The Vaughan Family in Wales and America

About the Book

The Vaughan Family in Wales and America is an update (2008) of a family history first published in 1990 by Higginson Book Company of Salem, Massachusetts. Originally conceived as a "search for the Welsh ancestors of William Vaughan (1750-1840)," this book became a global search for Vaughans of all seasons. Revised in 1992, this edition has been further revised by the author, 83 year-old James E. Vaughan, for publication and distribution by Trafford Publishing or 2657 Wilfert Road, Victoria BC CANADA V9B 5Z3, the publisher of his historical novels The Alchymist and The Silurist, and Diana and Leo, the former based on the lives of the 17th-century Welsh scientist Thomas Vaughan (The Alchymist), and his twin brother Henry Vaughan (The Silurist), and the latter on the lurid prose of a 19th century Parisian named Gabrielle Jogand-Pages. Writing under the pen name Leo Taxil, Jogand-Pages’ principal targets were Thomas Vaughan and a young American girl named Diana Vaughan, who sought to prove her kinship toThomas. More than twenty years of research preceded the publication of the novels. The revised family history is now available for readers of the two novels who may desire to explore factual aspects of Vaughan family history.

About the Author

James E. Vaughan was born and reared in eastern Kentucky. He attended Michigan State College and served in the U. S. Navy during World War II, achieving the rank of lieutenant (jg). He received his BA in mathematics and physics from Oklahoma University in 1947, and his MSE degree in 1962. He managed a commercial broadcast station in Miami, Florida for a time before moving with his wife Wanda Lee to an Arkansas farm in 1955, where he lived for 50 years, teaching and writing. He was a member of the Arkansas Educational Telecommunications Commission from 1980 to 1988, and played a major role in establishing a statewide academic competition known as Quiz Bowl, which endures to this day. "A Study of Vocabulary Improvement Techniques" was published in the NSPI Journal No. 6 in 1968. Over a period of some twenty years he authored more than 60 instructional books, including "Mr. Ready" and "Mr. Phun Phonics" (AudioActive, 1975). Ceres: A Space Odyssey, a software program for Apple II computers, was included in NASA's Second Edition of Software for Aerospace Education in 1990 (p.24, Section 1). His first work of fiction, a political story titled The Polemicists, won the 1993 Heartland Writers' Guild award for Contemporary Fiction. In 1996 his mystery story, "The Case of La Grande Dame," was selected from more than 300 submissions to The New Yorker magazine for publication in an anthology. His Bankmules: The Story of Van Lear, a Kentucky Coal Town was published in 2003 by Jesse Stuart Foundation. In 2008 he wrote The Alchymist and The Silurist, his first published novel, followed by its sequel, Diana and Leo. Both novels were based on some twenty years of Vaughan family research, which culminated in 1990 in the publication of Vaughans in Wales and America: A Search for the Welch Ancestors of William Vaughan (1750-1840) by Higginson Book Company of Salem, Massachusetts.