{{Short description|American businessman and politician}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Fenton M. Slaughter |image = Fenton M. Slaughter, 1870s.jpg |caption = |birth_date = {{birth date|1826|01|10}} |birth_place = Charleston, Virginia |death_date = {{death date and age|1897|05|29|1826|01|10}}} |death_place = San Gabriel Valley, California |state_senate = California |district=1st |term= December 4, 1871 – December 1, 1873 |preceded=William N. Robinson |succeeded= N. J. Pishon |party= Democratic |spouse = |children= }} '''Fenton Mercer Eurice Slaughter''' (January 10, 1826 – May 29, 1897) was an American soldier, pioneer, gold miner, mechanical engineer, farmer and politician.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.sbpl.org/services/local_history/pioneers_of_san_bernardino/s_v_pioneers/slaughter_fenton_mercer | title = Slaughter, Fenton Mercer| last = | first = | date = | website = Feldhym Library | publisher =City of San Bernardino | access-date = October 1, 2022| quote = He came to California in 1849 and moved to Chino in 1868. }}</ref> After serving in the Mexican-American War, he spent most of the rest of his life in California, where he became a successful farmer and politician.
==Early life==
Slaughter had Virginia ancestry going back to 1616. He was born in Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia) to parents Robin Lewis Slaughter and the former Elizabeth Gillem. His father died in 1834 when he was eight years old, leaving his mother to raise 11 children. His mother moved the family to Callaway County, Missouri in 1835 and later settled in St. Louis. He worked on farms and attended common schools. He served an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and later worked on steamboats operating between St. Louis and New Orleans.<ref name = Lewis/>
==Military service==
In 1846, Slaughter volunteered to fight in the Mexican–American War, serving in a Missouri regiment commanded by Colonel Sterling Price. Most of his service was in the present day State of New Mexico. He fought in the Taos Revolt and the Battle of Red River Canyon. During his service, he was captured by the Navajo people and held as a prisoner of war for 22 days. He escaped by riding {{convert|125|mi}} to Albuquerque on a mule he took from the Navajo. He was later wounded in a skirmish with Native Americans in the Rio Grande Valley.<ref name = Lewis/>
==Travels to California ==
After he was discharged from military service in Santa Fe in 1847, Slaughter returned to St. Louis until 1849, when he came to California by the overland route during the Gold Rush. He spent a year mining for gold in what is now El Dorado County, California and then returned to St. Louis by the sea route to Panama and New Orleans.<ref name = Lewis/>
In 1851, he returned to the same area of California, where he worked as an engineer in the first steam-powered sawmill in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and again mined for gold. He then moved on to Mariposa County, California in 1853, where he worked for Edward Fitzgerald Beale, California's first Superintendent of Indian Affairs.<ref name = Lewis/>
==Settling in Southern California==
In 1854, he moved to Los Angeles, working as an engineer. He soon obtained land in Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County, and began raising sheep with John A. Rowland. They were among the first to introduce Merino sheep to Southern California.
Slaughter worked as a miner, sheep farmer, and blacksmith. He became successful, particularly in the sheep business, and purchased a piece of quality grazing land in western San Bernardino County not far from Los Angeles from Raymondo Yorba,<ref name = Lewis>{{cite book | last = | first = | authorlink = | title = An illustrated history of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California, from the Earliest Period of Occupancy to the Present Time; Together with Glimpses of Their Prospects; Also, Full-page Portraits of Some of Their Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of Many of Their Pioneers and of Prominent Citizens of To-day| publisher =Lewis Publishing | series = | volume = | edition = | date =1890 | location =Chicago | pages =625 | language = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=sLgSAwAAQBAJ&q=An+Illustrated+History+of+Southern+California| doi = | id = | isbn = 9785879878806 | quote=}}</ref> who was a member of a wealthy Californio family.<ref name=SBC/> The plot included the Yorba-Slaughter Adobe, a historic adobe house where Slaughter lived with his family until his death.<ref name=SBC>{{cite web|title=The Yorba and Slaughter Families Adobe|url=http://www.sbcounty.gov/museum/branches/yorba.htm|publisher=San Bernardino County Museum|accessdate=May 17, 2013}}</ref> His family home still stands, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result of this land purchase he was able to "vastly increased his wealth and influence."<ref name=SBC/>
A community called Rincon grew around the adobe, which included a general store, a post office, a saloon, a blacksmith shop and a dairy.<ref name=SBC/> Slaughter established the Vine Slope winery by 1879<ref name=SBC/> and built a larger winery in 1887. He had 40 acres of wine grapes in production by that time.<ref name = Lewis/> He also had a herd of 50 thoroughbred cattle and was successful in raising race horses.<ref name=Lewis/>
==Political offices==
After moving to San Bernardino County, Slaughter entered politics as a member of the Democratic Party. Although his district was heavily Republican, he was popular with voters because he was a vigorous supporter of the Union cause during the Civil War. He was elected to the California State Assembly in 1870 to represent San Bernardino County and served in the 1871–73 session.<ref>{{cite web | url =http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/10818| title =F.M. Slaughter | last = | first = | date = | website =JoinCalifornia: Election History for the State of California | publisher = One Voter Project| access-date =October 3, 2022 | quote = }}</ref>
After his legislative service, Slaughter served as postmaster of Rincon, as a trustee on the local school board, and as a San Bernardino County Supervisor, initially appointed to the office after the death of his predecessor, and then elected to a new term by a large majority.<ref name=Lewis/>
==Personal life==
He married Dolores Alvarado from the San Gabriel Valley in 1860, and they had nine children.<ref name=Lewis/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slaughter, Fenton M.}} Category:1826 births Category:1897 deaths Category:School board members in California Category:County supervisors in California Category:Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Category:Businesspeople from California Category:People of the California Gold Rush Category:People from San Bernardino County, California Category:Businesspeople from Virginia Category:People from Callaway County, Missouri Category:Politicians from St. Louis Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Category:Businesspeople from St. Louis Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature