Brick Walls: Now and Forever? (Maybe not)

Every genealogist has them; those ancestors whose lives are not an open book, whose records (and sometimes even names) we haven't found anywhere we've looked.

Now I've just started using AI to help with my research and here is the result of my first trial.

My maternal third great-grandfather William T. Slater from "York County, England" made his first known appearance applying for citizenship in Jefferson County, Indiana, in 1818. All we have of this record is a transcription so I thought it might be interesting to contact the courthouse to see what else might be available. Alas! 

FIRE

At the Jefferson County, Courthouse

Madison, Indiana

May 20, 2009

At the time, it was feared that all the court records had been lost but according to the link above, it seems that because the fire was confined to the cupola, roof and top floor, they survived. So I asked Perplexity and Claude "What court records are survive in the Jefferson County Courthouse, in Madison, Indiana?"

Both agree that since before 1906, naturalization was handled by local courts, my ancestor's application could possibly be there (unless destroyed in earlier disasters, including two other fires in1853 and 1859). Both also give information about contracting the court clerk both by phone and email.

Now the rest is up to me!

Note: We've written quite a bit about William here on the blog, including what could possibly be his family in the Yorkshire West Riding--although Christine, who is the DNA expert around here, hasn't found a connection. A search of the blog will find the other posts about him.  

© 2026 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Further Speculation about William T. Slater's Yorkshire Roots

When William T. Slater, one of my maternal third great grandfathers, applied for citizenship in Jefferson County, Indiana, he stated he was 27 years old and a native of  "York County, England."* We've never been able to definitively trace William's antecedents to a specific location in Yorkshire so when this book came to my attention** I decided it might be worth a try:

[Yorkshire surnames: Are you a Brook, Haigh or a Hirst? Find out where your name came from 

The Huddersfield Examiner: 20 Dec 2015]

I first looked on worldcat.org hoping to find it in a local library but the nearest copy is 629 miles away in Salt Lake City and Amazon's vendor's asking price is $135. Fortunately I was able to find a bookseller in England for a fraction of that, although it turned out I had to pay extra because it's a brick of a book.

When my copy arrived I couldn't wait to see if Slater rates an entry. And it does! (However, Tiller which we believe to be his middle name, doesn't appear.)

According to Mr Redmonds this although this surname can be found thinly spread in many other English counties, it's in "the Pennine area where the name was exceptionally common: Lancashire, West Riding [Yorkshire], Staffordshire, and Derbyshire."

Concentrating on the West Riding this list of Slaters in Yorkshire that Christine found via FindMyPast several years ago hasn't changed materially.***

[findmypast.org]

Christine notes that the Wakefield individual died the in 1815 and I found that the Thornton William Slater was enumerated there in the 1851 English Census which leaves the one erroneously listed as born in Morley. Looking at the baptismal record the actual parish of birth was Leeds and the family's abode was Mill Shaw [Millshaw] a hamlet in Beeston which was a center of woolen cloth manufacture and is still considered an industrial area.

[Ancestry.com. West Yorkshire, Non-Conformist Records, 1646-1985 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: West Yorkshire Nonconformist Records. Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield, England:

West Yorkshire Archive Service.]

No occupation was listed for William Slater [Senior] but the only time that column seems to have been filled was only when the father was identified with a trade like mason, cordwainer, or clothier which is very seldom. Apparently being a mill hand wasn't deemed worthy of note. The initials purported to be the "Signature of Parents" are all in the same handwriting all throughout the register which would seem to indicate that none of the couples were expected to be able to sign their names.

I've found baptism records for four other children of this William and Mary Slater: Joseph (born 1789 in Churwell); Isaac (born 1790 in Millshaw); Betty (born in Beeston 1794) and Benjamin (born in 1806 in Mill Shaw).****

There's no proof that my ancestor was the William Slater born to this family but I think it's a definite possibility. To someone growing up in the bleak atmosphere of an early Industrial Revolution woolen mill town  and facing a future of unrelenting toil might well find "taking the King's shilling" an attractive idea since the bounty offered could equal several months pay.*****

However he found himself on board one of the over fifty ships comprising the British naval fleet invading Louisiana in 1815, it's clear that William Slater chose to end his military career then and there.

*Christine posted about her discovery of this record here.
**Sadly I don't remember who/where I saw the reference to this book so I can't give them credit.
***Except for the addition of a William Slater born in Whitby, North Yorkshire, in 1790 whom I'm ignoring for now.
****So far I haven't found other records for any these people.
*****Leeds, located 50-60 miles from the nearest port, wouldn't seem to be a likely place for a naval press gang.



© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.