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This biography is from Landmarks of Albany County, New York, edited by Amasa J. Parker of Albany, N. Y., Syracuse, N. Y.; D. Mason & Co. Publishers, 1897.

Thomas Slavin

Thomas Slavin, though a native of Waterford, N. Y., where he was born October 20, 1833, has been a lifelong resident of Cohoes. His reminiscences of the place in its infancy are very interesting, and he is regarded as a personal landmark and a compendium of data concerning the early times. His testimony is re- garded as unimpeachable in cases involving boundaries and conditions of half a century ago. Here has been the scene of his early struggles in business life, for Mr. Slavin is a self-made man; being one of seventeen children he early assumed the responsibility of earning a livelihood.

He was the eldest son of Michael Slavin, a man well known in both counties, and whose home was ever a haven to the hungry or weary traveler — of whom there were many in those early days. Father and son did teaming for the large flour mills which then flourished in this vicinity. In 1865 he established a coal business, and in 1869 removed to No. 135 Saratoga street, where he still conducts, together with his son, Thomas Slavin, Jr., the most successful coal and grain business in the city. His eldest son, Charles J. Slavin, he established in the coal business on Lansing street some ten years ago.

In 1859 Mr. Slavin married Elizabeth Brennan, of Troy. Of this union five children survive: Charles J., Thomas, Jr., Mary, Helen and Sara. Mr. Slavin's aim has been not to amass a fortune, but to aid his fellow-men in and beyond Cohoes, where his name is associated with every movement for the welfare of the people, city and dear old Albany county.



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