Nancy J Vaughn

Nancy J Vaughn is my second great-grandmother in the Brumley Family Branches, but there is not much known about her life. My mother, Nancy Gertrude Brumley and I have always assumed that another woman was my second great-grandmother. Willis had married four times during his life and we had pretty much figured out what child belonged to which wife. In genealogy, we know that what we think is correct is not always the case and this is true in Nancy’s case.

Nancy was born in Tennessee or Missouri – in the 1850 Census it says Tennessee and in the 1870 Census, it says Missouri in February of 1842. We are not certain about her parents but in the 1850 Census, there was a Peter and Penelope Vaughn living in Linn, Osage, Missouri.

On July 16, 1857, Nancy married for the first time to Charles P. Loughry in Osage County. In the 1860 Census, she and Charles were living in Tipton, Moniteau, Missouri with her mother and siblings. They had three children, Edward 1859, Eliza Martha A 1862 and Charlesann Loughry 1863. In 1862 Charles enrolled as a Union soldier in the Civil War 29th Infantry Regiment of Missouri. He was in a battle in Van Buren G H Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana when he became ill of Dropsy and Heart Disease and died on May 30, 1863. She now found herself a widow with three children.

Nancy managed to travel back to Osage County, Missouri and on February 2, 1865, she married again for the second time to Elias Lewis/Louis in Osage County. In 1866 she gave birth to a daughter Julia E Lewis/Louis. There is no record of Elias’s death or divorce that I have been able to locate, so I am unclear as to what happened to him.

Nancy married for the third time to Willis Brumley my second great-grandfather on September 28, 1868, in Osage County again. In March of 1869, she gave birth to Alice Florence Brumley in Missouri. Willis was working for the railroad at the time and he had to travel to Omaha, Douglas, Nebraska. So I assumed maybe Nancy and their daughter went with him to Omaha. My great-grandfather Isaac Walter Brumley was born on August 6, 1875, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Oh, but wait —–on February 22, 1874, back in Osage County, Missouri Willis marries Delalin Foster. So for decades, I have thought that Delalin was my second great-grandmother. Until the Social Security Applications and Claims records came out of hiding and what I found was that Isaac Walter said his mother’s maiden name was Lowery/Loughry. So now I am totally confused by all of this information. My mother had already passed on when this new information came to light.

The U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007

So as of this date, I have no death information on Nancy J Vaughn-Loughry-Lewis-Brumley. Did she die of childbirth after Isaac Walter Brumley was born? Did she return with him and divorce Willis? We know census takers made plenty of mistakes back in the day with spelling and dates, etc. So I am left with more questions than answers.

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