The Mystery of John Vaughan 1825

This was prepared by our expert Researcher, Judy Vaughn Atwood, descended from John & Elinor through John Vaughan 1825, Thomas Vaughan 1850, George Robert 1886, and Augustus "Gus" Vaughan 1912:

John Vaughan was born in Hay, Breconshire Wales in 1825 to John Vaughan and Elenor Jenkins.

In 1841 he was age 16, with his family in Llanfoist, Monmouthshire, Wales and listed as a laborer on the canal wharf.

Llanfoist Wharf on Monmouthshire & Brecon Canal looking over the Usk Valley & Abergavenny to Sugar Loaf
Courtesy Pip Rolls, Creative Commons License

John Vaughan's (1789-1851) Grave - Resurrection and the Temple

Originally published March 20, 2012 on the other blog as "Their Eyes Will Open and They Shall See!"

A beautiful green churchyard at Saint Faith's, Llanfoist, Monmouthshire. The direct paternal link to my surname lies just a few paces ahead of me and to the left. He rests among the dead. I want to be there on the morning of the resurrection to wake him when his bones put on regenerated and glorious flesh and pure spirit courses through his veins.

Abersychan Ironworks

Originally published August 20, 2013 on the other blog:

There are Welsh Historical Journals on-line at the National Library of Wales site (or if you prefer, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru). Today, I found an article on Abersychan from where my Ancestress Eleanor Vaughan left in 1856 to come to Zion. Her husband having died in 1851, she left behind all her children. It was a son and a couple of grandchildren of hers and their families that came to America in the 1880s. Her son son, John, is listed on the census and birth records of his children as a puddler. That was likely at the Abersychan Ironworks described in the article.

One More Clue

In the continuing search to find Elinor's grave (and at least we're on the right continent now), we find one more tantalizing clue in the Springfield City Cemetery, Utah County, Utah:

Photo by Grant L. Vaughn, August 31, 2013 (replacement photo)

This is the grave marker for another of the plural wives of Charles Hulet in the Springville Cemetery that you can see here. So what is there of interest in this one above?

Eleanor Jenkins Vaughan Hulet - Matriarch in Zion

This is a series of posts from my other blog now consolidated to tell the story of our recent discoveries about Grandma Elinor. by Grant L. Vaughn

AMONG THE FIRST OF THE WELSH CONVERTS
[from July 19, 2013]

Breakthrough.

My Welsh DNA is fairly sparse - but then, there is the issue of my surname. My Vaughns came to Zion in 1887 - on the train. Of course they married into some prominent pioneer families, myself inadvertently going perhaps the farthest with that by marrying a Kimball. At the time, her family name was the least thing on my mind. And I'm trying really hard not to be boastful or proud. But there seems to have been just something, maybe part of it self-imposed, that treated the Vaughns like second-class citizens in Zion.

The first Vaughn over, my 2nd Great Grandfather, Thomas Vaughan (1850-1894) died young and left a family in poverty. His son married and there were some troubles in the family. His wife divorced him after the children were pretty well grown. Their oldest son, my grandfather, was never active in the church as an adult. It's a miracle my dad & siblings were. Grandma was somewhat active and taught Primary for a period. And she always made sure the children went. My dad and mom were married in the Temple and here I am.

There is a theme running here of faithful women propping up the Vaughns which brings me to . . .

Elinor May Be Buried in Springville, Utah!

Springville Cemetery, Utah County, Utah