Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason

©  Kathy Duncan, 2019

One of the most frequently asked questions in general facebook genealogy groups goes something like, "Is there any point in including all of my ancestor's siblings on my tree? They are very distracting. Can't I just trim them all off and focus on my direct line?" Those who grudgingly include siblings suggest that including the sibling's spouse and children is just too much bother, too much minutia. Then they ask, "How many of the people do you include?"

The short answer: All of them.

For example, Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason and her siblings.

Mary Ann Vaughn was the third wife of Wesley Randolph Mason, who was an uncle to my great-grandmother Mary Charlotte "Maggie" (Cawthon) Chapman. Mary Ann Vaughn is important because she and W.R. Mason had a daughter, Minnie Cordelia, who lived well into the twentieth century. That daughter's descendants might have information that I don't have. Information that I cannot get anywhere else. That might include photographs, letters, family bibles, oral stories. Information that I could not hope to get anywhere else.

Through census records, I had pieced together that Mary Ann Vaughn had a sister named Sarah (Vaughn?) Brasier and two brothers named Henry M. Vaughn and James R. Vaughn.

Then yesterday evening, along comes this death notice to confirm my findings:

This obituary names Mrs. Brazier [Sarah] of Blum, Texas as the deceased. It tells me that her husband was a Methodist minister who had predeceased her. It provides her death date and the general location of her burial in or near Palestine, Texas. It names her sister as Mrs. Mason [Mary Ann], who also lived at Blum. Additionally, their brothers are referred to as two bachelors who also lived at Blum - the youngest over 70 years old. Notably,  Mrs. Brazier's niece is Mrs. L. E. Spalding. That would be Louis Eugene Spalding. His wife was Minnie Cordelia Mason of Palestine, Texas, and she was the daughter of Wesley R. and Mary Ann (Vaughn) Mason.