My Genealogy Hound

HENRY GEIGER SLINGLUFF was born February 20, 1859, on a farm at North Wales, Montgomery county, being a son of William Hallman and Margaret Ann (Shepherd) Slingluff. His parents, soon after his birth, removed to Rose Valley, near Ambler, where his father had rented a farm. They remained there for nine years, Henry attending for some time the public school of the district. The family then removed to Fort Washington where they lived until 1870. About this time William H. Slingluff (father) bought the property known as the Jones’ farm, on Blue Bell road, about a half mile south of that village, which contained twenty-three acres of highly cultivated land. Mr. Slingluff operated it as a truck and fruit farm for the Philadelphia market, which he attended in all for nearly fifty years, earlier in life from North Wales and Rose Valley and more recently from the farm now managed by Henry G. Slingluff, who came into possession of it in the spring of 1903 and has greatly improved the buildings and their surroundings.

Henry G. Slingluff married, April 20, 1880, Flora Margaret, daughter of Andrew Jackson and Christians (Dugan) Krewson, of Cheltenham township, she living in a neighborhood to which he went soon after leaving school in his seventeenth year, to learn the trade of miller. He was compelled to abandon the pursuit of milling on account of ill health and entered the employ of Thomas Rowland & Sons, manufacturers of shovels and other implements, with whom he remained until 1893, when in conjunction with his brother Casper, he rented his father’s farm, on which he now lives. His children: Della Bertha, born March 8, 1881, married, April 10, 1901, Eugene Nice, son of Henry Fasset and Sarah Large (Nice) Conard, and having one child, Verol LeRoy, born June 20, 1903. Eugene Conard lives on his father’s farm and assists him in its management. Ethel Alfreda, born July 3, 1882, resides with her father. Lyle Krewson, born March 16, 1885, resides with his father, assisting him in the management of the farm and attending Girard Avenue Market, Philadelphia.

Mr. Slingluff is a Republican in politics but has not given much attention to party affairs since he has resided in Whitpain township. When a resident of Cheltenham he was a member of the vigilance committee and was known as a party worker. In other matters which concern the community, however, including education and general public improvement, Mr. Slingluff is much interested. In religious faith the family are German Baptists or Dunkards, and attend the meeting at Rose Valley, in Upper Dublin township.

William Hallman Slingluff (father), born December 20, 1825, was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Schlater) Slingluff. He married January 1, 1852, Margaret Ann, daughter of Levi and Hetty (Wilkinson) Shepherd, residing near Springhouse in Gwynedd township. The children of William H. and Margaret Ann Slingluff are: Emma Jane, born May 28, 1853, died unmarried in 1881; William Hallman, born September 18, 1854, married Ella Long, and is now deceased; Levi Shepherd, born May 22, 1856, married Idella, daughter of Andrew and Hannah (Woods) Berkhimer; George Berkhimer, born September 9, 1857, married Ella Long, widow of his brother, William Hallman Slingluff, and resides at Centre Square; Henry Geiger, subject of this sketch; Casper Schlater, born August 4, 1863, married Alice Shugard and resides at Blue Bell.

The Shepherds are an old family in Montgomery and Gwynedd townships. Levi and Hetty Shepherd had several children besides Mrs. Slingluff, among them, William Shepherd, a resident of Montgomery Square, who served as poor director for several years; Linford L. Shepherd, a well-known dealer in cattle, who resides at Franklinville in Whitpain township for many years, and married Emily, daughter of Amos Jones, a well-known resident of Upper Gwynedd, who had a large family of children, while Linford L. and Emily Shepherd had ten children in all, of whom Kate, married Jonathan Cleaver and resides near its management. Ethel Alfreda, born July 3, 1882, Conshohocken. Linford Shepherd died March 15, 1894, at the age of seventy-three years. His widow resides with one of her children in Conshohocken.

Levi Shepherd, Jr., another son of Levi and Hetty Shepherd was a farmer of Gwynedd township.

Elizabeth Slingluff (grandmother), was the daughter of Casper Schlater, born July 13, 1759, in Upper Dublin township. He married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Seltzer. His father and mother, Casper and Barbara Schlater, arrived at Philadelphia from Rotterdam, in the ship Thomas Coatman, on September 22, 1752.

Casper Schlater (great-grandfather) was a man of education and business capacity and a leader of the Democratic party, filling the offices of county treasurer and commissioner in 1817 and 1818. Because of his sound judgment he was also frequently called upon to act in the settlement of estates and the adjustment of disputes between neighbors. He was a member of Boehm’s Reformed church and filled the offices of elder, deacon and trustee.