John Mitchell Vanderslice

Lawyer; born near Valley Forge, Chester County, Pa., Aug. 31, 1846; son of Marcus L. Vanderslice and Margaret (Mitchell) Vanderslice; and he is a lineal descendant, on the paternal side, of Reynier van der Sluys, a native of Friesland, Holland, who settled in Germantown about 1700, and through his paternal grandmother is a descendant of the Pawling and Lane colonial families of Montgomery County; on the maternal side he is a descendant of the Mitchells, Dennisons and Montgomerys who came from County Donegal, Ireland, after participating in the siege and defense of Londonderry. Mr. Vanderslice was educated at Freeland Seminary, now Ursinus College, Montgomery County, Pa., and studied law under Theodore Cuyler, a leader of the Pennsylvania bar. He married at Collegeville, Pa., June 7, 1870, C. Cecilia Hamer, daughter of Dr. James Hamer, and they have a son : Clarence Vanderslice, born in 1875, and now a member of the Philadelphia bar, and a daughter, Mabel, born in 1882. Mr. Vanderslice left the seminary at 17 years of age and enlisted in the famous 8th Pennsylvania Cavalry, under command of General D. McM. Gregg, serving with it until the close of the war. He was a prisoner of war at Appomattox, having had his horse killed and being captured at Farmville, Va., two days before. He was admitted to the bar May 1, 1869, and has since then been in constant practice in the courts of Philadelphia; and he has argued many important cases in the Supreme Court of the State, which are reported in the State Reports. Mr. Vanderslice is a director in several industrial corporations. He is a Republican in politics and was a member of City Councils, 1882-1886; and is a Baptist in his church relations. He is a member of the Medal of Honor Legion of the United States, having received the Congressional Medal of Honor for distinguished gallantry at the battle of Hatcher's Run, Va.; was one of the first members of Post No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic; adjutant-general, 1876-1881, and commander, 1882, of the Department of Pennsylvania, and adjutant-general of the National G.A.R., 1883. He is a trustee of Ursinus College, Pa.; president of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathy, past regent of the Royal Arcanum, and one of the organizers and past president of the Netherlands Society of Philadelphia. Residences: City, 1818 Thirteenth Street, Philadelphia; country, "Fircragh," Collegeville, Pa. Office address: 1212 Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia.

Source: John W. Leonard. Who's Who in Pennsylvania: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries, 2nd ed. New York: L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1908, pp. 573-574.

Submitted by Nancy.