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's Obituary: Captain John D. Slatter

This week I connected with the granddaughter of Captain John D. Slatter! As mentioned earlier this month, Capt. Jack was (we now know) my husband's great-uncle. We plan to get acquainted with her and her brother, and exchange photos and info.

Her family knew nothing of my husband's grandmother, Capt. Slatter's sister Mary Slatter, who married James Edgar Wood in 1898 in Toledo, OH, and we knew nothing of her grandfather, an illustrious military bandleader.

A very kind genealogy angel in Canada looked up Capt. Jack's obit in the Globe & Mail of December 9, 1954 (he died on Dec 7). Here it is, complete with the names (not completely correct) of his survivors. For more about the Slatter family, see my ancestor landing page here (2022 update).

A Day of Remembrance: Captain Slatter of the 48th Highlanders

Captain Slatter, one of my husband's great uncles, lived in Canada and served in WWI (I've written about him here). And once again, I'm posting this photo of the captain in full regalia.

 

Thanks to Darcy Murray, who posted a comment on my original post about Captain Slatter, I learned that this is the dress uniform of the 48th Highlanders of Canada. This morning, Lt. Kassissia of the 48th Highlanders responded to my inquiry by confirming that yes, Captain Slatter does appear to be wearing the 48th Highlanders' uniform and my inquiry will be forwarded to the Regimental Museum for further study! 

UPDATE in 2022: Hubby and I visited the museum a few years earlier and shared genealogical info with the curators, as well as being privileged to see their collection of Slatter memorabilia! For more, see my ancestor landing page here.

In Canada, November 11 is Remembrance Day, as in America it's Veteran's Day. So this week I want to post a poppy in remembrance of Captain Slatter and all those veterans who have served our nations. Thank you for your service!