An Account of Oakland County / edited by Lillian Drake Avery.

PERSONAL SKETCHES

387

war, on which score Mr. Slater of this sketch is eligible for and is
affiliated with the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
That Mr. Slater had no small measure of precocity in his youthful
studies needs no further voucher than the statement that when he was
but fourteen years of age he was granted a teacher's certificate in Ohio.
In the year 1871 he was graduated from Denison University, at Granville, Ohio. For several years he gave his time intermittently to
teaching school and advancing his own education, and in this connection it is to be noted that he took in the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology a post graduate course in civil engineering, field work
and calculus. As a student and as a tutor in mathematics he was
connected with Denison University ten years, having previously, in
1865, taken a course in experimental chemistry at Oberlin College. He
was professor of mathematics at Judson University, Judsonia, Arkansas, for a period of ten years, and he served as deputy United States
engineer in the surveying, platting and sounding of Arkansas, White,
and Languel rivers, a work to which he devoted three seasons. During
one season he had charge of government boats on Languel river. In
Fenton, Michigan, he did effective work during six years as assistant
principal and teacher of science in Fenton Normal. Thereafter he was
for two years professor of mathematics in Mountain Home College,
in Baxter county, Arkansas, and in 1898 he established his home in
Pontiac, Michigan, with the idea of retiring from active teaching
and engineering service, but he was deflected from this course, for
immediately he was appointed deputy county surveyor of Oakland
county. He was elected county surveyor in 1900, and by successive
re-elections he was retained in service until January 1, 1925. Notwithstanding his advanced age he has all matters pertaining to his
office well in hand, and his work at the present time continues to be
marked by his characteristic loyalty and vital efficiency. He is a
registered civil engineer and an honored member of the American
Association of Civil Engineers. In a busy and useful life he has found
time to make various contributions to scientific periodicals and to do
other writing, including the compilation of two published works
entitled, respectively, "Creator and Evolution," and "Conditional Immortality." He has ever been a stalwart advocate of the principles
of the Republican party, and on his twenty-first birthday anniversary,
November 6, 1864, he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham
Lincoln. He is one of the principals of the Slater Construction Company, of which mention will be made further on in this review. He
and his wife are earnest members of the Baptist church, and the crown
of their long and worthy lives is that given by their children, all of
whom have conferred honor on the family name. On the 25th of December, 1871, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Slater to Miss Ada
C. Hall, of LaSalle, Monroe county, Michigan, and of the eight children of this union five are living. The first two children, both sons,
were born in Ohio, and the others at Judsonia, Arkansas. Olney A.,
the eldest of the children, was born in Ohio, October 7, 1873, and
received the best of educational advantages as have the other children
also. The brothers were for thirty years contractors and builders,