95 LINCOLN AVENUE,
LITTLE FALLS, NEW JERSEY
2001 copyright Carol Jane Belding
The ownership of Minnette’s Journal Is held by all her heirs
With special thanks to Carol Jane Belding and Deanna Adams Holm for transcription.
Minnette Slayback as she appeared in the 1880's.
Minnette Slayback's journal was written in 1937 but because she kept a detailed diary since 1870 this provides a very accurate picture what everyday life was like for a wealthy girl growing up on Olive Street in the late nineteenth century St. Louis, Missouri.. For instance, "it gives all the details of their family life right down to a detailed description of what all was in the parlor. She even details trips on the steamboats on the Mississippi clear up into Minneapolis to go to a vacation spot in the heat of summer!"
Minnette "had many interests including astronomy, but
she loved drawing
too and taught her daughter how to sketch and paint. From
childhood
Minette Slayback wanted to go on the stage; but how that desire was
frowned on,
for in those days no "nice" girl, especially one brought up in such an
atmosphere of culture and wealth ever, ever appeared on the other side
of the
footlights..*.". Minnette a student "of the fashionable Mary
Institute, turned
her mind to other things, mainly drawing, singing and writing, caring
more for
them than her studies. She was the finest draftsman in that
school, wrote prodigiously and published in the school papers, took
leading parts in all
the student concerts."
*See Rules of Ettiquette for St. Louis in 1886.
Minnette
was born March 07, 1868 in St. Louis, one of six children born to
Col. Alonzo Slayback
and Alice Waddell. The Waddell family were known for being early
operator of the
famed "Pony Express". Her father, Col. Alonzo Slayback was
a Civil War veteran (commanded a regiment of
Confederate cavalry during the war). He was also one of the founders of
St.
Louis' Veiled Prophet parade but was murdered by a once popular editor
of the
St. Louis Post Dispatch.. ( for more on Col. Slayback, visit one of the
following pages:
Slayback). The
other children of the family were Susie, Katie, Mable, Grace, and
Alonzo.
Also living in St. Louis she had an
uncle, Charles E. Slayback, who was a prominent businessman and an aunt,
Minnie (nee Slayback), the wife of Dr.
Y.H. Bond. Her sister Susie married Arthur Wellington Adams, M.D., who
had owned
Adams Electric Co. and was noted scientist up until his death in 1898.
At age 24, Minnette married Cary Carper. She had become quite skilled at writing, even winning several poetry and play-writing prizes with the St. Louis Art Guild. Not only did she excel at writing she painted and and became noted for using other types of art. For instance she sold over 1,000 pieces of her carved "burned boxes" nationwide.
Minnette did not live her entire life in St. Louis. Around 1902 the Carpers moved to Memphis, TN. She also lived for a time in Indianapolis but in 1920 the family made their permanent home at Little Falls, New Jersey. On January 15, 1952, after living nearly 84 years, Minnette passed away. While she is now gone, her words describing detailed life in late nineteenth century St. Louis live on.
The photo above left is Minnette as she appeared in 1935, two years before writing the journal.
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Two paintings by Minnette Slayback Carper.
Two advertisements from an 1886 St. Louis directory to businesses mentioned in Minnette's journal:
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Scott's Time Portal to Old St. Louis
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Copyright 2001, Carol Jane Belding, All right reserved. HTML and graphics edited by Scott Williams. Transcription by Deanna Adams Holm