WILLIAM A. VAUGHN,
carriage manufacturer, was born in Washington County, Penn., July 27,
1823, and is a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Alexander) Vaughn. The former
was born in Washington County, Penn., June 12, 1797, and was a son of
Joseph and Elizabeth (Storer) Vaughn, who were married October 4, 1792,
and were the parents of the following children: Agnes, James, Thomas,
Mary, John, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Andrew and Lydia. Thomas came to Mercer
County a young man, where he met and married Elizabeth, daughter of
William Alexander, a pioneer of Findley Township. He and wife went, back
to Washington County, arid returned to Mercer County in 1824, locating a
short distance from the county seat. Of this union three children were
born, our subject being the only survivor. The mother died when William A.
was a small boy, and his father remarried, and reared by his second wife
three children: James A., Harriet E. and Thomas L. He died in Greenville
in February, 1884, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. Our subject was
reared in Mercer County, and learned the carriage blacksmith trade at
Mossmantown, in West Salem Township. In June, 1847, he opened a shop
across the street from his present factory, and in the spring of 1850
erected a building on its present site, where he has ever since carried on
the carriage business, which has increased from year to year, until today
he conducts one of the leading manufacturing institutions of the borough.
Mr. Vaughn was married October 18, 1849, to Miss Sarah, daughter of Hugh
and Isabel (Hunter) Mossman, one of the pioneer families of West Salem
Township. Mrs. Vaughn was born on the old homestead, in West Salem, not
far from the Ohio line, and grew to womanhood in that part of the county.
The following children have been born of this union: James W., of the firm
of W.A. Vaughn & Son; Theresa, deceased; Harriett E., wife of C. H.
Gardner, of Cleveland, Ohio; Emma P. and Carrie M. Mr. Vaughn and wife are
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to the Masonic
fraternity. Politically he is a Republican, has filled the position of
councilman and school director, and has always taken a deep interest in
the growth and progress of his adopted county.
History of Mercer County, PA, 1888, pages 832-833
