Durham, N. N.  "Spokane and the Inland Empire; History of the City of Spokane
and Spokane County Washington."  Vol. 3.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912.
Vol. 2.

JOHN BERRY SLATER.

Of sturdy Hollandish and Welsh descent John B. Slater, of Colville, has shown
that he possesses many of the most notable traits of his ancestors and ranks as
a leading attorney of eastern Washington. He has practiced at Colville for more
than twenty years and is also extensively interested in business affairs. He is
a native of Yreka, California, born April 10, 1860, a son of James and Sarah
Jane (James) Slater. The parents were pioneers of the Pacific coast, arriving in
the west early in the '50s. The mother died in 1867, when the subject of this
review was seven years old, and the father passed away in 1901. The ancestors on
the paternal side emigrated to America from Holland with Peter Stuyvesant in
1630 and the great-grandfather of our subject participated in the Revolutionary
war. The mother's ancestors were of Welsh nationality and the first of the
family to arrive in the new world settled in the Carolinas about the time of the
Revolutionary war.

John B. Slater received his early education in the public schools of Oregon and
attended Santiam Academy for two years, clerking in a drug store after school
hours. At the age of twenty he went to Sprague, Washington, and for two years
was connected with the coppersmith's department of the Northern Pacific Railway.
He began business on his own account as a druggist at Heron, Montana, in 1883,
and the year following, while still the owner of the store, went to the Coeur
d'Alene mines in Idaho but remained there only a short time. After returning to
Heron he closed out his business and went to Medical Lake, Washington, where he
owned a drug store for one year. While at that place he purchased the Medical
Lake Banner, a local newspaper, and four months later, on August 20, 1885, moved
the outfit to Colville and changed the name of the paper to the Stevens County
Miner, which he conducted for four years. This was the first regular newspaper
published north of Spokane, in Stevens county. In February, 1886, Mr. Slater
was. appointed postmaster of Colville by President Grover Cleveland and
installed the first post office equipments in this place, including call and
lock boxes. He filled the office of postmaster to the general satisfaction of
the people for four years. In 1886, the same year in which he was appointed
postmaster, he was elected probate judge of Stevens county, which then included
territory which has been divided up into several counties. The office of probate
judge he also filled for four years. In the meantime he had studied law and was
admitted to the Washington bar in June, 1890. In the fall of the same year he
was elected prosecuting attorney of Stevens County and filled that office for
two years. He has ever since applied himself to the practice of his profession,
in which he has been highly successful. For seven years past he has also been
interested in the lumber and sawmill business. From the time of arriving at
manhood Mr. Slater has been an ardent supporter of the democratic party and has
been prominent in its councils. In 1888 he was secretary of the state
territorial convention which assembled at Spokane and in 1901 was appointed by
Governor Rogers as member of the state board of audit and control. In the latter
part of 1901 he made a trip to California and remained in that state for several
months, returning home in 1902.

On the 11th of September, 1889, Mr. Slater was married, at Lebanon, Oregon, to
Miss Florence E. Ballard, a daughter of Dr. David W. Ballard. They have one son,
Ronald Ballard, who was graduated in 1911 from the Colville high school. The
parents of Mrs. Slater came to Oregon early in the '50s. Her father was
graduated at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and was very successful as a
practitioner in the early days of Oregon and was acquainted with General U. S.
Grant, when the latter was in command at Fort Vancouver. He served as governor
of Idaho and superintendent of Indian affairs in that territory for seven years.
Mr. Slater is also numbered among the pioneers and now fills the office of
secretary of the Stevens County Pioneer Association. He is also a member of the
public and high school boards of Colville, these boards being separate
organizations. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic order and is past
master of Colville Lodge, No. 50. He has taken the thirty-second degree and is a
member of the consistory. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the
Modern Woodmen of America, being a trustee of the local lodge in the orders last
named. A man of great industry and perseverance, and possessing unusual public
spirit, Mr. Slater has assisted very materially in promoting the welfare of the
county and state and is one of the highly respected citizens of Washington. He
has discharged his duties as a lawyer as well as those of a private citizen with
the utmost fidelity and has set an example eminently worthy of imitation by old
and young. It is men of this class that reflect credit upon the state and are
truly deserving of the honor and esteem of their fellows.



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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in April 2015 by Diane Wright.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.