Lockley, Fred. "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the Sea." Vol. 3. S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928. p. 882. Includes portrait ELBERT VAUGHAN The progress of a community depends largely upon the enterprise, initiative, and ability of its citizens. Through his operations as a manufacturer Elbert Vaughan has stimulated the pulse of trade in Portland and influenced its industrial development, at the same time achieving that individual success which is the outcome of a life of rightly directed endeavor. A native of Oregon, he was born near what is now called Middleton, in Washington county, March 18, 1877, and represents one of the pioneer families of the state; being a son of Cyrus and Martha J. (Wood) Vaughan. His father, born in Knox county, Illinois, January 22, 1844, was a son of Liberty and Nancy Vaughan, of English and Scotch-Irish descent. Liberty Vaughan, the paternal grandfather of Elbert Vaughan, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 4, 1804, a son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Vaughan. In early manhood Liberty Vaughan married Miss Nancy Briceland, of Washington county, Pennsylvania, born in 1806. George W. Vaughan, great-grandfather of Mr. Vaughan of this review, was born in Vermont in or about 1775. His father, who was of English descent, came from Scotland and settled in Vermont in or about the year 1760.. In 1796, George W. Vaughan, with his wife, who in her maidenhood was a Miss Keeler, moved from the home state to Ohio, where their son Liberty was born. Mrs. Martha J. (Wood) Vaughan, the mother of Elbert Vaughan, was born in Sullivan county, Missouri, December 19, 1858, her parents being James and Susan Ann (McDonald) Wood, the former born in Kentucky, June 2, 1822, and the latter in Missouri, May 5, 1832. James Wood was a son of Fielding Wood, also a native of Kentucky, who removed to Missouri in 1829. The parents of Fielding Wood were Malconi and Angelico Wood, of Bourbon county, Kentucky. Malcom Wood emigrated from England to Virginia some time prior to the Revolutionary war, in which he is reported to have served as a dispatch bearer, later removing to Kentucky, where he died on 1824. Cyrus Vaughan, father of Elbert Vaughan, was but a boy when he made the overland journey from Illinois to the Pacific coast in company with his parents, Liberty and Nancy Vaughan. They located in the vicinity of Butteville, Oregon, about the 1st of November, 1852, but subsequently took up a homestead in Washington county and settled thereon in 1854. After attaining man's estate Cyrus Vaughan wedded Martha J. Wood, who in 1864 had come from Missouri to Oregon in company with her parents, James and Susan Ann Wood, the family home being established near Newberg, Yamhill county. Elbert Vaughan, whose name introduces this review, was in 1878 taken by his parents to Newberg, Yamhill county, where he acquired his education. Subsequently he made his way to Hood River, Oregon, where for a number of years he engaged in farming and fruit growing. During the period from 1901 until about 1908 he experimented with drag saw equipment, gradually working out a number of improvements and developing the present drag saw machine. When the opportunity presented itself he came to Portland and engaged in business, his first machines being built in job shops. In the fall of 1913 he opened his own shop at East Seventh and Main streets, where under the name of the Vaughan Motor Works he began the manufacture of drag saws, employing only three or four men and at this time designing all of the articles of manufacture. Later the firm transferred its activities to the east end of Hawthorne bridge, securing larger quarters and increasing the shop equipment. In 1917, additional space being necessary, the plant was moved to East Ninth and Main streets, where a shop and foundry were erected which, with the additions which have been built from time to time, now cover the entire block. In 1922 the business was incorporated as the Vaughan Motor Works, Inc., with the following officers: Elbert Vaughan, president, treasurer and general manager; Samuel Weiss, vice president; and E. S. Anderson, secretary. At this time extra equipment was installed, including an electric steel furnace for the making of cast steel. The company at that time was manufacturing drag saws and ice machines, and doing a regular line of jobbing, employing from sixty to eighty men. In 1923 and 1924 Mr. Vaughan designed a small garden tractor which, with the assistance of his associates, he perfected into the present garden tractor that is known under the trade-mark as the FLEX-TRED and is being exported as well as used locally. The company is still engaged in the manufacture of draw saws and ice machines and doing general jobbing, including gear and sprocket cutting, in addition to the building of the garden tractors, employing from sixty to one hundred workmen as the season warrants. The Vaughan Motor Works, Inc., is the largest manufacturer of light weight drag saws in the world. The development of this industry to its present extensive proportions has been due to the business acumen and executive force of Mr. Vaughan. Strong and purposeful, he has directed his efforts along steadily broadening lines of greater usefulness, and what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of his innate powers and talents. It was at Hood River, Oregon, that Mr. Vaughan was married to. Augusta C. Jochimsen, who was born at Marne, Iowa, April 28, 1880, and whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. P. H. Jochimsen, located at Hood River in 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Jochimsen emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1873 and resided at Marne, Iowa, prior to coming to Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Vaughan have a family of five children: Mildred G., Wilbur C., Chester R., Elma Anita and Victor E. Vaughan. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.