Horace Worth Vaughan (December 2, 1867November 10, 1922) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

, and politician. He represented Texas in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. In 1915, he received an appointment as assistant Attorney General in the Territory of Hawaii, where he lived the rest of his life.

Early life

Vaughan was born to attorney George T. and Tippah Leary Vaughan, on December 2, 1867 in Marion County, Texas. He was of English ancestry, descended from early

Jamestown, Virginia The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James (Powhatan) River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. It was ...

settler John Vaughn. He married Pearl Lockett in 1888. They were the parents of Aileen, Robert Louis and Jean. Vaughan was mostly self-taught, by reading his father's books. He was admitted to the bar in 1885, and began an active practice the next year.

Legislative career

Texas

From 1890 to 1898 he was city attorney for Texarkana, Texas. From 1910 until 1912 he was a member of the Texas State Senate and in the United States House of Representatives from 1913 to 1915.

Hawaii

Vaughan moved to Honolulu in the Territory of Hawaii and became assistant United States district attorney on October 1, 1915. By December 22, 1915, he was promoted to United States district attorney, and after the retirement of

Sanford B. Dole Sanford Ballard Dole (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was a lawyer and jurist from the Hawaiian Islands. He lived through the periods when Hawaii was a Kingdom of Hawaii, kingdom, Provisional Government of Hawaii, protectorate, Republic of Hawa ...

. He was appointed by Woodrow Wilson as judge of the territorial United States District Court for the District of Hawaii on May 15, 1916. Vaughan was a political supporter of Woodrow Wilson and advocated states to pass prohibition, which he opposed at a national level because he believed that it would violate states rights.

Personal life and death

Vaughan married Pearl Lockett on November 21, 1888. The couple had three children. Their only son US Navy Lt. Robert Louis Vaughan (1892–1920) died in a plane crash related to his military service. Believed to be despondent over the death of his son, Horace Vaughan was found on November 10, 1922 in his Honolulu home with a bullet wound to his neck and a gun by his side, an apparent suicide. He was buried in Oahu Cemetery. Pearl Vaughan died in 1960. Oldest daughter Aileen V. Eppler (1890–1976) was the wife of Texas financial consultant William E. Eppler. At some point, the Eppler family moved to New Jersey where Aileen died at age 85. Youngest daughter

Jean Vaughan Gilbert Jean Vaughan Gilbert (November 11, 1904 – December 2, 1975) was an American attorney, and the first woman to be appointed Honolulu City-County Attorney. She set a record at the University of Southern California Law for the highest academic sco ...

(1904–1975) was one of the first women lawyers in Hawaii, and became city attorney of Honolulu. She died in 1975 in Honolulu.

Fraternal memberships

Freemasons Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

* Odd Fellows * Woodmen of the World

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Horace Worth 1867 births 1922 suicides 1922 deaths American politicians who committed suicide Suicides by firearm in Hawaii People from Marion County, Texas People from Cass County, Texas People from Texarkana, Texas Texas lawyers Democratic Party Texas state senators United States Attorneys for the District of Hawaii Judges of the United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii Lawyers from Honolulu American temperance activists Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Burials at Oahu Cemetery Activists from Texas 19th-century American lawyers United States district court judges appointed by Woodrow Wilson