Samuel Ker Slemons

Samuel Ker Slemons (1859-1938) was the son of Doctor Albert Slemons (1832-1891) and Elizabeth Handy Ker (1836--1900).  Dr Slemons practiced in the Salisbury/Quantico area.  Samuel's middle name was the family name of his mother's family and he went by his middle name instead of first name.  He never married.  He lived on East Street Delmar Maryland.

He first taught in Public school, then became a purser on a steamboat about 1900, and in 1904 became cashier for the First National Bank in Delmar. It was a position he held for the next 26 years finally resigning in 1930 due to poor health.  He then ran a fire insurance business until his death in 1938 at the age of 78..  Along the way he was elected President of the Delmar Maryland Council and was very active in the First Baptist Church.

First National Bank, being a national Bank, could issue it's own bank notes.  Above is an example of one and as you can see on the left side is S. Ker Slemons signature as cashier of the bank and on the right is S N Culver President of the bank.


Salisbury Advertiser June 20, 1891
Death of a Prominent Citizen Dr. Albert B. Slemons of Delmar, Suddenly Expires While Conversing on the Street.
The friends and acquaintances of Dr. Albert B. Slemons were saddened by the intelligence of his sudden death on the street in Delmar, in which town he had lived and practiced for several years, last Monday evening.
The doctor was apparently in his usual good health that afternoon when he started for a few miles ride into the country to see a patient. On his return home at the supper time, he sat with the family at the table and ate heartily, meanwhile conversing with his wife and daughters. The only complaint he was heard to make was that his head felt strangely; this, however, he ascribed to the intense heat of the day and the fierce glare of the sun. After the evening meal he parted cheerfully with the ladies of the household and sauntered down the street. At the store of Mr. W. L. Sirman he stopped, and seating himself on a pump bench in front of the door, he began to converse quietly with some acquaintances. Suddenly he gasped and fell forward. In fifteen minutes he was dead, never having uttered a word after the attack of apoplexy, of which he died. Friends tenderly lifted the lifeless form and bore it back to the house from which Dr. Slemons, a brief half hour before, had walked forth a hale and vigorous man. There it was prepared for burial. The grief stricken family had distant relatives and friends informed of the unexpected and sad occurrence, and soon messages of condolence came over the wires to those who sorrowed.
The interment was made Wednesday morning in the cemetery at Delmar, after funeral rites in the Baptist church by Rev. S. W. Reigart, of Salisbury Presbyterian church.....
Dr. Slemons was a son of Col. John B. Slemons, late of this county, and a brother of Dr. F. Marion Slemons, clerk of the Wicomico county Circuit Court. He was born at the old Slemons homestead, on the Wicomico river, on June 22, 1832 - nearly fifty-nine years ago. After getting a fair common school education at home, he entered the Maryland University and graduated in medicine from there in 1855. He practiced his profession at Quantico one year and then migrated to Kentucky. Returning to the Eastern shore of Maryland after two years, he entered the drug store of Dr. S. P. Dennis & Co., in Salisbury. Subsequently he was appointed auditor of the Wicomico Circuit Court, which position he held till 1869, when he went to Delmar and there built up a good practice, which he enjoyed at the time of his death. He married Miss Ker, daughter of Dr. Samuel Ker, of White Haven, in 1859, who, with five grown children, survive him. Dr. Slemons was an elder in the Presbyterian church and he always lived a pure and spotless Christian life. In his death the county loses one of its best citizens."