The Slaters, 1866
When Lucy Slater and a daughter of Daniel Perry left a New York almshouse in 1865 to set up their household, Lucy became James Slater in order to mitigate the curiosity of neighbors. Unfortunately, it didn’t work, and the two were separated less than a year later.
Who was the daughter of Daniel Perry? Daniel Perry (born 1783; died in Abington, Massachusetts, in 1875), had several daughters: Maria (born 1 April 1815; probably died before 1830), Frances (born 2 April 1818), an unnamed girl (born 2 February 1826; probably died as an infant), Caroline (b. 31 Aug 1830), and Maria Louisa (born 1 April 1833). [See Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850. database on-line at ancestry.com. Also in Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1912. vol 1; p. 161. at HathiTrust.org.]
Caroline married Levi Cox on 13 December 1857. [See Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. online at ancestry.com]
Frances married Henry Clapp on 13 October 1844. [See Vital Records of Abington, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. Boston, Massachusetts: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1912. vol 2; p. 49. online at HathiTrust.org]
Maria Louisa Perry never married; she died in Abington, Massachusetts, on 20 November 1890 and was buried next to her parents in Colebrook Cemetery, Whitman, Massachusetts. [See Massachusetts Vital Records, 1840–1911. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. at ancestry.com. See record at findagrave.com]
Was Maria the daughter mentioned? Possibly. She doesn’t appear in census records for 1870-1880—at least under “Maria Perry” (or under “Maria Slater” … ). Perhaps she lived the rest of her life under another name. And perhaps she found a partner with whom to live it.
“Married and Single.” New Bedford Mercury [New Bedford, Massachusetts]; reprinted inm Fall River Daily Monitor [Fall River, Massachusetts] 27 April 1866; p. 2.
We are constantly remin[d]ed that truth is stranger than fiction. About a year ago a daughter of Major Daniel Perry, of Abington, who is somewhat deranged, disappeared and wandering off, was at last lodged in the Sullivan County Alms House, New York, as a vagrant. Here she met another monomaniac by the name of Lucy Slater, and the two becoming very much attached to each other, decided to become man and wife. They left the Alms House last summer and returned to Abington where they have lived in the bonds of wedlock, as supposed by the neighbors, Lucy alias James Slater wearing male attire up to the present time. She was arrested last Monday and brought before Justice Hersey, of Abington, for this offence, and sentenced to the Plymouth Hosue of Correction. It would be more proper to send them both to the Asylum at Taunton.—New Bedford Mercury.
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