The memorial service of Rev. G. W. Slaughter, which were held yesterday, was preached by Dr. Burleson of Waco. The last sad rites in memory of Mr. Slaughter were attended by the largest concourse of people that ever attended a funeral service at this place. Fort Worth Gazette, (Fort Worth, Texas) March 23, 1895
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Rev. George Webb Slaughter, whose name figured actively with Texas history for over fifty years. Of a Culpepper county, Virginia, family, he came to Texas in 1836, when the war for independence from Mexico was still in progress, and he became a pony expressman, or messenger, on the staff of General Sam Houston, and was associated with that great general during all the stirring times coincident with the establishment of Texan Independence. His connection with the events of those days is interestingly recorded in John Henry Brown's voluminous and accurate history of Texas. After the war for independence George Webb Slaughter located in Palo Pinto county, being among the early settlers of that then far western and border community, and he spent the remainder of his years in that county, where he died in 1894. He was a minister of the gospel for many years, although his active and useful life was directed into numerous channels whence flowed material progress and social uplift. The old Slaughter homestead near Palo Pinto is now occupied by his daughters. Judge Slaughter's mother was Sarah Jane (Mason) Slaughter. [A Twentieth Century History & Biographical Record of North & West Texas, Vol. 1, 1906]
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After arriving in Texas in 1830, Slaughter served as a message courier under Sam Houston and delivered at least one message to William B. Travis at the Alamo. He was an ordained Baptist minister, but he made his fortune in ranching. In 1857 he set up a ranch five miles north of the site of present Palo Pinto. He preached and practiced medicine while ranching. Slaughter and his son, Christopher Columbus Slaughter, trailed cattle in 1867 through 1875. In a single drive in 1870, the Slaughters trailed more than three thousand head of cattle to Kansas. Slaughter made his home in Emporia, Kansas, until 1876, when he ended his partnership with his son Christopher and returned to Texas to ranch with another son, Peter Slaughter. The book, Texas Trail Drivers, issued by the University of Texas Press, says he is the son of William Webb Slaughter and Nancy Moore Slaughter.
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George Webb Slaughter, rancher, and Baptist preacher, the son of William and Nancy (Moore) Slaughter, was born in Lawrence County, Mississippi, on May 10, 1811. The family moved to Louisiana in 1825 and to Sabine County, Texas, in 1830. Slaughter served as a courier under Sam Houston and is credited with delivering a message to William B. Travis at the Alamo. On October 12, 1836, Slaughter married Sarah Jane Mason, and they became the parents of eleven children. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1844, he preached in Sabine and other East Texas counties until the death of his father in 1851, when he moved his cattle to Freestone County. In 1857 he set up a ranch five miles north of the site of present Palo Pinto, preaching and practicing medicine in addition to ranching. By 1860 his range extended into Young County. During the Civil War Slaughter furnished beef for the Tonkawa Indians under contract with the Confederate government. In 1867 Slaughter and his son, Christopher Columbus Slaughter, drove a herd of steers from Palo Pinto to Shreveport, Louisiana, under a contract with T. H. Johnson. In 1867 and 1868 some of the Slaughter cattle were sold to James C. Loving and Charles Rivers, but in 1870 the Slaughters drove 3,000 head to Kansas. They continued to make northern drives until 1875. Slaughter made his home in Emporia, Kansas, until 1876, when he dissolved his partnership with his son, Christopher C., and returned to Texas to ranch in partnership with another son, Peter Slaughter. The father sold his interests in 1884. He died at Palo Pinto on March 19, 1895. [Claudia Hazlewood, "Slaughter, George Webb," Handbook of Texas Online. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.]
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