Texoso

Saragosa Tornado, 1987

On May 22, 1987 a violent tornado touched down outside of the small community of Saragosa, Texas and stayed on the ground for about three miles with a width of roughly 1,000 yards. When the twister left the area, the residents began to recover from the storm to find that dozens of people had been killed and many more were injured.

The C. C. Slaughter Family

C. C. Slaughter was the oldest son of George Webb Slaughter (1811 – 1895) and Sarah Mason Slaughter (1818 – 1894). C. C. was born to the couple February 9, 1837. He was married to Cynthia Ann Jowell on December 5, 1861. To this union were born six children:

George Morgan Slaughter (1862 – 1915)
Minnie Slaughter (1864 – 1955)
Dela Slaughter (1866 – 1956)
Eugene Ewell Slaughter (1868 – 1870)
Robert Lee Slaughter (1870 – 1938)
Edgar Dick Slaughter (1873 – 1935)

C. C. and Cynthia had moved their family to Dallas in 1873. Two to three years later, Cynthia Ann became ill and passed away in her sleep on May 17, 1876. Her obituary was not specific on the cause, calling her death “unexpected” and saying that she had been ill with “a complication of diseases.” This left C. C., then about thirty-nine years old, to take care of his five surviving children who ranged from around three to about fourteen years old.

In his excellent biography (1) of C. C. Slaughter, author David J. Murrah relates how C. C. and his second wife, Carrie Averill met at a church social in Kansas later in 1876. Carrie was the twenty-four year old unmarried daughter of a local Baptist minister and his wife, Alexander McCormick Averill and Rebecca F. Morton Averill. After a long and somewhat methodical courtship, the couple was married on January 17, 1877. To this union were born the following children:

Christopher Columbus Slaughter (1879 – 1940)
Walter Webb Slaughter (1880 – 1881)
Alexander Averill Slaughter (1881 – 1931)
Carrie Rebecca Slaughter (1883 – 1958)
Nelle Louise Slaughter (1892 – 1964)

James Kerr

James Augusta Kerr was one of the more interesting people in the early days of Texas. He was born September 24, 1790 in Boyle County, Kentucky to Reverend James Kerr II (1749 – 1811) and Patience Wells Kerr (1759 – 1799). He was the seventh child and second son of the couple’s ten children born over a twenty year period from 1777 to 1797. The father, James, was a farmer and a Baptist minister, more accurately described as a circuit riding preacher. A descendant, James Kerr Crain, writes that Patience, the youngest of a large group of children, had eloped with her husband to be after her parents objected to the relationship, but the union lasted until her untimely death. The mother, Patience, died in 1799 after taking ill on a horseback trip to visit one of their older children. Her husband preached the funeral, which was said to be the first Protestant sermon preached in the sparsely populated Upper Louisiana Territory. Rev. Kerr married a widow by the name of Phoebe Bonham one year after the death of Patience. The family moved to St. Charles County, Missouri in 1808 and Rev. Kerr passed away there in 1811.

John B. Slaughter

John Bunyan Slaughter was born December 15, 1848 in Sabine County, Texas to Rev. George Webb Slaughter and Sarah Mason Slaughter. John was the fifth child and fourth son born to the couple. In their birth order, the children of George Webb and Sarah Jane were Christopher Columbus, Nancy Ann, Peter Eldridge, George Webb Jr., John Bunyan, William Baxter, Francis Ann, Sarah Jennie Mary Permille and Mason Lee, born from 1837 to 1863.

San Marcos Academy

The coeducational institution now known as San Marcos Academy was founded in 1907. It provides educational services to students K3-12 and boarding for students 6 – 12. Its mission statement is as follows, “The mission of San Marcos Academy is to educate young men and women within a nurturing community based upon Christian values.” It is located in San Marcos, Texas.