My Genealogy Hound

AUGUST J. VAUGHAN, a successful farmer and stock-raiser of Williamsburg township, Phelps county, was born in Sweden, February 8, 1854. He was reared on a farm and attended school for about seven years. He landed in New York City, after a somewhat stormy voyage, on August 3, 1868, and came west as far as Oneida, Knox county, Ill., where he remained for ten years working out by the month on a farm.

Mr. Vaughan came to Phelps county Nebr., in July, 1878, homesteading the southeast quarter of section 32. There was plenty of antelope and other wild game, but very few actual settlers in that locality then. Mr. Vaughan was a young man and came here with very limited means, having only three horses and about $50 in money. He built a sod house and at once set about laying the foundation for his future home. He underwent all the hardships of frontier life, was compelled to haul water three miles for his stock, being unable to have a well dug, and was subjected to many other inconveniences. He has worked hard, early and late, however, until the once wild and desolate prairie homestead has been transformed into a productive and beautiful farm.

Mr. Vaughan was married to Miss Matilda S. Peterson on December 31, 1877. She was born in Sweden in 1856, and came to America in 1868. This union has resulted in the birth of five children, namely — Oscar, Ira (deceased), Alice, Eddie, and Carroll. Mr. Vaughan has three hundred and twenty acres of improved land, all fenced and under a good state of cultivation. He is a progressive man and believes in keeping well-bred stock of all kinds. He has some as fine standard-bred Hambletonian horses as any one would wish to see, and his Short-horn cattle and Poland-china hogs are among the best to be found in Phelps county. He is regarded as one of the most successful stock-raisers in the county, and his example is well worthy of emulation.

Both Mr. Vaughan and his estimable wife are members of the Christian Mission church. In politics he is a Republican, and a man who stands high in the estimation of his fellow-men.