Willard G. SLAWSON

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Living with parents in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1875, Living with parents in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1880, Living with parents in Dawson County, Montana

Notes:

Name:
See Notes on his father, Ebenezer Slawson..

Willard married Mary Martha VAN BLARICOM on 10 Oct 1887 in Dawson Co., Montana. Mary was born on 7 Mar 1872 in Waterville, LeSueur Co., Minnesota; died on 26 Feb 1956 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Emma Mabel SLAWSON was born on 16 Dec 1887 in Glendine, Montana; died on 5 Nov 1959 in Rimbey, Alberta, Canda.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1850, Living in Franklin, Delaware County, New York
• Occupation: 1850; Farmer
• Census: 1860, Living in Tompkins, Delaware Co., New York
• Military Service: 15 Sep 1862-27 Jul 1865, Private Co G, 2nd New York Heavy Artillery
• Census: 1870, Living in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1875, Living in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1880, Living in Dawson County, Montana

Notes:

Name:
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.

Ebenezer married Louisa Polly GREEN on 14 Oct 1849 in Probably in Delaware County, New York. Louisa was born on 02 Aug 1831 in Duanesburg, Schenectady County, New York; died on 07 Sep 1906 in Cashmere, Chelan County, Washington. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1850, Living with husband in Franklin, Delaware County, New York
• Census: 1860, Living with husband in Tompkins, Delaware Co., New York
• Census: 1870, Living with husband in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1875, Living with husband in Gordon, Todd Co., Minnesota
• Census: 1880, Living with husband in Dawson County, Montana