Eber J Slaght (born January 25,1849; died November 6,1921) Married September 16, 1866, in Michigan They came to Kansas in 1882 and settled on a farm northeast of Bennington which is now part of the Boster farm. Later they moved to Salina and in 1909 they moved to California. Their children were: Florence Chapman Gunn: one daughter (Mrs. Theresa Quinn) Charles Slaght: one son (Eber Slaght) Alta Richardson: one son (Walter Richardson) Bertha Markley: six children (Grace Essig Bess Farrell  deceased Alta Faye Dalrymple - deceased Dorothy Richards Benjamin Markley Claude Markley - deceased) SLICK FAMILY HISTORY By Dewey Harold Slick The Slick family came from Holland before the Revolutionary War to the New World. George Fremont Slick, the son of John and Margaret Boarder Slick (his grandfather's name was Will Slick), was born the year of 1856, on August I5, in Cooperstown, Pennsylvania. He departed this life March 18,1942, at Bennington, Kansas, with services held in the Presbyterian Church. The officiating clergyman was Rev. E C. Howe. His final resting place was in the Bennington Cemetery. He was married to Mary D. Buxton whose parents were Charles Buxton and Mary Grove Buxton. She was born on July 15,1859, and departed this life November 12, 1951. Both, Mr. and Mrs. Slick, passed away on their farm where they had lived for so many years. George F. Slick's father died when Geo. was a young boy. In 1878, at the age of 23, he left the steel mills in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, heading for Pueblo, Colorado, but stopped en route at Salina, Kansas, to visit the Giest families who had come before to start a bank. A story has been handed down that one of the Giest Bros. came with $70,000.00 under his belt -a lot of money in those days. While on this visit, a land salesman brought Mr. Slick to a farm near the Saline-Ottawa county line, however, this farm had considerable rocks and hills and Geo. stated that if he wanted to farm rocks and hills he would return to Johnstown, so the land salesman brought him to Bennington and it was here that after being shown a 160 acre piece of railroad land left at $10.00 per acre Geo. decided to buy. The land was located three miles east and one mile south of Bennington; this was his home for the remainder of his life, with the exception of a period when he returned to Johnstown to work. During the peiod when Geo. had returned to work in Pennsylvania, he met and married Mary D. Buxton (September 31, 1881); one son was born in July, 1882, in Pennsylvania. In the year 1882, they returned to Kansas, thinking that if they didn't like it well enough to stay they would return to Pennsylvania, but as times were hard, there wasn't money to return with right away. In later years they made a trip to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but times had changed and Kansas was too good of a place to leave. The reason Geo. returned to Pennsylvania to work was due to the hard times suffered here. While working there, Geo. would tell stories of the fish in the rivers in Kansas, but his friends would laugh and say "Geo., you have learned to lie as well as the rest." When the Slicks returned to Kansas, six more sons and one daughter were added to their family; one son died at about six months of age. During these years they had to face many hardships, such as: livestock disease, tornadoes, prairie fires, hail storms and floods such as the floods of 1903,1915 and 1951, to date a few of them. The Henry J Putman Investment Co. supported them through the years till the year 1915. In the early days to plant corn the corn planter had two seats, Mr. Slick drove the team of horses while Mrs. SIick worked the lever to plant the corn and some of the neighbors had ox teams, there were many people here before the Slicks. At one time the Slicks had 40 head of horses and mules. In 1925, they bought their first tractor and in 1926, they bought their first combine, not knowing how much good it would be as it looked like a white elephant to a lot of the people, but the combine has come to stay. RETURN NEXT