Mabel Slater

Youngest daughter of William Morris Hunt. Married artist Horatio N. Slater

Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for a Revised History of Technology

On August 26, 1896, 17 Gloucester was purchased from Eugene Thayer by Mabel De Carteret (Hunt) Slater, the wife of cotton mill owner Horatio Nelson Slater and daughter of William Morris Hunt, the noted artist. They lived at 17 Gloucester from the 1896-1897 winter season. They previously had lived at 315 Dartmouth. They also maintained homes in Magnolia and in Webster, where several of his cotton mills were located.

Horatio Slater died in August of 1899. Mabel Slater continued to live at 17 Gloucester. She was an inventor, filing various patents with the proceeds to go to charity. In 1904, she patented an ice-cooled refrigerator, and in 1914, an automatic ice gauge for refrigerators. She was also credited for inventing a sleeping bag that doubled as a garment, said to have been used in World War I.

On October 3, 1900, Mabel Slater was injured in a gas explosion at the house. She moved soon thereafter, possibly to her home in Webster. She appears not to have maintained a home in Boston again until the spring of 1913, when she purchased 448 Beacon.

On May 23, 1901, 17 Gloucester was acquired from Mabel Slater by Maria Antoinette (Hunt) Evans, the wife of Robert Dawson Evans.

https://backbayhouses.org/17-gloucester/ I.S. 1/8/2018

Geni.com lists her birth year as 1863. https://www.geni.com/people/Mabel-Slater/6000000027232164269

FindeAGrave Memorial lists her birth year as 1865. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99212730/mabel-de_carteret-slater

See obit with bio here https://www.newspapers.com/clip/14699456/mabel_hunt_slater_obit/

All accessed 4/9/19 M Phelps