SLOCUM

From England among the first settlers to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, came the Slocum's; First Families of the Providence Plantations. Several generations later, a number of Slocum descendants, now Quakers, removed to the area of the Wyoming Valley of Pennsylvania, under King Charles II's Connecticut Charter, of 1662.  Arrangements were later completed by the Susquehanna Company in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1768, for settling the Wyoming Valley lands. This Slocum line of descendants were among the very earliest participants to attempt to take advantage of this grant, the very earliest settlers of that area.


SLOCOMBE - SLOCUM NAME

From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 34, October 1880, by Charles E. Slocum, page 391-2.

"The surname Slocum, like so many other English surnames, is of local origin, and due to an abundant growth of the Sloe Tree  in one of the numerous Combes (depressions, or valleys, in the hills) of southwestern England; hence the Sloe-Combe, and Slocombe."
"Slocombe has been the uniform mode of spelling the name in England; but once have I found it otherwise, and that as Slocum, in the report of the Herald's Visitation of Devonshire in 1620, as published by the Harleian Society, London, 1872."

"A family of the name possessed landed estates in the counties of Somerset and Devon, and also in Wales. Their coat of arms is found tricked in the report of the Visitation of Somersetshire about the year 1573, in Harleian MS. No. 1385, in the British Museum Library, as follows: Ar. On a fess gu. Betw. Three griffins' heads couped sa. As many sinister wings or. Crest -- A griffin's head gu. Betw. Two wings expanded or."
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"*The Sloe-tree -- known also as the Black-thorn, English wild (spiny) plum (Prunus spinosa) -- is the parent stock from which the varieties of cultivated plums in England (P. domestica) have been propagated."

"The tree, with its foliage and fruit, has occupied a place in the history of human progress from a very early date. Its medical properties were known -- probably in Asia -- before the days of Dioscorides and Galen, who included it in their materia medica. It was introduced into England at an early period of her history, if perchance it was not indigenous there, and has occupied a prominent place in Englaish botany, while its blossoms and fruit have been objects of frequent allusions by British song writers."


"The surname of Anthony and Giles was written in various ways by the clerks of different records and places, principal among which are Slocomb, Slocome, Slocom, Slocumb, Slocume and Slocum. The last form was quite commonly adopted by the children of Giles, and has been uniformly adhered to by their descendants."

It has more recently been commonly accepted that, as so often recorded, Anthony Slocum was NOT the father of Giles Slocum, and therefore Giles was the start, (#1), of the long ancestral Slocum line in America!; therefore, generations noted by number, as to following generations, are always one number less, as then so often indicated.

Although Dr. C. E. Slocum, in his often quoted "A Short History of the Slocums, Slocumbs and Slocombs of America", 1882, (Embracing Eleven Generations of the First-named Family From 1637 To 1881), suggests Anthony #1; Giles #2...and on; he states on pages 34 & 35 of that book; "that relationship remains somewhat in doubt, until further information is obtained, the writer has thought best to let this record show as above, after considering all the evidence found."  (*at that time.)

He also states, (Page 34),  "No record of Anthony Slocombe's marriage having been found, it is presumed that he was married before his arrival in the colonies."

(Page 35) "Mr. Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary, (James Savage, L.L.D., Boston 1862), presumes that the "sons" referred to in Anthony Slocombe's letter, (a letter written to "his brother-in-law", Wm. Harvey in Taunton), were Eliezer Slocum, Giles Slocum, and Peleg Slocum, who were among the proprietors of Dartmouth in the year 1694.  This presumption is undoubtedly erroneous; they were the sons of Giles #2 Slocombe of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, as the records of Rhode Island and Dartmouth clearly show. They may have been grand-sons to Anthony, however, as grand-sons were called "sons" at that time, and nephews were called 'cousins'. "

He further states, (Page 35),...."If Anthony had own sons living in Dartmouth they probably died young—perhaps were, with him, killed in Phillip's War in 1675. No further mention has been found of them, and no one has been identified as descendents of theirs." ("The records of Dartmouth Township previous to the year 1725 were destroyed by fire, and thus much relating to it's history was lost.")

(Page 35...footnote)....."While the question of the degree of relationship that existed between Anthony, Giles, and Edward Slocombe, must remain in doubt until further information is obtained, the writer, (Dr. Slocum), has thought best to let this record show as above after considering all the evidence found." (*At that time, that he considered.) ......*He then refers to Page #26, to a statement he made in the NEHGR, October, 1880;  "I classed Anthony as the father of Giles from the fact of his having referred to his sons in a letter, and no descendents being found other than the children of Giles; and also that the children of Giles succeeded to the possession of the land where Anthony was last known to reside." (Assumption)

*Giles made many purchases of land at that time, and as proven since, was in that area previous to 1637, as children were born there previous to that time....and to quote Dr. Slocum; "he made purchases and sales of land in addition to those here mentioned, (on Page #38), but enough has been cited to show that he was possessed of the characteristic English desire for a large landed estate."

From the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 70, July 1916, by G. Andrews Moriarty, Jr., Newport, R. I.,  pages 283-4.

"Parentage of Giles Slocum of Portsmouth, R. I. -- In the Slocums of America, compiled by Dr. Charles Elihu Slocum, there is an extended notice of the English Slocums; and Giles Slocum of Portsmouth, R. I., is given as a son of Anthony Slocum of Taunton, Mass., in spite of the fact that in the will of Anthony Slocum of Albemarle County in the Province of Carolina, dated 26 Nov. 1688 and proved 7 Jan. 1689/90, neither Giles nor his children are mentioned. There is no doubt of the identity of the Anthony Slocum of Albemarle County in Carolina with the Anthony Slocum who was formerly of Taunton, Mass., and the omission in the will of any reference to Giles Slocum or his children shows conclusively that Giles was not Anthony's son."
"….there can be little doubt that Giles Slocombe, son of Charity of Old Cleeve, and Giles of Portsmouth, R. I., are identical. Giles was probably a near relative of Anthony of Taunton, Mass., and the latter probably came to New England in the company of Mistress Elizabeth Poole, who founded Taunton and who, being a native of the West Country, brought the earliest settlers of Taunton from the counties of Devon, Somerset, and Dorset."
From The American Genealogist, Volume XX, No. 2, October. 1943, page 115.
"SLOCUM.  Giles was undoubtedly the Giles Slocum bapt. at Old Cleeve, co. Somerset, 28 Sept. 1623, son of Philip and Charity (Bickham) Slocombe, who were married there on 20 Nov. 1621. Giles was first mentioned at Portmouth 4 Sepy. 1648. He had lands in Taunton which he sold to Nicholas White, and he undoubtedly was a near relative of Anthony Slocum of Taunton, who removed about 1670 to Albemarle County, N.C., where he was a member of the Palantine Court in 1679 and died in 1689 testate. Anthony was the ancestor of the Southern Slocum's. Joan, wife of Giles, was excommunicated by the Baptist Church at Newport 16: 8: 1673, and Giles on 23: 8: 1673.  They joined the Quakers.  In 1667 he was granted land at Navesink, N.J., by Robert Carr, and on 3 April 1670 he bought two shares of land at Shrewsbury, N.J."


Note: The records of Newport, R.I., previous to 6 December, 1779, were carried away during the Revolutionary War, and remained in a vessel submerged in the East River, New York, three years. The books were recovered, but were in such bad condition that much of their contents were lost past recovery.

To clarify early generation numbers, it would follow; Giles, #1 in America, start of the line, in Portsmouth, Newport Co., Rhode Island.......

Giles Slocum #1, married Joan (? most likely Cooke); Samuel #2, (my line) m. Joan (?); Giles #3 m. Mary Paine; Joseph #4, m. Patience Carr; Jonathan #5, m. Ruth Tripp; Major Benjamin #6, m. Phebe LaFrance; Maria Slocum #7, m. Dr. Silas B. Robinson; Giles Slocum Robinson #8, m. Mary Jane Race; and on. (Brothers all corresponding numbered generations, as well - not #'s 2-3-4-5-6, as records indicate.)

Major Benjamin #6, who married Phebe LaFrance, was Postmaster of the first Providence Post Office, (Pa.), established at Unionville January 10, 1811, under the name "Providence," holding that office until 1829.

About 1830, he removed to Tunkhannock where he died in 1832. A year following the establishment of the borough of Tunkhannock in 1841, his son, Thomas Truxton Slocum, donated two acres of his farm, as a site for the Wyoming County Courthouse.

Additional information on the Robinson line is on a separate page.

Frances Slocum was a young girl who was "stolen by the Delaware Indians from her father's house near Wilkes-Barre, in Wyoming Valley, Luzerne county, Pa.," in September, 1778.  The brother of Frances Slocum is Major Benjamin Slocum.  Benjamin's daughter, Maria Slocum, is my g-g grandmother and wife of Dr. Silas B. Robinson.

Additional information on Frances Slocum is on separate pages.

Dr. C.E. Slocum copied from the Warwick Twp., R.I. records, viz.:---

"These lines may certifie all persons that Jonathan Slocum and Ruth Tripp both of the town of Portsmouth, (perhaps residents on Patience, or Prudence, Island in Narragansett Bay.), in the County of Newport were lawfully married in Warwick on the 23rd day of Febry in the year 1757."

Ruth (TRIPP) SLOCUM, b. 3/21/1736, was the daughter of Isaac TRIPP & Susanna SPENCER(?), Portsmouth, RI.


Luzerne County Federalist
8 May 1807

Mrs. Ruth, widow of Jonathan Slocum, died on Wednesday last, aged 71 years. She with her husband and family, removed to this place form Rhode Island 30 years ago. Here they suffered in common with the other first settlers, all the hardships incident to the establishment of new settlements in a wilderness, together with the distresses arising from domestic persecution, and all horrors of an Indian War. A short time after the family were settled here, a party of savages attacked the house, killed a man at the door, rushed in, seized two of her children, a son and a daughter. The daughter, about five years old, they bore off, and she has never once been seen since by her friends, although it was understood she was not killed. The son was lame from a wound in his foot, and Mrs. Slocum, as though certain what must be his fate, as he would be unable to travel, with uncommon fortitude, stepped up to the Indian who had him, and demanded her boy. With a horrid smile, the savage gave him up, and left the house in pursuit of others

The next year another party of Indians came down upon the settlements. Mrs. Slocum, his aged father, and a son (Wm. Slocum, Esq., of Lackawanna) were at a hay stack, in the field, where they were attacked. Resistance was vain and mercy was a stranger to the bosom of the blood-thirsty wretches. The husband of Mrs. Slocum, and his father fell. The Indians pursued Mr. W. Slocum and wounded him in the leg; and the ball has never been extracted. Thus has the cup of affliction been often and deeply drained by the unfortunate widow. A husband, father and daughter, were wrested from her by the murderous savages. Mrs. sustained the character of a good wife, an affectionate mother, a kind and charitable friend: and the unaffected regret, exhibited by all her acquaintance, witnesses her worth.

More Information on this site

Copyrighted By Ralph W. Robinson, II.


These documents are made available for non-commercial personal use.
Outside Links

Biography of Frances Slocum: The Lost Sister of Wyoming, by John F. Meginness, 1891

Native Languages of the Americas: including Miami-Illinois

Paintings by George Winter of Frances Slocum

 Isaac Tripp's Will

Story from 1888 Scranton Times mentioning Slocum Hollow

Tripp Genealogy by Sam Behling