Slaughter, Joseph

SLAUGHTER, MEYERS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 12/3/2008 at 19:29:02

SLAUGHTER, Joseph
Farmer and stock raiser; Sec. 5; P. O. Colfax; born in Perry Co., Ohio, Oct. 27, 1819; came to this county in 1838; has 1,000 acres of land, valued at $60,000; Married Balinda MEYERS; she was born in Licking Co., Ohio, in 1817; they have seven children-John W., Hester E., Mary E., Solomon, Scott, Taylor and Emma. Emigrated from Ohio to Des Moines Co. in 1838; lived there two years; thence to Henry Co.; lived there three years; thence to Jasper Co., where he has resided since; when he first came here his nearest neighbor was fourteen miles away; was the third man in the county, and don't know that he wasn't but the second; there were at the time he came here plenty of Indians, deer, wolves and wild turkeys; raised his shanty in 1838, and in the Spring of 1839 brought his family out; had to stay in the wagon until he got the roof on; the first election he attended was at Edwards' Grove, before the county was laid out into sections; helped to carry the chain to lay it out; had an ox team, three milch cows, one two-year-old colt, four sows and $3.25 in his pocket; came here a poor man when the prairies were wild, and by pluck and an iron will to battle against the hardship of a new country, is among the wealthiest men of the county. ~ "Mound Prairie Township Biographies," The History of Jasper County, Iowa, (Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1878)