Chaplain May Preston Slosson-Wyoming Territorial Prison by Zina Abbott

 

Dr. May Preston Slosson’s introduction to the Wyoming Territorial Prison started shortly after her 1891 marriage to Edwin Slosson in Centralia, Kansas. In 1892, they moved to Laramie, Wyoming, and both became professors at the University of Wyoming. 

In addition, Dr. Slosson became chair of the prison committee of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. She launched a lecture series, to be given by University of Wyoming professors, for the prisoners at the Penitentiary. She was also a speaker in the series.

 

When the position of chaplain at the nearly all-male prison became vacant in 1897, at the request of the inmates, she was appointed to the position. On August 1, 1897, Dr. May Preston Slosson signed a contract for $25.00 a month to replace Reverend J.W. Taylor as Prison Chaplain.  

Dr. Slosson continued to the “civilizing” work of Fannie Marsh and other predecessors. In addition to conducting Sunday services, she continued to organize and provide the series of lectures by university professors and visiting speakers, which included her husband. These lectures were always well-attended, not only by prison inmates, but by members of the Laramie community. One of the most popular lectures was the Fourth of July lecture given by Judge Carpenter on the acquisition of the western territories in the United States. According to Warden McDonald, during her time as chaplain, punishments decreased 50%.

In 1899 Dr. Slosson began another important tradition: the annual “Flower Service,” which was carried out in conjunction with the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Prisoners were awarded with bouquets of flowers tied with white ribbons to remind them of the beauty outside the prison and the benefits of sobriety. Inmates considered this one of their favorite programs to attend.

Dr. Slosson organized a 'War College' of sorts for the convicts wanting to improve themselves. In fact, one of the convicts was so fascinated with mathematics, upon his release, he became a civil engineer. She continued these programs until she resigned in 1901 when the prison officially closed. She continued to serve until 1903 when the last of the prisoners were transferred to the Wyoming State Prison in Rawlins, Wyoming.

 

The inmates often showed their loyalty and gratitude to their chaplain by presenting Dr. Slosson with gifts made in the prison industries building. One was the above table made of ribbon cut Oak, which is currently in the May Preston Slosson family collection. (This photograph is part of the display at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historical Site.)

Life History of May Genevieve Preston Slosson, also known as May Gorsline Preston:

May was born 10 Sep 1858 in Ilion, Herkimer County, New York, to Reverend Levi Campbell Preston and Mary Gorsline Preston. She grew up on a farm. Her father, a preacher, supported suffrage and higher education for women. Her mother, herself a seminary graduate, was a student of languages and an advocate for philosophy and science.

In the 1870s, her parents moved to Hillsdale, Michigan, while their daughters earned degrees as Hillsdale College. There May earned a BS in 1878 and an MS in 1879. 

In 1880, she earned a PhD from Cornell University for a thesis titled "Different Theories of Beauty." She was the first woman to earn a PhD in philosophy in the US. For a few years, she was a professor of Greek at Hastings College in Nebraska. After that, she moved to Kansas where her relatives were living and became the assistant principal at Sabetha High School.

In 1891, May married Edwin Emery Slosson, seven years her junior, in Centralia, Kansas. In 1892, they moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where Edwin took a position as professor of chemistry at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. May also taught at the same University. It was there she became chair of the prison committee of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.

While in Laramie, two children were born to the couple. The oldest, Preston William Slosson, was born in September 1892. He lived to be ninety-one and died in Pennsylvania.

Alfred Raymond, the couple’s youngest son, was born in January 1894. At the age of six, he died of scarlet fever in September 1900. He was buried in Laramie. The child had been ill less than seventy-two hours with the disease.

In 1903, her family followed Edwin’s career to New York City, where he worked as a newspaper editor and later helped found Columbia’s journalism school;

May Preston Slosson, accustomed to the right to vote in Wyoming, along with other rights denied to women in most states at the time, became active in the suffrage movement.

She served as the Director of the Young Women's Christian Association in New York City (1903-20),

A collection of her poems, From a Quiet Garden, was published in 1920.

The Slossons later moved to Washington, D.C., where Edwin was director of the Science Service news agency. 

 

May Preston Slosson, right, poses with her husband, Edwin Emery Slosson, at a British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in 1927. Edwin Slosson was a chemistry professor and science journalist. (Photo: Smithsonian Institution Archives/Science Service Records)

In 1929, at the age of sixty-four, Edwin Slosson passed away. 

After her husband’s death, May moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to be near her son, Preston, and his family.

On November 26, 1943, at the age of eighty-five, May Genevieve Preston Slosson passed away in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was buried with her younger son in Laramie, Wyoming.

The Wyoming Territory Prison gets an honorable mention in my book, Mail Order Letitia. part of the An Impostor for Christmas series. Once the prison is pointed out to Letitia, and she learns it also houses female inmates, she worries that she might end up there if her new husband learns of her deception. Although this story has Christmas elements, it is a good read for any time of year. To find the book description and purchase link, please CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

Although not set in Wyoming, my book, Abilene Gamble, to be released next month, takes place in nearby Kansas (1871). To find the book description and purchase link, please CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Display at Wyoming Territorial Penitentiary State Historic Site

https://www.facebook.com/WyomingTerritorialPrison/photos/dr-may-preston-slosson-is-the-first-ever-female-prison-chaplain-in-wyoming-and-t/1176338559071714/

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Preston-6932

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Gorslin_Preston_Slosson

https://alumni.cornell.edu/cornellians/cornells-first-female-doctoral-grad/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79410124/may-gorsline-slosson

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79410118/raymond-alfred-slosson

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/171848746/edwin-emery-slosson

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167503716/preston-william-sloss