Christopher C. Slaughter, vice-president of the American Exchange National Bank at Dallas, is a self-made man in the most significant sense of the term. Starting out with nothing but his own brains and determination to win success, he gradually accumulated an immense fortune and is now one of the wealthiest citizens of Texas.

Christopher is the son of George and Sarah [Mason] Slaughter. He was born in Sabine County, Texas, and he claims to be the oldest son in Texas born by marriage after the battle of San Jacinto, his birth having occurred immediately after that battle, February 9, 1837. His father was a captain under General Sam Houston in the Texas fight for liberty. After completing the curriculum of the public schols of the Sabine county, Mr. Slaughter attended Renfrow & Yokum College at Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas. At an early age, about 1855, he decided to engage in the cattle business, starting business on the Trinity river, in Freestone county. In 1858, he moved to Palo Pinto county, where he had charge of his father's and his own cattle, and later he proceeded to Young county and on to the west, crossing to the plains, and the headwaters of the Colorado river. He raised and improved his cattle, buying, selling and driving to Kansas and other states, as far as Montana. Eventually he extended his interest to real-estate investments and with the passage of time became one of the largest cattle and land owners in Texas. His income increased until it reaching $100,000 per year, at which time he began giving away money to charitable purposes, donating 10-25 percent of his income each year. Thus far his benefactions figure near $1,000,000.

In 1859 commanded the Texas Rangers as a lieutenant on the frontier, fighing the Indians. He was in the expedition that liberated Cynthia Ann Parker from a Comanche camp. Mr. Slaughter also served unter Captain William R. Peveler in Young County with the Frontier Regiment. He was appointed Colonel by the Confederacy but his commission did not reach him until after Lee's surrender. In 1877, Mr. Slaughter helped organize the Texas Cattle Raisers Assocation [now the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association] in Graham, Texas and served as president for a number of years. He organized the American Bank of Dallas and was vice-president of the same when it was merged into the American Exchange National Bank, of which gigantic financial institution he is now vice-president. He is a member of the Baptist church and is a life long Democrat.

In Palo Pinto county, on December 5, 1860, Mr. Slaughter was united in marriage to Miss Cynthia Ann Jowell, daughter of James Abercrombie and Tabitha Paralee Jowell, a native of Palo Pinto, Texas. Cynthia died in Dallas in 1879. She was survived by three sons and two daughters. For his second wife, Mr. Slaughter married Miss Carrie A. Averill, a daughter of the Rev. A.M. Averill, a Baptist minister in Boston, Massachusetts. This union was blessed with two sons and two daughters. The Slaughter home was No. 3506 Worth Street.

In 1909, Mr. Slaughter had a sad accident to his hip. Christopher Columbus Slaughter died in Dallas on 25 January 1919 and is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Dallas.

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© Historical and Biographical Record of the Cattle Industry and the Cattlemen of Texas
Volume II, Antiquarian Press, LTD, New York, 1959.