Vaughn Family History & Genealogy

Im a Vaughn From Missouri. Grandfather is Melvin Eugene Vaughn and father is Roger Lee Vaughn

My family history website is www.rnjvaughn.tribalpages.com

On it is the information on my Indiana family----Vaughn, Muse, Smith, Healy

My grandfather's story is a complete mystery to everyone in the family. He is the last locatable (is that a word?) ancestor on my father's side of the family. His name is Thomas Nathanial Vaughn. According to census records from 1900, he was born on January 30, 1873 in Springfield, Missouri. Everyone in the family has tried to locate some type of birth record but to no avail thus far.

Apparently, grandpa "Than", as he was called, had some type of family problems when he was a young man back in Missouri. These "problems," whatever they may have been, caused him to leave his family in Missouri, estranged, and never to return. He never spoke of the "problems" nor of his Missouri family. This information was gleaned from my father, Robert Lee Vaughn, before he died in 1996. My father was only 10 years old when Than fell off of a windmill and broke his neck in 1922, near Union, New Mexico, which was close to Clayton, NM, therefore, Dad did not remember much about the incident. After Than's death, Daddy and the rest of the family moved back to Childress, TX with Grandma Tollie (DeJarnett)Vaughn. Grandma either never knew much about Than's history or didn't share it with the family and all of the siblings except the youngest (Virginia) are deceased now. Virginia never really knew her father at all because she was only 2 years old when he died.

The "problems" that Than had back in Missouri have led all geneaology attempts, by the family, to come to a complete dead end. One of the difficulties in locating information is the lack of information in the 1890 US Census, which was decimated in a fire. We can find absolutely no record of a Thomas Nathanial Vaughn being born in Missouri in 1873. Birth records were not required at that time so there's no telling where or when he was born or if Vaughn is even his real name. We are at a loss. The only thing that exists about him are Census records that list only his date of birth, supposed place of birth and birth location of his mother and father but neither his father nor his mother is listed by name in any record. We know that he was married to Tollie Dejarnett in Johnson County Texas in 1898 but even the marriage record does not reflect his parentage.

I guess the only persos who will ever know the truth are Than and God because no one else seems to know anything about the man. Evidently, he was somewhat of a loner. We have pictures of him and Tollie but no records can be found. What a shame.