Minerva Vaughan has been part of my family history for as long as I can remember. During my childhood, this colorized photograph was in a small frame on an end table in my great-aunt Ann Vaughan (Morris) Lindsey’s living room. I was very intrigued by it and admired it whenever we visited. Aunt Ann was very kind to gift it to me along with numerous other family photos when I was a young adult. Taken about 1869, the baby is my great-grandfather John Stewart Morris and the woman on whose lap he sits is Minerva Vaughan. My great-grandfather was born on 25 October 1868, so this photograph was probably taken in 1869. Although unmarked, it was probably taken in a Richmond studio as my 2x great-grandparents lived in the city from 1867-1873 before moving to the Vaughan (now Morris) farm in Amelia County. Minerva Vaughan was likely with them as she worked for my 2x great-grandparents and later my great-grandparents as a nurse after the Civil War ended. [1]            

In her mid-40’s when this photograph was taken, Minerva Vaughan was a striking woman. What do you make of the expression on her face? I’ve studied this photograph more times than I can count over five decades and I still haven’t decided. What was she thinking about while she stared into the camera? People did not smile much in photos back then. Is this just a typical expressionless gaze or do you see something more? For me it changes. Sometimes I see just a hint of a smile. Sometimes I see her as more melancholy. Her visible hand makes it plain she knew hard work. Did she make her own dress?       

Prior to the end of the Civil War, Minerva Vaughan was enslaved by my 3x great grandparents Augustus & Mary Spencer (Farmer) Vaughan. After his death in 1851 (his wife died about 1848), Augustus Vaughan’s estate was kept together for the benefit of my then six-year-old 2x great-grandmother Ann Octavia Vaughan (1844-1942) and her four -year-old sister Mary Spencer Vaughan (1846-1881). The estate included dozens of enslaved men, women and children numbering 68 in 1860.[2]      

Minerva Vaughan’s Early Life

According to her death certificate, Minerva Vaughan was born in October 1824 in Amelia County, Virginia to unknown parents.[3] In an undated letter written during the 1980s, my grandmother referred to Minerva as “Grandma Morris’ personal maid who took complete care of her.”[4] The Grandma Morris she referred to was her grandmother Ann Octavia Vaughan who married John Rives Morris in 1867.

Minerva Vaughan spent the first 40 years of her life enslaved by my ancestors. She was about 20 years old when my 2x great-grandmother Ann O. Vaughan was born in 1844 and may have served as nurse to she and her younger sister. After losing both of their parents, the very young Vaughan girls went to live nearby with their maternal uncle and his wife, Charles W. & Alice G. (Gills) Farmer. They were both listed with the Farmer’s in the 1860 census aged 16 and 14.[5] The nearby Vaughan plantation was run by an overseer under the oversight of the girls’ uncle and guardian. The girls remained with the Farmer’s during the Civil War and Minerva Vaughan was almost certainly went with them and enslaved there until 1865.

Uncertain Origins of Minerva Vaughan

I have been unable to determine to whom Minerva Vaughan was enslaved at the time she was born about 1824.  My 3x great-grandparents Augustus and Mary Spencer (Farmer) Vaughan were children – about 14 and 1 respectively in 1824 – so she was enslaved by someone else at birth.           

Augustus Vaughan’s Parents

Minerva Vaughan is not listed among the 55 enslaved men, women and children listed in the 1824 distribution of Augustus’ father Robert Vaughan’s estate.^[7] Given the final court decree was issued in July 1824, one would expect to see mention of a pregnant enslaved woman as part of the distribution. Of course, her October 1824 birth date may very well be approximate so perhaps she wasn’t known about yet.

Augustus’ mother, Sarah (Truly) Vaughan left a will dated 9 May 1839 and her estate was distributed in 1840.Unfortunately, neither document provide any names of the enslaved men, women and children comprising her estate. One passing reference notes that “she died possessed 580 acres and 3 or 4 slaves and about 600 acres held in dower and 20 or 30 slaves [held in dower].” “Dower” refers to a widow’s statutory entitlement to use one-third of their spouse’s estate for life or widowhood, when it would pass to the deceased person’s heirs. ^[8]

Mary Spencer (Farmer) Vaughan’s Parents

Mary’s mother, Rebecca Booker Dance (c.1800-c.1840) predeceased her husband Nelson Farmer who died in 1847. There is no Minerva listed among the 33 enslaved men, women and children in his 1848 estate distribution.^[9]

Given the absence of records naming Minerva Vaughan, we can only speculate that perhaps she was among these unnamed “dower slaves” noted in Sarah (Truly) Vaughan’s 1840 estate distribution that came to her through her husband Robert Vaughan. Minerva would have been about 16 years old then. The 18 enslaved people Sarah (Truly) Vaughan received by dower in 1824 increased to between 20-30 people by 1840. This would have likely included some births and deaths over a 16 year span.

Post-Civil War records reveal that Minerva had one child – a daughter born about 1852.        

Minerva Vaughan’s Life Post-Civil War

I have not been able to locate Minerva Vaughan in either the 1870 or 1880 censuses. As noted earlier, she was likely with my 2x great grandparents in Richmond during the 1868-1873 period. The 1890 census is missing. In 1900, Minerva Vaughan was living in Amelia County with my 2x great-grandparents John Rives and Ann Octavia (Vaughan) Morris – daughter of Augustus Vaughan. She was listed as a 75-year-old widow born in October 1824 working as a servant. The census record noted she had given birth to one child.[10]

In 1910, an 83-year-old Minerva Vaughan was living with James and Rosa Chalkley at their farm on Amelia Springs Road in Amelia County. Her relationship to James Chalkley is “grandmother.” She and James Chalkley as both listed as “mulatto.” Minerva’s grandson, James Royal Chalkley (c.1887-1964) married Rosa Frances Vaughan (c.1888-1975) in Amelia County, Virginia on 25 December 1907.

James’ parents are listed as Henry and Mildred Chalkley while Rosa’s parents are listed as Creed and Frances Vaughan.[11] Rosa’s father Creed Vaughan (c.1848-c1910) was a son of Cornelius Vaughan (c.1823-1888) and Martha Jane Vaughan while Frances Vaughan (c.1856-bef.1900) was a daughter of Albert Vaughan (c.1830-c.1910) and Susan Vaughan (c.1844-c1900).[12]

The 1910 census says Minerva Vaughan was James Royal Chalkley’s grandmother – not Rosa’s – which means his mother Mildred was also a Vaughan. Mildred (Vaughan) Chalkley seems to be the daughter of Minerva Vaughan. She was already married and called Mildred Chalkley, age 22 when the 1870 census was published.[13] Unfortunately, Virginia didn’t start recording births until 1853. Minerva Vaughan was in her mid-20s when Mildred was born so she was certainly the right age. Mildred Chalkley died before 12 June 1889 when her widowed husband married his second wife Prudence Walker.[14]

Minerva Vaughan, age 94, died on 5 June 1918 in Amelia County, Virginia. Her death certificate notes the cause of death as “general senile arteriosclerosis” or hardening of the arteries. Under place of burial or removal “Poor House” is listed. The person completing the form was listed as “Keeper of the Poor House.”[15]

My grandmother’s eldest brother Cecil Morris and her older sister my great-aunt Ann, who were 13 and 10 years old when Minerva died, told me more than once how they remembered her as a very old woman. My grandmother, who would have been five, when Minerva Vaughan died wrote about her “The next thing I remember is mammy so old she couldn’t walk so she would slide around on the floor. She was Grandma Morris’ personal maid. I can remember Papa taking us in the wagon down to Good Hope[16] to her burial. The only thing about that I remember the casket was on two chairs up on the pulpit someone lifted me up to see her I remember her mouth was not completely closed and I could see her teeth.”[17]        

Postscript: A Visit to Good Hope Baptist Church

After drafting this post, I decided to drive over to Amelia County and visit Good Hope Baptist Church to see if I could find Minerva Vaughan’s grave.  I talked my wife into going with me and as soon as we got out of the car, I spotted the graves of Minerva Vaughan’s grandson James Royal Chalkley, his wife Rosa Frances Vaughan, their daughters Viola Chalkley, Lelia Chalkley James, Annie May (Chalkley) Thompson and their son Eddie A. Chalkley. We wandered around the cemetery for a while, but unfortunately did not find a gravestone for Minera Vaughan.

We were about to leave when I wondered if anyone were inside the church as there was a truck parked in the lot. I felt the hood, which was warm, so I decided to knock on the door. A very nice woman named Maizie Holmes opened the door to greet us and I told her I was looking for a gravestone. She looked a bit skeptical, but when I told her about Minerva Vaughan and how she was related to the Chalkley’s you should have seen the look on her face. She then told me SHE was James and Rosa’s Chalkley’s granddaughter and was the church secretary! Then you should have seen the look on MY face! We chatted awhile and laughed about the small world coincidence of our chance meeting. That was a really great day.        

 

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[1] Neither my Morris 2x great grandparents nor Minerva Vaughan are included in the 1870 census. Fortunately, Richmond City Directories are extant and indicate that my 2x great grandparents initially lived with his brother-in-law and sister, John M. and Elizabeth (Morris) Goddin at 401 W. Marshall Street and then in 1870 moved to the corner of 26th and Main Streets where they are listed through 1873 when they returned to Amelia County.        

[2] he National Archives in Washington DC; Washington DC, USA; Eighth Census of the United States 1860; Series Number: M653; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Ancestry.com. 1860 U.S. Federal Census – Slave Schedules [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

[3] Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014; Ancestry.com, 2015, Provo, UT

[4] Letter in possession of author.

[5] 1860 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com; Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2004.Original data – United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Eighth Census of the United States, 1860. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1860. M653, 1

[6] Henderson, D. E, et al. Map of Amelia Co., Virginia. [Virginia: s.n., 186-?] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2012591111/.

[7] Amelia County, Virginia Chancery Suits 1824-016 https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=007-1824-016

and 1824-020 https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=007-1824-020

[8] Sarah (Truly) Vaughan will. Amelia County, Virginia Chancery Suit 1840-008  https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=007-1840-008  

[9] Amelia County Chancery Suit 1848-003  https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=007-1848-003

[10] 1900 U.S. Census; Year: 1900; Census Place: Leigh, Amelia, Virginia; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0005; FHL microfilm: 1241698; Ancestry.com

[11] Virginia, U.S., Select Marriages, 1785-1940, Ancestry.com, http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRNF-34W

[12] All of the people named Vaughan were enslaved my Vaughan ancestors, which will be the subject of a future blog post.      

[13] 1870 United States Federal Census; Ancestry.com

[14] Henry Chalkley, 58, widowed, married Prudence Walker, 35, single in Amelia County on 12 June 1889;  http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XRNX-87S

[15] Virginia Department of Health; Richmond, Virginia; Virginia Deaths, 1912-2014; Ancestry.com

[16] Good Hope refers to Good Hope Baptist Church in Amelia County where Minerva Vaughan’s grandson and his wife James Royall Chalkley and Rosa Frances Vaughan are interred.      

[17] From letter entitled “Growing Up on Creekland Farm” in possession of author 

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