John Vaught: He emigrated from Virginia and settled on Roane Creek, in Johnson county, then Washington county, North Carolina. In the land office in Virginia is a record of a land survey to John Vaught for three hundred and ninety acres on the south fork of Holston river, dated February 28, 1775. There are also deeds in Jonesboro, dated July 17, 1792, conveying to John Vaught from Thomas Payne a tract of four hundred and fifty acres on Roane Creek and another of four hundred acres located on Flannery's Fork of Roane Creek, since known as Vaught's Creek. These lands were granted to Thomas Payne in November, 1784. He built and operated the first mill in this section and the forge on his place was one of the first to be established in the county. He donated land for the first schoolhouse in the community and assisted in erecting a log school building, which became known as Vaught's schoolhouse and in which the Pleasant Grove Baptist church was organized. John Vaught was a soldier of the Revolutionary war . He married Esther (Unknown).
Joseph L. Vaught, son of John S. and Rebecca (Shoun) Vaught. He was born in Johnson county, Tennessee, March 4, 1838. During the Civil War he was in Company M, Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. After the war he returned to farming in Johnson county. He also manufactured wagons, farming tools and implements. He also served as Justice of the Peace and served on the school board. He was also a member of the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. He was married on the 29th of December, 1855 to Louise Mast, who was born in Johnson county, January 20, 1838, a daughter of Joseph C. and Celia (Campbell) Mast. She traces her ancestry back to John and Barbara Mast. John Mast was born in Switzerland in 1740 and came to America with his uncle, four sisters and his elder brother, Jacob Mast, who later became a bishop in the Amish Mennonite church. They had sailed here on the ship "Brotherhood," and landed at Philadelphia, March 3, 1750. John settled in Randolph county, North Carolina, in 1764. Louise's father, Joseph C. Mast, son of Adam and Elizabeth (Cable) Mast, was born May 10, 1808. He was a farmer who had served in the Revolutionary War. Her mother Barbara was a granddaughter of Zachariah Campbell, who emigrated from County Tipperary, near Cork, Ireland, settling first in Virginia, where he married before moving to Carter county.
Joseph lived on part of the original tract of land secured in 1792 by John Vaught, the pioneer of Johnson county. The post office of Vaughtsville was named in honor of the family. Joseph was postmaster from the time of the establishment of the post office in 1886 until his death on May 16, 1897, since which time his daughter Ella acted as postmistress.
Jacob S., was a prominent farmer
John M. was also a successful farmer who died June 16, 1912, after being kicked by a horse.
Edward J., Graduated from Carson and Newman College, with honors in May, 1897. He then continued on to Lebanon Law School and practice in Johnson City, Tennessee.
William McDonald Vaught, Graduated from Holly Springs College at Butler, Tennessee in 1891. He then taught in various places until 1910 when he joined the Watauga Power Company at Elizabethton, first as bookkeeper and in 1912 as manager of the local office. On the 16th of June, 1896, he married Elizabeth C. Carriger, daughter of Jackson and Edna Carriger and a descendant of Gotfried Kercher (Godfrey Carriger, Sr.).
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