Our Vaughan family has some members that are connected in one way or another to some famous people. One of the family’s favorites is our connection to Jesse and Frank James. The outlaws sometimes went by the Vaughan name as aliases, and while many families in the Midwest have stories that Grandma told about a tie to the James brothers, our Vaughan family actually does have a connection, though not by blood relationship.
Jesse and Frank’s mother, Zerelda, married Dr. Reuben Samuel, following the death of Jesse and Frank’s father. Dr. Samuel had a half-brother named Edward Marion Samuel. Ed lived near the farm of Reuben and Zerelda. Ed was arrested the morning following the Pinkerton Raid on the James Farm for being a picket for the James family, this was in 1875. He gave an interview for the Kansas City Times, “I am past 22 years old, I ain’t married but if I get out of this I am going to be. I heard the fight at Mrs. Samuel’s and next morning went over to work on the sick. When I get out of this I’m going to get the hell out of Missouri”. He made good on that promise and moved, along with his (and Reuben’s) father, south to Madison County, Arkansas, settling in the Clifty Community. Clifty was pioneered by Ben F. Vaughan (my great x 3 grandfather). Ben’s son George W. “Uncle Bud” Vaughan (my great, great grandfather) had a daughter named Nancy Cherubia Vaughan. When Ed Samuel moved to Clifty, he met Nancy and married her. In the last years of Jesse’s life, Jesse and Frank James visited their uncle Ed in Clifty several times, going by the last name Vaughan and posing as brothers of Nancy Cherubia Vaughan, Edwards’ wife. So Jesse James was a “Step-Nephew” to Ed andNancy.
Ben Vaughan’s wife Cherubia (Harp) Vaughan was distantly related to one of the ancestors of country singer Merle Haggard. Ben’s line also includes Baseball Hall-of-Famer Joseph Floyd “Arky” Vaughan. From 1932 until 1942 he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates and 1942 – 1943 and 1947 – 1948 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Most recently, someone has said that Brad Pitt had a Vaughan connection — that somehow connected him with Jesse James. I haven’t been able to find any connection to any Vaughan line in Pitt’s genealogy (found at Ancestry.com) but with the line of Ben Vaughan, you never know.