JUDGE JOHN G. VAUGHAN, a prominent farmer and fruit-grower of Marion County, residing in Carrigan Township, has been identified with the history of this community since December of 1855, and has therefore been an eye-witness of much of its growth and development. Born in Butler County, Ohio, January 21, 1827, the Judge is the eldest of five children, of whom the others are:
The father of this family was born in 1803, engaged in farming throughout his entire life, and passed away in Butler County in 1851. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Mary Bebb, was born in Ohio in 1806, being the only daughter of Edward and Margaret (Roberts) Bebb, and died in 1884, at the age of seventyeight. She had two brothers, Hon. William Bebb, who was Governor of Ohio from 1846 to 1848, and Evan R., a merchant in New York City.
The paternal grandfather, John Vaughan, was born in Wales in 1765, on the 12th of May, o. s., and the 1st of May, n. s. Emigrating to America in 1801, he spent one winter in Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1802 settled on section 25, Morgan Township, Butler County, Ohio.
The maternal grandfather, Edward Bebb, was born in Wales in 1764, and emigrated to the United States in 1795. During the following year he came to Cincinnati and waited for five years for the lands in the Miami Purchase to come into market. He entered his first half-section on the day that the land office was opened, and settling on that place, engaged in clearing and cultivating the land until his decease, in 1840. His widow, Margaret, survived him some twelve years, dying in 1852. She had brought to this country an old-fashioned clock, which is now in the possession of the Judge and is still in perfect running order.
Until he was thirty years old our subject resided in Ohio, and was self-supporting after the age of twenty-one. In 1855 he bought land in Marion County, and two years later settled here. His purchase comprised a tract of five hundred and twenty acres of land. He cleared the land and there engaged in general farming and stock-raising, making a specialty of raising hogs for some years. For ten years or more he has devoted his attention to fruit-raising, and now has an apple orchard of about eighty-five acres, to which he is continually adding. There have been about one million apple trees set out in this county during the past ten years, and he is one of the keen, shrewd men who have discerned that in this industry great success may be secured.
In the year 1859 occurred the marriage of Judge Vaughan and Miss Belle Peters, a native of Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, and the daughter of Frazier and Elizabeth (Courtney) Peters, residents of the Buckeye State for many years. Mrs. Vaughan was one of six children, one son and five daughters, and is the mother of eight living children:
who are all at home.
As a Prohibitionist the Judge takes a prominent part in public affairs. He won his title by his service as County Judge, to which position he was elected in 1877. He also served as Supervisor of the township, and has held other local ottices. At the present time he is a member of the Farmers' Club that was organized twenty years ago. He is also President of the County Horticultural Society, which was organized in Salem in 1891.
Well known among the residents of the county, he is one of the leading men in this region, and an earnest, whole-souled, honest man, he enjoys the respect and confidence of the community to an uncommon degree.
Source: "Portrait and Biographical Record Clinton, Washington, Marion and Jefferson Counties, Illinois"
Chapman Publishing Co, Chicago, 1894
Pages 253 & 254
Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer