The Vaughn family came from Virginia, to South Carolina, then to Cherokee County, Alabama. There is some confusion about the specific lineage of the family, but our DNA matches the Randolph Vaughn line who married Sarah Harris about 1775. Alsey Bentley Vaughn may play a part in our ancestry, but documented proof has not been found (by this researcher, at least). There are many records of her in Nottoway County, VA court records. Her parents are Samuel and Mary Wheldon Bentley. She has children Lucy, Leroy, William Adam, and Hartwell Vaughn. She is always listed as "deceased", and I haven't yet found any record of her husband's name.
Her son, Hartwell, is purchasing land in Union Co, SC in 1818. He is enumerated in the 1840 Cherokee County, AL census. He files a claim with the Southern Claims Commission in 1878, wanting compensation for one mare, 4 hogs, 11 sheep and two bushels of dried fruit the Union soldiers took from him during the war. His claim was approved. In his claim he states:
(26)I never took any oath to the southern confederacy at any time during the war
(27-35) I never had charge of any stores belonging to the rebel government during the war at any time I was never interested nor belonged to anything connected with the rebel government at any time during the
(36)war= I never had any relations in the rebel army that I no of, the only son that I had took his family during the
(37) war and went north
(Well, this appears to be untrue, because Hartwell, Jr. served in the CSA, was captured, and later filed for a Confederate Pension. Hartwell, Jr. is in the Cherokee county, AL census for 1850, 1870, and 1880, and in the Blount county, AL census for 1860. Absalom was also in Blount county, Alabama in 1860, and lived there for the rest of his life.)
Living nearby in Cherokee County, Alabama in 1840-1850 is Thomas Absolom Vaughn, born in Union County, South Carolina in 1818. The relationship between Absolom and Hartwell is unclear, since Hartwell says in his claim, "the only son that I had", referring to Hartwell, Jr. This leads me to believe that Absolom was not a son of Hartwell, but possibly a nephew, or younger cousin.
