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Martha Jane (Slaton) DuBois


Martha Jane (“Mattie”) Slaton (12/27/1838-7/20/1907) was born on a plantation in Autauga County, Alabama, not far from present-day Prattville. She was the youngest of seven children born to John Slaton and Nancy Harris. She was well-educated, attending a “Female Academy” and she was a staunch Methodist.

From an early age, Mattie owned property, including enslaved people, in her own right. After her marriage to Dr. Rufus DuBois (a dentist), she provided funds for the family homestead and surrounding acreage in Greensboro, AL. In the years just before her death, the homestead was divided and parcels of land sold off. The house itself stood over 150 years before being torn down and replaced with affordable housing.


According to the 1860 census, their real estate was worth $3500 ($111,695 today) and their personal property was $13,000 ($414,868 today). Of that, a substantial amount could be attributed to the eleven enslaved people on their property. I am attempting to trace their families. I know that at least three mulatto descendants of someone in our family are related by blood, but I have not been able to pin down our common ancestor. My best guess lies in Mattie’s lineage, possibly on her mother’s (Nancy Harris of Georgia) side.


Mattie’s brother, William Franklin Slaton, was a Civil War major (later, colonel) for the Confederate army who was captured twice, finally serving out his time in the war in a federal prison in Sandusky, Ohio. Her husband, Dr. Rufus DuBois, as a Justice of the Peace, a constable, and a member of the local guard, tried to avoid service in the Confederate Army, but near the end of the War his deferrals gave way to Robert E. Lee’s needs for every male citizen over 14. He was part of a cavalry unit who managed to get “lost” in the Georgia backwoods rather than fight in a skirmish. His later court-martial was dismissed. Perhaps in a last-ditch effort to avoid enlistment, the couple bought $2800 ($89,356 today) in Confederate bonds.


Mattie and Rufus raised eight children, the youngest of whom was Rev. Henry Harris Slaton DuBois, my paternal grandfather. Mattie made sure that her eighth child was named after her grandfather Henry Harris, and carried her maiden name as well.


One family claim to fame comes from Mattie’s nephew, John Marshall Slaton, who became governor of Georgia. He was portrayed by the actor Jack Lemmon in “The Murder of Mary Phagan” and a mini-biography of him was included in John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage.”


Mattie was included in a Civil War diary of a young Greensboro man. He discussed the many times he either was taken to the Methodist Church by her, or was entertained in her home. Mattie’s father-in-law, brother-in-law, and youngest son were all Methodist ministers, as were several of her Harris aunts, uncles, and cousins. She was a tenth-generation descendant of Jamestown, VA settlers, and all of her ancestors were pre-Revolutionary war citizens of the United States or the colonies.


Two years after her husband of 48 years died, Mattie followed. She was buried in Greensboro.


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