Pvt Ebenezer SLAWSON

1824 - 1905  (80 years)

• Name	Ebenezer SLAWSON  [2]
  	Excerpt from "An Uncommon Journey":pg. 197-300 Following the end of the school term in June of 1885, after Mary had turned thirteen, a deal was worked out that she would live down at Slawson's road ranch, working at housekeeping and kitchen chores in exchange for her room and board. The ranch was about eighteen miles north of Glendive, located on the west side of the Yellowstone at what was Slawson Creek. Like the burns Ranch, it was a stage stop on the Glendive-Fort Buford road, and the Slawsons frequently fed and sometimes overnighted travelers. Stagecoach horses were kept at the road ranch, and Eben and his son, Willard, would provide fresh horses while the stage's passengers ate a meal. Teddy Roosevelt was known to have stayed there on occasion, and it was reported that he especially like Mrs. Slawson's dried apple pie. My father and my grandparents had known Eben and Louisa Slawson for some three years. The Slawsons were about my father's age. Eben was a Union Army veteran from a Ne York artillery regiment, I believe, and, the few times I was around him, he always presented himself well and was quite cordial. He had been appointed one of Dawson County's first three county commissioners. Louisa was a pleasant lady with a reputation as an excellent cook. thee of their four children were married with families of their own, and they were located on different ranches right there on the lower Yellowstone. All of these people were substantial and well regarded by their neighbors. All things considered, it looked like a good situation for Mary. There doesn't have to be a black sheep in every family, but Willard Slawson, the son still at home, was the bane of his parents. When our greater family left Glendive in April of 1887, he was about twenty-one, six or seven years older than Mary. At that time she had opted to stay on with the Slawsons. In late September of that year we found out why. She showed up one day at my father's place. both my father and David were there. She said tat she was five or six months pregnant, that Willard Slawson was the father, and that he was now telling her he wanted nothing to do with her except for her to get out of his life. thee conditions obviously made it impossible for her to continue to live at the road ranch. Mary was only fifteen when she came walking those eighteen miles into town. Whether she had been enamored with Willard when the family left--and hence her decision to stay behind--or whether her circumstance related to Willard Slawson was more sinister, only Mary and Willard will ever know. In any case, my father and Mary and brother David headed for the sheriffs office. Henri Haskell, then Dawson County's prosecuting attorney, was not a man to trifle with. John Trumbull, Slawson's attorney, soon explained to him the two choices he had for being responsible for his actions: marry the girl or get sent to the Montana Territorial Prison in Deer Lodge for his ruthless exploitation of a minor child. He quickly accepted the marriage option, and then, within days, he abandoned her. He was never seen in that country again. During the winter of 1887-1888, Mary became the mother of a beautiful baby girl. The marriage of Willard Slawson, however, cost her dearly. In the spring of 1888, she and her baby, Emma, and our father followed the rest of the family to the Bitter Root. A few years later, she met a gentleman there and fell in love. The laws of Montana, however, would not let her claim abandonment without finding and serving papers on Slawson. The court reasoned that this blackguard might re-appear sometime in the future and do her courtesy of taking her back as his wife. He was finally found living in the vicinity of his parents in the small settlement of Old Mission, Washington, and he was served there by the sheriff of Kittitas County. Even then the court in the Bitter Root was not prepared to grant her divorce request on the strength of her own testimony or on the strength-of-character witnesses stating that she was a good and industrious woman. The only thing that finally worked in her favor was Willard Slawson's repeated failures to obey the Montana court's orders to appear at the hearings. Fully seven years after his abandonment of her and their child in Glendive, the Ravalli County Court finally granted her divorce. In addition to the crimes perpetrated against this girl at the Slawson Ranch when she was only fourteen, Willard Slawson's careless inactivity forced her into seven years of legal bondage while she tried to divorce him. Having successfully used the marriage as a ploy to avoid prison, he fled into a shameful hiding hundreds of miles away. Once found, he then refused for years to even respond to the divorce action that would have allowed her to return to normal life. In a further demonstration of his squalid demeanor, he cared not one whit about his own in his entire life, did he ever see or even attempt to communicate with his own child. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending. Mary met a young, industrious fellow in Victor who, by coincidence, had also been raised in Glendive. They hit it off immediately and were wed in Vitor in 1895. forty-five years later, Mary is still happily married to Herbert Eddy and the have enjoyed a wonderful relationship throughout their years together. Young Emma grew into a beautiful woman. She has long been married, has her own family, and is leading a satisfying and productive life. The Eddys and their four children and Emma have lived north of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, since about 1915. [1]
  Title	Pvt
  Nickname	Eben
  Birth	24 Sep 1824	Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New York   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Census	1850	Living in Franklin, Delaware County, New York   [3]
  Occupation	1850  [3]
  	Farmer
  Census	1860	Living in Tompkins, Delaware Co., New York   [4]
  Military Service	15 Sep 1862-27 Jul 1865	Private Co G, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery   [5]
  Census	1870	Living in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota   [6]
  Census	1875	Living in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota   [7]
  Census	1880	Living in Dawson County, Montana   [8]
  Death	20 Jul 1905	Cashmere, Chelan County, Washington   [2]
  Burial	Cashmere Cemetery, Cashmere, Chelan Co., Washington   [5]
  Person ID	I51196	Main Tree
  Last Modified	12 May 2014

  
  

  Father	Samuel SLAWSON,   b. 13 Mar 1792, Poundridge, New York d. 14 May 1870, Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., New York (Age 78 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Sarah PETIT,   b. 30 May 1797   d. 01 Apr 1880, Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., New York (Age 82 years)
  Relationship	Birth
  Marriage	Duanesbury, New York   [2]
  Family ID	F06086	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Louisa Polly GREEN,   b. 02 Aug 1831, Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New York d. 07 Sep 1906, Cashmere, Chelan County, Washington (Age 75 years)
  Marriage	14 Oct 1849	Probably in Delaware County, New York   [1]
  Children	+ 1. Imogene J. SLAWSON,   b. 17 May 1853, Delaware County, New York d. 18 Jul 1898, Cashmere, Washington (Age 45 years)  [Birth] + 2. Frank Deloss SLAWSON,   b. 29 Oct 1857, Delaware County, New York d. 18 Aug 1939, Cashmere, Washington (Age 81 years)  [Birth] + 3. Elsie SLAWSON,   b. 26 Nov 1863, Delaware County, New York d. 7 Jun 1927 (Age 63 years)  [Birth] + 4. Willard G. SLAWSON,   b. 18 May 1866, Franklin, Delaware Co.,New York d. 1895 (Age 28 years)  [Birth]
  Family ID	F22213	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Jul 2018

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 24 Sep 1824 - Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New York Census - 1850 - Living in Franklin, Delaware County, New York Census - 1860 - Living in Tompkins, Delaware Co., New York Death - 20 Jul 1905 - Cashmere, Chelan County, Washington  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Headstones

  Ebenezer Slawson Headstone Ebenezer Slawson is the son of Samuel Slawson and Sarah Petit. He is buried in the Cashmere Cemetery, in Cashmere, Chelan Co., Washington. Created by: C&P * LaPlante Files Photo Added by: Teresa

  
  

• Sources

  [S5839] H. Norman Hyatt, "An Uncommon Journey: The History of Old Dawson County, Montana Territory, The Biography of Stephen Norton Van Blaircom". [S03336] Slason-Slauson-Slawson-Slosson Family by George C. Slawson dated 1946. [S00155] 1850 Census Franklin, Delaware County, New York. [S03910] 1860 Census Tompkins, Delaware County, New York. [S02329] Find A Grave Website. [S03803] 1870 Census Gordon, Todd County, Minnesota. [S03804] 1875 Census Gordon, Todd County, Minnesota. [S5817] 1880 Census Dawson County, Montana.