughan Pioneers” by Lewis Vaughan, followed by the first chapter of “The Vaughans” by Mickey Vaughan.
(From “Vaughan Pioneers” by Lewis Vaughan)
40. BENJAMIN AND CHERUBIA (HARP)
VAUGHANI have always found Benjamin Vaughan to be one of the more fascinating offshoots on the
Vaughan family tree. He is a complex blend of mystery and charm that we shall probably never completely fathom. For some time no one was even sure that Benjamin was in fact descended from William and Fereby. That question was finally resolved with the discovery of two affidavits made by him in support of claims for Cherokee citizenship by relatives of his. In these affidavits Benjamin affirmed that he was a grandson of William and Fereby, reared in their household. These affidavits also provide us with our best proof to date of Fereby’s Cherokee origins.By his affidavits Benjamin did not dispel the mystery surrounding his parentage. We have enough facts to rule out the possibility that either Samuel or Daniel Vaughan could have been his father. For some time I have leaned to the view that his father was James Vaughan, son of John Vaughan of Hawkins Co., Tenn., and that his mother was Martha Vaughan, William’s and Fereby’s daughter. James and Martha evidently separated some time after 1820, and James, remarried. I must stress that all the evidence in support of this view is circumstantial, and that the indicated relationships may well be proved wrong if additional facts come to light later. Consequently this book makes no firm claims as the identity of Benjamin Vaughan’s parents.The circumstantial evidence in support of the indicated relationships is as follows:– James and Beverly Vaughan, John Vaughan’s sons, grew up in Hawkins Co.,
Tenn., while William and Fereby were living there onan adjoining farm. Census records show that James Vaughan,Beverly Vaughan, and Elizabeth Callico were living side by side inWhite Co.,
Tenn., in 1820. William and Fereby apparently lived inthis area before moving to
Missouri. Significantly, Callicot was themaiden name of James and Beverly’s mother, and Elizabeth Callico was William’s and Fereby’s daughter. James and Beverly Vaughanwere in northwest
Arkansas in 1840 living next to Samuel and Daniel Vaughan and their children, and a woman Fereby’s age wasapparently living or visiting in James’ household. In short, there appears to have been a life-long bond between James Vaughan and William and Fereby.– A Martha Vaughan, age 83, and born in
Virginia, was living in Benjamin’s household in 1870, according to census records. Miss Lizzie Ray, Benjamin’s granddaughter, has told me that Benjamin’smother, known as Patty, used to live with him. I believe that Patty and Martha were one and the same. While Matty is the usual nick-name for Martha, this is not the first instance where I have seen Patty instead. Martha Vaughan’s age fits into the proper age bracketfor James Vaughan’s wife in the 1820 census, and James Vaughan’sage is reported consistently in the censuses for 1820, 1830, and 1840, when he was living in White Co., Tenn., Hawkins Co., Tenn., and Washington Co.,
Ark., respec-tively. Martha’s age and place of birth are consistent with the idea that she was William’s and Fereby’s daughter. (While her reportedage in the 1870 census would make her Daniel’s twin, both Benja-min’s and Cherubia’s age was understated in that census so I thinkMartha’s may have been too. If so, she would have been the child preceding Daniel.)The 1850 census for Madison Co.,
Ark., includes William Vaughan,age 33, b. Tenn.; John Vaughan, age 22, b.
Tenn.; Martha Vaughan,age 50, b. North Carolina; and Elijah Vaughan, age 18, b.
Tenn. The 1850 and 1860 censuses, taken together, indicate rather clearlythat John and Elijah Vaughan were brothers and that Martha was their mother. According to Lizzie Ray, Benjamin is supposed to have had a brother Bill and a brother Lije. Bill and Lije would havebeen William and Elijah; brother John may have been overlooked since he died during the Civil War period. Lizzie Ray also reportedthat brother Lije came from
Springfield, Mo., to visit Benjamin nearthe end of the latter’s life. I was able to verify from the 1900 censusthat Elijah Vaughan was living in Greene Co.,
Mo., at that time, andall indications are that he was the same Elijah reported in the 1850and 1860 Madison County, Ark., censuses. Incidentally, the 1850 and 1860 censuses conflict as to the place of birth of Martha Vaughan, Elijah’s and John’s mother. The 1860 census reports it asIndiana, rather than
North Carolina, and the 1900 census also gives
Indiana. Martha, John, and Elijah fit into the framework of James
Vaughan’s family as reported in the 1840 census. Martha and Johnalso fit into the framework of his family as reported in the 1830 cen-sus. However, Martha is not the proper age for James’ wife as re-ported in the 1820 census. The discrepancy in age and the fact that she was born in
Indiana establish conclusively that this Martha was not the same Martha who was Benjamin’s mother.If my hypothesis as to Benjamin’s parentage is correct, William Vaughan was his full brother, while John and Elijah were half-brothers. Benjamin seems to have had another full brother, Maborne Vaughan. Tax lists and census records indicate that Maborne moved from White Co., Tenn., to northwest
Arkansas about 1843. He was living near Benjamin in
Madison
County in 1860, but evidently moved away and nothing more is known about him.James Vaughan’s fate is likewise a mystery. His younger brother Benjamin, back in Hawkins Co., Tenn., stated in a deposition dated 28 May 1858 that by the last account he had James was in the State of Texas and Beverly in
Arkansas. There are some
Texas land records of this period involving James Vaughan, who may or may not be the same man. If they are the same, James must have been separated also from his second wife. In any case James Vaughan’s name disappears from the tax lists of Washington Co.,
Ark., after 1843.Benjamin married Cherubia Harp, born 17 Sept. 1817 in
Tennessee. The marriage probably occurred about 1836. At one time I thought they were married earlier, for the 1860 census shows a Benjamin Vaughan, Jr., age 24, living in the Clifty area. However, none of Benjamin’s descendants claim Benjamin, Jr., nor was he listed among Benjamin’s children in the 1850 census. He may have been Maborne Vaughan’s son, though the census shows Benjamin, Jr., to have been born in Arkansas rather than
Tennessee, where Maborne was living at the time of his birth. Since there is no way of identifying Benjamin, Jr., I have had to omit him from the genealogical listings.Benjamin was never noted for his extensive landholdings as many of the other Arkansas Vaughans were. However, he had a long and distinguished career in public service. Goodspeed’s History of Madison County lists B. Vaughan as having served as sheriff during the years 1848-58; 1867-68; and 1876-78. B. Vaughan served as assessor 1867-68 and 1872-76. B. Vaughan was a state representative from
Madison
County 1858-60; Benjamin Vaughan was a state representative from the Madison,
Marion and Carroll Counties District 1868-70. (The B. Vaughan listed in each instance is as given by Goodspeed but can refer to no one other than Benjamin.)The early tax lists show Benjamin living in Washington County, Ark., until 1839, when he evidently moved to
Madison
County. He evidently lived in
Prairie
Township with the other Vaughans until he moved to
Huntsville, the county seat, after being elected sheriff. Reportedly, he never liked
Huntsville and from 1860 on he lived at Clifty, in the northern part of the county.
Ben and “Churbie” had a large family whose members in turn were quite prolific. More than the
Vaughans in general tend to do, Benjamin’s offspring lingered in the general vicinity of their birth.
As a result we have more data on Benjamin’s and Cherubia’s descendants than on any other
Vaughan of his generation.
As one would expect of a man who lived a long and productive life in a single community, Benjamin is remembered with affection by his descendants and by his friends and neighbors. Anecdotes concerning him abound. I shall repeat here only a brief one concerning Benjamin and his brother Bill. Bill is supposed to have been a preacher. Someone asked Ben, “Uncle Ben, how come you are a man of the world and got good boys and Bill is a preacher and got such mean boys?” Ben’s reply: “Well, I was called and Bill answered.”============================================================
(From “The Vaughans” by Mickey Vaughan):
Benjamin and CherubiaOur story begins 1 March 1815 somewhere in
Tennessee when life began for Benjamin Franklin Vaughan. This country was just recovering from the throes of the War of 1812 while elsewhere on our earth, the Battle of Waterloo was about to be waged. Ferdinand VII had been restored to the Spanish throne, James Madison was President of the
United States and Napoleon would soon be exiled to
St. Helena.
Tennessee had become a state seven years earlier and the aftermath of the recent war had opened the way for the great migration westward.
At the present time, we know nothing for certain about Benjamin’s childhood or his ancestry, and although he was to become very well known in his adopted state of
Arkansas, very little has been printed about him.One of his grandchildren thought perhaps he had a brother named Bill and another named Lige. She remembers a conversation from her childhood in which Ben was asked, “How come you’re a man of the world and got good boys and Bill is a preacher and got such mean boys?”Ben answered, “Well, I was called and Bill answered.”Although so very little is known about him, just try mentioning his name to any senior citizen in or around Madison County, Arkansas. They will recall him with a twinkle in their eyes, a wide smile on their faces, and their favorite tale about “Uncle Ben” or “Grandpap”, as he was commonly known in the area. To retain such a place in the hearts of man almost seventy-four years after his death is perhaps, after all, the nicest tribute that could be given to any one.Probably between 1833 and 1837, Ben married Cherubia A. Harp. Aunt Churby, as she was affectionately called, was born 17 September 1817 also in
Tennessee. She was reportedly closely related to John Harp who came to Arkansas from
Sweadens Cove, Tennessee in the early 1830’s.Pioneer men were sometimes through necessity, tough, brave men, but due must be paid also to the pioneer women who, given the right circumstances, could be just as courageous as their men. Aunt Churby sure proved her mettle in the following story.After the Civil War when all food was hard to get, seasoning such as salt was almost unheard of. Some people would even boil the dirt from the floor of their smokehouses and strain it just to get a bit of the precious seasoning. Ben managed to get salt at times when other people couldn’t and occasionally, of course, people thought he had some when he really didn’t.One day when Ben was away from home, several men rode up to the house and told Aunt Churby that they knew there was some salt in the house somewhere, and if she didn’t give it to them everyone in the house would be killed. Aunt Churby stood her ground, and told the men that if there was salt there, she knew nothing about it but they were of course, welcome to look for it. She knew full well that there was salt hidden under the floor of the house, but added that if the men found any salt, they could sure have it. The men searched and searched, but couldn’t find it. They finally gave up and rode away.Stubborn? Perhaps, but Aunt Churby knew if she gave the men the salt they sought, her own family would have to do without.On 10 March 1843, Ben bought 160 acres of land from Daniel Vaughan near
Hindsville, Arkansas. He later moved to Huntsville, Arkansas and finally settled in the Clifty community about nineteen miles north of
Huntsville. One of the houses in which he lived is still standing.Benjamin was Sheriff of Madison County, Arkansas from 1848 to 1858, served as Representative from
Madison
County to the Arkansas State General Assembly in 1858, Sheriff and Assessor of Madison County from 1867 to 1868, Representative from Madison, Marion and
Carroll
Counties in 1868, Assessor from 1872 to 1876 and Sheriff from 1876 to 1878.While Ben was serving a term as assessor, his duties carried him to Berryville and back toHuntsville, Arkansas by way of what is now
Eureka Springs, Arkansas. At that time, Eureka Springs was just a road through a heavily wooded area.One night, because of the late hour, he was forced to stay in the home of a family most people avoided. It was rumored that many people had disappeared after stopping there. Being cautious however, Ben slept with his clothes on.Sometime in the middle of the night, he heard a strange sound and discovered members of the family in the kitchen sharpening butcher knives. Armed with a chair and a lot of raw courage (he never carried a gun), Ben inquired in no uncertain terms just what was going on, and was informed that the family was getting ready to butcher hogs the next morning. Ben replied that it was a funny time of the night to be getting ready for that, and ordered them, if his horse was still alive in the barn, to saddle it and bring it up to the house. When the man brought his horse, Ben told him to “Stand right there until I get out of sight.” They were standing there on the porch when he reached the woods.Years later, after the family was gone, bodies were found in the cellar of the house. Ben thought they had been killing folks for their money and said he figured they thought he had gold on him since he was the collector.Uncle Ben was known throughout the county as quite a colorful character while he served as Sheriff as the following story entitled “Code of Honor Among Pioneers” recorded by Ben Godard, will attest.This story tells of his experiences serving warrants of arrest on a father and his two sons who had been indicted for hog stealing, which, at that time, was considered one of the basest of crimes. The family name, for obvious reasons, must remain anonymous. However, we will call the sons Bill and John.Warrants for their arrest had been issued and turned over to the sheriff for service, and in due time, he dispatched a deputy sheriff to the southeast corner of the county to make arrests. When the deputy arrived in the community, the three culprits took to the hills and left word that they would shoot any officer of the law found snooping around looking for them. Since they were all armed with the famous squirrel rifles of the day and all were known to be dead shots, the deputy did not tarry long in the community but returned to
Huntsville and reported to Sheriff Vaughan. He advised the sheriff that they were dangerous men and that it would be unwise to send anyone in the region to serve the warrants unless he had some deputy that he would like to get rid of.Early the next morning the sheriff mounted his horse and set out for the outlaw’s home, alone, with the warrants in his saddlebags and without firearms of any kind.It was mid-afternoon when the sheriff reached the community to find that a Fourth of July celebration was in progress at a big spring near King Fork of
Kings River and he knew that most of the people of the hill country around would be there. He felt sure the three wanted men would venture out for the celebration but, at the same time, keeping watch for any strangers who might stray into the crowd. The sheriff rode boldly up to the little throng of celebrants, dismounted and proceeded to tie his horse to a tree. He was recognized at once and a few men scurried for the timber and others gathered around to greet the sheriff. After a round of handshakes and the usual exchange of rough jokes that followed the sheriff’s arrival in any group, a tough looking bewhiskered man pushed his way through the crowd and approached the sheriff.“Howdy, Sheriff,” he said, extending his right hand and giving the sheriff a friendly handshake and at the same time, looking the sheriff squarely in the eyes. “Got a warrant for me an’ the boys?”“Sure have,” shot back the sheriff.“Where’s your body guard and the deputies to take us to the county seat?” the old man inquired.“Here’s my body guard,” quipped the sheriff, straightening out his right arm, pushing up his sleeve and grasping his muscle with the left hand, “and I don’t need no deputies to help herd you damned ridge runners’ into court. I’ll do it myself.”The old man looked squarely at the sheriff and grinned. “Ain’t you even got no gun?”“Hell no, I don’t need a gun,” the sheriff came back.The old man grinned and yelled for the boys to come over and give up and as the boys approached, he said, “He’s shore a funny sheriff. Ain’t even carry-in’ no gun.”The sheriff read the warrants to the old man and the boys and told them the amount of bond required, whereupon the old man said they were prepared to furnish their bond for their appearance in court.The sheriff sat down beside a big flat rock and proceeded to fill out the old man’s bond and asked him to sign it, which he did. The sheriff then in-formed him that he must have one or more free -holders of the county sign the bond as surety for his appearance. The old man called out, “Bill, I reckon you an’ John’ll sign my bond,” and the two boys came forward and signed on the dotted line.Next came Bill’s turn to make bond and when he had signed it he said, “I reckon Pa and John will be all right on my bond seein’ as how they’re all right on the other’n.”The same thing happened when John made his bond. Pa and Bill signed it.The bond signing over, the sheriff tucked the warrants and bonds into his saddle bags, shook hands with the three and said, “When the September term of court comes around everyone of you damned polecats better be there or I’ll come over here and horsewhip you all the way to
Huntsville.The old man grinned and said, “We’ll be there.”When the September term of court convened, very much to the surprise of everyone except the sheriff, the old man and the two boys were on hand and pled guilty to the charge. Because it was such a long, tiresome trip to transport prisoners to the penitentiary at
Little Rock on horseback or by wagon, the prosecuting attorney recommended a jail sentence for the prisoners.Since the sheriff was responsible for feeding the prisoners confined in jail, the sheriff called the old man over to him and said, “If you think I’m going to carry grub from my house to you and your worthless sons over m the jail, you’re crazy. I’m makin’ you the jailer and you can feed ‘em yourself or let ‘em starve. Here’s the jail key. Take ‘em over and lock’em up and be sure you don’t let ‘em escape. There’s water up at the well and there’s a bucket and gourd in the jail.”As the old man and boys started for the jail the sheriff called the old man back. “One thing I forgot to tell you. We have breakfast ready at five o’clock and if you ain’t there for the breakfast at that time you’ll go hungry ‘till noon.”The three served their sentences with the old man carrying the key. “This proves,” the old sheriff told me, “that in the old pioneer stock a man’s word of honor was as good as his bond, and there was even a code of honor among hog thieves.”Another example of Benjamin’s dry colorful humor, a trait that seems to have been passed down through the generations, is related in the following incident.Benjamin became quite ill one time, but kept insisting that he didn’t want a doctor. Aunt Churby sent for one anyway. Doctor Scott arrived and after checking Ben over, gave him a big dose of medicine. Ben took the medicine, smacked his lips, looked up at the doctor and said, “It’s turpentine and bull –!”The doctor looked at Ben for a minute, not quite knowing how to take it, then burst out laughing.As we have said, many suppositions have been made concerning Ben’s forebearers, but for the purposes of this book, suffice it to say that he and his family were well known and loved by many, many people in northwest
Arkansas. Perhaps someone reading this publication will have more definite information concerning him and will shed some light on the background of this fascinating man.========================================================================
As you can see from the above two excerpts, Ben was quite a guy. He was remembered in Madison County for many, many years after his death. As a child, I went with my parents each Memorial Day to Clifty Cemetery to decorate the graves. I remember one summer in the late 1970s when Lewis Vaughan’s book had just came out. As we went from my Great Aunt Evelyn’s home in Fayetteville east toward Clifty Cemetery, she and my Great Aunt Ada talked about the new book and how the Vaughans were part Cherokee. They pointed out Ben and Cherubia’s grave — it looks like a pair of trees with the branches cut off, with their names and dates carved in the trunk– and told me, “Eddie, that is your great, great, great Grandparent’s graves.” Then they shown me Ben’s son George Washington Vaughan’s grave, and then his son Calvin Leroy Vaughan’s grave, and then back to the familiar grave of my grandmother, Sybil Pauline (Vaughan/Myers) Emerson. It was an incredible feeling to know that not only were 4 generations of my mother’s family buried there, but 90% of the cemetery’s graves contained related family members or close friends of them. Years later I learned that Ben Vaughan had owned the land where the cemetery is located and had donated it for it’s current purpose.
Fast forward to 2007 — I have spent 17 years looking at both sides of my family tree, but the Vaughan family is the most fascinating line I’ve researched.
With the latest Y-DNA study, we have learned that Ben was not a Vaughan on his father’s side of the family, or something like this, as his Y-DNA does not match either John’s or William’s Y-DNA. So the most important test we can do now as far as Ben’s line is concerned, is to test his supposed brothers, Elijah, William, Maborne and John. Their Y-DNA would match Ben’s if they had the same father. If they all match Ben’s then that would indicate that their father, James Vaughan, was not related biologically, to John Vaughan. If they all match John’s Y-DNA, then Ben would have to be looked at as either a child born to his mother out of wedlock by some unnamed father, or else he was adopted.
So, I am looking for a descendant of one of these brothers to test. This descendant would have to be a male, with the surname Vaughan, (in other words, he’d have to be a son of a son of a son of a son (and so on) of one of Ben’s brothers. Ben always referred to William and Fereby as his Grandparents and Daniel and Samuel as his uncles. If William and Fereby had taken him in as an unrelated orphan, he would have referred them as his parents, I’d think. So very likely Martha had a son out of wedlock and gave him her surname. Yet his grandparents raised him. Maybe Ben was the product of a rape? Martha didn’t want anything to do with him, maybe? Sadly, Ben was tight-lipped about his parents, but was very vocal about his grandparents. And as he tried to gain Cherokee Citizenship through Fereby in the late 1880s (before the rest of kin did), it seems unlikely he was adopted, as someone would have probably known and that could have messed up his claim.
At any rate, that is the history of Ben Vaughan.
— Eddie Davis