"John Anderson Vaughn and his first wife Martha Goodwin Brown lived about eight miles out of Meridian, Mississippi. In 1858 or 1859 he built a large two story antebellum home. About December 1881 he sold his property to his sister Elizabeth Maxey and her husband R. W. In later years the Maxeys sold the property to a C. W. Smith. On January 28, 1928 the home burned. it was the oldest antebellum home in this part of Mississippi. The home looked like the William Cole house, in the book " Paths To The Past" on page 157. The porch extended the full house width. Upper and lower galleries both had bannisters with perpendicular spindles only - no decorative touches, four or five steps leading up to the porch. The show place of that area. The barn stood for many years after the house burned. One of Mr Smiths grand daughters described it as the biggest, finest built barn she had ever seen. It had big real glass windows and a stairway instead of a ladder to go to the loft. The house must have been magnificent.
This information furnished by Farnell Vaughn.
John D. McDonald grandson to Virginia Vaughn McDonald said he remembered the barn it was on Pinkney's land close to the Vaughn Beason Cemetery. Where the house stood is a fire station now. This was told to Margaret Cooper November 2003.
I believe this house was Pinkney's home and not John Vaughn's for this was on Pinkney's land by the Oaktibee Church and cemetery. The information about it beloning to John came from Lorita Mitcham a granddaughter of C. W. Smith. She new a Vaughn had owned the place before the Maxey's, while corsponding with Farnell Vaughn she thought it was his grandfathers Alexander Vaughn's place.
After Martha died John met a German nurse named Ida Anna Von Ashington Isenbletter. She came to America in about 1877, from Boncey Germany. She came across the ocean with her husband Frederick Isenbletter, they were 3 months in crossing. At the time they were crossing the ocean Ida was seven months pregnant, but lost the baby during a storm because she was tossed up against the wall of the ship. The baby was buried at sea. The ship came into port in New York. Fred and Ida settled in Landon a town in Harrison county, Mississippi. They bought a plantation and settled on it. Ida was pregnant with their child when Fred died. The baby was born January of 1880, shortly after Fred died. The baby was named Frederick William Isenbletter.
The following year she met John Vaughn and married him.
John and Ida had four children together, Leila Mae, Pinkney, (nickname Pink), Mosby McRae (nickname Mack), and Inez. John and Ida, their children left Mississippi after selling his property and came to Texas. This was about 1882. Ida sewed all their money up in the hem of her petticoats and skirts to keep from getting robbed. They were searched when crossing the Mississippi River, either before or after crossing but they didn't find anything on them, because they did not check her petticoats.
John and Ida settled in Corsican area close to his sister Susannah and her husband William Weathersbee and his brother's William Madison and Frank C. who had settled there earlier. Later was joined by one of John's negro employees. One day they heard Tobe coming through the corn field yodling. They were so glad to see him, that they sent for his wife Easter. Tobe Smith was his name, his wife was about 15 years old. John paid for a lot of land in Navarro Co, Tx., but the daughter of the original land owner had went off to Chicago and had an illegitimate boy. When he got grown he came back and took all the land away from John. After that John and Ida brought their family alone with Tobe and his family to Panola County East of Gary, Texas. John built Tobe a house in the corner of their front yard. Tobe ate breakfast with the family every morning.
John's son Oliver Perry was kept home from school to split rails for fence and to do farm work, while Ida's son Fred was supposed to be going to school. Fred played hookey from school and he didn't do any work on the farm either. Oliver and Fred got into a fight in the barn once and Ida came out to the barn with a board that had nails in it, which was used to shell corn and hit Oliver over the head with it. Oliver chased Ida into the house and she locked herself in the kitchen closet. He was about to break the door down when John got him stopped. When Oliver was about 17 and down with malaria, his father John Vaughn died, which was July 07, 1893. John was buried at Woods Post Office Cemetery in Panola County. After he died and while Oliver was still sick, Ida took the cotton crop and sold it and took her children and moved to San Augustine County, instead of paying the land off where they lived.
Oliver went to work for a man named Walter Travis Rogers. He met Willie Ann Wells, who was the half sister to the man he worked for at the time. He courted Willie from the time she was 13 until she turned about 20 or 21 and they ran away got married on October 07, 1901. After they married, Tobe and his family were their neighbors, the two families worked on halves for a man named Will Armstrong. Oliver and Willie lived in Gary, Texas in Panola county. Tobe Smith's descendants live on land close to John Vaughn's former land in Panola County. Oliver and Willie Vaughn had seven children, one baby died when he was about 2 months old. The others were William Travis, Dyral (was killed in accident at Champlin gas plant in Carthage, May 18, 1966), Dera Deal, Oliver Duel (nickname Tootsie), Lauren Denver, Willie Opal. Willie Opal and her husband Ed Rhodes lived on the land that was left to her by her parents until their deaths. By Opal Vaughn Rhodes
After Tobe died Easter sold Tobe's Violin and his shot gun to some one in Louisiana. The Vaughn girls, Etta, Aroura, Nolen, and Annette went to visit Easter, they were so happy to see her they all huged her. She had baked a cake for them. The Vaughn's loved Tobe and his wife and family."
