Family Genealogy often focuses on male lines. Even in 2012, the male is considered the head of the household. In an attempt to more fully develop the often obscure and forgotten female lines, I will share information about my great-great grandmothers.
Mary Jane Williams was born November 20, 1851 in Tennessee as verified by her marriage license to Abel Wilson Slayton and her 1880, 1890 and 1900 census records for Lawrence County, Arkansas. The verification of her parents still eludes me.
my mother, ne'ne'yum...Potawatami
On December 15, 1869 when she was barely 18 years old, Mary Jane married Abel Wilson Slayton who was 22. Their marriage certificate is in Lawrence County, Arkansas. Abel and Mary Slayton lived the entirety of their lives in Lawrence County. Together, they had 11 children.
The history of Lawrence County in this time frame follows:
People were living in the area that is now Powhatan as early as 1816, though it was not platted until 1849. Eventually, the town experienced explosive growth and soon sported mills, shops, and hotels. Because of this growth, it became the county seat in 1869. The first courthouse was built in 1873 and burned in 1885. A Victorian-style replacement was constructed in 1888, using many of the bricks salvaged from the first courthouse in the interior side of the outer walls. Although the county seat until 1963, this once-bustling port began its long decline when bypassed by the railroad and a new bridge at nearby Black Rock, a one-time boomtown of lumber, pearls, and buttons. Today, Powhatan attracts tourists as Powhatan Historic State Park.
Completion of the Iron Mountain Railroad through Walnut Ridge in the 1870s and the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis Railroad through the adjacent town of Hoxie a decade later shifted the county’s population and economic gravity to the largely uninhabited east. By 1870, legislators divided Lawrence County into eastern and western districts as county phone service first linked the two sections. Walnut Ridge became the eastern seat, while the county seat proper remained at Powhatan. The introduction of screens, pipe wells, and other conveniences coincided with widespread lumbering and agriculture. Timber mill boomtowns sprang up across the east while Walnut Ridge–Hoxie emerged as the county’s economic and population center.
Served by local newspapers since the 1850s, Lawrence County has been home to the Walnut Ridge–based Times Dispatch since its acquisition by James Bland in 1921. Literary notoriety came to the county when nationally acclaimed author Alice French (My Name is Masak and The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach), who sometimes wrote under the pen name Octave Thanet, made Clover Bend her winter residence from 1881 to 1909.
As elsewhere, the twentieth century brought to Lawrence County automobiles, planes, radio, and, after World War I, a greater awareness of the world. With cotton leading the way, the county enjoyed economic growth before prices collapsed in the Great Depression. New Deal programs resulted in new bridges and school buildings, and, near Clover Bend, the sale of more than 5,000 acres to the U.S. government for distribution to landless farmers under the Resettlement Administration.
During Mary Jane's lifetime, she witnessed the resettlement of Native Americans, a booming population growth as immigrants continued to settle the Western United States, the Civil War. Mary and Abel's lives in Lawrence County were that of farmers. Rumor has it that Mary Jane was a full blooded Potawatami Indian, but this information has not been confirmed by several known Slayton genealogers.
Mary Jane possibly died in 1911. I have been unable to confirm the date or to locate a headstone. Abel Wilson possibly died in 1923. The rumor is that during her lifetime, Mary Jane moved to live with her family members on a reservation in Oklahoma. One descendant of Mary Jane's son Grady writes:
Common knowledge in my family that Mary Jane Williams, Abel W. Slayton's wife, was a full-blooded Potawatami indian. My grandfather, Grady Wiley Slayton, who is now nearly 90, recalls her vividly and can still sing Native American songs she taught him. She was part of a band of Potawatamis who were more-or-less acculturated to whites, and had adopted the name 'Williams' a part of applying for US citizenship in Kansas in the 1860's. (Again, this is family legend, but supported by historical fact -- a large group of Potawatamis did apply for citizenship in Kansas about this time.) Abel and Mary lived on reservation land owned by the 'Citizen Potawatamis' (those who had applied for US citizenship in Kansas and later moved to reservation land near Shawnee Oklahoma in the 1870's). Mary and Abel stayed in Oklahoma for a number of years before finally moving back onto family land in Arkansas, where they lived until they died around 1918. My grandfather says he stayed with a group of distant cousins, (Mary Jane Williams' relatives) on the reservation in Oklahoma when he was a teenager in the 1930's. Needless to say, my grandfather's father, John Martin, was half Indian. My grandfather, Grady Wiley Slayton, recalls that he had black hair and [had a dark complexion], as were all his aunts and uncles. John Martin died when my grandfather was just a boy.
Common knowledge in my family is that my grandfather, GJ Slayton, was partially Native American. The specifics were never explained, but I always thought Papa looked alot like an Indian warrior. My father, GW Slayton, had a fierce temper and always had a very reddish-brown tan. He would use many Native American terms. I cannot find any pictures of Mary Jane Willians - Slayton.
Mary Jane Williams was born November 20, 1851 in Tennessee as verified by her marriage license to Abel Wilson Slayton and her 1880, 1890 and 1900 census records for Lawrence County, Arkansas. The verification of her parents still eludes me.
my mother, ne'ne'yum...Potawatami
The history of Lawrence County in this time frame follows:
People were living in the area that is now Powhatan as early as 1816, though it was not platted until 1849. Eventually, the town experienced explosive growth and soon sported mills, shops, and hotels. Because of this growth, it became the county seat in 1869. The first courthouse was built in 1873 and burned in 1885. A Victorian-style replacement was constructed in 1888, using many of the bricks salvaged from the first courthouse in the interior side of the outer walls. Although the county seat until 1963, this once-bustling port began its long decline when bypassed by the railroad and a new bridge at nearby Black Rock, a one-time boomtown of lumber, pearls, and buttons. Today, Powhatan attracts tourists as Powhatan Historic State Park.
Completion of the Iron Mountain Railroad through Walnut Ridge in the 1870s and the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Memphis Railroad through the adjacent town of Hoxie a decade later shifted the county’s population and economic gravity to the largely uninhabited east. By 1870, legislators divided Lawrence County into eastern and western districts as county phone service first linked the two sections. Walnut Ridge became the eastern seat, while the county seat proper remained at Powhatan. The introduction of screens, pipe wells, and other conveniences coincided with widespread lumbering and agriculture. Timber mill boomtowns sprang up across the east while Walnut Ridge–Hoxie emerged as the county’s economic and population center.Served by local newspapers since the 1850s, Lawrence County has been home to the Walnut Ridge–based Times Dispatch since its acquisition by James Bland in 1921. Literary notoriety came to the county when nationally acclaimed author Alice French (My Name is Masak and The Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach), who sometimes wrote under the pen name Octave Thanet, made Clover Bend her winter residence from 1881 to 1909.
As elsewhere, the twentieth century brought to Lawrence County automobiles, planes, radio, and, after World War I, a greater awareness of the world. With cotton leading the way, the county enjoyed economic growth before prices collapsed in the Great Depression. New Deal programs resulted in new bridges and school buildings, and, near Clover Bend, the sale of more than 5,000 acres to the U.S. government for distribution to landless farmers under the Resettlement Administration.
During Mary Jane's lifetime, she witnessed the resettlement of Native Americans, a booming population growth as immigrants continued to settle the Western United States, the Civil War. Mary and Abel's lives in Lawrence County were that of farmers. Rumor has it that Mary Jane was a full blooded Potawatami Indian, but this information has not been confirmed by several known Slayton genealogers.
Mary Jane possibly died in 1911. I have been unable to confirm the date or to locate a headstone. Abel Wilson possibly died in 1923. The rumor is that during her lifetime, Mary Jane moved to live with her family members on a reservation in Oklahoma. One descendant of Mary Jane's son Grady writes:
Common knowledge in my family that Mary Jane Williams, Abel W. Slayton's wife, was a full-blooded Potawatami indian. My grandfather, Grady Wiley Slayton, who is now nearly 90, recalls her vividly and can still sing Native American songs she taught him. She was part of a band of Potawatamis who were more-or-less acculturated to whites, and had adopted the name 'Williams' a part of applying for US citizenship in Kansas in the 1860's. (Again, this is family legend, but supported by historical fact -- a large group of Potawatamis did apply for citizenship in Kansas about this time.) Abel and Mary lived on reservation land owned by the 'Citizen Potawatamis' (those who had applied for US citizenship in Kansas and later moved to reservation land near Shawnee Oklahoma in the 1870's). Mary and Abel stayed in Oklahoma for a number of years before finally moving back onto family land in Arkansas, where they lived until they died around 1918. My grandfather says he stayed with a group of distant cousins, (Mary Jane Williams' relatives) on the reservation in Oklahoma when he was a teenager in the 1930's. Needless to say, my grandfather's father, John Martin, was half Indian. My grandfather, Grady Wiley Slayton, recalls that he had black hair and [had a dark complexion], as were all his aunts and uncles. John Martin died when my grandfather was just a boy.
Common knowledge in my family is that my grandfather, GJ Slayton, was partially Native American. The specifics were never explained, but I always thought Papa looked alot like an Indian warrior. My father, GW Slayton, had a fierce temper and always had a very reddish-brown tan. He would use many Native American terms. I cannot find any pictures of Mary Jane Willians - Slayton.
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