John Daniel Vaughan was born in Boston Mass, March 13, 1763.  His parents were Henry and Mary Humphrey Vaughan, native of Dorchester, his mothers family being one of the most conspicuous of that historic town.  Of his childhood, there is no record.  He entered military service at age 14, although he gave his age as sixteen in order to secure enlistment under existing army regulations.  As the Massachusetts records testify, he enlisted in January, 1777, a private in Captain Wiley’s company, Colonel Michael Jackson’s regiment and was honorably discharged in 1783.  Following the Revolution he rendered service in the Indian wars in Captain Pierce’s regiment commanded by Colonel Hamar in the year 1785 and was honorably discharged in 1786.

From the official records it is shown that the military services of the young Massachusetts soldier covered in all a period of nineteen years.  After the Revolution, he served continuously in Pennsylvania and other states.  January 11, 1795 he was appointed lieutenant of militia in Burnt Fort, Georgia and continued as such until January, 1796.  It was about this time that he married Rhoda Effingham, niece of Thomas Harvey Miller, owner of a notable plantation at Peter’s Point near St. Marys, Georgia.  Her mother was Pharaba Miller, whose kinsman, Phienas Miller, married the widow of General Nathaniel Greene, to whom the State of Georgia deeded Dungeness, the southern portion of Cumberland Island, as a reward for his distinguished services in the Revolutionary War.

In 1797, Lt. Vaughan received from the Spanish Government a grant of a large tract [250 acre] land on Amelia Island.  [December 14, 1807 see attached land grant].  He also received one hundred acres bounty land for services in the Revolution and a grant for service in the Indian War. When the United States declared war on England in 1812, fired  with  the spirit of loyalty to his country, he left his family on his Amelia Island Plantation, crossed the St. Marys River into Georgia and once more entered military service, remaining in the service until the close  of the war. The rest of John Vaughan’s life was spent in peace and plenty on his  plantation covering the lower portion of Amelia Island bordering he  Alantic Ocean on the east, and the inland waterway on the west.   The Vaughan plantation was one of three or four into which the island  was divided, and according to authentic records, he owned 500 slaves. Assisted by his son Daniel, he raised large crops of cotton for which  the islands in the South Atlantic were famous.   Source: Amelia Island Genealogical Society Pictures courtesy of Terrell Thompson

Bounty Land - Revolutionary War Pension

The children of John Daniel Vaughan and Rhoda Effingham Miller were:

 Jose Daniel Vaughan b. 1800 St. Marys, Georgia, d. 1856 St. Simons Island, Georgia. Married Eliza Chisholm Pelot Harrison b. 1805 d. 1875

 William W Vaughan b. 1806 Peters Point, Georgia d. 1860 Amelia Island, Nassau County, Florida.  Married unknown.

 Jane Pharaba Vaughan b. 1812 Amelia Island, Nassau County, Florida d. unknown, Manatee, Florida.  Married James G. Cooper b. 1802 d. 1876

*Land grant receipt courtesy of Florida Memory-Spanish Land Grants.

Compiled by Terrell Thompson