This is an essay I originally wrote on July 21, 1970. It gives the origin of my interest in genealogy and the beginnings of what I knew at the time about my family. The essay is incomplete, contains some errors, and is reproduced here exactly as I wrote it. I used a revised version of the first paragraph as the introduction to my book “The Slaughter Family: The Ancestors and Descendants of Jacob Schlotterer of Bodelshausen, Germany,” which I first published in 1989.

The Origin of the Slaughter Family in America

My first interest in this subject came as a result of a health assignment in the eighth grade. The teacher, Mrs. Williams, told the class that she wanted them to make family trees. I wanted mine to be the largest. So, when I got home that afternoon, I asked my mother questions. At first I had only the names of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Then I added on my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Of course, I had no idea that I had left out most of them. The next day, the teacher looked at my family tree. She noticed one of my great aunts and said that my great uncle was her cousin. That was when I discovered how many people could be related to me.

Since that time, I have tried to find out the names of my ancestors as far back in time as possible. I have found out that one of my ancestors came to America in the 1700’s from Germany. He brought his family and settled in North Carolina north of Raleigh. His earliest descendant that I know the name of is Jacob Glover Slaughter, my great-great-grandfather. He had two children, my great-great-uncle, Rufus Slaughter, and my great-grandfather, Nuptial Blair Slaughter. Nuptial married a Martha Ann, by which he had nine children. Their names are Jacob, Rufus, Moses Thornton, Rachel, August Columbus, Lizzie, Charlie Bratcher, Theophilus Elbert, and Samuel. Jacob Slaughter was known to his nephews as Uncle Jack. His sons are Robert and Ervin. Moses Thornton Slaughter was known as Uncle Chummy. He married twice. Della was his first wife. She had five children, Nelly, Elmer, Henry, Paul, and Christine. Lila, his second wife, had Hubert. August Columbus Slaughter, Uncle Gus, had fifteen children. Their names are, in order of birth, Johnson Roy, Lillian Vide, Nobie Blair, Mallie Mae, Thomas Worth, Osborn, Onnie Elizabeth, India Annar, Otha William, Obie Gentry, Marey Dorcas, Betty Louise, Laura Thompson, Marthy Ann, and William S. Uncle Gus’s wife’s name is Lula Hicks.

July 21, 1970