Surname Saturday: Searching for Slatter, Shehen, and Steiner

Steiner sisters of Wyandot County, Ohio

 On hubby's side of the family tree, I'm searching for these surnames:

• Steiner. Jacob S. Steiner (1802? - ?) married Elizabeth UNK (1802-1864) and brought up a big family in Crawford, OH area. Jacob's granddaughter Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948), shown with her sisters Carrie, Minnie, Maggie, and Blanche in the studio photo above, is hubby's grandmom. I wrote about Floyda and Maggie here and more about the Steiner family is here.
• Slatter. John Slatter Sr. was born in Oxfordshire in 1811, married his wife Sarah in 1832, and the last time I can find him in the UK census (with any certainty) is 1841. His children are Fanny, Thomas, John, Sarah, William, and Daniel, all born between 1833 and 1850. John Sr. is hubby's 2nd great-granddad. I summarized what I know about some of this family on the "John & Mary Slatter" tab at top of the blog. Someday I hope to get at least one generation back from John Sr.
• Shehen. With St. Patty's Day just a week away, I'm thinking about John & Mary Shehen, hubby's 2d great-grandparents, both born in Ireland just after 1801. Their daughter Mary Shehen married John Slatter in 1859. Passing down given names from generation to generation makes it a challenge to keep 'em all straight and locate the right ancestors, I can tell you! Where in Ireland were the older John & Mary Shehen from? Who are their parents/siblings? How and why did they move from Ireland to England?

2013 Brick Wall Priorities (on the Wood tree)

Will 2013 be the year of breakthroughs on my most challenging brick walls? Here are my priorities for the coming year's genealogy research into hubby's family:

• McClure. Are hubby's 3d great-grandparents (John McClure and Ann McFall) originally from Donegal? They married in Rockbridge county, VA, in 1801 and one of their sons was Benjamin McClure (1812-1896), the subject of my Facebook genealogy experiment. If John McClure is from Donegal, is he Scots-Irish? Where in Scotland did the family come from?
• Rinehart. The patriarch of the Rinehart part of the family, Joseph Rinehart, died on December 9, 1888, 124 years ago tomorrow. His very brief obit in the Wyandot County Republican reads: "Joseph Rinehart died Sunday morning, Dec. 9th, at the residence of Mrs. E.G. Steiner [his daughter, Elizabeth Rinehart Steiner], aged 82 years. Funeral Monday afternoon at Oceola O." Joseph was born in 1806 in Pennsylvania; his mother's name was Elizabeth but his father's name I have yet to discover. Did they come from Switzerland or Austria or Germany? And when?
• Shehen. Who were John Shehen's parents and what was John Shehen's wife's maiden name? John (1801-??) was hubby's 2d great-grandpa, born in Ireland, as was his wife, Mary (1801-??). Where in Ireland, I don't yet know...
• Slatter. Where and when did John Slatter Sr. die? He was born in 1811 in Oxfordshire, England, and he was hubby's 2d great-grandpa. Who were his parents and where were they from?

2022 update: I later discovered that yes, John McClure was descended from a Donegal McClure family (see this ancestor landing page). I don't have many answers about the Rinehart family, but here's that ancestor landing page. I do know about the Shehen family and the Slatter family! See this ancestor landing page.

Two Servings of Heritage Pie (with Surnames!)

Thanks to Randy Seaver, Sheri Fenley, and Diane Haddad), I've been thinking about creating genealogical heritage pie charts for hubby and me. Alas, I don't have enough info to go back to all of our great-great-grandparents, so I had to adapt the idea...for now.

At left is Wally's heritage pie for his great-grandparents. He's 25% UK (2022 update: the Slatter line is England but now I know the Shehen was originally from Ireland).

The rest of his great-grands (Wood, Larimer, Demarest, Steiner, McClure, Rinehart) were from the US. The one Ohio great-grand might actually be from Pennsylvania, but we're not sure yet.

The second heritage pie, below, is for Sis and me, showing our grandparents' origins.

We're 50% Hungarian (both maternal grandparents were from Hungary), 25% Lithuanian, and 25% Latvian.

I do know the names of my great-grands on the Farkas and Schwartz trees, and can be sure (as of 2022) that they were from Hungary, as well.

The Latvian great-grands (Birk) are mostly a mystery, and I know nothing at all about the Lithuanian (Mahler) great-grands (if that's where they were from). At least I now, in 2022, have names to research.

Surname Saturday: The Slatter family

Today I'm back on the genealogy trail of the Slatters of England, Canada, and Ohio, including John Slatter (b. 1838 in Oxfordshire, England, d. 1901 in Cleveland, OH) and Mary Shehen (b. 1801? in Marylebone, England, d. ?). These are hubby's great-grandfather and great-grandmother

Captain John Slatter, 48th Highlanders

John and Mary had 4 sons and 2 daughters. I've found no trace of the adult life of Thomas John Slatter, the oldest child--but I do know where the other 5 children settled down and lived their lives.

Albert William Slatter (1862-1935) moved to London, Ontario, Canada and became bandmaster of the 7th London Fusiliers. He and his wife Eleanor N. Slatter (1866-?) had 6 children: Maud, Ada, Albert, Earnest [sic], Glynn, and John. 

John Daniel Slatter* (1864-1954) moved to Toronto, Canada and became the celebrated bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders (see photo). John married Sophie Mary Elizabeth LeGallais and they had 6 children who survived infancy: Albert Matthew, Frederick William, Edith Sophie (who, sadly, died in her 20s), Bessie Louise, Walter John, and Mabel Alice. When Captain Jack died in 1954, his obit listed as survivors: Mabel Davidson, Bert Slatter, Walter Slatter, and Fred Slatter. 

Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942), John's younger brother, was in military bands in London, England, and later moved to Vancouver, where he was bandmaster of the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders. Henry and wife Alice Good had 3 children who survived infancy: Arthur Albert, John Henry, and Dorothy Florence. 

Dorothy Baker Nicholas (?) and Edith Baker Wise (?) with Edgar James Wood

Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter (1868-1947) moved to Ohio and married James Sills Baker. They had 2 children, Dorothy Louise and Edith Eleanor. The photo above shows cousins Dorothy and Edith, with my late father-in-law Edgar James Wood. We haven't yet reconnected with Dorothy's children (Madelyn Nicholas, Joan Nicholas, and Alfred Nicholas).

The baby sister of the Slatter family was Mary Slatter (1869-1925), hubby's grandma, who married grandpa James Edgar Wood on September 21, 1898 in Toledo, Ohio. 2022 update: I now know a lot about the Slatters, summarized on my ancestor landing page here!

*Jack Shea recently left a comment on one of my posts about Capt. Jack, saying: "The Dileas, the Regimental history, says that he was as ramrod-straight the day he retired as the day he joined the Regiment." Also he mentioned that Capt. Jack received the Member of the Order of the British Empire, a meritorious service medal, and a King George V Silver Jubilee Medal, all of which are in the Regimental Museum, I believe.

Sunday's Obituary: Who WAS Louisa A. M. Slatter, d. 1895?

She's still a mystery, this Louisa A. M. Slatter who married John Slatter Sr. (hubby's g-grandfather) sometime between 1891 and 1895. 

I've yet to find out when/where John Slatter Sr's first wife died--she was Mary Shehen Slatter, b. 1840 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England. John was born in 1838 in Oxfordshire, England. John & Mary's children moved to Canada and the US, and by the late 1880s, John had moved to Cleveland, where his daughter, Mary, later married James Edgar Wood. I speculate that John (a wallpaper cleaner and hanger) met James Edgar Wood (a builder) in Cleveland and that's how Mary met her husband (and became hubby's grandparents).

But now back to Louisa, who's an unknown. Her obit appeared in the Cleveland papers on February 26, 1895. It reads:

Slatter. Louisa A. M. Slatter, wife of J. Slatter, at 2 a.m., February 24, age 46. Funeral from residence, No. 433 1/2 St. Clair St, at 2 p.m., City time, Tuesday, February 26. Chosen friends invited. Cincinnati papers please copy.

So what do I know about Louisa? According to the cemetery record, Louisa was white, a native of England, and died of Brights disease. When John Slatter Sr. died, he was buried next to her.

I've tried calling, writing, and e-mailing the Cuyahoga County clerk's office asking about whether a death cert exists for Louisa Slatter. In the past, I've had good luck with them, but this time, after 6 months of intermittent requests, no response (perhaps because no record exists in their files). Nor have I ever located a marriage record for Louisa and John. I'm going to try to find some connection with Cincinnati, given the obit's mention of it.

2022 Update: Louisa has been found! I redid my research from scratch on a different genealogy site and discovered where she and John Slatter tied the knot.

I Married Him for His Ancestors, St. Patrick's Day Edition

This is the first year since the start of my genealogical adventure that I know for certain that there are Irish ancestors in my hubby's family tree. This year, we can wear green and celebrate with specific ancestors in mind! (No Irish ancestors in my family tree . . . I had to marry into the shamrocks.)

Here's a summary of himself's Irish roots:

• John & Mary Shehen (or Shehan or Sheehan). According to the 1841 UK Census, John & Mary Shehan were both born in Ireland around 1801 (she might have been born as late as 1806, if later census records are correct). No trail yet to indicate when and how they came to London, but in 1841 they lived in Gray's Buildings, Marylebone, Middlesex county. They were married with three children, all born in London: Thomas (7), Mary (3), and Michael (8 mos). Mary grew up to marry John Slatter Sr., and become hubby's g-gma.
• Robert Larimer & Mary O'Gallagher Larimer. According to a Larimer family history, the young Robert Larimer sailed from Ireland in 1740 with a chest of Irish linen, bound for the new world. He was shipwrecked, then rescued by a man who made him an indentured servant to pay for his rescue. After many years, Robert decided he'd repaid his benefactor with enough years of his life and walked away from the man's land near Philadelphia, going west to Kishocoquillis Valley, PA. He married Mary O'Gallagher (or Gallagher), who was born in Northern Ireland about 1721, and together they settled in Fairfield county, Ohio. Robert & Mary were hubby's  5th g-grandpa.
• John McClure. Hubby's 3d g-grandpa was born from a line of McClures who probably came from County Donegal. John McClure married Ann McFall in 1801 and their son was Benjamin McClure, hubby's 2d g-gfather.

May the road rise up to meet you ...

Those Places Thursday: Whitechapel, London, Middlesex, England

Straight from the General Register Office in England, here's the 1859 marriage document for my husband's great-grandma Mary Shehen [sic] Slatter and her husband, John Slatter.

I have to check the address--here it looks like Heneage Street in London--but I have a suspicion that this is where John and Mary met, since they both live at the same address in the district of Whitechapel.

And thanks to this document, I can see that there were many more Johns in the family than I realized--John Slatter's father is John Slatter, and Mary's father is John as well. Mary's father was born in Ireland, and this says he was a bricklayer. John's father died before this marriage, so I can go looking for his death info.

Maybe the witnesses, Samuel and Elizabeth Gartley, were the landlords? Well, lots to investigate here.

Whitechapel sound familiar? Jack the Ripper worked this area of London from 1888-1891, well after the the Slatters and Shehens were gone, either died or moved to Canada.

PS - Thanks to a genealogy angel in Ireland, I found out that Mary Shehen's parents, John Shehen and Mary [maiden name UNK] Shehen, were born in Ireland in 1801 or so. More research is in my future!