Mary Slaughter
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Mary Slaughter. Photograph courtesy of the Lycoming County Historical Society |
“The answer to the prayers of elderly women in the late 1800’s came through the tireless efforts of a former slave, Mary Slaughter,” says Annette English in her tribute, “Mary Slaughter Had a Heart Full of Love.”
Most notably, Mary Slaughter is remembered for the home that she established in Williamsport in 1897 for poor, elderly black women. Her name lives on in the Mary Slaughter Apartments at 124 Brandon Place, in Williamsport, apartments located where the Home for Aged Colored Women once stood.
Slaughter settled in Williamsport in 1866. Before the Civil War, Mary, her husband William, and their children had been slaves on the Myers Plantation in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Williamsport’s population exploded during that time period, as blacks and whites, eager for the jobs created by the lumber industry, flocked to the city. As the population grew, so did the need for social services among both blacks and whites.
Mary Slaughter provided care for women who, because of their race, might otherwise have had nowhere else to turn. In 1923, Williamsport journalist Dorothy Deane noted in the Williamsport Gazette and Bulletin that “she cares for them all, looks after the furnace, cooks the meals, sees that they are dressed and ready to receive their friends who regularly go to read with them or hold meetings, and she thanks God daily for His good to her and her old women.”
According to Annette English's "Mary Slaughter Had a Heart Full of Love" (Lycoming County Bicentennial Committee History Pamphlet, 1976), the original funding for the home came from local philanthropists, community donations, and the small fee that she charged—$10 a month. Slaughter later mortgaged the building, remodeled, and expanded. According to English, “Mary herself went to Harrisburg and personally appeared before the Senate legislative committee. Her lack of education and inability to read or write did not inhibit her earnestly speaking on behalf of her heart’s desire.” Mary won state funding for the Home, and she became its matron, a position she held for almost thirty years.
Mary recounted that she had been married when she was 20 and had one son, John. Her husband, however, was sold soon thereafter and taken to Mississippi. She never saw him again. Several years later, she married William Slaughter, another fellow slave.
Mary Slaughter died on January 14, 1934 at the State Hospital for the Insane in Danville, PA. She had been a resident there for about five years. At her funeral, held in Williamsport at Page’s Chapel, the pastors from both First Baptist and Bethel AME churches honored Slaughter and her work. Mary Slaughter is buried at Wildwood Cemetery.
For more about Mary Slaughter, see "Mary Slaughter: Founder of the Home for Aged Colored Women," published in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette on February 9, 2014.
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