JOHN ACKER
John Acker, for many years, a prominent Kansas farmer, was born in Hackettstown, New Jersey, in December, 1845,
and died at his home near Junction City June 9, 1930. He was the son of Samuel and Amelia (Smith) Acker, the former
of who was born in Warren County, New Jersey. Both parents were of German ancestry.
Mr. Acker attended the public and high school, and in 1877 came to Kansas where he resided until his death. On
January 15,1868, he was married to Elma Rinda Norman at Lamoille, Illinois. Mrs. Acker was born in Coshocton Company,
Ohio, March 11, 1851. There are five children living, Lottie B., born February 6, 1872, who is married to T. F.
McCarty; Millie L., August 28, 1874, who is married to Tom Settle; John, October 4, 1881, who married Gertrude
Anderson; Samuel, November 13, 1883, who married Anna Jolitz; and Alva D., June 4, 1888, who married Nelda Laclair.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Acker resided two and a quarter miles west of Walnut, Illinois, for about nine
years, then moving to Kansas where they settled six miles west of Junction City. There Mr. Acker farmed for fifty-five
years.
Mr. Acker took an active part in community work and for forty-four years was county road supervisor. For about
twelve years he was a member of the local school board. He was an ardent Republican and a member of the Methodist
Church. His kindness and generosity were always displayed to those in need and his influence and inspiration were
regarded by those in his community as necessary to its advancement.
Mrs. Acker who appears twenty years less than her eighty-two years, has devoted her lifetime to her family and
her husband's interests and in addition has found it possible to do much for community service. (Illustriana Kansas,
by Sara Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 7)
JOHN THOMAS DALTON
John Thomas Dalton. To have accomplished so notable a work as has Mr. Dalton, in connection with the building of
military posts for the National government, would prove sufficient to give precedence and reputation to any man,
were this to represent the sum total of his efforts. He has, however, for some thirty years, been actively identified
with the growth and development of Junction City, and has given substantial assistance to several of its enterprises
and industries.
John T. Dalton is a native of England and was born in Preston, Yorkshire, April 21, 1854, son of Rev. Henry and
Maria (Graves) Dalton. His father was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman who came with his family to America in 1857,
locating in Dayton, Ohio. He removed to Missouri in 1870, and, in 1879 to Kansas, where he served as pastor of
various churches in the Northwest Kansas Conference. His long and useful career was ended in Joplin, Mo., in 1910,
when he passed away and was laid to rest in Highland cemetery beside his beloved wife, whose demise occurred in
1906. Their surviving children are: John T., who is the eldest; William H., a prominent real estate, loan and insurance
agent, of Joplin, Mo., and one of the most active Prohibitionists in that state, having been the Prohibition candidate
for Congress from his district in 1910; Joseph R., a successful mason contractor of Oklahoma City, Okla.; George
M., a brick contractor of Oklahoma City; Alice M., the wife of George H. Crawford, of Junction City, Kan.; and
the Rev. Charles B., of Berkeley, Cal.
John T. Dalton was educated in the public schools of Dayton, Ohio; subsequently became a farmer, and for a short
time worked in the mines at Joplin, Mo. In 1878 he came to Junction City, Kan., where he formed, with his brother,
William. H., the firm of Dalton Brothers, building contractors. Their first operations were at Skiddy, a small
town in Geary county. During this partnership, which lasted until 1885, the firm was successful and a reputation
for uprightness and reliability was established. In 1885 the firm of Zeigler & Dalton was formed, its interested
principals being, J. T. Dalton, W. H. Dalton, H. H. Ziegler, and. T. C. Ziegler. Their most notable work was in
the building of government army posts, their contracts having exceeded in their total any other firm. They have
built, at Fort Riley, fifty buildings; at Fort Sam Houston, twenty-two; at Fort Ethan Allen, sixteen; at Fort Leavenw6rth,
fourteen; and one each at Fort Thomas and Fort Madison; an exceedingly creditable showing. The Geary county court-house,
the Junction City opera house and the high school building were also erected by them, as well as several business
buildings and residences. W. H. Dalton retired from the firm in 1892, H. H. Ziegler in 1906, and J. C. Zeigler
in 1909. With the retirement of J. C. Ziegler the firm of J. T. Dalton & Sons was formed, Arthur H. and Roy
T. Dalton, sons of John T., being admitted to partnership. This firm completed, in 1910, the handsome home of the
Central National Bank, one of the most complete and modern banking offices in the state. Their first contract was
for nine buildings at Fort D. A. Russell. Mr. Dalton was one of the most active promoters of the Junction City
Electric Railway, Light & Ice Company, and became vice-president and later president. On its reorganization
as the Union Light & Power Company he was elected president, and has been continued in that capacity. The interurban
railway, operated by this company, connects Fort Riley with Junction City, and has been an aid of great value to
the latter in a commercial way, and a profitable enterprise to its owners. He is also a stockholder in the Dewey
Portland Cement Company, and a large owner of improved business property in Junction City. Mr. Dalton is a Republican
and was a candidate for the lower house in the legislature in the primary election of 1910. He was unable to make
a campaign, being compelled to undergo a surgical operation at that time, and failed to secure the nomination.
He is a member of the Junction City Commercial Club and the Country Club, and his fraternal associations are as
a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Ancient
Order of United Workmen. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Dalton married, April 6, 1881, Miss Elizabeth Rust, daughter of John E. Rust, of Joplin, Mo. To them have been
born six children, two of whom-William R. and Mary Elizabeth-died in childhood. Arthur H., born Jan. 6, 1882, a
graduate of the Junction City High School, completed a course at Baker University, Baldwin, Kan., and is a member
of the firm of J. T. Dalton & Sons. He is a member of the Junction City Commercial Club, Union Lodge, No. 7,
Free and Accepted Masons, Junction City Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks. He was married June 8, 1900, to Miss Anna M. Blake of Momence, Ill. Roy T., born Oct. 7, 1883, is a graduate
of the Junction City High School, and also completed a course in the Sedalia (Mo.) Business College. He is a member
of the firm of J. T, Dalton & Sons, the Junction City Commercial Club, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
He married, Oct. 3, 1907, Miss Lillian Schlatter, of Junction City. George E., born March 29, 1889, is a graduate
of the Junction City High School, and is now a student in Baker University, Baldwin, Kan. John W., born Dec. 24,
1895, is a student. Mr. Dalton is in all respects a high type of the conservative, unassuming American, diligent
in his, various duties and commercial affairs and conscientious in all things. His position today is the result
of his own well directed efforts. His methods have been clean, capable and honest. He has realized a large and
substantial success in the business world, but of even greater consequence to him is his possession of a well earned
popularity and the esteem which comes from honorable living. (Kansas Biography, Vol. III, Part 2, 1912, Pages 814-816,
Transcribed by: Millie Mowry)
SHERWOOD W. FENTON
Sherwood W. Fenton. As cashier of the Central
National Bank of Junction City, of which he is a director, Mr. Fenton has been an active figure in the financial
development of central Kansas, and enjoys a wide acquaintance, as well as a reputation, for conscientiousness,
integrity, and progressiveness. Sherwood W. Fenton is a native of Michigan, born in St. Clair county, near the
city of St. Clair, May 13, 1861, a son of Stephen A. and Louisa J. (Wheeler) Fenton, pioneers of the St. Clair
river district of Michigan. The grandfather of Mr. Fenton was William Fenton, born at Fort Ticonderoga, N. Y.,
in 1789. He served in the war of 1812, and in 1840 settled in Michigan, where he died, in 1861. In 1811 he married
Rebecca Allen, a niece of Gen. Ethan Allen, who captured Fort Ticonderoga in the war of the Revolution. She was
born on the shores of Lake George, in 1795, and died in 1869. Stephen A. Fenton came to Michigan with his parents
in 1840 and became a farmer and lumberman.. In 1879 he came to Kansas and bought land in Dickinson county, some
fourteen miles northwest of Junction City. He served many years as supervisor in Michigan and as a justice of the
peace in Kansas. He died on June 16, 1885. On Jan. 1, 1849, he married, at Richmond, Mich., Louisa J., a daughter
of Henry Wheeler. She was born in Portage, N. Y., Sept. 7, 1826, and came to Michigan with her parents in 1846.
Sherwood W. Fenton received his education in the district schools of his native county and was graduated in the
New Haven (Mich.) High School. He came to Kansas with his parents, in 1879, and assisted his father on the farm.
From 1881 to 1883 he taught school in McDowell's Creek and Alida, and from 1883 to 1886 was employed as bookkeeper
by A. D. Schart, of Junction City. In 1886 he entered the employ of Sumner W. Pierce, and on the organization of
the Central National Bank, in 1890, accepted a position as bookkeeper. He was promoted to assistant cashier in
1898 and in 1904 was elected cashier, in which capacity he is still serving, and in which he has earned the commendation
of the public and the officers of the institution. He has been active in the work of education, for ten years was
treasurer of the Junction City board of education, and is secretary of the board of trustees of the George Smith
Public Library. He is a charter member of the Junction City Commercial Club and has served as its treasurer. He
is a member of Union, Lodge, No. 7, Free and Accepted Masons, at Junction City; Chapter No. 17, Royal Arch Masons,
and Commandery No. 43, Knights Templars; and he is treasurer of the last named and also of Union Lodge, and the
Eastern Star lodge.
Mr. Fenton married, June 16, 1886, Miss Ada Sampson, a daughter of Thomas H. Sampson, a native of England, who
located in Dickinson county, Kansas, in 1879. He was a well known and successful farmer and in early life was a
miller. He died in Junction City in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are the parents of five children, three of whom are
living: Irene, who was a student in Washburn College (Topeka) and in Rockford (Ill.) College, is now a student
in the Kansas Agricultural College, department of domestic science; Bess Ione is a graduate of Junction City High
School, class of 1911, and Helen Victoria is the youngest. Jean Etta, twin sister of Bess lone, died in 1906, aged
fourteen years; a son, Roy Thomas, died in childhood. Mrs. Fenton is a member of the Eastern Star, the Ladies'
Reading Club, and the Episcopal church, and is one of Junction City's popular hostesses. (Kansas Biography, Part
2, Vol. III, 1912, Page 827-828 - Transcribed by Millie Mowry)
EDWARD HARRISON SHANE
Edward Harrison Shane, merchant, was born in Junction City, Kansas, September 17, 1889, son of James Williamson
and Amanda (Brown) Shane. James Williamson Shane, who was a farmer and who served as commissioner of streets, was
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 7, 1854, and died at Junction City, July 3,1930. He was descended from Irish
and German settlers in America about 1600. Amanda Brown was born in Lacon, Illinois, August 20, 1857, of Scotch-Irish
ancestry. She is still living, and resides in Junction City.
Educated first in elementary schools, Edward Harrison Shane attended Junction City High School from which he was
graduated in 1911. He attended Kansas Wesleyan Business School for a short term and has taken some correspondence
work from Kansas University. He was valedictorian of his class in high school, active in debate and a member of
the football team in 1909, 1910 and 1911.
For seven and a half years, after leaving school Mr. Shane was employed in the Post Office Department, under the
Civil Service, with positions from clerk to foreman of office forces. For five and a half years he was the owner
of a grocery store, and for the past nine years has been the owner and operator of a book and gift store. He is
a Repbulican.
On February 6, 1 913, he was united in marriage to Anna Ora McIntyre at Arlington. She was born in Ballington,
Minnesota, August 27, 1892, the daughter of the Reverend and Mrs. Lewis McIntyre, both of whom came from Glasgow,
Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Shane have one daughter, Jean McIntyre, born August 29, 1922. The child is now in school
and specializing in the study of music and dancing. Mr. Shane holds the rank of first lieutenant in the Reserve
Officers training Corps at the present time. He is a member of the Reserve Officers Association, the Red Cross,
the Chamber of Commerce, the Lions Club, the Masons (Consistory) the Shrine, and the Junction City Country Club.
He is an elder and superintendent of Sunday School in the First Presbyterian Church of Junction City. His favorite
sport is golf. His hobbies are philately and numismatics. Residence: Junction City. (Illustriana Kansas, by Sara
Mullin Baldwin & Robert Morton Baldwin, 1933, page 1040)
D. WALDO TYLER
D. Waldo Tyler. A publication of this nature
exercises its most important function when it takes cognizance of the life and labors of those citizens who have
risen to prominence and prosperity through their own well directed efforts, and who have been of material value
in furthering the advancement and development of the commonwealth. Mr. Tyler has been a resident of Junction City
since 1893 and has been actively identified with several enterprises which have been of great assistance to the
growth of the city. The interurban railway, connecting the city with Fort Riley, is in a great measure the result
of his efforts and initiative.
D. Waldo Tyler is a native of Massachusetts and was born in Worcester, June 22, 1836, son of Moody and Betsey (Barker)
Tyler. His ancestors, paternal and maternal, were among the early settlers of America, and numbered among them
are men who achieved distinction in the frontier life of those early days, in the commercial era which followed,
in the French and Indian wars, and later in the war of independence. Moody Tyler, the father, was a paper maker
by trade and for many years was the superintendent of the great Berkshire-Mills, at Dalton, Mass., owned by the
Cranes, and which, since an early day, have manufactured the paper on which our National bank notes are printed.
Moody Tyler died in Dalton, Mass., in 1869.
D. Waldo Tyler was educated in the public schools of Dalton, Mass., was subsequently apprenticed to the machinist's
trade, and was employed as a journeyman machinist, in Dalton and Worcester, from 1856 to 1859. In the latter year
he was sent to Louisiana, to erect a cotton manufacturing plant, and remained there until the outbreak of hostilities,
in 1861, when he returned to Dalton, and shortly afterward entered the United States armory, at Springfield, Mass.,
as a machinist. In the spring of 1862 he was detailed as inspector in the inspection service of contract arms,
in which capacity he visited the various factories then having United States contracts for making Springfield muskets.
An opportunity
was offered him, in 1864, to engage in farming, and he resigned from this service, removed to Minnesota, and located
near Chatfield, Olmstead county. In 1867 he was offered and accepted the foremanship of the Winona & St. Peter
railway shops, at Winona, Minn., and in 1869 accepted a similar position in the St. Paul & Pacific railway
shops. In 1870 he removed to St. Paul, where he became the master mechanic of the Southern Minnesota railway, now
a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. This position he resigned, in 1871, to become the superintendent
of a mill machinery and engine manufacturing plant, at Dubuque, Iowa, at that time the largest industrial concern
in that state. He remained in this position for sixteen years, when he resigned, in order to engage in business
for himself. In 1886 he located in Marion Junction, Turner county, South Dakota, where he built a flouring mill,
which he operated until 1893, and while a resident of South Dakota was elected a member of the first legislature
of that state, on the Republican ticket. In 1893 he came to Kansas, located in Junction City, and there resumed
his milling, enterprise. He built the Aurora Flouring Mills, and has succeeded in establishing an extensive and
successful business. Since its establishment its growth has necessitated trebling the capacity of the plant, and
the products are placed in both domestic and foreign markets. In the latter '90s Mr. Tyler became convinced that
an electric railway to Fort Riley would be of great benefit to Junction City and began the work of education necessary
to secure capital and a representative group of organizers. Some two years elapsed before he was able to convince
persons possessing capital of the profits and benefits possible from the venture. He secured the active assistance
of H. H. Ziegler, S. W. Pierce and Dr. C. K. Raber, and they promoted the organization of the Junction City Railway,
Light & Ice Company, having for its object the building and operation of an interurban line to Fort Riley,
the manufacture of ice, and electricity for light purposes. The line was completed and the first car was placed
in operation, Aug.10, 1901. In the building of the power house for the company Mr. Tyler again became a master
mechanic. Plans for necessary equipment were drawn under his supervision and he purchased and installed the machinery.
Dr. Raber, who had been elected president at the time of organization, had been forced to resign on account of
ill health previous to the completion of the plant, and Frank E. Tyler, son of D. Waldo Tyler, succeeded him and
became the first operating president. The original company, in which Mr. Tyler was a large stockholder and director,
was succeeded, in 1909, by the Union Light &.Power Company, of which, he is also a director. Mr. Tyler has
large stock interests in the Dewey Portland Cement Company, of Dewey, Okla., of which his son, Frank E., is president
and general manager, and another son, Herbert F., is superintendent. Mr. Tyler was one of the organizers of the
Junction City Commercial Club and is an active member.
On July 26, 1861, Mr. Tyler was married to Miss Harriett M. Freeman, daughter of Jesse R. Freeman, a pioneer farmer
of Chatfield, Minn., and previously a mason contractor at Cleveland, Ohio. To them have been born four children:
Herbert Ferre, born Feb. 4, 1865, is superintendent of the Dewey Portland Cement Company, at Dewey, Okla.; Frederick
Waldo, born Sept. 6, 1866, died May 16, 1893, survived by his widow and two children--Marjorie, born Dec. 3, 1887,
and Harold, born May 15, 1889; Frank E., the third son, born March 29, 1869, is president and general manager of
the Dewey Portland Cement Company, and resides in Kansas City, Mo.; Wilma Jessie May, the only daughter, is a graduate
of the Chicago Musical College and one of the most accomplished and gifted musicians in Kansas. As a harpist she
has received high commendation and her studies on this instrument have been under Mme. Chatterton and Profs. Wonderly
and Schuecker, of Chicago. Mrs. Tyler is a woman of wide culture and refinement and .is popular in the social circles
of Junction City, in which she is a leader. Mr. Tyler is in all respects a high type of the conservative, unassuming
American, diligent in his various duties and commercial affairs, and conscientious in all things. He has realized
a large and substantial success in the commercial world, results obtained through his own well directed efforts
and by methods which have been clean, capable and honest, and he is possessed of a well earned popularity and the
esteem which comes from honorable living. On July 26, 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Tyler celebrated their Golden Wedding,
at their residence in Junction City. (Kansas Biography, Part 2, Vol. III, 1912 Page 828-830 - Transcribed by Millie
Mowry)
