Great-great-granddaddy John Slatter Sr. was a cook at Christ Church College in Oxford, England, I know from the baptismal records at St. Ebbe's Church.Thanks to the kind folks at the Woodland Cemetery Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, I now have John Slatter's exact birth date, which is carved on his grave stone. And with that confirmation, I was able to send for his birth cert.
Now I know John Slatter was born on Blackfriars Road, St Ebbe, Oxford, to a cook, John Slatter, and his wife, Sarah Harris Slatter. Although the birth was on January 31, 1838, it wasn't registered with authorities until March 7th.
Great-granddaddy John married Mary Shehen (or Shehan) and they had six children (five lived beyond childhood). After the children were grown and gone, Mary seems to have died. John Slatter left for North America and remarried, to Louisa M_____ [maiden name unknown]. She died before him, in February of 1895, and was buried in Woodland Cemetery. So far, no luck getting her death certificate...but I'll try again.
John died at the Cleveland home of his daughter, Mary Slatter Wood, in 1901, and he was buried beside Louisa. Only then was a gravestone erected. John's stone includes the honorific "Father" but Louisa is recognized only as "His wife, Louisa M." Maybe Mary didn't know her step-mother's maiden name? That's a surprisingly plausible explanation because Mary only arrived in Ohio in 1895, the year Louisa died.
