Since the Slatters were from London (albeit a very poor part of the city), I conducted an Ancestry search of passengers from London to Canada in the 1890s. After all, the three musical Slatter brothers were interested in Canada, and Capt. John Daniel Slatter already lived in Toronto by 1884. Previously, I'd tried to trace the Mary Slatter from London to New York or another US port.
Lo and behold, up popped Ada Slatter (formally Adelaide Mary Ann Slatter, sister of hubby's grandma) aboard the S.S. Labrador, from Liverpool to Quebec/Montreal in the spring of 1895.
Her "calling or occupation" was Lady (which I guess sounds better than "spinster" as I've seen on so many other manifests). [SEE BELOW!] She was going to her father in Cleveland. She paid her own passage, had a ticket to her final destination, and held $2.50 in her purse. A $1 in 1895 was worth approximately $28 in today's money, so she carried the equivalent of $70 when she arrived.
Aunt Ada, as she was known to hubby and his siblings, was born on May 20, 1868. She was the 5th of 6 children of Mary Shehen Slatter and John Slatter. Hubby's grandma Mary Slatter Wood was the baby of the family, born a year after Ada in 1869.
Within a year after Ada joined her father in Cleveland, she met and married John Sills Baker, a fellow Englishman. Their two children (hubby's first cousins, once removed) were Dorothy Louise Baker and Edith Eleanor Baker.
Now will I find Mary Slatter's trans-Atlantic passage during the Gen Do-Over?
PS On the Canadian passenger manifest (above), Ada Slatter said her profession was "sevt" which must mean . . . "servant." Within a few days, as she crossed the border into Vermont en route to Cleveland, she transformed into a "lady."
Marian, I have read reports of my own family coming over to the US with two or three dollars. You are right that we have to think of the equivalent money in today's dollars. It still sounds quite scary to me to begin a new life with so little in your pockets. Were our ancestors brave or foolish or a bit of both?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they were brave/foolish. Remember, they did not have today's HUGE inflation, so a $1 would buy a heck of a lot more than it would today.
DeleteColleen and Ros, Thanks for your comments. I do think they were BRAVE in coming to a country where they knew only one person (if that) and had to make an entirely new life. I admire their courage and determination!
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