Leander C. Prichard, a prominent farmer and stockman in Arago precinct, Richardson County, Nebraska, was born on January 15, 1854, in Boyd County, Kentucky. He was the son of William and Caroline (Newman) Prichard, both from Kentucky. In 1880, Leander moved to Nebraska and acquired a 150-acre farm in Arago precinct. He married Laura L. Vaughan on February 21, 1881. Laura, born on January 24, 1864, in Lawrence County, Ohio, moved to Nebraska with her family in 1865. Leander was a Democrat and focused on progressive farming practices, including breeding Duroc-Jersey hogs. The Prichards were well-regarded in their community for their contributions to local development.
Leander C. Prichard, one of the best-known farmers and stockmen of the precinct of Arago, this county, and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres in sections 4 and 5 of that precinct, is a native of the old Blue Grass state, but has been a resident of this county since 1880 and has consequently been a witness to and a participant in the wonderful development made in this section of Nebraska during the past thirty-five or forty years. He was born in Boyd county, Kentucky, January 15, 1854, son of William and Caroline (Newman) Prichard, both natives of that same state and members of prominent families in the northeastern part of Kentucky, the former born on June 9, 1827, and the latter, about 1830. The Prichards are an old family in the United States, the first of the name to come to this country having been William Prichard, who came over from Wales in 1744 and established his home on this side, the family becoming plantation owners and persons of substance. William Prichard, father of the subject of this sketch, was of the same family as Dr. Lewis Prichard, the Charleston (West Virginia) capitalist and philanthropist, whose various beneficences have made his one of the best-known names in the field of philanthropy in this country. Both William Prichard and his wife spent their last days in Kentucky. They were married on March 15, 1853, and were the parents of six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first-born, the others being Columbus, deceased; James, deceased; Laura, deceased; Virginia, who married H. M. Bloss and is now deceased, and Robert, who is still living in Kentucky. The mother of these children died on January 10, 1881, and the father survived until February 12, 1906.
Reared on the home fam in northeastern Kentucky, Leander C. Prichard received his schooling in the neighborhood schools and finished his education at Marshall College, Huntington, West Virginia, and early learned at his father’s forge the blacksmith’s trade. In 1880 he came to Nebraska and bought his present farm of one-hundred and fifty acres in sections 4 and 5 of the precinct of Arago, where, after his marriage in the following spring, he established his home and has ever since made that his place of residence, he and his wife having one of the pleasantest homes in that part of the county. Mr. Prichard not only has a comfortable home, but an excellent farm plant and ranks among the progressive farmers of Richardson county. He has given considerable attention to the breeding of hogs, a former breeder of Poland China stock, but for the past year or two giving his attention to Duroc-Jersey stock, and has done very well. Politically, he is a Democrat, and has ever given a good citizen’s attention to local civic affairs, but has not been a seeker after public office.
On February 21, 1881, Leander C. Prichard was united in marriage to Laura L. Vaughan, who was born in Lawrence county, Ohio, January 24, 1864, daughter of Abraham and Sarah (Prichard) Vaughan, who came to Nebraska in 1863 and the former of whom died in May of that same year, two months after having established his family on a farm in this county. Abraham Vaughan was a native of the old Dominion, born in Wayne county, Virginia, now included in West Virginia, May 12, 1822, and his wife was born in Lawrence county, Kentucky, May 4, 1823. After their marriage they made their home in Lawrence county, Ohio, and in 1864 Mr. Vaughan came to the then Territory of Nebraska and entered a tract of land in this county, returning then to Ohio for his family and bringing them here in the early spring of 1865. Two months later, in May, he died, leaving his widow with six young children and the pioneer farm to look after. She bravely faced many hardships in getting things going and rearing her children, but she kept the family together and lived to see them well established, her death occurring on July 27, 1898. Mrs. Prichard was the youngest of the children born to her parents and was but a babe in arms when she was brought to this county back in territorial days. She thus has seen the gradual development of this region since pioneer days and has ever taken a hearty interest in the same, contributing well her part to the general social and cultural activities of the community in which she has lived since the days of her infancy.
Source: Edwards, Lewis C., History of Richardson County, Nebraska : Its People, Industries and Institutions, Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen, 1917.