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
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