The Signature of Johan Paulus Vogt

Years ago, when I was in high school and just starting out on this family history journey I'm addicted to, a fellow Vaught researcher named Nancy Dodge, who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, saw my online pleas for information at the Rootsweb message boards. 

She replied to me that she had been to the courthouse where the importations of passenger ships in the 1700s had been kept and had made photocopies of the records pertaining to our ancestors, the Vogts, from Frankfurt.  Their ship was called the Charming Betty, captained by a man named John Ball.  The document goes on further to state that they departed from London.

On board the ship were 15 other men, heads of their respective families.  Of those 15 "Palatines" (called so because they originated from the Palatinate, a region in south western Germany) only 7 could sign their own names to the official document.  The rest made marks.  Johan Paulus Vogt was one who signed his name, indicating a level of literacy at least enough to recognize and spell his own name.

Here is the photocopy that Nancy sent me,  page 125 from a book called Pennsylvania German Pioneers that listed the passengers on the Charming Betty and replicated their signatures.



And below is our ancestors signature extracted from the others:

Old Newspapers and Land Patents

I have discovered a couple of very cool websites today that I just couldn't keep secret (although I'm sure many of you out there know about these or have heard of them).

First off, I was curious about searching old newspapers to find more information on some ancestors, specifically the Early Virginia Vaughts.  I searched in Google for "early Pennsylvania newspapers" (trying to confirm a snippet quoted to me in the past about John Paul Vogt in Ben Franklin's newspaper of 1734).  What came up was a particular site entitled Historical Newspapers Online from the University of Pennsylvania.  This is a listing of searchable newspapers that have been completely, or partially put on the internet for your use.  It has newspapers from most if not all 50 states and is simply fantastic.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything in Pennsylvania, however, I did find The Virginia Gazette, courtsey of Colonial Williamsburg (if you have never visited this amazing piece of living American history, I urge you to do so, it's an experience you'll never forget and may even bring you closer to your ancestors by showing you the way they worked, lived and fought!).  It was fantastic! 

While a search for Vaught and Vogt didn't turn up much of anything, I decided to search on another line of research I'm currently working on: proof that Gasper Vaught (my direct line ancestor) and his brothers fought in Lord Dunmore's War of 1774-1775.  Family lore has it that Gasper (sometimes known as Casper) was part of Captain William Love's company of frontier militia that accompanied Lord Dunmore at the Battle of Point Pleasant.  There's a significant lack of information on this time period in our family history, so anything would be useful.  'Lo and behold, I found an entire article about the battle where Captain Love and his men were mentioned.  It had been scanned from the original newspaper in 1775 and posted online---remarkable!  I'll post some more just on this line of research later...

The next website I want to tell you about is from our US Government.  I was trying to find some patents for ancestors of ours in Indiana and stumbled across the Bureau of Land Management's record office.  They actually have millions of government issued land patents digitized and ready to view and save.  You can also order certified copies (for only $2 each!).  The system is very user friendly and easy to search.  I looked under Indiana, typed in Vaught and let it fly.  I was surprised to see my great-great-great-grandfather, George Washington Vaught and his brother, Andrew Jackson Vaught, listed as getting patents from the US Government in Indiana.  I quickly got a digitized copy of the official certificate in .pdf form. 

Once I get the actual document in the mail, I'll scan it and post it here!

Check out your ancestors on these sites and see what you can find!

The Cherokee family legend: Spicey Jane Smith



Josephine Elizabeth Pinner in 1938.



My paternal grandmother's name was Josephine Elizabeth Pinner Vaught (1916-2002).  She was married to my grandfather, James Albert Vaught on the 5th of April, 1941.

 The Pinner family, at least my branch of it, were settlers of Florida before it became a state.  In fact, the first Pinners to move into the Sunshine State arrived in the late 1820s and served in the Indian Wars of the 1830s.  As the American army moved south into Florida pursuing the Seminoles, settlers followed---many of whom were soldiers who when they mustered out stayed in the new land.

 William Pinner (son of Arthur Pinner from South Carolina, who was in turn the son of the first Pinner I know of, another Arthur, also of South Carolina) moved with his young family to what is now Alachua County, Florida in the late 1820s.  He is listed on the Alachua County Census for 1820 but since his family didn't arrive until from South Carolina until a few years later, it is assumed he was merely laying claim to his future homestead.  By 1850, he had moved the Pinners to Putnam County.

 The 1860 Putnam County, Florida Agricultural Census shows William Pinner owned 180 acres of land, 45 acres of which were improved and 135 were unimproved.   The estimated value of his land was listed at $900 (the 1860 value).  His farm implements were valued at $60 and the value of livestock was $250.  In 1850, the U.S. dollar was worth 4 times what it is today.

William’s youngest son Arthur (born in 1825 in South Carolina) married an interesting woman named Spisa Jane Smith.  Family oral tradition has it that Spisa, also known as Spicey Jane Smith, was a full Blooded Cherokee Indian.  The only information I have on her is that she was born (supposedly) around 1824 on Cherokee lands in southwestern South Carolina.  She (again supposedly) died sometime after 1860 (she was listed on the Putnam County 1860 Census but there is nothing after that). 

Spisa/Spicey, as the story my grandmother told me goes, left her husband and family in 1838-1839 to travel the "Trail of Tears" with her people.  She was supposed to have had a "brood" of children she left behind...however, all my data points to the fact that her first child, Arthur A. Pinner (my grandmother’s grandfather) was born in 1843, well after the Trail of Tears.    Perhaps she traveled with relatives who had a lot of children?

My grandmother used to tell my sister and I when we were children that one of her ancestors was an Indian, but she always thought it was a Seminole.  The information I reported above was a combination of family legend I’ve gathered from other relatives and my grandmother (who swore up and down there was an Indian in her ancestry).

This is a fascinating brick wall I’ve encountered, but I’m not giving up.  Unfortunately, the usual first place to look for Indian ancestors are the various “Rolls” the US Government produced as a sort of Indian Census.  However, these rolls, I have come to understand, only cover Indians who were transferred to a reservation recognized by the United States and/or were granted land there as well.  Since everything I have points to the fact that Spisa/Spicey---if she did go west with the Cherokee at all---came back to Florida and her husband where she began having children and remained the rest of her days.

This is one “problem” I love coming back to, time after time.  There’s something that draws me to this story.  For one thing, many people (including my grandmother) have commented that my grandmother looked like she had Native American roots.  Is it true?  I have no idea.  But I’d like to find out, if nothing else than to justify my grandmother’s beliefs.  Only time will tell, but when I do find something, I’ll post it here!