HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      313

    WILLIAM T. SLACK was born in Jackson township, Clay county,
Indiana, and is now numbered among the general merchants of Ashboro.
He is a son of Ira and Ruthanna Priscilla (Wheeler) Slack, also natives
of Clay county, Indiana, and a grandson of William and Mary (Louder-
milk) Slack, who were from North Carolina and were of English
parentage. He is also a grandson of Thomas Wheeler, and both Thomas
Wheeler and William Slack were among those who assisted in the early
development of Clay county. They were farmers. Ira and Ruthanna
Priscilla (Wheeler) Slack were married in Jackson township, this county,
but a few years after left their farm and moved to Ashboro, where the
husband enlisted in Company I, Eighty-fifth Indiana Volunteer Infantry,
early in 1861 for the Civil war, and was wounded in the battle of Resaca.
He died on the following day, and was buried on the battle ground. His
widow married, some nine years later, Samuel France, and after a two
years’ residence in Prairie City, this county, she died and was buried in
Zenor cemetery. She was the mother of two sons and a daughter by
her first marriage, namely: Margie F., who became the wife of William
Diel and died near Ashboro April 14, 1906; William T. ; ,and James, who
died about the year of 1862. By her second marriage she became the
mother of Joseph A., of Staunton, Illinois, and Cynthia J., now Mrs.
Francis, of Clark county, Illinois.
    After his mother’s death William T. Slack lived with his paternal
grandfather in Jackson township for three years, was one year with
Thompson Booth, and he then lived with the widow Anninias Loudermilk
until his marriage. With his young bride he located on a rented farm in
Sugar Ridge township, continuing as a renter for about four years, and
from that time until 1904 he was engaged in mining coal. On the 11th
of August, 1905, he started his general store in Ashboro, and he has
since bought a business building twenty-two by sixty feet, twelve feet
high, and carries a complete line of groceries and general merchandise.
He and his wife also own fifty-seven acres of land in sections 18 and 19,
Sugar Ridge township, nine lots in Ashboro and their pleasant and com-
modious residence with one acre of ground.
    They were married on the 3d of August, 1880, and Mrs. Slack
bore the maiden name of Ida M. Moss, and was a daughter of George M.
and Martha E. (Adams) Moss. Their children are: Lola M., born
December 22, 1883, the wife of James G. Hicks, of Ashboro; Olive M.,
born September 6, 1885, at home; and Carrie Frances, born October 6,
1887, is engaged in teaching school. Mr. Slack is both a Democrat and
an Odd Fellow, affiliating with Ashboro Lodge, No. 251, in which he
has served in all of the offices and has been a representative to the grand
lodge at Indianapolis, Indiana.

    HENRY F. MEYER, a progressive farmer and stock raiser of Wash-
ington township, Clay county, was born within the limits of that town-
ship on the 6th of March, 1865. He is a son of John F. and Maria
(Sendmeyer) Meyer, natives of Germany, and obtained his education in
the district school of Knob Creek. He is the eldest in a family of two
boys and two girls, and, spent his years upon the home farm until his
marriage, May 1, 1890. His wife was Louisa C. Schopmeyer, daughter
of Harmon and Mary (Fledderjohn) Schopmeyer, who were also born
in Germany.