Leila Alma Vaughan was my father’s first cousin. Her mother, Florence Imogene Mabry and my father’s mother, Lois Ellen Mabry were sisters.
- Benjamin Franklin Mabry (1847–1925) m. Delilah Josephine Foster (1860–1935)
- Florence Imogene Mabry (1882–1974) m. Luther Lafayette Vaughan (1881–1936)
- Leila Alma Vaughan (1905–2002) m. Leonard Lewis Smith (1892–1949)
I met Leila Alma Vaughn Smith when she was in her nineties. My dad called her Aunt Alma even though they were cousins. She was a wonderful lady. She was kind and patient with me and didn’t mind the many questions I asked her about our family history.
She gave me a photograph of her grandmother Delilah Josephine Foster, who was my great grandmother. I had too few visits with cousin Alma before her final illness and death. One of the things that she gave to me that I will always treasure was her story of her recollections of her childhood. My brother posted it on his website and I include it below:
THE FOWLER FAMILIES OF UNION COUNTY, SC 
I, too, visited “Miss Alma.” That was in the 1990s. Her grandfather John Franklin Vaughan (1849-1928) was a first cousin to my great-grandfather William Vaughan (1866-1928). Our common progenitor was Christopher Lemuel Vaughan (c. 1787-1862), whose original 5×7 tintype Miss Alma gave me. It remains one of the crown jewels in my vast photograph collection. Miss Alma was spunky, kind, and knowledgeable. I loved her Craftsman-style house on Spring Street. We always sat in a side room which you entered not from the front door but around the porch corner. She let me copy old photos of her Vaughan grandparents, her parents, and even one of her as a toddler. Wonderful lady, wonderful source !!
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Ok, Fredrick, you know I would love to have copies of those photos. By the time I met Aunt (cousin) Alma, she had already moved into an assisted living facility, but had her own apartment there filled with her antique furniture. She was (I am guessing) in her early 90s at that time. The first time my dad took me there to meet and visit her, we were surprised to see her drive up with a car full of her women friends from the assisted living home. She was returning everyone back home, safe and sound, after taking them to get their hair done. I knew at that very minute that I was going to love her, and I did. She told me stories of our Mabry family and made us feel so welcomed in her home. She was a very special lady and I will never forget her kindness.
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I just found this blog. I love it! My great grandmother, Ollie Vaughan Gossett, was Alma’s aunt.
My great grandmother and Alma’s father, Luther Lafayette Vaughan, were siblings. I remember meeting her years ago when I was just a child. The genealogy bug hadn’t hit me at that time, but it was Papa (Paul) Gossett and his cousin, Mary Beth Littlejohn, who planted the seed. Thank you for the lovely stories. Karen
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Hello Karen,
Do you know what Ollie’s middle name was? All I have is the initial “E.” I’m trying to complete my Vaughan records. Thanks!
Fredrick Tucker
Duncan, SC
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Thanks so much for finding and commenting on my blog! I have to give all of the credit to Aunt Alma for writing the story of her youth — a true treasure. I am only sorry that I met her so late in her life, and also that I did not video tape our visits. She told me so many things that are now forgotten, but I will always be grateful for the story and for the photograph that she gave me of Delilah Josephine Foster, her grandmother and. my great grandmother.
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