Silas Orestes Vaughn 1858

Born June 6, 1821 in Hanover, Grafton County, New Hampshire.

Died March 10, 1906 in Dekalb, DeKalb County, Illinois.

Married Caroline Sabin, September 11, 1850, the Rev. Hope Brown officiating.

They had five children, Edward E., William, Albert S., Julia, and Mary M.

In the 1850 census his occupation was listed as blacksmith.

Member of Euclid Chapter No.13 Royal Arch Masons.

Served as the Most Excellent Grand High Priest of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of the State of Illinois in 1880.

A dealer and manufacturer of all kinds of agricultural implements, he owned and operated the Naperville Plow Factory & Machine Shop.

He was a charter member of the Naperville Lodge, No.81, I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) that was organized October 17, 1851.

He also served Euclid Lodge as Senior Warden in 1855, as Senior Deacon in 1853 and 1854, and as Junior Steward in 1856.

Obituary and Biographic reprinted compliments of the Joiner History Room, DeKalb, Illinois.

An old settler and a man long and intimately connected with DeKalb's life passed away at an early hour Saturday morning when the long illness of Silas O. Vaughan culminated in death. He had been dying for more than two years, but his iron constitution and indomitable will held him up beyond anything that his friends thought possible. The late Mr. Vaughan was born in Hanover, New Hampshire in 1821, and was in his eighty-fifth year. Educated to the trade of a blacksmith he followed his calling in various places east and west until 1858, when he left Naperville, Illinois, where he had been located about fifteen years and came to DeKalb. He followed the iron working business here for a number of years and on retiring from active work in this line served his townsmen as town and city clerk, collector, and in other public capacities. He was a leading member of the Masonic fraternity and held many positions of honor in that order being counted one of the best equipped men in Masonic lore in the state.

He was married in Naperville in 1850 to Miss Caroline Sabin, who with three children - Edward, William and Mary - surviving him. He was widely known and very generally liked by friends and neighbors and his struggle for life during the months past has been watched with sympathetic interest in the community.

He was buried with full Masonic honors Monday afternoon.

Silas O. Vaughan, City Clerk of DeKalb, was born in the town of Hanover, Grafton Co., N. H., June 6, 1821. His father, Silas T., was a native of Royalton, Vt., and his mother, nee Polly Ingals, of Hanover, N. H.

When the subject of this sketch was 13 years of age he began to learn the blacksmith's trade, and served an apprenticeship of seven years. He then moved to the State of New York, locating in the town of Attica in that part of Genesee County now included in Wyoming County, where he was employed as foreman in a shop until 1844, when he came to Illinois and located in Naperville. There, in company with others, he purchased the Naperville Plow Factory, the largest factory of the kind in the State at the time, and was connected with the institution 14 years. Then, in 1858, he came to DeKalb and opened an establishment for the manufacture of plows and general blacksmithing, which he carried on for a number of years; and since he has been here he has held various local offices, among them, Village and City Clerk for 20 years. He has once been elected a member of the Board of Trustees, of which body he has also been once chosen President. For some years past he has also been engaged in the insurance business, and now represents 12 solid and reliable companies. He is a member of DeKalb Lodge No. 144, A.F. & A.M.,; he first joined the order in 1850, at Naperville. For seven years he has been Master of the Lodge, and for 13 years High Priest of DeKalb Chapter, No. 52; in 1880 he was Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Illinois. For 18 years he has been a member of the Ancient Scottish Rite.

Mr. Vaughan was married Sept. 11, 1850, to Caroline Sabin, daughter of S. and Mary M. Sabin. She was born in Alexander, Genesee Co., N.Y. Mr. and Mrs. V. have three children, Edmond E., Willie and Mary Marcy.

The following biography is from the "Souvenir of the Semi-Centennial of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Illinois - Fifty-first Annual Convocation" held in Chicago, Illinois, October 25, and 26, 1900.

SILAS O. VAUGHAN, who has been prominently identified with Masonic interests in this State for nearly half a century, received his initiatory degrees in Euclid Lodge No. 65, at Naperville, Illinois, in January, 1850; was exalted to the Holy Royal Arch degree in Euclid Chapter No. 13, in 1852; received the degrees of Royal and Select Masters at Springfield, Illinois, in 1858, and was constituted a Sir Knight in Sycamore Commandery No. 15, in 1866. He attained the ineffable degrees of the Scottish Rite in the Lodge of Perfection at Dekalb, Illinois, where he was proclaimed a Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. Upon moving to the city where he now resides, Mr. Vaughan obtained a dimit from the parent bodies and became affiliated with Dekalb Lodge No. 144; Dekalb Chapter, No. 52; Dekalb Council, No. 80, and Oriental Consistory. During his long association with the fraternity he has filled various offices of importance, acquitting himself with honor and distinction and winning the high favor of his fraters. In 1858 he was elected to the office of Worshipful Master in Euclid Lodge, No. 65, and held a similar position in Dekalb Lodge for a period of six years. In the Chapter he was High Priest for fourteen years, and in 1880 served as Grand High Priest in the Grand Chapter, and in 1879 officiated as Eminent Commander of Sycamore Commandery. In December, 1862, he was Worshipful Master of Hallock Military Lodge; in 1863-4 he served as High Priest of Asboth Military Chapter.

Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on June 6, 1821, he received a limited education in the public schools of his native city. At the age of eleven years he was bound out to learn the blacksmith's trade, serving in that capacity for seven years, at the end of that time going to Attica, New York, April, 1839, and there worked at his trade until July, 1845, when he moved to Naperville, Illinois, opened a shop and conducted the same for thirteen years. In 1858 he came to Dekalb and here followed his vocation for twenty years, at the end of which time he engaged in the insurance business, which he has successfully continued ever since.

Mr. Vaughan was married at Naperville, Illinois, September 11, 1850, to Miss Caroline Sabin, a native of Genesee County, New York, and of this union five children were born.

He served as City Clerk for Dekalb for twenty years, which aptly testifies to the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow citizens. He is a self-made man in the strictest sense of the term, attaining to his present prosperous position in life solely through his own efforts; and as an enterprising, public-spirited citizen he stands in an enviable light among the residents of his community.