GRANDPA VAUGHAN
The Readers Digest used to have a feature "The Most Unforgettable Person I've Known" or a title similar to that. I have always wanted to submit information to that publication about my Grandfather Arthur S. Vaughan, because in my long life I have never met another person with his interesting "Renaissance Man" personality.
Early Years
Arthur was born in 1879 at either Mattapoisett or New Bedford, Massachusetts. (Records are not clear on this.) Soon after his birth, he and his parents were residing in the Vaughan Complex at the North End of Mattapoisett. There were three large houses there, each containing Vaughan family groups that included at least eleven children each.
The children's names were similar throughout the complex, with Robert being the most common. It must have been confusing when the cow bell rang to summon the kids to their families for dinner.
Religion
Arthur's parents (Weston and Ella Stephen Vaughan) were devoted Christians. They were descendants of the so-called "Pilgrims" who landed at Plymouth to replenish their water supply for beer-making.
If they went to church, they probably attended the local Quaker Meeting or the Congregational Church led by another relative.
Arthur's parents required their children to perform a nightly ritual. Everyone would say their prayers in unison - loudly! Then each was required to tell about some act of "Christian Charity" that they had observed during that day. Arthur was adroit at making up some of the most tear-inducing stories.
Youth
Arthur was sometimes compliant, sometimes rebellious, but always in the mood to have some fun.
I've mentioned before how he would hide his clay-pipe smoking so his father would not find out, and how he wanted me to retrieve his favorite pipe from a stone wall.
I've also mentioned before how he invented that disgusting club induction ritual called "Pee More Yet."
During the "Gay Nineties" he liked to dress as a "dandy," sporting "loud" clothing and carrying a cane.
He also liked a little alcohol now and then, to the great chagrin of his "tee-totaling" father.
Marriage
His teen-age antics disappeared when he met, fell in love, and married the beautiful Alice May Davenport in 1897. They were married for 60 years and were parents to fifteen (15!) children, eleven of which lived to old age.
Hooch
Arthur liked his booze, but Alice was an active member of the WCTU (Womens Christian Temperance Union) and played piano at their meetings. Try as she might, she couldn't get her husband to give up drinking.
I lived with my grandparents for 18 years and only once did I see my Grandfather drunk. So, to my mind, he was a "social drinker."
But Grandma kept nagging him about drinking, so he had to hide his "vice." I've mentioned before how he and a friend would sneak drinks of beer and throw the empty bottles out the window, into the side alley.
Arthur's father owned a funeral business where Arthur worked, and I was told that during Prohibition he would drink embalming fluid. Yuk!
I've also talked about the time when I was treating my Grandfather to "five cent beer" a guy named Charlie dumped a pocketful of stolen nickels onto our table.
One of Arthur's friends was Emmett Kelly, the circus clown. Whenever the circus was in town or nearby, he would meet my Grandfather at the Buttonwood Cafe for a few tasty beers and some lusty conversation.
What Grandpa Taught Me
1. My grandfather taught me how to carve a pretty ring out of a peach stone and insert a piece of ruby-red garnet that I would dig out of a granite boulder.
2. My grandfather taught me how to make skeleton keys, a necessary ability in those days before tumbler locks.
3. My Grandfather taught me about words as I sat at his feet while he compiled what he said would be the most comprehensive crossword puzzle dictionary the world had ever seen.
4. He taught me to enjoy reading about P.T. Barnum's "freaks" like the Siamese Twins and he loved pictures of Jumbo, "the absolute largest pachyderm to ever grace the mighty jungles of Earth!"
He had newspaper cut-outs of things that interested him - they were pasted all over the walls in his "den." In 1948 the New Bedford Standard Times did a rotogravure article with pictures of his walls.
Politics
Since grandpa discovered Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1930's, he had been a staunch Democrat. During one tight election race, he learned that his wife and daughter, Marjorie had voted republican, he refused to eat meals with them for the rest of his life.
He liked to say, "I'm not going to eat with you G-- Damn Republican B------s!" This bothered the two ladies, but not me, because he always winked at me when he said it. Besides, he really loved his wife and children. He just liked to eat alone while he listened to his favorite radio commentators. My grandmother demanded silence or pleasant conversation during our meals.
People felt that he looked like a U.S. Senator, and he played the part, with his senatorial suit, hat and manner.
Jobs He Held
As I mentioned, Arthur worked in his father's funeral business until it closed down.
During the Great Depression, he served as a foreman for the WPA (Work Projects Administration). The beautiful stone fences and pleasant landscaping at New Bedford cemeteries were built under his direction.
He worked as Head Cashier at Smith's Cafe, a kind of high-class restaurant in New Bedford. One night he tripped and required stitches on the back of his head. This meant that he had a shaved circle on his dome. He covered it with a nicely stitched yarmulka. Restaurant patrons thought that he was Jewish, so he played that part for a while.
More
There is lot more to tell, but I'll keep that for a future blog entry.
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