biography – Page 7 – Texas History Notebook

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.

Teresa Graves, Actress

Teresa Graves was born on January 10, 1948 in Houston, Texas to Marshall “Mannie” Graves and wife Willie Patterson Graves. Her father was a laborer and her mother was a housewife. Teresa had at least two brothers and one sister. The family moved to California in the early to mid 1950s where Teresa graduated from George Washington Preparatory High School around 1966 where she was a top student and active in the arts. She was a talented singer and came to the attention of a newly formed performing group called the Doodletown Pipers. Teresa was invited to join the group and declined college scholarship offers to join the group. She is listed as a founding member and sang with them for about three years.

Bill Wittliff

William Dale “Bill” Wittliff was born Jan 21, 1940 to William Albert Wittliff and Laura Sachtleben Wittliff in Taft, San Patricio County, Texas. Bill was the youngest of two brothers. By the 1950 federal census, the couple had divorced and the two boys (aged 11 and10) were living with their mother Laura in Edna, Jackson County, Texas where Laura worked as a telephone operator.