Robert
Sloss (Nov. 16, 1814 - 1892) was born in Northern Ireland and immigrated with his parents
sometime between 1822 (when a younger sibling was born in Northern Ireland) and 1830 (when a still-younger sibling was born in Pennsylvania. “Jennie”
Semple (May 4, 1816 - 1880) was born in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, after her mother and father immigrated separately from Northern Ireland sometime before 1810 when they married in Pennsylvania.
The reasons why people left Ulster for America in the early 1800s were economic, rather than religious prosecution. Although the Irish potato famine of 1845-1852 did affect Ulster, the Slosses and Semples had already relocated to Pennsylvania before it started.
Robert and Jennie married in 1841. The 1860 Census lists Robert as a clerk; the 1870 Census lists him as a grocer. On the 1880 Census, at the age of 64, he is a bartender.
The 1873 Mercer land ownership map shows R. Sloss as owner of
a building and lot on the courthouse square in Mercer. The house, later owned by John William McKim (who married the Sloss's daughter Amanda) was still there when the Google Earth camera went by in 2009.
Robert
Sloss was a copperhead during the Civil War—that is, someone who favored the Union cause but wanted the United States to negotiate peace with the southern states rather than go to war. Copperheads were not necessarily pro-slavery or any more racist than the average white person of their time (which was pretty darn racist.) Immigrants like Robert, in particular, were not keen on the idea that the nation to which they'd come in search of peace and prosperity was going to war with itself. However, the entire Sloss family were not copperheads: Robert's brother David joined the Union army and fought with the 193rd Pennsylvania Infantry.
Robert's copperhead sympathies did not endear him to some Union soldiers, as shown in this account, likely from 1863 when tensions among pro- and anti-war northerners were at their peak:
Statement
of William McKean: As many false reports are in circulation
concerning the riot which took place in this borough on Monday the 15th inst.
during which the property of Mr. R. Sloss was partially destroyed and his and
his son's life as well as that of two of his neighbors put in jeopardy, and as
I was present and saw the whole affair I have been requested by many of our
citizens to publish a candid account of it that those who still respect justice
and law may form a correct opinion of the transaction.
Having
heard one of the returned soldiers frequently for ten days previous to the riot
openly declare that they (the soldiers) would destroy the grocery of Mr. Sloss
before they left Mercer, accompanied by threats of taking his life or at least
doing him great personal injury, and hearing some of the soldiers going into
his grocery that morning in a noisy and riotous manner, I went in for the
purpose, if possible, of preventing them from committing such an outrage.
When
I first went in there was no one in the front room but Wm. Sloss; some soldiers
were in the back room making a great noise and breaking glass, Mr. Sloss was
then in the cellar, at least I heard someone there, drawing ale.
In
a short time the soldiers came into the front room and one of them (the one who
made the threats mentioned above) immediately began to swear and abuse Wm
Sloss; he then took up a counterweight and threw it at Wm.
It
missed him but broke a jar on the shelf behind him, then took up another and
threw with the same result; two of the others made some attempts to prevent
this by holding him, but in such a way that his right arm was at liberty part
of the time and he used it till the weights were all thrown, none of which took
effect except on the jars and glassware behind the counter.
During
this time one fellow in the uniform of a private and another with the shoulder
straps of an officer kept swearing most profanely at the one throwing the
weights to kill the d----d copperhead, to knock his d----d brains out, etc.
At
this moment and while three of them were trying strike Wm, Mr. Sloss came into
the room and began to plead with them to be quiet and not abuse his son or his
property, while he was doing so he was struck on the face by a counter weight
or some heavy missile.
The
room was now full of soldiers and a few citizens, who came on hearing the
noise, and two men who came in at the back door who were at once attacked by
five or six soldiers, while three or four fell on Wm. Sloss.
Mr.
Sloss then got behind the counter and while three or four were striking at his
son he struck them with what I took to be a piece of board; this was the only
weapon I ever saw used in the house.
The
confusion was now so great that I could see nothing distinctly but in less than
two minutes the crowd was driven from the house and the door was shut.
They
then set to work smashing the windows and door and destroy the articles in the
show window and all that was within their reach, and continued the work of
destruction till they were satisfied with the ruin they had made.
Some
citizens attempted to prevent the mob from destroying the property but without
avail, and one justice of the peace was on the ground and did all he could. The
sheriff came after being sent for by Mr. Sloss after the outside destruction
began, and endeavored to argue the matter with the mob but made no attempt to
exercise the authority vested in him by law to quell the riot.
I
give this as a plain and unvarnished statement of the facts as they occurred
before my own eyes, and from an ardent desire to put the public in possession
of the truth, concerning one of the most outrageous affairs that ever disgraced
our heretofore peaceful village. Wm. McKean
For
the information of those who live out of the borough it may be proper to say
that I reside in the house next to Mr. Sloss, a narrow alley separating the two
houses. WM
Robert's Parents
Jennie's Parents
Jennie's Parents
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