Mary Ann Vaughn (born April 17, 1949), a.k.a. Marianne Wilson, is a citizen of
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
who was the subject of a widely publicised and highly controversial case in international family law decided in the
Tokyo High Court
is a high court in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The is a special branch of Tokyo High Court.
Japan has eight high courts: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sendai, Sapporo, and Takamatsu. Each court has jurisdiction over one of ...
in 1956,
Sweden v. Yamaguchi ''Sweden v. Yamaguchi'', otherwise known as ''in the matter of Marianne Wilson'', or ''in the matter of Mary Ann Vaughn'', is a highly complex decision in international family law which touches on questions in law still unresolved over fifty years ...
. Vaughn became the ward of the Swedish Ambassador to Japan,
Tage Grönfall and later
Frederick Almquist, and resided in the
Swedish Embassy in Tokyo.
Birth and ancestry
Vaughn was born the only child of
James A. Vaughn (May 7, 1925- February 3, 2003) and
Vivienne Joy Wilson (November 2, 1929 – August 5, 1950), in
Bluff Hospital in Yokohama, Japan, on April 17, 1949. Her father was a US national employed under contract with the United States Military Administration of Occupied Japan. Her mother was a Swedish national, of three generations of Swedish citizens resident in Japan. She was descended from
John Wilson and
Sophia Wilson, former Naka Yamazaki, her grandparents, and Professor John Wilson.
Vivienne Wilson had been weakened by the privations of World War II, and contracted tuberculosis during James Vaughn's absence to the United States, during which Mary Ann was cared for by a nanny, Fumi. Vivienne died on 5 August 1950, the very day of passage of private legislation permitting her to immigrate to the United States. She was buried in the
Geijin Boche, the
Foreign Cemetery
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
overlooking the port in
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
, Japan.
Early life
After the death of her mother, Vaughn was placed under the guardianship of Professor John Wilson, with nanny Fumi Kaneko (later Fumi Yamaguchi) in custodial care. Due to the privations of the postwar period, John Wilson sailed to Sweden with his wife and children in 1952. Vaughn was to accompany them, but due to an outbreak of whooping cough, she was to sail on the next ship. However, Yamaguchi absconded with Vaughn, and Yamaguchi destroyed the child's records, raising her under claim of an abandoned American orphan in the slums of Yokohama.
Media
The story of Mary Ann Vaughn has been extensively covered by the popular press, and is of considerable interest to organizations such as the Japan Children's Rights Network
''Non-Japanese Awarded Custody of a Child in Japan''.
The Japan Children's Rights Network
/ref>
References
1947 births
Living people
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