The Hatchetts were of English descent. Mr. Hatchett served in the
late Colonial army during the Revolution. He died in the seventy-
fourth year of his age, and his wife passed away at the age of
ninety-six. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan removed
to Tennessee and settled in Rutherford county, where they reared
a family of thirteen children, seven sons and six daughters. Of
this numerous family only five are living, three sons and two
daughters.

In 1842 the family moved to Missouri, where the parents resided
up to the time of their death. William H., the fifth son in the
family, was born in the middle of Tennessee, January 17, 1822.
At the age of sixteen, through an elder brother, and the Congress-
man from the district, arrangements were made for him toattend
the military school at West Point, but his father said "No," and
that was a cut deep and wide, as his only aspiration was blasted.
This was the cause of his crossing the Rocky mountains. Being
an expert rifleman and filled with the spirit of adventure, April
20, 1843 , he left his father' home, in southwestern Missouri, to
cross the plains to Oregon. He was the first wagon train that
ever came all the way through to Oregon.

They cut their own roads through the Blue mountains, sur-
mounting every obstacle that presented itself. They came by
what was called the Mechan route. The way they scaled the
steeps, forded the rivers and made their way over the new
country, can never be fully appreciated by the uninitiated.

They came by way of Walla Walla and then down the Columbia
River, arriving at Oregon City about November 10, 1843. For a
time Mr. Vaughan was employed at fencing and barn building
by the Hudson's Bay Company.

In May, 1844, he came to his donation claim, sixteen miles
southeast of Oregon City, and was the first permanent settler in
this part of the county.

Here, in his primitive cabin, he kept "bach" for several years.
In building his log house he made it, as far as possible, a
stronghold against the Indians, with whom he frequently had
trouble. At one time he was attacked by sixteen of them, but by
his dauntless courage he succeeded in overawing them, and a
miraculous escape.

In the fall of 1847, after the murder of Dr. Whitman, he
volunteered and served in the ayuse war, under Captain Maxim,
furnishing his own horse and equipments. He was in the battle
of Umatilla, which engagaement lasted from nine o'clock in the
morning until night, when the Indians withdrew.

Mrs. Vaughan's father was also a participant in this war.
August 27, 1847, Mr. Vaughan married Miss Susan Mary
Officer, a native of Missouri, born March 3, 1833. Her father,
James Officer, a native of Tennessee, came to Oregon with his
family of seven children in 1845, and settled on a donation
claim, twelve miles south of Oregon City, where he resided for
a number of years. Her mother died June 14, 1878, and her
father, now ninety-one years of age, makes his home with them.
Following are the names of Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan's children:

Frank White, who is married and had eleven children, resides
in Big Ben County , of Washington, where he is engaged in
the stock business;

Isom C., a farmer in Clackamus county, is married and has
five children;

Nancy Virginia, wife of Oren Cutting, Clackamus county,
has two children;

Mary Tennessee, wife of George Frazier, Clackamus county,
has one child;

Viola E., wife of John Stubbs, and they reside on the home
farm;

Stonewall Jackson, a merchant at Mollala; Hardy Longstreet,
a farmer in Clackamus County;

Susan Florida,

John C.,

Cora K.,

William Officer, all at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan have been industrious people all of
their lives.  They have a fine home and other substantial
buildings on their farm, and their landed estate comprises
960 acres. Both he and his wife were reared in the faith of
the Baptist de- nomination, and for ten years he served as
Clerk of the church. Politically, he is a Democrat. Several
times he was nominated for both the Legislature and the
Senate. His party, however, was in the minority and he was
defeated. Mr. Vaughan brought with him from his home in
Tennessee a fine old Kentucky rifle, and with it, after his
arrival in Oregon, he distinguished himself as an expert
hunter, being known far and wide as the "King of the
Hunters."

For many years he made himself very useful in killing off
the wolves and mountain lions that had made havoc among
his stock and the stock of his neighbors. His hounds and his
guns were his delight, and even yet, at the age of seventy, his
choice hounds and his rifle afford him great pleasure, Mr
Vaughan brought with him from the Sunny South home the
warmhearted friendship and genial hospitality of the true
Southern gentleman.  He is one of the most widely known and
highly esteemed of that band of brave young men and women
who came to Oregon in 1843.
 
 

Linda_Welden@Vaughan-Vaughn.org

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