Family History
Browse the story of the family
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From the Research
Stories, coincidences, and discoveries
Rev. James Anderson, born November 17, 1678 in Scotland. A Presbyterian minister who emigrated to Donegal, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1740. He is 10 generations back from Doris Vaughan Fulghum.
Revolutionary War soldier Jesse Kirby married Sophia Chise, born in Scotland, around 1778 in Southampton, England. They then crossed the Atlantic, and Jesse enlisted in the Virginia militia in 1780. He lived to 95. See the Kirby line
Bailey Anderson (1754, Stafford County, Virginia) served in the Revolution as a Private, Indian Scout, Indian Spy, and was taken prisoner. He fought at the 96th District of South Carolina and in Virginia, and died in 1840 in Harrison County, Texas. Read his story
Joseph Gibson Vaughan was “one of the first eight men to join Quantrell” in 1861, and one of the last eight to die. He fought alongside Frank James and Cole Younger across 19 engagements, including the Lawrence Massacre. His guerrilla alias was “Dan Vaughn.”
On March 13, 1926, Clinton “Jack” Orrill was killed at age 25 when a tar still exploded at the Standard Oil refinery in Sugar Creek, Missouri. His widow Sybil, left with two small children, sent them to live with relatives on a Kansas farm. She later married Fred Fulghum, who gave the boys a new surname.
Brothers William Arthur Jones and Jonathan R. Jones married sisters Maude Samples and Harriet Samples. Both couples are buried at Salem Cemetery in Independence, Missouri. See the Jones family
Gale Fulghum’s memoir describes being raised by “foster grandparents” on a Kansas farm. Research showed they were actually his great-uncle and great-aunt: his mother Sybil’s uncle John William Holt and aunt Clara.
Gale’s birth name was Aura Gale Orrill. His memoir spelled his biological parents’ surname as “Orille,” a phonetic misspelling of Orrill that sent researchers in circles until a WikiTree profile connected the dots.
The deepest confirmed line reaches Randolph Holt I, who arrived in Virginia from Prestbury, England around 1607 and is recognized by the Jamestowne Society. His great-grandson served in the House of Burgesses in 1656. See the Holt line