How the Dying Wish of a Family Patriarch Led Part of the Vaughan Family Back to Yorubaland
Nigerian-American Vaughan family established its roots back in Yorubaland directly because of the dying wish of their patriarch, Scipio Vaughan
Before passing away in South Carolina in 1840, Scipio, who had been captured from West Africa decades prior—instructed his sons to leave the United States and return to his ancestral homeland. His sons fulfilled that wish, eventually returning to Yorubaland and building a legacy that connects both sides of the Atlantic to this day.
The family patriarch, Scipio Vaughan, was born around 1784 in the Owu kingdom (near present-day Abeokuta in southwestern Nigeria). In 1805, during a period of intense regional warfare, he was captured by slave traders and marched to the notorious Velekete Slave Market in Badagry. From there, he was forced onto a slave ship and endured the Middle Passage across the Atlantic.
Scipio was bought by a white planter named Wiley Vaughan in Camden, South Carolina. Enduring enslavement, Scipio learned the trade of an ironmonger and became highly respected for his exceptional skill in fashioning complex iron gates and fences. Because of his hard work and talent, his master granted him his freedom, his tools, and $100 in a will. In 1827, Scipio became a free man.
He married Maria Theresa Conway, a woman of Anglo-Catawba (Native American) descent. Together, they raised nine children as free people of color in South Carolina.
As the years progressed, South Carolina grew increasingly hostile and legally restrictive for free Black individuals. On his deathbed in 1840, Scipio gathered his family and made a heartfelt final plea: he urged his sons to leave America and return to his African motherland.
In 1852, two of his sons, Burrell Churchill Vaughan and James Churchwill "Church" Vaughan, decided to fulfill their father's command. They first sailed to Liberia in 1853 with assistance from the American Colonization Society.
Finding limited success in Liberia, they accepted an offer in 1855 to travel down the coast with Thomas Jefferson Bowen, a missionary from the Southern Baptist Convention.
This brought them directly back to Yorubaland. Remarkably, when James Churchwill arrived, he saw locals with distinct "country marks" (tribal facial scarification) that matched the markings he remembered on his father's face, confirming they had reached Scipio's exact ancestral home.
The brothers worked as builders, but the brutal Ibadan-Ijaye War broke out in 1860. James was captured at one point but managed to escape to Abeokuta, where he served as a sharpshooter in the local Egba militia.
Eventually, James moved to Lagos, where he established a highly lucrative hardware business. He became a wealthy merchant and a prominent member of Lagos high society. A fierce opponent of white racism within foreign missionary organizations, James led a rebellion in 1888 to help establish the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Lagos Island—the first indigenous, completely independent church in West Africa.
When James Churchwill "Church" Vaughan and other Christian refugees were expelled from Abeokuta during a local uprising in 1867, he arrived in Lagos Colony with almost nothing. Showing the legendary resilience and artisan skill inherited from his father Scipio, James built everything from scratch.
James set up a remarkably successful carpentry and construction operation that expanded into a thriving hardware trade. He imported tools and materials, operating major local entities known as the Sheffield and Excelsior Stores, as well as the Adelphi Hotel.
When the American Civil War ended and the Reconstruction era left his mother and siblings struggling financially in South Carolina, James packed canvas sacks filled with Lagos gold and shipped them across the ocean to support his American family.
By the late 19th century, the Vaughans were core members of the elite "Saro/Amaro" returnee class on Lagos Island. When James passed away in 1893, he left behind vast wealth, multiple land holdings, and premium properties to his widow and three children.
James's descendants heavily influenced Nigerian history. His son, James Wilson Vaughan, became a wealthy merchant who co-funded landmark legal battles defending Lagos royal lands from British colonial land grabs. His grandson, Dr. James C. Vaughan Jr., co-founded the nationalist Nigerian Youth Movement. Over the decades, the family routinely intermarried with prominent Nigerian royal bloodlines, including the Akinsemoyin royal family of Lagos.
The Vaughan Family House (29 Kakawa Street, Lagos Island): Built originally around the 1850s–1880s, this iconic building features classic Afro-Brazilian architecture. It served as the family residential hub and the site of their elite colonial-era retail stores.
The family owned extensive land in elite Ikoyi and Ebute Metta. James Churchwill Vaughan himself rests under a large, historic monument inside the famous Ikoyi Cemetery.
Unlike the vast majority of families separated by the transatlantic slave trade whose connections were permanently severed, the Vaughans never lost touch.
In August 1970, the American branch of the family, spearheaded by the meticulous research of a deceased South Carolina school teacher named Aida Arabella Stradford—convened an official meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They cross-referenced historical family Bibles, census records, and letters from Lagos to chart their entire lineage.
Today, the family has scaled into an immense, highly organized network spanning more than 22 US states and southwestern Nigeria. The American side tracks eight primary maternal and paternal lineages (Barnes, Brevard, Bufford, Cauthen, Peay, McGriff, Truesdale, and Vaughan).
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