Letters of Mary Jane (Cook) Slaton

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: Slaton Slayden Lowe

Letters by Mary Jane Cook Slaton and Oscar Lowe Slaton

Daniel Henry Slaton's wife, Mary Jane (Cook) Slaton (1832-1921), mother of nine, wrote letters to her daughter Rebecca (Slaton) Tillman and son William David "Willie" Slaton in 1907 with "the history of [their] father and mother's relatives as I know and remember it," referring to a bible showing the birthdates of Joseph (Slayden) Slaton (1777-1866), his children, and grandchildren, quoted below. These are quoted fully because of the wealth of material, even though some information is unclear, probably because of missing portions. The letters appear to show Slaten and Slaton, while records in Wilkes County Georgia and environs show these as well as Slayden and Slayton.

These letters provide a key to the ancestry of many families, notably 1) the actress Dorothy Lamour (born Mary Leta Dorothy Slaton , granddaughter of Samuel Watson Slaton; and 2) the naming of Slaton, Texas, near Lubbock, named for Oscar Lowe Slaton, who influenced the railroad to put a station there and so the place was named in his honor.

There are more family surnames mentioned here than can be accommodated by TAGS. Attempts to link to profiles will be ongoing.

Not all of the language in quotes is clear and notes below with bracketed matter ending "-CS" indicate notations by Clinton Slayton who had this material in his hands until 2021 and who provides bolding for certain names. "AJS" refers to Arthur Jackson Slaton, author of Slaton Family Ab Antiquitas ^[1] and a correspondent with Moneta Allison Thorpe (1907-2005), who typed the index to AJS's over-400-page book. The letters are excerpted in Slaton Family Ab Antiquitas , 1974 edition, page 142-143 and page 145. Mrs Thorpe is the daughter of Moneta Slaton, daughter of John Thomas Slaton, son of Daniel Henry Slaton, son of Joseph and Polly Lowe Slaton. A photostat of these letters was provided to CS by Mrs Thorpe of Nashville Tennessee. Kay Ward Davis published the letters and bible transcription in a San Angelo (Tom Green County) Texas newsletter Stalkin Kin from the items in the collection of Jeff Davis of Sterling County. Descendant Harvey Lowe Slaton verified these against copies in his possession.

Some of the individuals mentioned can be cited to census records bolstering the text, but are not complete continuations. Key census records will be cited at some names, but not complete continuations for that name, but to aid further profiling on WikiTree. The many [skips] indicate ellipses of unimportant or illegible material. Because these are two letters with different amounts of detail, some information is reordered here for continuity. Bolding is imposed to help with identification, and some of the lines were underlined in the mss or copies of the letters.

Mary Jane Cook Slaton letter to her son Willie [William David], and parts of a letter to daughter Rebecca (Slaton) Tillman, although in AJS (p 145), one letter is attributed as written by Rebecca. The handwriting in both letters is identical, so it is unclear if these are in Mary's hand or copied by Rebecca:

"1907 At the request of my son Willie I write the history of his father and mother's relatives as I know and remember it:"

"Your grandfather Joseph Slaten was born in Virginia 10 Sep 1777; he came to Georgia when a young man, he was of English descent. He had several brothers and sisters but I can't tell very much about them. He had one sister that married a wealthy farmer by the name of Jones but had no children, [I think] they lived in [skip] Wilkes co Ga." [This was sister Martha Slayden who married Samuel Jones. They had no children, but many of her nephews were forenamed Samuel Jones in his honor, hoping to be remembered in his will, no doubt, as at least two were. Jones was a Revolutionary War veteran from Maryland-CS]

[Context suggests that the next two sections seem to refer to Joseph's son Samuel Slayden), but this is verbatim from her letter. The Family bible does not account for this Susannah, so I suspect her letter has missing lines, and that Susannah below refers to a daughter of Samuel Slayden. Samuel had a sister Susannah (Slayden) Bankston (1782-1834), but she was born abt 1792 and married Hyram Bankston, obviously not the Susannah below.-CS]

[Lines missing?-CS]

"He [? probably refers to either William A., who "died young" , or Henry C. Slaton, sons of Samuel Slayden-CS] also had a sister Susannah Slaton that was born in Wilkes co Ga Nov 27, 1808, [she] was married to a local Methodist preacher by the name Tignor [skip] they raised a family of nine children. The youngest son [was] also a preacher. [Susannah's] husband died suddenly of apoplexy in Talbot co Ga Sep 2, 1879. [Susannah] also died suddenly of congestion of the brain the 14th Sep 1873 [skip] [Susannah, daughter of Samuel Slaton, married Rev Urban Cooper Tignor-CS]

"Your father's mother Mary Lowe was born in Ga Sep 7, 1785; I can't call to mind now many of her family except one bro[ther] and two sisters: [skip] David Lowe [skip] was a Methodist preacher and was married and lived in Stewart co Ga, [he] raised quite a family of children." [unclear if connected to previous sentence] "...that lived in Pike Co Ala, she raised a large family of children [skip] two of the girls married two Bros by the name of Uebanks ...

"Your grandfather [Joseph] and grandmother [Mary Lowe] were married in Georgia if I remember right in 1803 [sic-Jan 1804-CS]. I don't know the co [marriage record found in Columbia co GA-CS]. They were living in Jones co when your father was born and moved to Talbot co [GA] near Talbotton [skip] They had fourteen children born to them but the first two died in infancy [skip] they raised 12 children to be grown [skip]:
Sarah was born 1807
Elizabeth in 1809
James A was born May 30, 1811
Martha Feb 1813
Elisha Nov 1814
Joseph Aug 1816
David L Aug 1818
Matilda Oct 1820
Emily Oct 1822 [never married]
John B Jun 11, 1824
Daniel H Mar 26, 1826
Rebecca Oct 1, 1827
"I don't know for certain that I have all the dates right; I looked them up in mother's bible last summer at R. A. Tillman's..." [ bible now in private hands at the Jeff Davis Museum in Sterling City, TX-CS]

"Your Aunt Sarah married John Lumkin and raised nine children [skip] they lived in Talbot co Ga [skip] I can't recall all their names... Edward, John

[confusingly, next line reads "D H Slaton married Mary Jane Cook of Monticello Fla, May 30 1850" which does not match the date she gives later. ]

and William [Lumkin] Your Aunt Sarah died in the summer of 1854." [ Sarah Lowe (Slaton) Lumpkin ]

"[Daniel Henry Slaton] also had a sister that married Mr Embry ... Aunt Elizabeth married Mr Embry ... she died and left five children; two of them came to Ala after they were married. [One of them married cousin] Thomas Embry [and cousin] Lois Dozier." [ Elizabeth Rosamond (Slayton) Embry ]

NOTE-CS: Hezekiah Embry to Elizabeth Slayton, 3 May 1834, Wilkes County, Georgia ^[2]

"Your Uncle James married a Miss Watson [Muscogee co GA, Oct 1838 or 1858-CS] and lived in Columbus Ga [skip] then moved to Macon co Ala. They raised eight children:
William [ William Thomas Slaton-CS]
Arthur [skip] living at Rush Springs Indian Territory [now OK] [ James Arthur Slaton Jr-CS]
Mary [twin] [skip] married Mr Martin, no children, died Commerce Tx Oct 8, 1896 [skip]
Sarah [twin] married Mr Neal, lives in Waxahachie Tex [skip] she has one child [an unnamed] son [skip]
Joseph [Joseph H Slaton married a McGlathery-CS]
Anna [married Wm W McGlathery-CS]
Ella was married twice I heard [skip] she & Mr Presley her last husband was living in Oak Cliff [Tex], also her daughter Mrs. Butcher
Watson [ Samuel Watson "Watt" Slaton, married Mary Leta Wilson,-CS]
"Your Uncle James moved to Texas in 1872 and settled in Ellis co and died there in the fall of 1875" [ James Arthur Slaton ]

[Samuel "Watt" and Mary Slaton were the paternal grandparents of actress Dorothy Lamour, born Slaton-CS]

your aunt Martha Cooper left 5 children, Alexander, Samuel, Amelia, James D C and Martha. Alex & Sam both were killed or died in the war. Amelia married Mr John Kelsoe they had one son Willie, her husband got killed in the war, then, after he son was grown & married she then married Col Hilliard of Pike co Ala, to them were born 2 children, a boy and a girl [all living in Pike co.] James D Cooper married Miss Arra Dickson in Tallapoosa Ala lived in Dadeville Ala 3 children were born to them there Daniel Dickson, James N, & Willie D they came to Tex in [Jan? June?] 1874 3 children was born to them in Tex Mattie, John M, Mattie and the other baby died in infancy his wife died Dec 1879 them he married Miss Mary Thomas to them was born two sons Oscar? & Horrace D C sister Matha married Mr Ray in Opelika Ala they had some children ... Martha is also dead... [ Martha Jones (Slaton) Cooper ]

"Your Uncle Elisha married a Miss Jernigan [Evalina according to marriage record-CS], to them were born 7 children:
Mary J [she does not know if married or not]
William [got killed or died in the civil war]
John [got killed or died in the civil war]
Emily
Joseph [she heard was dead]
Eliza married a Mr Brown [were living in Ala] {skip]
George [she heard was dead]" ^[3]
"Elisha died Mar 3, 1872." [ Elisha Slaton ]

"Your Uncle David L married Miss Brown. [Five children:]
George [Brown-CS]
Henrietta [early death]
Janie [early death]
Sallie
John William [early death]
"After [the former Miss Brown] died, [David L] married a widow Graham in Dadeville Ala, your father [Daniel Henry Slaton] performing the ceremony..David died in Dadeville Ala Mar 10, 1872 [skip] his widow and children moved to Tex, [George and Sallie] marrying [a] brother and sister but I can't recall their names." [Mary Emma and Joseph Henry Kellis-CS] [skip] [ David Lowe Slaton ]

"Your Aunt Matilda married Mr Tyra Brannon [and lived in Talbot co Ga before moving to Macon co Ala] " [confirmed by census suggesting over a dozen children-CS] [skip]

"Your Aunt Emily never married. My children all loved her so when she came to visit she would have to slip away to keep them from crying after her. She died in Macon co Ala [in] 1861."

"Your Uncle John B married Mattie Beckham in Pike co GA Jan 1862. They had four children [skip]
[unnamed infant]
Wilbur [skip] married and living in Wise co [TX]
Oscar [Oscar Lowe-CS]
John [skip] married and living in Montague co [TX]" [ John Brooking Slaton Sr. ]

"John B's widow and three boys came to Decatur TX." [skip]

[Letter from Oscar Lowe Slaton Jr, who died in Mar 1960, states that the family moved from Zebulon GA, and that his father was president of a bank in Slaton, Texas. The town is near Lubbock and was named for Oscar Lowe Slaton Sr., who apparently persuaded the Santa Fe Railroad to build a station in that location-CS].

"Your father [Daniel Henry and I [Mary Jane Cook] [skip] married in Leon co Fla Dec 16, 1851 we moved to Macon co Ala Jan 1853 [skip] moved to Tallapoosa [co AL] in the fall of 1857 [skip] [children:]
Rebecca [b Aug 3, 1853, Macon co]
Urilla [b Aug 16, 1855]
Johnie (John Thomas) [b Aug 6, 1857]
Annie [b Jul 17, 1859]
James Daniel [b May 5, 1862 Dadeville AL]
[line missing from copy, AJS transcript says"died Jan 1, 1863"]
Willie D [b Feb 21, 1864 Dadeville AL]
Ara [b Oct 3, 1867 Dadeville AL]
Caruth" [b May 21, 1879]
"In the fall of 1872 we moved [to] Dallas co TX and in the fall of 1876 we moved to Decatur [Wise co TX]." [ Daniel Henry Slaton ]

"Your Aunt Rebecca was married to Mr J A Tillman [in 1854 Talbot co GA] [skip] and came to Ala in 1858 [then Dallas co TX in 1874] [skip] [and then Van Zandt in 1887] ... "

"Your grandfather [Joseph] died in Macon co AL Dec 10, 1866 and your grandmother [Mary Lowe Slaton] died in Van Zandt co Tex Jan 17, 1888 being 102 years 4 months 10 days old." [ Joseph (Slayden) Slaton (1777-1866) ]

Sources

1. ↑ Slaton, Arthur Jackson. Slaton Family Ab Antiquitas: With Brief Notes on Some Allied Families (Whittier, CA: Slaton, 1974), 79. Earlier editions under varying titles.
2. ↑ "Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PPV-1QW?cc=1927197 : 17 July 2019), > image 1 of 1; Georgia Department of Archives and History, Morrow.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1860," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YBJ-9K8P?cc=1473181&wc=7QJZ-PSJ%3A1589422203%2C1589422458%2C1592312568 : 24 March 2017), Elijah Slaton, Alabama > Tallapoosa > Beat no 5 > image 16 of 23; from "1860 U.S. Federal Census - Population," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).