Picture of Rowan Slater

[SSlater]

In the photo of Rowan Slater, the vest's button holes are on the left, indicating the image is not reversed.

History seems to have lost track of Nettie Slater after the assassination - except for one tantalizing item in the New York Tribune, dated September 18, 1866. It's a legal notice announcing that on August 24, 1866, Nettie's attorney filed suit on her behalf against Rowan Slater "for relief" in New York City's Supreme Court. Rowan had 20 days in which to answer Nettie's complaint or risk default judgment. This is most likely a divorce action. I could find nothing more online, but buried somewhere in New York's Supreme Court archives can likely be found a copy of Nettie's complaint and perhaps a clue leading to further disclosures.

For signature collectors, here is Rowan Slater's on a receipt for $220.00 in pay from the Confederate States of America for his services as a purchasing agent in North Carolina from Dec. 11, 1862, to April 1, 1863.

Here's the entire document:

Yes. the Supreme Court thing is her divorce from Rowan. I have a copy of the papers. The most interesting disclosure is that Sarah Lived with Rowan, for about a year, in New York City. (All we have ever heard is that they "Never saw each other ever again.") I do not believe that they did cohabitate - Rowan is gone from NY when the divorce started, and never protested etc. The papers also mention that she went to live with her mother - in NY. Nearby was a brother Eugene Francis - a Jeweler. The divorce was granted.