San
Joaquin County
Biographies
CHARLES A. SLACK, JR.
An enterprising and representative
young rancher, who is the proprietor of the Ofcee
Stock Farm, located five miles west of Tracy on the Lincoln Highway, is found
in Charles A. Slack, Jr., whose practical and scientific knowledge of
agriculture is being put to good use. He
was born at Tracy, California, on November 17, 1894, the eldest son of Charles
A. and Elda (Wacksmuth) Slack, who have since 1904,
resided in San Francisco, although well and favorably known in San Joaquin
County. Charles A. Slack, Sr., was born
in Iowa on November 5, 1861, and came west in 1883, when he settled in Tracy;
at the age of seventeen he accompanied Chief Hood into Texas and for seven and
one-half years was connected with the construction work of the Southern Pacific
Railroad; when he located in Tracy he became road master for the same company,
Fresno-Merced division, his entire service covering a period of about twenty
years. He married Miss Elda Wachsmuth, a daughter of the late Edward Wachsmuth, a pioneer and founder of Tracy. She was born in Franklin, Pennsylvania, on
May 5, 1868. They were the parents of
five children: Olive married Rudolph Mohr,
Jr. They have three children and reside
in San Francisco. Fern is deceased;
Charles A., Jr.; Elda married L. G. McAbee and they
reside in San Juan; Ed is a student in the San Francisco Polytechnic high
school.
The education of Charles A. Slack,
Jr., began in the Willow district school, where he remained for four years, and
in 1904 he accompanied his parents to San Francisco, and there successfully
passed through the grades of the Crocker grammar school; later he was graduated
from the Lick high school of that city.
During 1914-16 he attended the Agricultural College, University of
California, at Davis, California. In
January of 1917, he removed to Tracy and found employment on the ranch of his
uncle, A. Grunauer, near Tracy, and the following July
became a partner of his father on the home ranch, on which he raises pedigreed
Poland China hogs and registered shorthorn cattle and Hampshire sheep. This ranch consists of 480 acres under an
irrigation system; father and son also own two other ranches, 126 acres north
of Tracy and adjoining the city, and 260 acres on Old River, a fine grain farm.
On October 13, 1920, Mr. Slack was
married to Miss Mary Troth, a native of Tracy, the daughter of Daniel Sherman
and Louisa A. (Moran) Troth of San Joaquin County. Her father was born in Indiana in 1862 and
came to California in 1892, when he located in Tracy, while her mother, Louisa
A. (Moran) Troth, was born at Ellis, San Joaquin County, a daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. William Moran, venerable pioneers of this state, who now reside in
Oakland, aged ninety and eighty-three, respectively. Grandmother Troth is still living, and makes
her residence in Centralia, Washington.
Mrs. Slack is a graduate of the Fremont high school of Oakland, class of
’16. Fraternally Mr. Slack is a member
of the Masonic order of Tracy, and his political affiliations are those of the
Republican Party.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1148. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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