Charles Eugene SLOSSON

1860 - 1916  (55 years)

• Name	Charles Eugene SLOSSON  [1, 2]
  Birth	25 Sep 1860	Northwood, Worth County, Iowa   [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Gender	Male
  Census	1880	living with parents in Kensett Twp., Worth Co., Iowa   [1]
  Occupation	1880  [1]
  	Works on the Farm
  Census	1900	Living in El Monte, Los Angeles Co., California   [5]
  Death	12 Jan 1916	Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California   [2, 3, 4]
  Notes	"George Slawson - An American Pioneer": by Harold D. Slosson - Charley, the small-town entrepreneur, went to California during the land boom of the 1880s. There, aided by his wife Anna, he started a number of enterprises. September 25, 1860 in Northwood, Iowa, Charles Eugene Slosson was born as the first child of John and Roxy Jane Slosson... Charley, as he was commonly called, commenced live on the Slosson's first, small farm, close in to the small town of Northwood where he started school..... In 1869, his parents took him as a nine-year-old boy to their new section-size farm southeast of the town.... Sorghum was one of the crops raised on the Slosson farm. It is a tall-growing plant resembling perhaps corn or sugar cane. Further, like sugar cane its stalks are sweet, being chewed on for their pleasant taste. Again, it may be fed to stock or pressed to obtain sorghum syrup, popular on the breakfast table. At that time, men in the field cut the stalks using large knives,probably like a machete. When cutting the stalks in this way, Charley received a bad gash on his leg. The wound bled profusely, with Mary being greatly alarmed. The father, from a long frontier life, was evidently a good first aider; the flow of blood was staunched, and the cut healed without ill aftereffects. The point of this story (as told by Mary), ws that raming life could be rough, hazardous at times, as well. Butter, another farm product, was early made by the housewife in a hand-operated churn. John Slosson, the father, saw the advantage of a central milk collecting place, or creamery, as the efficient was to make butter. So with the help of Charley he built the first creamery in Worth County, and one of the first in the state. The creamery business did all right. Additionally, Charley had abstracted land titles, and had served as deputy county treasurer and auditor. But by the middle 1880s Charley found something else churning in his mind. A great land boom was starting in southern California; he wanted to go there and be a part of it..... He arrived sometime before December 1887. Not long after Charley's arrival he was serving as a deputy in the city clerk's office. In 1889 he was appointed city clerk, his promotion - according to Wiley's 'History of Monrovia' - being earned by "faiathful service and attention to business." In this capacity he remained until his resignation in 1897. ....Probably the resignation followed the press of personal business. Soon we fin there is the Slosson Livery Stable. C.E. SLOSSON, Proprietor Monrovia Livery, Feed and Sale Stables Horses and Crriages Bought, Sold and Exchanged Open Day and Night Contractors for Household Moving, All Kinds of Team Work For a time Charley had a prominent local man by the name of Cornes as his partner..... Meanwhile, Chrley had become the first notary public in the town, and had gone into the real estate business. His office was on Monrovia's main street, Myrtle Avenue, being on the east side between Olive and Orange. There Charley sold all classes of property, possibly his most import being the subdividing of the sizable Oak Park Tract on the east side of town. Two other subdivisions of Charley's were the Valle Vista and the Orange Avenue tracts...... In Iowa, Charley had helped free the farm wife from the churning detail; now in California he helped release the housewife from washboard drudgery. With others he started the Monrovia Steam Laundry, possibly a successor to Chinese hand laundry, or to another laundry which had been there before. A commercial laundry was then needed, too, since this was before the days of the automatic washer and dryer; nor was there then electric power to run such units... Somewhat similar to this foregoing enterprise was the San Gabriel River Rock and Gravel Company, which Charley helped organize, serving as its president for some time.... The townsmen organized the "Monrovia Rifles," sometimes called the "Monrovia Guards." Charley is listed as a volunteer on their roster..... Charley had helped organize Monrovia's first Board of Trade and had served as its secretary. But his greatest public service, perhaps, was in connection with water.... In 1899 a committee of city trustees and prominent men, including Charley Slosson, was formed to study the water problem. Their recommendation for the purchase of Chapman water-bearing land was favorably acted on, with the water line being laid into town along what is now Foodhill Boulevard. This saved the day, with other water sources being located later. In 1903 Charley again served on a later committee which recomended further improvements at the Chapman wells.... On October 2, 1889, Charley married Anna V. McCullough, who had been born July 3, 1860, in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Anna at that time was a popular young school-teacher. Initially the young couple lived in a frame house on North Encinitas Avenue. Subsequently, for some years this property was in various family hands. At about the turn of the century, Charley and Anna moved to a larger house on East Lime Avenue, just a block from the main street. Many social events were held there, including the entertaining of important dignitaries, such as congressmen. For a time Chrley served as a menber of the Republican Central Committee of Los Angeles County, having been on the executive committee for two years. Charley and Anna had one child, Arlne, born in Monrovia on Jul 16, 1895.... Anna Slosson was honored as being a charter menber of the First Presbyterian Church, and singing for many years in its choir. She was also a charter member of the Monrovia Women's Club, serving as its secretary. Another cause she aided was the starting of the Monrovia Public Library. On Janue 12, 1916, Charley passed away in Monrovia, the town he had helped for so many years. There, also, Anne had passed away on November 3, 1937. they are buried in southwest Los Angeles where Anna's folks had a family plot, in an old, but beautiful cemetery called Rosedale.
  Person ID	I52578	Main Tree

  
  

  Father	John Marean SLOSSON,   b. 29 Mar 1835, Maine, Broome County, New York d. 28 Mar 1900, Grove,Worth County, Iowa (Age 64 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Mother	Jennie Roxy FINCH,   b. 19 May 1840, Broome Co., New York d. 1919, Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California (Age 78 years)
  Relationship	Natural
  Family ID	F05458	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Anna V. MCCULLOCH,   b. 03 Jul 1860, Kingston, Pennsylvania d. 03 Nov 1937, Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California (Age 77 years)
  Marriage	02 Oct 1889	Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California   [2, 3, 4]
  Children	1. Arline SLOSSON,   b. 16 Jul 1895, Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California d. 17 Apr 1950, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California (Age 54 years)
  Family ID	F10707	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S00650] 1880 Census Kensett Twp., Worth County, Iowa. [S03336] Slason-Slauson-Slawson-Slosson Family by George C. Slawson dated 1946. [S02414] Hinmanfamily.com - Descendants of both Sgt. Edward Hinman and John Hinman. [S03691] "George Slawson, An American Pioneer" by Harold D. Slosson. [S13591] 1900 Census El Monte, Los Angeles County, California.