HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



673 



spring of 1868, and at once began the 

 practice of his profession with Dr. J. E. 

 Smith, of Yardley, with whom he re- 

 mained until the spring of 1870, when he 

 located in Solebury township, where he 

 has since been actively engaged in prac- 

 tice, covering thirty-six consecutive 

 years. He is a member of the Bucks 

 County Medical Society, the Lehigh Val- 

 ley Medical Association and the Penn- 

 sylvania State Medical Society, and thus 

 keeps in touch with the advanced 

 thought, research and experience of the 

 medical fraternity. 



On the 13th of October, 1870, Dr. Wal- 

 ter was united in marriage to Miss Mary 

 T. Child, daughter of George M. and 

 Sarah (Wood) Child, of Plumstead 

 township. In politics he is a Republi- 

 can, and his fraternal relations connect 

 him with the lodge, chapter and com- 

 mandery of the Masonic order. 



ALBERT E. SLACK, of Upper Make- 

 field township, Bucks county, was born 

 in Philadelphia, October 11, i860, a son 

 of Elijah T. and Eliza D. (Crowell) 

 Slack, and is of Holland and Scotch- 

 Irish ancestry. On the paternal side 

 he is a descendant in the eighth genera- 

 tion from Hendrick Cornelise Slecht, 

 who emigrated from Holland to Long 

 Island in 1652, and settled near the pres- 

 ent site of Brooklyn, where he died about 

 1690. From his four sons, Barendt, Cor-, 

 nelius, Abraham and Johannes, are de- 

 scended the numerous family of Slack, 

 now residing in nearly all parts >of the 

 United States. Two grandsons of Hen- 

 drick, John and Abraham, settled in 

 Makefield township, Bucks "county, about 



1740- 



Abraham Slack was twice married. His 

 first wife, and the mother of his four 

 children, died while the latter were 

 young and he married (second) June 

 16, 1768, Martha Titus, who survived 

 him. Abraham died in " 1802. His chil- 

 dren were: Abraham, married Elizabeth 

 Torbert; Cornelius, married Sarah Hell- 

 ings ; James, married Alice Torbert ; and 

 Sarah, married Moses Kelley. Eliza- 

 beth and Alice Torbert, who married 

 Abraham and James Slack, respectively, 

 were daughters of James and Hannah 

 (Burleigh) Torbert, of Makefield, and 

 their two grandfathers, Samuel Torbert 

 and John Burleigh, came from the north 

 of Ireland and settled in Bucks county 

 about 1725. 



Abraham Slack, son of James and Alice 

 (Torbert) Slack, was the grandfather 

 of the subject of this sketch. He inher- 

 ited from his father a farm in Lower 

 Makefield. and died there in 1833. His 

 wife, Mary Mann, survived him. They 

 were the parents of thirteen children, 

 eleven of whom lived to maturity. Mary 

 Mann, the mother, was a daughter of 

 43-3 



Samuel and Margaret (Keith) Mann, and 

 a granddaughter of William Keith, an- 

 other early settler in Makefield, from 

 the north of Ireland. The children of 

 Abraham and Mary (Mann) Slack were: 

 Samuel M., born June 27, 1808, married 

 Margaret Rubinkam, and had ten chil- 

 dren, oi whom five yet survive — Mary 

 R., Agnes E., and Rosanna, single, resid- 

 ing on the homestead of their father in 

 Upper Makefield; Jesse R., of Upper 

 Makefield, and James M., of Forest 

 Grove; another son, Captain Abraham A. 

 Slack, recently died in Northampton 

 township. John Keith. Slack, the second 

 son of Abraham and Mary, was devised 

 the Keith plantation, and changed his 

 name to John Slack Keith. The remain- 

 ing eleven children were: William H., 

 Anthony W., Frederick A., Elijah T., 

 Margaret, Alice, Rosanna K., Mary Ann 

 B., Martha T., and Jane. 



Elijah T. Slack, the father of the sub- 

 ject of this sketch, was born in Lower 

 Makefield township, in 1823, and was 

 but ten years of age at the death of his 

 father. He was reared on the old home- 

 stead, which was managed by his eldest 

 brother, Samuel M., after the death of 

 his father, and received his education at 

 the local schools. At the age of fifteen 

 years he went to Philadelphia and se- 

 cured a position in the dry goods store 

 of Gideon Cox, and later obtained a more 

 lucrative position with Atwood, White 

 & Co., representing them on the road as 

 a travelling salesman, his territory ex- 

 tending down through the -southern 

 states, where he built up a large patron- 

 age. About 1854, he formed a partner- 

 ship with John R. Sparhawk, and eni- 

 b^jrked in business for himself. Two 

 years later this partnership was dis- 

 solved, and he organized the firm of 

 Cresswell, Slack & Gemmill, which 

 existed up to the death of Mr. Slack in 

 '1876; and was one of the well known 

 wholesale firms of Philadelphia. Mr. 

 Slack was a Democrat in politics, and 

 took a prominent part in the reform 

 movement in Philadelphia in the early 

 seventies. He married Eliza D. Crow-' 

 ell, of Philadelphia, who is still living 

 with a sister in Hackettstown, New Jer- 

 sey. They were the parents of four chil- 

 dren, two of whom survive : Albert E., 

 the subject of this sketch; and Helene, a 

 single woman residing in Madison, New 

 Jersey. 



Albert E. Slack was born and reared in 

 the city of Philadelphia, and graduated 

 from the high school there in 1876. In 

 the same spring he was appointed a 

 midshipman at the Naval Academy at 

 Annapolis, by Congressman Charles 

 O'Neil, but, the death of his father oc- 

 curring at about the time of his ap- 

 pointment, and his mother being v€ry 

 much opposed to his accepting, he re- 

 signed the appointment and came to Up- 

 per Makefield township, Bucks county, 



