Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bandmaster. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bandmaster. Sort by date Show all posts

Thursday, January 11, 2018

52 Ancestors #2: Researching the Slatter Portrait

This week's #52Ancestors challenge is to write about my favorite genealogy portrait.

The portrait at left was passed down in my husband's family for 100 years. It's a studio portrait taken in Toronto, showing a military man in full uniform, holding a baton. Who was he? No caption, but my sister-in-law remembered a name like "Captain E. Slatter."


A second photo, at right, had more clues. On the back was written:

Camp Borden, Ont. 1917
Standing outside my tent
I only put my kilt on for special occasions in camp as it is so dusty with sand blowing all day 


After I posted these photos in 2011, a sharp-eyed reader identified the uniform as that of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto. I emailed the 48th Highlanders Museum in Toronto and heard back from one of the volunteers, who identified the man as Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), a beloved bandmaster who led the 48th Highlanders band for 50 years.

Now I knew Capt. Slatter was my husband's great uncle, brother to Mary Slatter Wood!

I've done a lot of research into Capt. Slatter's background, even visited Toronto to see the 48th Highlanders museum. But there's always more info out there, and I'm always on the lookout.
Today, I found a lengthy mention of Capt. Slatter in the book, Training for Armageddon: Niagara Camp in the Great War, 1914-1917, by Richard D. Merritt.

This book actually confirms that Capt. Slatter had his own tent at Camp Borden, Ontario--the very tent shown in the captioned photo passed down in the family!

Here's an excerpt:

"On the morning of departure [for WWI training], the university soldiers marched through the streets of Toronto with great fanfare down to the dock, led by their newly formed brass band under the direction of the legendary bandmaster Captain John Slatter . . . Slatter was assigned his own canvas tent where he could relax in the evenings while reviewing the next day's music program and perhaps reminisce on his already remarkable career. . . Slatter was appointed Director of Brass and Bugle bands for Military District #2 at Camp Borden, training 63 army bands and over a thousand buglers until the end of the Great War."



Saturday, March 2, 2024

Trying OldNews.com, New from MyHeritage

I've been trying OldNews.com, the new historical newspaper site that was announced at RootsTech by MyHeritage. 

Playing around with a search

The search interface is clean and uncluttered. On first glance, though, it's not clear that users can filter the name, the date(s), the place, even publication name.

But as shown above, after I entered the given name and surname of hubby's great uncle, the renowned Canadian bandmaster Capt. John D. Slatter, I was able to filter by tapping my cursor in the name box. A drop-down menu let me click or unclick to match the exact phrase. I didn't want search results to have "John" or "Slatter" or separated by other words, so I clicked to match the phrase exactly. You may want to try your search both ways, just in case.


Filtering is also possible for publication place, again by tapping the cursor in the publication place box, as shown above. I chose to match the place, because this was Capt. Slatter's hometown. I know he was in news reports all over North America, but for this search, I only wanted news of him in Toronto in a specific time period.




My full search eventually looked like this: exact name, publication year + or _ 20 years, exact place, no publication name (because I wanted to see multiple Toronto newspapers if available).  BTW, I did try "Captain Slatter" but results weren't at all close, at least in this time period. And I didn't try a later time period, which I will do at another point.

Results!

Among other results, up popped a truly wonderful result from the Daily Mail and Empire, Toronto, which I have never seen

It's the origin story of how Capt. Slatter came to be hired as bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto. Best of all, it confirms that this illustrious ancestor of my husband did, indeed, live in Detroit (briefly), played with the Grand Opera orchestra there, and was indeed a member of John Philip Sousa's famous band. Wow! I'm thrilled.

IMHO

I wish there was easy, obvious access to a listing of publications that I could check before performing a search. 

I wish I could see at a glance what countries and cities are represented in this newspaper database.

I wish I could specify a certain time period to search, such as 1881-1904, instead of clicking for plus or minus a set number of years.

These enhancements may be on the way, but for now, I'm trying different searches to see what new info I can find.

Monday, January 17, 2022

Favorite Photo That Led to a Breakthrough

 

This photo of a distinguished man in uniform was passed down in my husband's family for a century.

We had no idea who it was until 2011. 

After I posted the photo on my blog, two wonderful readers recognized the uniform, the big breakthrough I needed.

Capt. John Daniel Slatter

This is Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), in full regalia as Bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto.

With a name and dates, I knew just where he should fit in the family tree.

Capt. Slatter is an older brother of hubby's grandma, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). Now I had a new research angle to explore!

Over the next few months, I corresponded with the 48th Highlanders' museum in Toronto. Later, hubby and I drove up for a visit. We learned a great deal about Capt. Slatter's military career from the curators. In turn, we left them a family tree and biographical information to supplement the military artifacts and records in the museum's possession.

Bite-Sized Bio

More recently, I wrote a bite-sized bio to memorialize this legendary bandmaster, posting it on Family Search, Find a Grave, and other sites. It wasn't easy to squeeze his personal life and professional accomplishments into four paragraphs (with sources summarized at the end--see below). 

Thanks to eagle-eyed readers getting me started with the initial identification, I've now traced the Slatter family further back in time and can memorialize more ancestors with bite-sized bios on multiple genealogy websites. 

* This is my week 3 post for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge, with the theme of "favorite photo."



Thursday, January 18, 2024

WikiTree Connect-a-Thon This Weekend

For 72 hours, from Friday at 8 am Eastern US time to Monday at 8 am Eastern US time, WikiTree is holding a worldwide virtual Connect-a-Thon. 

This is an opportunity to "add missing relatives" to the giant, searchable, free family tree on WikiTree.

It's a fun "thon" because we can register to part of teams competing to add the most new profiles to the tree. I'm registered as part of Team L'Chaim, adding both Jewish and non-Jewish ancestor profiles from my line and my husband's line. 

I enjoy the sense of community throughout the weekend, and the opportunity to focus on adding profiles with bite-sized bios to commemorate those who came before. 

I'm also categorizing my ancestors to highlight specific aspects of their lives, such as "48th Highlanders of Canada" for my hubby's renowned bandmaster ancestor, Capt. John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954). If someone is searching for a member of that distinguished Toronto regiment, the category page here shows other profiles already on WikiTree. Ready to connect!

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Sentimental Sunday: Three Generations of Fighting Slatters

For Memorial Day, I'm honoring the military service of hubby's Slatter family.

Above, a news photo with caption that sums up my tribute: "Three Generations of Fighting Slatters."

At far left is Lt. Frederick William Slatter (1890-?). Lt. F. W. Slatter was wounded during WWI while serving with the Canadian armed forces at the famous Battle of Vimy Ridge in April, 1917.

Second from left is Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), father of Frederick. "Capt. Jack" gained fame as the long-time Bandmaster of Toronto's 48th Highlanders. In 1944, he was appointed a member of the Order of the British Empire as a tribute to his service in training military bands for so many decades.

Third from left is John Hutson Slatter (1920-2012), grandson of Capt. Jack. John enlisted in the Canadian military in the spring of 1940 for service in WWII. At far right is Lt. Albert Matthew Slatter (1887-1970), son of Capt. Jack, brother of Frederick, and father of John Hutson Slatter. Lt. A.M. Slatter served in Canada's No. 4 Company of 15th Battalion and then in the 48th Highlanders during WWI.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wordless Wednesday (almost): More Canadian badges from WWI

Members recruited from Canadian universities . . . formed in 1918
Based in Toronto, a unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force
Unit organized in 1866, one of 107 Canadian infantry units in WWI
With Canada Day only a few days away, I wanted to post more of the WWI badges collected by (I believe) Captain John Daniel Slatter, long-time bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders Regiment based in Toronto.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Occupation as a Theme in Family History

Home built by James E. Wood on Lancelot Ave, Cleveland Hts, Ohio
Home built by James E. Wood on
Lancelot Ave., Cleveland Hts, Ohio

In my husband's family tree, multiple generations of people had the same occupation. Another recurring pattern was younger generations choosing vastly different occupations than the generations who came before. The theme of occupation can be a really good hook for sharing bite-sized family history stories, no matter what your ancestors did for a living.

Slatter: Military men

My husband's three great uncles in the Slatter family were military bandmasters, and their sons also joined the military. I've written a few bite-sized family history bios of these men, and found lots of rich research, in particular, about Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) and Bandmaster Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942). But even without the extra details about how Capt. Slatter popularized the kiltie band, I can organize stories around the multiple generations of Slatters who served their country in wartime and in peacetime. 

Younger relatives in our family were quite interested in the dramatic backstory of how the three Slatter brothers got their military training, starting in their preteen years. They were also fascinated by artifacts such as this WWI handkerchief, passed down in the family for more than a century. The theme of military career has been a hook for me to tell quick stories on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, not just in bite-sized bios, photo books, and on websites.

Wood: Carpenters for generations, then none

My husband's grandfather, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939) plus James's brothers and father and earlier generations going back many generations were--as the name Wood implies--carpenters. Earlier Wood ancestors were shipbuilders and general carpenters, later Wood ancestors applied carpentry to build railroad carriages, homes, and other things. 

The family still has several photos of homes built by grandfather Wood in Cleveland and Cleveland Heights, Ohio, during the first three decades of the 1900s. At top, the photo shows a home Wood built on Lancelot Ave, Cleveland Heights, as it looks today--more than a century after it was constructed. The grandchildren were impressed that their ancestor built a home so sturdy that it looks very good even after so many decades.

Then I tell the youngsters that our Wood line no longer has any carpenters. After James, the next generation went into professional careers such as stockbroker, insurance, and company management. That abrupt shift got their attention, sparking conversation about the older careers and the newer careers. 

Lower: Attendance officer and breadwinner

There were women teachers in several branches of my husband's family tree during the first decades of the 1900s, but usually they stopped teaching soon after marriage. Hubby's grand aunt, Lola McClure Lower (1877-1948), wasn't a teacher, though she worked in schools when she became the breadwinner of her family after her husband, a civil engineer, was confined to bed.

Lola built a career as a truant officer in Wabash, Indiana, and became well-respected in the field, giving presentations to regional conferences. How she found time to volunteer for the Red Cross for 25 years, I'll never know. Telling her story is an opportunity to hear what younger relatives think about her choice of occupation! Plus an opportunity to discuss societal and economic changes during the 20th century as more women entered the workforce.

IMHO, any occupation, in any time period, can be an engaging theme for sharing family history stories. Just don't bury the lede

Saturday, February 15, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #8: Great Aunt Ada (Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter)

The bandmaster Slatter brothers, hubby's great uncles, had two sisters. The youngest was Mary Slatter (who married James Edgar Wood and became hubby's grandma). Mary's older sister was Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter (1868-1947), called "Aunt Ada" in the family.

This family apparently adored the name Mary, which was passed down from Mary Shehen (Ada's grandma) to Mary Slatter (Ada's mom) and then to both Mary and Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter. That's where the reign of Mary ended, however.

Born in Whitechapel, London, Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter moved to Ohio in the 1890s and married James Sills Baker in 1896 in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland). Ada and James relocated to Toledo for a time, then back to Cleveland. I haven't found James's death date/place. Ada was widowed, later died in Cook County, Illinois--what was she doing there?

Ada and James Baker had 2 children, Dorothy Louise and Edith Eleanor. The photo at left shows my late father-in-law Edgar James Wood, in Cleveland, with these cousins  (we think).

The second marriage of Edith Baker (1901-1989) was in 1948 in Cleveland to Charles C. "Buck" Wise (1895-1963). He had a daughter from his first marriage, Janice Wise (1927-1988). Dorothy Baker (1897-1981) married Alfred Henry Nicholas (1899-1986) and they had three children.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #20: Capt. John Slatter, "Dileas Gu Brath"

Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) served as bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders in Toronto for 50 years. Although I've written about him many times, today for the first time I saw the three-foot tall photo portrait of him, below, which once graced the officers' mess in the Armory (now long gone).

The 48th Highlanders' museum is located in the basement of St. Andrew's Church on King Street in Toronto. Inside the church is this magnificent stained glass window, testament to the longstanding and close ties between the church and the regiment.

Capt. Slatter most certainly embodied the regiment's motto: "Dileas Gu Brath"--Gaelic for "Faithful Forever." Well into his 80s, he put on his uniform and greeted those of the 48th Highlanders who had served overseas in WWII, upon their return to Toronto.

According to Canadian records, Capt. Slatter's son, Albert Matthew Slatter, also served in the military. During WWI, he was confirmed in the rank of Lieutenant and by 1918, he was a member of No. 4 Company of the 15th battalion. He may have been wounded in the battle for the Canal du Nord (he was reported at a dressing station September 28, 1918)--part of the Hundred Days that led to the war's end.

Today's visit with the wonderful folks of the 48th who staff the museum brought up an intriguing possibility. According to Capt. Slatter's 1954 obit, his daughter Mabel Alice married a man named Davidson.

The first commanding officer of the fabled 48th was John Irvine Davidson, born in Aberdeen, Scotland and a highly successful business man in Toronto. Did Capt. Slatter's daughter marry into this Davidson family? That's a question I'll research as I continue to look for more Slatter cousins.

Here are photos and a brief video snippet of the 48th Highlanders Church Parade, which took place on May 25 this year.

 
22 second video of the 48th Highlanders parading to St. Andrew's Church



Sunday, November 11, 2012

A Day to Remember Our Veterans

PFC Wood in Korea


Sgt. Dorothy H. Schwartz
Captain John Daniel Slatter

Bandmaster Henry Arthur Slatter
Privates Harold and Sidney Burk
My family tree and my husband's family tree include a number of vets from WWI and WWII, as well as peacetime service. A few are pictured above. Thank you to our veterans! Never forget.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Motivation Monday: Telling the Story of Wood and Slatter

Sample page from my Wood/Slatter family memory booklet
Hubby's family has a reunion planned for this summer. That's motivated me to prepare a new family memory booklet, telling the story of his paternal grandparents, Mary Slatter Wood and James Edgar Wood.

It's quite a story, with the Wood family's generations-old tradition of working in wood and their Mayflower connection, plus the Slatter family's Whitechapel roots and their illustrious bandmaster relatives. The family knew very little of this background when I began researching more than a decade ago.

Now, thanks to century-old photo albums, field trips side-by-side with my husband cranking microfilm readers and pulling courthouse documents, and a Genealogy Go-Over to double-check data and records, we know a lot about these ancestors. There's still a lot we won't ever know (exactly how and when Mary and James met, for example). But it's time to begin the writing process, and include plenty of photos to bring these ancestors alive for the generations to come.

The table of contents for THE STORY OF JAMES EDGAR WOOD AND MARY SLATTER WOOD currently reads:
  1. James Edgar Wood's Family Background
  2. Mary Slatter's Family Background
  3. What Was the World Like When James & Mary Were Born (circa 1870)? (To give younger relatives a sense of daily life before the automobile, electricity, etc.)
  4. James & Mary's Life in Cleveland
  5. James as Carpenter and Home Builder (see sample page, above)
  6. Driving the 1917 Ford to Chicago (documented in a family photo album)
  7. At Home with the Wood Family (with photos and quotes from descendants)
  8. How the Woods and Slatters Stayed in Touch (postcards to/from cousins, border crossings showing visits)
  9. What Happened to Mary and James (moving, later life, remarriage, burial)
  10. What Happened to the Wood Brothers (brief overview of their adult lives)
  11. Where, When, and Sources (timeline and sources used to confirm details)
  12. Photo Captions (names/dates/places or as much is known)

Rather than spend a fortune printing a bound book, I'll have the 20-odd pages of this booklet printed on good paper using the laser color printer at my local office supply store. Then I'll insert them into a clear report cover for presentation. If we want to add or change something later on, it's easy to remove the spine and switch out one or more pages.

As suggested by my good friend Mary, I'm including my sources. But instead of putting them in the main narrative, I'm relegating them to a section in the back of the booklet, to avoid slowing the flow (and to keep younger readers engaged).

My goal is to bring the story of Wood and Slatter alive for future generations with a colorful booklet combining facts and photos into a narrative that flows. It's part of my promise to "share with heirs," as I explain in my book, Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Tombstone Tuesday - Operation: Picture Me Finds Capt. Slatter's Resting Place

Hubby's great uncle, Capt. John Daniel Slatter, died in Toronto in February, 1954. I have numerous obits of his illustrious life as the beloved bandmaster of Toronto's 48th Highlanders Regiment for 50 years.


But none of the tributes mentioned where the good Captain is buried. So as part of my Genealogy Do-Over/Go-Over, I reached out to my friendly contacts at the 48th Highlanders Museum in Toronto, which hubby and I visited in 2014.

Dave, the wonderful museum volunteer and prolific Find A Grave contributor behind Operation: Picture Me, dedicates himself to locating and posting photos of Canadian military personnel who died during wartime, as a way to honor their memory.


 Not only did Dave immediately search for a funeral notice for Capt. Slatter--stating that the burial would be in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto--he also posted it on Capt. Slatter's Find A Grave page.

Then Dave went to the cemetery and photographed the Slatter family's headstone, front and back.

 Thanks to Dave's kindness and dedication, the family now can see the final resting place of Capt. Slatter and his wife Sophie Marie Le Gallais Slatter, plus two daughters (Edith Sophie Slatter and Bessie Louise Slatter), along with son Albert Matthew Slatter and Albert's wife, Maude Mary Hutson.

To Dave and Operation: Picture Me--please know how much your efforts are appreciated!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Sepia Saturday, Photo within a Photo: The 48th Highlanders of Toronto

Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), my late father-in-law, was 14 when he took up photography. He delighted in printing and enlarging his photos on his own.

Scanning the prints in his 1917 album, I came across the above photo of Ed's dad, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939). It was taken in Cleveland, at one of the many homes built by James during his construction career.

I didn't need a magnifying glass to recognize the photo on the wall, top left. Here it is, enlarged.

It shows the 48th Highlanders of Toronto, with Captain John D. Slatter, bandmaster. (There's no mistaking the kilts and boots.)

Capt. Jack (as we in the family like to call him) was the photographer's uncle, brother of his mother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). The families were in touch regularly. Capt. Jack's children crossed the border from Toronto to see their aunt Mary and her family on a number of occasions, we know from postcards (and border crossing documents).

On the eve of Veteran's Day, I want to salute Capt. Jack and all the other veterans in the Wood family.

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Surname Saturday: Proof of Mary Slatter and "Melancholia"

During my Gen Go-Over, I've been determined to find out whether my husband's great-great-grandma Mary Shehen Slatter was in two notorious London insane asylums.

Mary's death date was a mystery for years. I proved that her husband John Slatter (1838-1901) had come to America by 1888 (I have him listed in a Cleveland city directory for that year and later years). John remarried in America, his second wife died in 1895, and John himself died at the Cleveland home of his younger daughter, Mary Slatter Wood, in 1901.

But what was the fate of Mary Slatter? Chasing down the many Slatters in UK civil death registers, I found a listing of a Mary Slatter dying at age 52 in April, 1889. Of course I wondered why Mary's husband would be in America while she was dying in the London area, but the age and location was approximately correct to be great-great-grandma Mary.

Have your tissue box handy. Now I have proof of Mary's unfortunate fate. And one reason the proof works is because I can match mother and children's names/dates to the documents, as well as developing a rough timeline of what happened, when, and why. Researching one name (Mary Slatter) is a lot more difficult than researching a few family members! So think in terms of families, not ancestors in isolation.

As I wrote in January, I discovered that Mary's five children had been admitted to a London workhouse. Then I found the registry for a Mary Slatter admitted to Banstead Asylum. My sweet cousin in London visited the London Metropolitan Archives and examined the ledgers in person. She told me that Mary had actually been admitted to Colney Hatch Asylum before being moved to Banstead Asylum--and that both asylums were horrific places to be confined.

Recently, my cousin returned to the archives and gave me more specifics from the Colney Hatch Admission Register, which is available only to in-person visitors. What she learned, plus other documents I've uncovered, proves that my husband's great-great-grandma was the Mary Slatter admitted to these asylums.

Cousin Anna found that Mary Slatter, wife of a laborer and living in Whitechapel, was admitted to Colney Hatch on June 1, 1874, suffering from "melancholia" with a symptom of "imagines she is dead." Oh, dear.

"Time insane" was listed as 3 weeks. Now the timing becomes critical: Mary's children were admitted to the workhouse on May 18, 1874, just weeks before Mary's admission to Colney Hatch. If Mary was incapacitated, where would her children be cared for? Apparently, the workhouse.

More proof: Cousin Anna read the "Whitechapel Union Register of Lunatics and Idiots" and learned that Mary Slatter had, in fact, been admitted to Colney Hatch from a workhouse, "passed from St. Saviours." This is significant (I'll explain in a moment) but also the notation that "Children at Forest Gate Sch"--meaning Forest Gate School.

When the five children were admitted to the workhouse in May, 1874, the matron of Forest Gate School referred them there. Other evidence shows that the children were enrolled at Forest Gate School. And all the children's names from the workhouse register match the names/ages of Mary's children.

Now about St. Saviour. (Get a fresh hanky.) Mary was admitted to workhouses in the parish of St. Saviour multiple times in 1873-4 (the earliest I've so far found is September, 1873). Sometimes with her children! So the notation in Colney Hatch Asylum's register that Mary was coming from a "workhouse, passed from St. Saviours," exactly fits great-great-grandma Mary's situation as I've reconstructed it.

(See bottom of post for final proof, Mary Slater [sic] being discharged from workhouse on June 1, 1874 as "insane." That was the same day Mary was admitted to Colney Hatch Asylum. It's always good to investigate alternative spellings like Slater and Slattery, not just the name as actually known.)

At top of this post is the workhouse admission register from January 17, 1874, showing Mary and her children. This indicates that she was a servant and her "master" admitted her. From my admittedly modern perspective, I wonder whether the point of being admitted was to have food and shelter for a night or more? And where on earth is John Slatter, Mary's husband, during all this time??

Here's the answer and more proof. Mary and her children were again admitted to a workhouse, in April 22, 1874, as shown below. Names/dates match. Residence: "No Home." She is married, wife of John, "deserted." And the children? You can't see in this excerpt, but the children were sent to . . . Forest Gate School. There is no longer any doubt about the sad life and fate of hubby's g-g-grandma, Mary Shehen Slatter. RIP.

One reason I do genealogy is to honor the memory of ancestors, who paved the way for us to live our lives. I had no idea what my husband's Slatter family endured, and even though I am typing through my tears, I am also proud that their descendants had full and productive lives. Mary Shehen Slatter's bandmaster sons were renowned in Canada. Her two daughters made homes in Ohio and raised families of their own. If only g-g-grandma Mary had known what would become of her children and their children, perhaps this would have given her a bit of peace and comfort.

Mary "Slater" discharged from workhouse on June 1 as "insane" - same day as admission to asylum.

Monday, October 10, 2022

Redoing Research = Fresh Results


During the summer, the Library and Archives Canada website launched a new website, redesigned for accessibility and easier navigation. 

Today, with Canada's Thanksgiving Day on my mind, I retraced my steps to redo my research into hubby's great uncles from the Slatter family tree, all Canadian bandmasters.

Ancestor search


As shown here on the main search page, the choices are "library search" and "ancestor search."

I used "ancestor search" to look for results related to Captain John D. Slatter (1864-1954), the renowned bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto. 

He served in that post for 50 years and both wrote and arranged lots of military music. Two musical pieces show up as the first of 65 items in the results. Although I know a lot about the good Captain, I'm always interested in discovering new nuggets of family history, like these.

Look at all results


Interestingly, because of the way the search function operates on this website, I found not John D. Slatter, but his oldest son, Albert Matthew Slatter (1887-1970), on page 3 of the results. 

Clicking to view the result, I found in the Canada Gazette of November 15, 1919, Albert was mentioned in a long list of changes in military status (promotions, demobs, medically unfit, etc) announced via this paper. 

I knew of Albert's military service, because I have his attestation and other documents, but this aspect was a new wrinkle. So I'm happily redoing other searches for the Slatter bandmasters, expecting a few fresh results to turn up!

By the way, my genealogy friend and blogger Linda Stufflebean left a comment that reinforces the idea of redoing research as time goes on: "Today, it always pays to refresh because of all the new records becoming available." So true!

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends up north.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

The Ancestor with the Best PR--in 1900


Three of my husband's Slatter great uncles were military bandmasters in Canada, often featured in news items of the early and middle 20th century.

Capt. John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), his brother Capt. Albert William Slatter (1862-1935), and another brother, Capt. Henry Arthur Slatter (1866-1942) were all born into poverty in Whitechapel, London, England. We found some clues to their early military training on the Training Ship Goliath when researching in the London Metropolitan Archives last month.

At left is a 1901 article from Westfield, Massachusetts, singing the praises of Captain John D. Slatter and his 48th Highlanders of Toronto military band, the original "Kilties." Yes, the same Kilties who kicked off the craze for such bands early in the 20th century! That's part of what made Capt. Slatter so famous.

The article below, "Every Inch a Soldier," points out that the good captain actually earned a combat service medal and is expert with a sword, rifle, bayonet, and other weapons. This is from a Dubuque, Iowa newspaper in 1900.

But the story about Capt. Slatter's military background wasn't based on a personal interview or fresh inside information. In fact, it's from a widely-circulated press release of the time. In 1900! 

I found very similar wording in lots of U.S. newspapers, as the band's publicity people drummed up interest in tickets to Kiltie concerts from coast to coast.

Clearly, my husband's well-known Toronto bandmaster ancestor had a very savvy public relations person paving the way for his Kiltie band's appearances. Lucky me to have all these news clippings of Capt. Slatter's travels and accomplishments.

PS - Any comments won't appear for a few days but I'll catch up very soon!

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Reading Frederick William Slatter's WWI Military Records


My husband's Slatter family had a multi-generational tradition of military service. This post honors the memory of his 1c1r Frederick William Slatter (1890-1958) who was severely wounded while serving with Canadian forces in World War I. Frederick was the second son of Capt. John Daniel Slatter (renowned military bandmaster in the 48th Highlanders of Toronto) and Sophie Marie Elizabeth Le Gallais (1861-1943).

Beyond Attestation

According to Frederick's Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces attestation paper, he joined the 75th Battalion on August 11, 1915. It had just been formed as an infantry unit for World War I service. 

Frederick, a bank clerk, was just weeks shy of his 25th birthday. He told officials he was unmarried, had been a member of a Canadian militia, and had previously served in the 2d Queen's Own unit. 

The complete military record covers 62 pages (including envelopes and blank pages) in the Library and Archives of Canada. This comprehensive file tells the story of his journey from the time he signed the attestation (and resigned and signed a new attestation) to his period of service in the European theatre and then to hospitals and finally to leaving the military. Unexpectedly, the file even included his date of death, decades after the war.

From Private to Acting Sergeant

After Frederick was medically cleared to serve in the 75th Battalion (formerly the 180th Battalion), he went into training. He was ranked as a private when he resigned from the 75th Battalion on February 8, 1916 to accept a commission as an acting sergeant with the 109th Regiment and then absorbed into the180th Battalion.  

Before being deployed overseas, Frederick trained at Camp Borden, the same Canadian training camp where his father (Capt. John Daniel Slatter) was training hundreds of buglers for World War I service. Then, 104 years ago this week, Frederick sailed from Halifax to Europe with other Canadian troops on H.M.T. Olympic

"GSW Chest Sev" Before Battle of Vimy Ridge

By early 1917, he was one of the thousands of soldiers massing in France to prepare for the notorious battle of Vimy Ridge. Many were wounded or lost their lives before the major offensive. On March 28, only days before the big battle began, Frederick was shot and subsequently admitted to the Duchess of Westminster Hospital in Le Touquet, France.

His medical condition was noted as: GSW chest sev - meaning a severe gun shot wound to the chest. He was moved to two other hospitals for treatment before being discharged from medical care on May 6, 1917. He was promoted to become Lt. Frederick William Slatter in September, 1917, and appears with that rank in the history of the 180th Battalion booklet. Ultimately, he was reevaluated by medical boards, declared medically unfit for service in early 1918, and returned to Canada for discharge.

Unexpected Find: Death Date

As I scrolled through Frederick's lengthy file, I found several pages that revealed his death date. Above, the card noting that Frederick was considered active in the theatre of war (France) from November 13, 1916 (the date of his sailing from Canada). Typed above his name at top left is the date he died, July 15, 1958.

Rest in peace, Lt. Frederick William Slatter, being honored for Remembrance Day and Veterans Day in 2020.

Friday, November 22, 2019

Treasured Heirlooms: Slatter Family

World War I bugle from Slatter family
Hubby's great uncle, Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954) was a renowned military bandmaster with the 48th Highlanders Regiment of Toronto. But before that, he was a very poor boy from the Whitechapel section of London, who was placed on two successive training ships on the Thames to learn military and musical skills.

At age 11, he was on H.M. Training Ship Goliath, listed as band sergeant and solo cornet of the boy's band. A few years later, he was able to enlist in the Army. Then, after a stint in the 7th Fusiliers, he married and went to Toronto, where in 1896 he was the founding director of the 48th Highlanders kiltie band. He and the band toured the world in the early years of the 20th century, popularizing the kiltie band craze and serving as proud ambassadors for the 48th Highlanders.

During World War I, Capt. Slatter was Director of Brass and Bugle Bands for Canadian Military District #2. While stationed at Camp Borden, he trained 1,000 buglers during the war years.

My husband inherited a WWI bugle that we strongly believe was Capt. Slatter's, given to his youngest sister, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). She was hubby's paternal grandmother, and she left several WWI artifacts to the family. This is just one. Another is a Tipperary handkerchief that is quite well preserved, now safely stored in an archival box (inside archival tissue paper) for future generations to enjoy.

Friday, January 13, 2012

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy: WorldCat

A chain of events, starting with a post of a family photo on this blog, led me to my first clues about Captain John Slatter's long and illustrious career with the 48th Highlanders Regiment of Toronto, Canada. I've been in touch with the regiment and with its museum for a few months now.

To find out even more, I used WorldCat to locate any printed materials about this famous regiment. On the top of the list was George W. Beal's book (cover above), Family of Volunteers: An Illustrated History of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. And it's available from the Library of Congress, an easy inter-library-loan away from me.

My local library was kind enough to request the book (for a very minimal charge) and it arrived just 5 weeks later, for use only in the library. I read through, and then took out my new portable scanning wand and captured several pages of info about Captain Slatter, including photos and more. Also, I photographed the same pages and the cover.

Here's a shot of the index entry for Capt. Slatter: 

 

Thanks to WorldCat, I now know more about the history of the 48th Highlanders, and more about my husband's great-uncle Jack, who served as bandmaster for 50 years.

WorldCat is free and you never know what you'll find--like me, you might come across a book or two that will give you new insights about your family tree.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Motivation Monday: Those Brickwalls Are Crumbling

When I began this blog in 2008, I put the following sentence at the top: Adventures in genealogy . . . finding out who my ancestors were and connecting with cousins today!  What adventures I've had, and what joy in finding cousins all over the map. 

Botpalad, hometown of Moritz Farkas
Nothing is as motivating as a breakthrough, right? November is possibly my best-ever month for bringing down brickwalls, which only makes me want to dig deeper. It's been so exciting that it's hard to know where to begin...remember, all of this happened in the past 25 days, and the month isn't over yet :)
  • "Hello Cousin" was the subject line on a much-anticipated e-mail from Israel. After many months of searching, I've finally connected with long-lost Schwartz cousins on my maternal grandfather's side! My 2d cousin confirmed our relationship and sent me wonderful photos of herself and the rest of our family in Israel. Next up: A Skype session! All in the same month that Sis and I met "Philly Cuz" for the first time in person--she's also a 2d cousin on the Schwartz side. And in the same month, I saw my 1st cuz from Queens (Hi, Ira!)
  • "James Elmer Larimer" was the subject line on an e-mail that arrived out of the blue. As I wrote just recently, this gentleman is trying to find the connection between hubby's Larimer line and his family (still working on that). He was kind enough to share the wagon-train journal kept by James Elmer Larimer's widow, Asenath Larimer, who went with her brother John Cornwell and three of his neighbors to join the Gold Rush in 1852. The journal is an incredible first-person account of what it was like to walk day after day through an unknown landscape, battle illness and accidents, and--hardest of all, in some ways--to leave loved ones behind, never knowing if the family would see one another again. Spoiler alert: Asenath is reunited with her young children after all!
  • "I'm the grandson of ... " read the Ancestry message I received from a first cousin, 1x removed of my hubby's! He's just beginning to trace his family tree and I'm delighted to share what I know about Thomas Haskell Wood and Mary Amanda Demarest, our common ancestors. Can't wait to hear from him again.
  • Remember microfilm? Last week I located the handwritten birth entry of my great-grandpa Moritz Farkas in the records of Botpalad, Hungary, contained on a Family History Library microfilm titled "Anyakönyvek Izraelita Hitközseg, Fehérgyarmat." Now I can search the same records for any siblings, knowing I'm in the correct part of the world at the correct time. I'm very motivated to keep cranking through this microfilm, even though part is in Hungarian and part is in German :( 
  • Cousin JW, who was thought to be a family friend but turns out to be a cousin of the Farkas family, sent naturalization records and other documents from her parents and grandparents so I can connect her line to our line. I'm almost there. This is an immense breakthrough because we believe it will show we're actually related to a large group of Farkas descendants in Europe and the U.S.
  • "Captain Slatter" was the subject line from a lady whose father trained under Captain Jack Slatter in 1941. Captain Jack (actually John Daniel Slatter) was hubby's great-uncle and a renowned bandmaster for 50 years. Replying to this inquiry, I sent a photo of Capt. Jack and a request to hear her father's memories of the good Captain. It's a small world after all!
So many ancestors, so many cousins, so little time. I'm motivated!