Patrick County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Biographies.....Vaughn, Charles Elam January 8, 1878 - January 29, 1928
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ron Martin cindyandron@bellsouth.net January 9, 2022, 3:47 pm

Source: Ancestry, Public Records, and The Martinsville Bulletin
Author: Ron Martin

  Charlie Elam Vaughn was born on January 8, 1878 in the rural area of Buffalo 
Ridge in Patrick County, Virginia.  He was the first child born to Greenville B. 
Vaughn and Judith Elizabeth Cox Vaughn.
  Like most kids in rural Virginia, he began working on the family farm to help 
support the family and at the age of nineteen, he married Malissa Ellen Boyd, 
the daughter of George and Milly Boyd.  He picked up with his farming to help 
support his new family.  Within a couple of years, they started a family and 
they eventually had eight kids.  
  During the 1910’s, Charlie switched to sawmilling to support his family as the 
production of furniture in the area created demand for lumber.   However he soon 
became known to the entire county for an accomplishment in 1914 and his name 
echoes down the corridor of time even today.    
  In 1914, Walter G. Weaver, a sawmiller, blacksmith, and casket maker from 
Woolwine designed a 48 foot covered bridge across the Smith River in Woolwine, 
Virginia which would serve Jack’s Creek Primitive Baptist Church.   Charlie Elam 
Vaughn built the bridge and Peter Brammer with the assistance of his son R. 
“Bob” Brammer put on the roof as he was the only man in the area that had a tool 
to crimp tin at the time.  The bridge was aptly called Jack’s Creek Covered 
Bridge and it remains as the only covered bridge remaining in Patrick County 
that was built during this era.   
  The brainchild and work of this group of men is still standing now even though 
renovations were necessitated due to vehicular enhancements as well as time.  
The constant pounding of the river when it rises dramatically probably played 
into the need for improvements as well.  Another bridge a short distance away, 
the Bob White Covered Bridge perished in a flood many years ago and was washed 
away.  It should be noted that Walter Weaver was also awarded the contract to 
build the Bob White Covered Bridge.
  According to an article published in The Martinsville Bulletin on June 22, 
2014, a steel beamed bridge replaced the original bridge in 1932 and it was 
widened and received a new roof in 1969.   It also underwent a $4550 renovation 
in 1974 according to the Patrick County Historical Society.  In May 1973, this 
bridge was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.



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