 Vaughn-Clark family papers
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteBess Vaughn Clark (1913-2007) was a genealogical researcher specializing in Twiggs County, Georgia history. She authored books and lectured extensively on the subject and earned an honorary degree for her work from Mercer University in 2001. Her parents were Herschel Johnson Vaughn (1880-1968) and Bessie Julia Read (1884-1967) of Twiggs County, GA. Russell Floyd Read, a veteran with the 48th Georgia Infantry Regiment who was wounded at Gettysburg, was her grandfather. Francis Goulding Clark (1909-1978) was a graduate from Mercer University and worked for Georgia Power Company for 40 years. His parents were Edgar Holt Clark (1873-1937), a teacher and Baptist minister, and Lillie Goulding, who married in Oglethorpe County in 1894. Edgar's parents were Adoniram Judson Clark and Abi A. Morris Clark. Francis Clark Jr. (1940-), son of Bess and Francis Clark Sr., grew up in Macon, Georgia, where he attended kindergarten through high school. Francis was an Eagle Scout with Macon's Boy Scout Troop #5 and served as summer staff for Camp Benjamin Hawkins before becoming director in 1961. After high school, he attended both Emory University and Mercer University before entering the U.S. Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island. In the Navy, he served as a line officer aboard the USS Ability MSO 519 and when his tour was completed, he attended graduate school at University of Georgia where he earned his MBA in Management. He went on to work in management at the Georgia Power Company headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, and after retirement, joined the Georgia Department of Labor as a consultant in corporate safety. Francis met Jim Roper on July 11, 1968, during his time at UGA. The two later married in New York City on February 14, 2013, with a commitment ceremony at All Saints Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 19, 2013. Together, Francis and Jim owned and operated an import business that specialized in antique furniture and accessories, which they sold at their retail outlet and design studio on Peachtree Street in Buckhead. Jim Roper was born in West Point, Georgia, to Helen Jeanne Wagoner and Robert Lee Roper, and grew up in Montezuma, Georgia, where is father owned a grocery store. He graduated from North Georgia College with a BA in Accounting and later obtained a degree in Sociology from Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. He received a grant to work on his master's at the University of Georgia, where he met Francis. Jim was active in assisting and supporting Bess Vaughn Clark in researching, writing, and publishing several genealogical and history books on early Twiggs County, Georgia, where the courthouse records for the first hundred years of the county were destroyed by fire in 1901. Jim continues his interest in genealogical research as a current and founding member of the Georgia Genealogical Society. Jim and Francis moved to Atlanta in 1968, and became active in the All Saints Episcopal Church, where they have now been communicants for over forty-six years. Scope and ContentThis collection contains genealogical research materials on the Vaughn, Clark, Read, and associated families, and that of other Twiggs and Oglethorpe County families. It has correspondence between Francis G. Clark and Bessie Vaughn Clark during their college courtship and through the first few years of their marriage, often referencing employment difficulties during the Depression. Other correspondence includes letters to and from Francis Clark, Jr. during his time aboard the USS Abiity in the early 1960s. There are a number of Civil War letters from members of the Read family as well. Also included are notes, copies, photographs, legal documents, and narratives. Administrative InformationPreferred CitationVaughn-Clark family papers, ms4190, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject Terms | ||||||||||||||||||