VAUGHAN, GEORGE, merchant and politician, lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire, 1715–17; b. 13 April 1676 at Portsmouth, N.H., son of Major William and Margaret (Cutt) Vaughan; d. 20 Nov. 1724.
A graduate of Harvard College in 1696, Vaughan followed his father’s example and became active in the commercial and political life of New Hampshire. On 8 Dec. 1698 he married Mary Belcher, who died a little more than a year later. He was married again on 9 Jan. 1700/1, this time to Elizabeth Elliot. They had nine children, the most notable being William*, who played a key role in the capture of Louisbourg in 1745.
In 1708, Vaughan went to England as agent of the New Hampshire assembly, to represent New Hampshire residents in London and to protect their rights and privileges. In 1710 he volunteered to serve in the expedition led by Francis Nicholson against Port-Royal (Annapolis Royal, N.S.). Little is known about Vaughan’s contribution to the expedition. However, Nicholson asserted that Vaughan “imbark’d, landed & march’d with me into the Field, & behav’d himself with good Courage & Diligence, & was the chief Gentleman Voluntier of New England in that Expedition.”
In 1713 Vaughan with two other commissioners represented New Hampshire in drafting the treaty with the Abenakis, whose chief spokesman was Mog. Two years later Vaughan returned to London as agent and was appointed lieutenant-governor of New Hampshire. By stressing the royal prerogative, Vaughan alienated the political leaders of New Hampshire and was therefore removed from office in September 1717. When he died in 1724 he left an estate valued at £12,190.
Documentary hist. of Maine, XXIII. PRO, CSP, Col., 1708–9, 21–24. Genealogical dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, ed. Sybil Noyes et al. (Portland, Me., 1928–39). Shipton, Sibley’s Harvard graduates, IV, 308–15. McLennan, Louisbourg, 367–68.