Letter Written by Pauline SLATEN Dodson (Actually a short note which was appended to a photocopy of a letter written by Dorothy Abigail McClusky Hagood which Pauline was forwarding to her nephew F. R. Rhodes) Read the letter this was appended to   Forrest$1$     I$2$ have a letter I think it was Wade Slatens son.$3$ I'll make a copy of it.$4$ I found it in Mama's things.$5$ Slaten Coal & Seed Co.$6$ 105 East Commercial St.     He was 79 yrs in 1956$7$ Portales, New Mexico He has a son in Denver Colorado$8$. He has a $Wholesale$ Store in Casper, Wyo. Two Sons in Portales$9$, N. Mexico A Goodyear Store Also a Conoco Station 1 Daughter in Children Ready To Wear In Portales, N. Mexico$10$ 1 Daughter in Kansas City, Ka. Married to a Dentist.$11$              over     Dad's Cousin --- Willis Slaten$12$ I'm trying to get this together. My stuff is in every drawer. I found this in a Telephone Book for Miss. DONLD F. SLATEN 1060 BROWN ST. TUNICA, MISS.    Zip 38676 Tele 1-601-363-3285 Notes: $1$ Forrest Reid Rhodes, (Letter's recipient). Son of Roscoe Reid Rhodes and Nina Louise SLATEN; Grandson of Noel Henry SLATEN and Addie Craft; GrGrandson of Williamson Cobb SLATEN and Sarah Abigail Waddell. Forrest Reid Rhodes is the Uncle of the transcriber of these materials [Kathy L. Rhodes]. $2$ Pauline SLATEN Dodson, (Letter's author). Daughter of Noel Henry SLATEN and Addie Craft; Granddaughter of Williamson Cobb SLATEN and Sarah Abigail Waddell. Aunt of Forrest Reid Rhodes (to whom these materials were sent) and Grand Aunt of Kathy L. Rhodes [transcriber] who obtained the materials from F. R. Rhodes. $3$ An assumption on Pauline's part; investigation and follow up to the clues Pauline provided tends NOT to suppport her assertion that he was a son of Wade SLATEN. $4$ As far as I [the transcriber] am aware, Pauline never did make a photocopy of the original letter. It is my [transcriber's] assumption that the original letter Pauline is referring to was written by Willis SLATEN (the cousin of her father Noel Henry Slaten) and that this letter was in Pauline's possession because she had inherited her parent's possessions after their death. Pauline appears to have simply abstracted from the letter the info she felt was pertinent and then sent it to her nephew Forrest Reid Rhodes. At the time Pauline sent this letter to Forrest, she also sent him another letter which she found that contained info on the SLATEN family. This letter was written by Pauline's cousin Dorothy Abigail McClusky Hagood and it contains info on the SLATEN family lineage. View Transcription of Dorothy's Letter $5$ Mama is Addie May Craft, wife of Noel Henry SLATEN. $6$ The Slaten Coal and Seed Co. of Portales, New Mexico was owned by Willis SLATEN. Mention of his ownership and the date he started the business can be found in his obituary. View Original Obituary and Transcription $7$ Willis SLATEN was born 7 Feb 1877 (month and year per SSDI records and the 1920 Roosevelt Co NM Census data; day of month provided by daughter Blanche SLATEN Williamson). Click here to View Article written by Blanche SLATEN Williamson (contains picture of Wills SLATEN and wife Janet BELL). $8$ This son identified as being Woodrow SLATEN as mentioned in Willis SLATEN's obituary. Click here to View Article written by Blanche SLATEN Williamson which contains further info on Woodrow SLATEN. $9$ The two sons in Portales are Leon SLATEN (owner of a Home and Auto Store in Portales per the 1963 Portales NM phone book) and Orville T. SLATEN (owner of a Chevron Station per same Phone Book). Click here to View Article written by Blanche SLATEN Williamson which contains further info on Leon and Orville SLATEN. $10$ Daughter has been identified as Mrs. Blanche Williamson in Willis SLATEN's obituary Click here to View Article written by Blanche SLATEN Williamson herself. $11$ Daughter has been identified as Mrs. Berwyn Forbes in Willis SLATEN's obituary Odd little note about Berwyn: On the 1920 Roosevelt Co NM census record, she is identified as being a SON! No doubt the census taker was not familiar with whether or not a name like "BERWYN" indicated a male or a female! [Let this be a lesson to readers of census records...can't always believe what you see!] Click here for more info on Berwyn SLATEN Forbes. $12$ Assuming we are talking about a first cousin of Noel Henry SLATEN, this would mean that Willis Slaten would have to be one of the children of one of the brothers of Williamson Cobb SLATEN (Noel Henry SLATEN's father). Of all the male children identified to date for Williamson's brothers (and there are quite a few, as one of his brothers, Wade Slaten had 25 children) there is only one named WILLIS SLATEN. This Willis Slaten is identifed as being the son of William G. "Bill" Slaten (b. 4 Apr 1848 TN, d. 2 Jun 1892 Morgan Co AL). Birth and Death dates for William G. "Bill" Slaten are from his tombstone which is located in the Walnut Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Morgan Co, AL. The information that Willis SLATEN's father's name was William is verified by Blanche SLATEN Williamson. Blanche indicated in a short family history that she wrote and which was published in Portales, NM that Willis' father's name was William, that he was born in TN and that he died when Willis was around 12 years old. Blanche believed her father had been born in 1878 so she estimated that Willis' father [William SLATEN] died c1890. She also indicated that William SLATEN's place of death was Decatur, AL. and that her father Willis was the only male child and that he had 6 older sisters. View Article written by Blanche SLATEN Williamson. All of this info "fits" with the obituary for William Slaten which states "William Slaton, prominent citizen who lived 4 miles east of Hartselle in the Walnut Grove Community died June 2, 1892, leaving a wife, and seven children. One son and 6 daughters, 3 of which are married." Note: Transcribed 05 May 2002 by K. L. Rhodes from a photocopy of the original letter. Photocopy of original letter sent to me by F. R. Rhodes. Return to Shanahan Genealogy Home Page