The signature of Johan Paulus Vogt

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

The Vaught Chronicles: The History of an American Family

I am pleased to announce that I have finally put the vast majority of my VAUGHT research into a book, entitled The Vaught Chronicles: The History of an American Family.

I have seen other books that list the generations of descendants of Johan and Maria Vogt, giving names, dates, even little snippets about children's loves and lives.  But this book is different.  I explain the underlying causes of the original migration, the history that swirled around them from the 30 Years War in Europe, to Lord Dunmore's War and the Revolution here at home.

This book focuses primarily on John Paul and his family, but traces his descendants through my line to my grandfather, James Albert Vaught.  I have provided descendant charts for those cousins who's families were not detailed in the book, so hopefully no one is totally left out.  For the most part, this book is concerned with the following people/families:

Johan Paulus Vogt
Johan Andreas Vogt
Gasper Vaught (the root of the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Indiana Vaughts)

I have of course a lot of information on Gasper's son George and his son George Washington, and his son George W., and his son Herbert (my great grandfather).  Originally I wrote this book (which includes maps and pictures posted on this blog as well as many more) strictly for my immediate family to have and pass on to the next generation.  However, when I realized how much information I had collected over the years on the first 3 generations of Vaughts---through which nearly every Vaught today can trace kinship of some kind---I figured why not spruce it up and put out there for everyone?

So, though you may not be closely related to the Georges who came from Gasper (the Revolutionary War soldier), if your last name is Vaught, you'll have at least a passing interest in the majority of the book.

If you are interested in purchasing the book, please click here.  I have tried to keep the cost as low as possible, so it is for sale from lulu.com for $15.  It is 182 pages, including pictures and maps.  Just think, for the price of a death certificate or two, you can have a whole book of information!

I'll be posting a snippet of the book soon....but here's the table of contents for giggles and grins.



Table of Contents



Preface

Acknowledgments

Author's Note

Chapter 1: Origins of a Surname

Chapter 2: 1680-1733: Germany to the New World

Chapter 3: 1735-1744: Journey to the Great Valley

Chapter 4: 1744-1772: Augusta County, Virginia

Chapter 5: 1772-1823: Wythe County, Virginia

Chapter 6: 1824-1960: Central and Southern Indiana

Note on Appendices

Appendix A: Allied Families and Their Stories

Appendix B: Correspondence cited in this document

Appendix C: Documents cited in their entirety

Appendix D: Essays

Appendix E: Vaught Descendants

Bibliography

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

278 Years

To all my Vogt/Vaught cousins out there, I wish you a Happy Arrival Day!

This day in October, 278 Years ago, Johan Paulus Vogt, his wife and children, sailed into the bustling colonial port at Philadelphia, passengers on the Charming Betty.  History records tomorrow as the day Johan Paulus and his eldest son, Johan Andreas, disembarked with the other men of age and Captain John Ball and walked to the courthouse where in the presence of the Lieutenant Governor, they swore allegiance to the British King.

But it was today, a brisk autumn day in 1733, October the 11th, that the Charming Betty ghosted to a stop at one of the numerous quays bristling from Philadelphia's riverside.

Two hundred and seventy-eight years.  The United States of America has only been in existence for 235 years.  That's something to reflect on.

So take some time today and tomorrow, think about your ancestors, the ones who huddled along the rails of the ship, or kept themselves (somewhat) drier in the shadowy bowels of the Charming Betty all those long days and weeks it took to cross the stormy Atlantic.  Think about what sacrifices they had made---giving up a homeland, friends, family, an entire life for their entire family...traveling to a land that was full of people who were increasingly fearful and hostile towards Germans (Ben Franklin was fanning the fires of intolerance through his newspaper at the time in Philadelphia, but it was a sentiment carried all up and down the English colonies---the Germans were coming in numbers large enough to scare most God-fearing Englishmen into thinking the entire continent would be speaking German in a generation).

And yet their adventure was just beginning.  Now they had to find winter quarters, because Philadelphia can have some pretty brutal weather for the uninitiated---especially for those who were no doubt weakened and malnourished from long, trans-Atlantic journey.  Then they had to find land and get to it.  Land was scarce around the safety of the colonial cities.  Foreigners, like the Germans, had to go even further west---into Indian disputed territory.  The dark unknown forest on the edge of civilization.

Remember them and thank them.  Without their courage, sacrifice and ambition, we would not be here today.

Here is our First Family and their ages, taken from the ship's manifest on October 12th, 1733.

Johan Paulus Vogt, 53
Maria Katerina Vogt, 46
Catharina Margaret Vogt, 18
Maria Catherina Vogt, 16
Johan Andreas Vogt, 12
Johan Gasper Vogt, 8

Just think...in 12 years (2023), we can celebrate the 300th Anniversary of our family arriving on the shores of the New World.  Now that's something to party about!