Giles Bryan Slocum, who died on Slocum's Island, Mich., January 26, 1884, was born in Saratoga township, N. Y., July 1, 1808. His grandfather, Giles Slocum, was of Quaker descent, born in Rhode Island, and moved at an early date to Pennsylvania, and was one of the few escaped sufferers of the massacre of Wyoming in 1778, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Frances, sister of Mr. Slocum's grandfather, then five years old, was carried off by Indians at that time, and after a captivity of sixty years, was found by Colonel Ewing near Logansport, Indiana. Mr. Giles B. Slocum had, in early life, the advantages afforded by the common schools and taught school himself.

In 1830 he farmed on the Au Sable river in northern New York, and came west in 1831, landing at Detroit. After prospecting in the interior for a time about Black river, he settled on the Maumee, and assisted in laying out Vistula, now Toledo. His father dying in 1832, he returned east. He came back to Michigan in 1833 and spent the winter in the stave business at the head of Swan creek, now Newport, in Monroe county, and succeeded in getting the steamers "Jack Downing," "Jackson" and "General Brady," to come up Swan creek to Newport from Lake Erie.

In 1834 he paddled a canoe down Grand river from Jackson to Grand Rapids. In 1837 he became a western man. Among other purchases were three miles of Detroit river front, where for the following fifteen years he turned his attention to wool growing and became one of the largest growers in Michigan. He was also engaged in building docks at Detroit, Windsor, Trenton and Sandwich.

In 1848, he, with Mr. Mears, of Chicago, purchased large tracts of pine on White river and laid out the present village of Whitehall, About the same time he took a contract to build two bridges across the river Rouge. In 1838 Mr. Slocum marrieci Sophia Maria Brigham Truax, daughter of Col. Abrahamson C. Truax, of the village of Trenton. Three children were born to them. Elliott T., and a daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Nichols, survive.

He took an active part in the organization of the Republican party at Jackson in 1854, and was ever an influential supporter of the party. In 1856 he took an active interest in constructing the Detroit, Monroe and Toledo railroad and was one of its first directors, as his son, Elliott T., was of the Chicago and Canada Southern. In 1861 Mr. Slocum was an earnest supporter of the government, and did much to put regiments in the field. He was one of the trustees of the Saratoga Monument Association, of which Horatio Seymour was president. His son, Elliott T., succeeded him as such, and is now one of the trustees.

Mr, Slocum was a self-dependent man. During the financial disasters of 1837 he met all his engagements, which were many, and the fortune he accumulated was the result of numerous ventures which were conducted with care and clear business judgment. He was frank and bold in defending and maintaining his opinions, but never sought to force them on others. His honesty was never questioned, and he created in others unbounded faith and trust. None of the early pioneers of this section were more widely known throughout the State, nor more sincerely respected and esteemed.

His son, Hon. Elliott T. Slocum, has reason to be proud of his ancestry, especially as he is of Michigan birth and springs from a line which suffered much, not only to make his native State what it is, but on the paternal side to contribute blood and treasures in the struggle for American independence.

Elliott T. is the only son of Giles B. Slocum and Sophia Maria Brigham Truax. On his paternal side he can go back ten generations to Anthony Slocum, who is recorded as one of the forty-six "first and ancient" purchasers of the territory of Cohannet, now Massachusetts. Next came Giles Slocum, the common ancestor of all the Slocums, whose American lineage has been found to date from the seventeenth century. He was born in Somersetshire, England, and settled in Portsmouth township, Rhode island, in 1638,where he died in 1682. Then followed respectively the generations of Samuel, Giles, Joseph, Jonathan, Giles, Jeremiah and Giles B., the father of Elliott T. He should be equally proud of his maternal ancestor, Col. Abraham Caleb Truax, who at the surrender of General Hull, refused to recognize its terms, escaped through the lines and was the first who communicated with Perry, and subsequently conveyed the intelligence of his victory to the resident Americans of Detroit. Elliott T. Slocum was born at Trenton, Wayne county, in 1839.

In boyhood he was one of the leaders of his companions, and notwithstanding the pecuniary circumstances of his family were better than most of his associates, he is said never to have presumed to arrogate more than his equal rights with other boys. In accordance with his own inclinations and the wishes of his parents, he prepared for a college course and graduated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., in the class of 1862. The Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott, then its president, signed Mr. Slocum's diploma conferring the degree of Bachelor of Arts, which was one of the last signed by that celebrated divine.

In 1869 he took his second degree, Master of Arts, from the University of Michigan. After graduating, he engaged with his father in looking after their large lands of lumber and farming interests, meanwhile as a born American, taking more or less interest in politics and in familiarizing himself with the questions relating to political economy. His investigations at that early period of his life have proved of value to him in enabling the intelligent exercise of views and opinions by which to regulate his own, as well as the actions of others in matters connected with governmental affairs.

In 1869, he was elected State senator on the Republican ticket from the Third Senatorial District, which was strongly Democratic, and served with honor and to the satisfaction of his constituency. In the many important senatorial contests of Michigan, Mr. Slocum has taken an active part, and from them as from other public matters in which he has likewise taken great interest he has acquired a wide personal acquaintance. He was one of the first directors of the Chicago and Canada Southern railroad and was assigned the duty of procuring for it the right of way. This difficult undertaking he accomplished without sacrifice to the public or the railway company.

In 1886, he was appointed a member of the Board of Park Commissioners of the city of Detroit, and until recently was its president, where he did excellent service, proving himself a most competent and faithful member. To his efforts is due much of the beauty and development of the Island Park. Mr. Slocum made two trips to Europe, where, being naturally attracted by the wonderful dykes of Holland, by which vasts tracts of low lands have been reclaimed from the sea, he spent some time in studying the methods and results of the Dutch engineers. The knowledge thus gained, together with a careful study of the parks of Europe, came into useful play in the smaller field of Belle Isle Park.

Those who know Elliott T. Slocum appreciate him for his independence of thoughts and acts, and the frankness with which he presents and advocates his views without demanding that others should endorse or adopt them. He succeeded his father as trustee of the Saratoga Monument Association of New York, and with George William Curtis, Hon. S. S. Cox, Hon. John H. Starin and others, took an active interest in the erection of one of the finest monuments in the world, on the battle-field of Burgoyne's surrender at Schuylerville, N. Y., near the home of his father's family,

In the management of extensive business interests left by his father and in the creation and development of new projects, Mr. Slocum has displayed good judgment and has been uniformly successful.

He was married July 30, 1872, to Charlotte Gross, daughter of the late Ransom E. Wood, an old resident and wealthy capitalist of Grand Rapids.

Letter

TRENTON, WAYNE CO., MICH
October 10, 1877

William L. Stone, Esq.

MY DEAR SIR:

I take great pleasure in responding to your request that I should write you some of my early recollections of Schuylerville, and of the celebration which occurred in that village in 1822. Brief as they must necessarily be, they may, perhaps, possess some degree of interest.

It may not be out of place to say that my grandfather, Giles Slocum, was well acquainted with Major-General Schuyler (whom he greatly admired), as he first rented a farm and afterwards bought it off that general. The farm is now owned by one, Lockro, on the west bank of Fish creek about a mile below Stafford's bridge. On this spot I was born in 1808, but my father moved over to old Saratoga in 1814, and bought the place now owned by Hiram Cramer, situated about two miles southwest of Schuylerville. This was the same farm, in fact, on which resided Major Dunham -- the captor of the noted tory, Lovelace, who was hung as a spy on the hill just in front of the old Schuyler mansion.

The remarkable and aged Albert Clements at that time lived on the adjoining farm to ours, and he is still living, adjoining, but about a mile east of his former residence.

When a school boy, we used to find leaden bullets on Burgoyne's Battle Grounds, of which we made plummets to rule our writing-paper, as they were the softest and best lead to be had.

About fifty years ago, there was a big celebration on the 4th of July, of which Ph. Schuyler, the grandson of Gen. Schuyler, was the leading actor. The extensive tables on the occasion were set on the grounds of old Fort Hardy, with a canopy of evergreens to protect the guests from the sun, although the oration was delivered in a shady grove on the eastern slope of the heights, near where the Dutch Reformed church now stands, by the "eloquent but unfortunate" Rev. Hooper Cummings, of Albany, at that time a brilliant light in the American pulpit, but destined "like a glowing meteor, to go suddenly down in darkness and gloom."

I well remember, also, that there were about a dozen old revolutionary soldiers present, seated in a row on a bench close under the voice and eye of the orator (so that they could the better hear and see) ; and that when the speaker, in the course of his remarks, addressed them personally, it was in such glowing terms of thankfulness and honor for their invaluable services, few dry eyes could have been found within hearing of his voice.

John Ward, one of the body guard of General Schuyler, and who was carried off by the tory Waltermeyer into Canada, when the latter attempted the abduction of the general from Albany, was among those seated on the bench.

The gathering was a very large one, the people of the whole county being nearly all there. Brigadier-General De Ridder, from across the river, a substantial property holder and a general in the war of 1812, was mounted on a fine horse at the head of a large troop of light horse (as they were then called) and other military companies. The "soul stirring drum and ear piercing fife " were the materials in that day in the way of music. I recall the fact, also, that the breastworks surrounding the fort were nearly perfect at that time, as General De Ridder, at the head of the military, marched around on the top of the entrenchments. Philip Schuyler and General De Ridder were the great personages of that day, and were the only ones who came to the old Dutch Reformed church in their coaches.

Two years ago, I visited Schuylerville with my son. I then looked in vain for the first vestige of the old fort, or of the entrenchments on the heights. I recollect the old Dutch Reformed church situated about half a mile south of Schuylerville, as mentioned by Mr. Clements; and in my childhood was edified by hearing each Sunday two sermons by the Rev. Mr. Duryea. The building was enclosed, but not plastered, and was used by the British in the campaign. I was well acquainted with Philip Schuyler, the grandson above mentioned, who left that section of the country in 1837. I, also, left the same year for this place, where I have resided ever since. I came here for the first time, however, in 1831.

I regret very much that I cannot attend the celebration at Schuylerville on the 17th. I hope it will be a grand success and insure the erection of a monument on the far famed "heights of Saratoga" worthy to commemorate the great event of American history.

With much esteem,
GILES B. SLOCUM.