Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-11-30
The FIRST white Woman Born in
Kentucky.

From Ranck's History of Lexington.l
The fret white woman born in the
savage wilds of Kentucky lived for
many years in Lexington. Here she
died, and here she sleeps. Many now
living still remember the venerable Mrs.
Rhoda Vaughn, the first born OF the viii
derness. She was the daughter Of that
Captain John Holder. spoken of by
Boone in his narrative, as the man who
pursued the Indians Eh) had attacked
Hoys station in August, 1882. Captain
Holder was one of the old pioneer ear
lest companions He assisted in build
ing and defending Boonesborough fort
and within the palisades Of that noted
stronghold and about the year l776, his
daughter, afterward Mrs. Vaughn, was
born. Her earliest recollections were
of savages, sufferings, alarms and
bloodsbed, and she passed her infant
years in the midst of memorable sieges
and desperate conflicts. When she
grew to womanhood. and was married,
her father started her in life with home
and servants, and she lost both in few
years, by her husbands mismanage-
ment, and after his death times with her
grew worse and worse.
At very early day she settled in
Fayette county, and subsequently made
Lexington her home, and here she re-
NAMED and raised her children. One
of her sons was the gallant Adjutant
Edward NJ. Vaughn, Lexington volun-
teer, who fell upon the bravely-contested
field of Buena Vista, in l847. His
blood. soaked gauntlets were carried rev.
erently to his mother, and they told at
once to her stricken heart the same
tragic and eloquent story that the arm
less and battered shield expressed to the
Spartan mother in the classic days of
old. Other Affections and misfortunes
followed; and destitute and desolate,
the brave old lady struggled on through
life not unfrequsntly made brighter by
kind and sympathetic friends. Mrs.
Vaughn lived for some time in the resi-
dence lately occupied by Rev. j. ID.
Matthews, on Winchester street, between
Limestone and Walnut. She died, how
ever, at the residence Of Mrs. Susan
Craig, on the south side Of Short street,
between Georgetown and Jefferson
streets, in the month of June, 1868, aged
about eighty.seven years, and was buried
in the Whaley lot In the Episcopal Gem
etery, where her remains still repose.
The only relic Of the venerable heroine
known to be in existence is a patch
work quilt which she made with her own
hands, and gave to sympathetic lady
of Lexington. who was friend to her in
her days of sorrow and affection.
That Mrs. Vaughn was the first white
woman born in Kentucky, there cannot
be the slightest doubt; the fact is placed
beyond dispute by the frequent declara-
fions of many of the earliest settlers of
the State to persons still living Mrs
Vaughan herself always declared that
she had never heard statement to the
contrary.
Mrs. Vaughn was a woman Of excel
lent mind, warm heart, and sincere
piety; and neither her true pride, nor
the beautiful characteristics of her
Christian life, we're abated by her pow
erty and misfortunes. How strange were
her experiences. The fate-star of sor-
row, which beamed upon her birth,
seemed ever to follow her with its sad
dening influence. She was born when
the tomahawk and the torch we're bust
est; the hope of her declining years died
upon field Of battle, and she breathed
out her own life in the midst of a ter
rible civil war, Her parents helped to
reclaim and settle an empire; their
daughter died without foot OF land that
che could call her own. Will justice,
even now, be done to her memory Will
the State appropriately mark the spot
where rest the mortal remains Of the
first white woman born in the now great
Commonwealth of Kentucky