From Palo Pinto, take FM 4 five miles north (May 10, 1811-March 11, 1895) Born in Lawrence County, Miss. Came to Texas with his parents in 1830, settled in Sabine County, and began a freighting business. He participated in the Texas War for Independence, serving as a courier for Gen. Sam Houston, and on one occasion took a dispatch to Col. William B. Travis at the Alamo in San Antonio. Slaughter married Sarah Mason on October 12, 1836, the first marriage sanctioned under laws of the Republic of Texas. The couple had 11 children, including the prominent cattlemen Christopher C. (1837-1919) and John B. Slaughter (1848-1928). George W. Slaughter in 1844 was ordained a Baptist minister. He began raising cattle in Freestone County in 1852, and moved in 1857 to his Palo Pinto County homestead (1/4 miles east). He organized (1861) a Baptist church near his home, and rode a circuit in the area, preaching and practicing "saddlebag" medicine. He and his family survived several Indian attacks. From 1868 to 1875, thousands of his cattle went up the trail to Kansas railheads. Slaughter moved (1870) to Emporia, Kan., but returned here in 1875. In 1882, he founded the First Baptist Church in Mineral Wells. He ceased ranching in 1884. He was moderator (1886) when Slaughter Valley Baptist Church merged with the church in Palo Pinto, where he was later buried. Incise on base: Marker Sponsor: D.C. Harris, grandson. |
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