Alanson Slaughter

His paternal ancestor came from Wales, and settled in Virginia, and many of his descendants are now residing in the vicinity of Petersburg and Fredericksburg in that State.

Isaac, grandfather of Alanson, served under Gen. Washington in the war for independence, and was with him when encamped near Newbugh, Orange Co. He was at the battle of Ticonderoga and at the taking of Crown Point, and served in the northern campaign. After the war he recieved a pension. He settled in the town of Wallkill after peace was declared, subsequently removed to Shawangunk, Ulster Co., and in the year 1803 purchased 200 acres of land in the southeastern part of Wallkill, which has since remained in the family.

In 1817 he bought a farm in what is now the town of Hamptonburgh, upon which he settled in 1819, and there resided the remainder of his life. He died in 1838, aged eighty-four years.

He was twice married, and had a family of twenty-one children, of whom nineteen grew to manhood and womanhood. Of these, Benjamin, Joseph, Archibald, De Witt, William H., and several daughters located in Orange County. His second wife’s name was Jane McBride.

Joseph was born Oct. 13, 1794, and died Feb. 25, 1873. His wife, whom he married Dec. 16, 1817, was Amelia, daughter of Thomas Booth and Jane Baker, of Hamptonburgh, who was born in 1798, and died Aug. 14, 1877.

She was grandaughter of Benjamin Booth, son of Charles Booth, who was son of Charles Booth, who was son of John Booth, of Southhold, L. I., to whom, with one Sylvester, Shelter Island was granted by the Indians in 1652.

The children of Joseph Slaughter and Amelia Booth were Alanson, born Aug. 31, 1818; Mary Louisa, born July 5, 1826, wife of John T. Coleman, of Hamptonburgh; and Helen, died young.

For some four years Joseph Slaughter resided upon the home farm in Hamptonburgh, and about two years after his marriage settled on the purchase of his father at Wallkill, where he erected a part of the present residence in 1823, and where he carried on agricultural pursuits the remainder of his life. He was a man of high social position in his town, and influential in his town and county.

For many years he served as justice of the peace, and frequenty held his courts in his own house. He was appointed judge of Orange County, represented his Assembly district in the State Legislature for one term in 1839, and for twenty years was an elder in the Presbyterian Church at Scotchtown, of which both himself and wife were members.

He was originally a member of the Democratic party, was a Free-Soiler, and upon the breaking out of the Rebellion joined the Republican Party.

Joseph Slaughter was a kind-hearted, sympathetic, faithful, and patriotic citizen, and a man of correct habits and sterling honesty.

Alanson, only son of Joseph Slaughter, recieved his early education in the district school at home, and in select schools at Goshen and Middletown. He succeeded to the homestead in Wallkill by inheritance, and has there followed agricultural pursuits during his life. He is interested in all matters pertaining to the prosperity of the town in which he resides, is well read in the current topics of the times, and a promoter of religious work and educational interests. He has officiated as elder in the Scotchtown Presbyterian Church for some eight years, and both he and his wife have been members of that church for some twenty-five years.

He has been one of the directors and stockholders of the First National Bank of Middletown since its organization, assessor of his town for several years, and represented it in the board of supervisors of the county for one term.

His wife Mary Ann, only daughter of Nathaniel Bailey and Jennet White, of Wallkill, and grand-daughter of Daniel Bailey, who came from Long Island, and was the progenitor of this branch of the Bailey family in Orange County.

She was born Oct. 15, 1817, was married to Alanson Slaughter Oct. 11, 1843, of which union they have three daughters, viz.: Helen Jane (wife of George W. Ackerly, of Montgomery), Jennet Bailey (wife of Robert G. Young, of Goshen), and Ann Amelia.