Background
William Slack and related families including Boyden, Conant, Cummings, Curran, Durkee, French, Healey, Judge, Lacroix, Maroney, Nordahl, Preston, Raymond, Quevillon, Sanborn, Scannell, Taylor, Wallace, Warren, Woods

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Origins
     Many Slacks throughout the U.S. can trace their lineage to a New England ancestor named William Slacke (as it was spelled in a few old records), a shipwright and farmer believed to be of English origin.  Though no record of his crossing has yet been found, William first surfaces in Boston in 1680 with the birth of a son, and he and his wife Mary (surname unknown) had children in surrounding towns over the next few years.
     William may have planned to move to the coast of Maine in the 1690s, at that time a Massachusetts province, when a deed was recorded for him in Nequasset, which is the present town of Woolwich.  This was a region of dispute, though, as land was awarded without Crown authorization by Governor Andros.  The reason William and Mary did not become members of the Nequasset community is unknown, but this land clash is a likely cause, as there was a lawsuit filed over the property by another family.  Following this, in 1705 William purchased land and Mary moved her church affiliation from the First Church of Boston, and the family settled permanently in the Attleboro/Rehoboth area of Massachusetts, where William died “being aged” in 1727.    

Movement 
     William’s progeny were like many other New Englanders, migrating in the search for land and opportunity.  Though there have nearly always been Slacks on the South Shore of Massachusetts (including the present town of Plainville being previously named Slackville), William’s descendants moved on to populate most of New England before some went West, one branch moved to Louisiana, and some Loyalists may have gone north to Canada.  Men (and women) of the Slack family have served in conflicts from the 17th century Indian wars up to those of the present day. 
     Of course, all this travel makes tracking ancestors difficult, especially since another branch (probably old-style as "Schlecht") of Dutch origin, was also on the move - and the two groups sometimes lived in close proximity.  The naming of children also adds to the muddle, as William, John, Joseph, Benjamin and Samuel were used for many generations, sometimes even by siblings, usually without the benefit of a middle name or epithet that would distinguish one from another.

European Roots
     As mentioned above, research to date on this branch of the Slack family has led many to believe William was an emigrant from England, but that can be viewed as a relative country of origin (no pun intended).  Slacks also came to the U.S. at the end of the 17th century from the Netherlands, though that group migrated primarily to the area of New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania, with no solid connection made between the two branches to this point.  Another tenuous connection to England is the marriage in 1617 of a William Slacke at a church in the Strand of London, where many emigrants who were leaving for the New World were parishioners.  
     The Slack name in England dates back to the 12th century, and there are towns named Slack in both the English midlands and in French Normandy.  There have been Slacks in Ireland for a number of years, but their roots are most probably English.  In any case, the name is Germanic, being Saxon in origin, so it just depends upon how far back you wish to glance to find our Teutonic roots.  It is highly probable that there were Slacks crossing the channel from the European mainland to England more than once:  during the Germanic migrations of the 5th & 6th centuries, with the Viking invasions in the 9th century, and with the Dutch religious groups of the 15th & 16th centuries.  As a result, being of northern European stock, our lineage is a decided mixture of German (take your choice of Angle, Saxon or Jute), French (you may opt for Norman, Gael, Frank or Breton), and very likely Celt (Scot, Irish, Pict, or select a Brittani tribe).

Connections
     I try to update these pages every year or so, as my research is on-going, with this site meant primarily as a guide for other researchers whose lineage may also be of the Heinz 57 variety.  I owe a large debt of gratitude to newly found cousins who have been very generous in sharing what they know.  
    Please keep in mind, that I am NOT a professional genealogist.  I do not blithely cut and paste family trees from other sites, and as a history major, my research is usually the result of tramping through cemeteries, sifting through miles of microfilm at libraries, or gazing endlessly at census records, but there are mistakes.  Whenever I can, I try my best to get an original source (see my "Sources" page), although there are "brick walls" that have yet to be solved.  For example, cousin Nick and I aren't quite sure that there weren't 2 William Slacks that moved from Mass. to Vermont after the Revolution - & we may be missing a generation. 

Other families 
    While this site was started to investigate my Slack family origins -- I'd love to hear from others who are researching more recent European connections to Ireland, Sweden, New Brunswick and Quebec...more specifically Curran, Scannell, Nordahl, Judge, Wallace, Maroney, Lacroix and Quevillon kin from the South Shore & Worcester County in Massachusetts.  Fr'instance - does anyone know what counties in Ireland some of the connected clans come from besides Kerry?  And yes, all Currans already know that the only good thing to come out of Kerry is the road to Cork, thank you.

                                     Maine Historical Society