John Edward Walton Biography


	This biography appears on pages 546-547 in "History of Dakota 
	Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. V (1915) and was 
	scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				JOHN EDWARD WALTON. 

	John Edward Walton, of Spearfish, is a pioneer settler whose 
knowledge of frontier life is that of actual experience. He knows the 
ways of the Indians and on more than one occasion met them in 
encounters. He can relate many interesting incidents of the early days, 
forming now a most picturesque chapter in the history of the state, 
although in the hour of actual occurrence such events were fraught with 
hardships and ofttimes dangers. Mr. Walton was born in Cass county, 
Missouri, January 16, 1857, a son of Moses Edward and Mary Elizabeth 
(Gates) Walton, natives of Virginia and Tennessee respectively. The 
father engaged in farming until about the time of the Civil war and 
then entered the Confederate service, being connected with the army 
until 1865 He then went to Montana, where he engaged in mining, 
remaining in that state until his death. He had removed from Virginia 
to Missouri. where he located a farm and improved the property, 
residing there for a number of years before going to Montana. His widow 
died in California about five years after the death of her husband. 

	John E. Walton was the fourth in a family of eight children. He 
attended school in Missouri to a limited extent and continued his 
education in a country school near Helena, Montana, having accompanied 
his parents on their removal to that state when a little had of eight 
years. He left Montana at the age of nineteen years and went down the 
Missouri river to Bismarck in the company of Buffalo Bill and thence 
proceeded across the country to Lawrence county. There were seventy-
five men in the party driving ox teams and they arrived in Deadwood on 
the 11th of October, 1876. Mr. Walton went on to Lead the same day and 
for two weeks he sought employment. He worked for a few days in the 
mines and was then taken ill. Returning to Spearfish, be located the 
land whereon he now resides. At that time the city of Spearfish 
contained only a few homes built by farmers within the stockade which 
had been constructed for protection from the Indians. Upon the ranch 
which he secured he has resided continuously since. He owned one 
hundred and sixty acres of rich and valuable land but has recently sold 
sixty acres. He now devotes his attention to the remaining one hundred 
acres, engaging in the raising of stock and hay and also in 
horticultural pursuits, having a large apple orchard. He is likewise 
interested in a cooperative creamery at Spearfish as its president but 
devotes the greater part of his attention to his farm and the careful 
management of his business affairs is bringing to him substantial 
success. On a number of occasions he has been engaged in the Indian 
troubles, assisting in relieving parties attacked by the red men. He 
was one of forty-four men who went from Spearfish to relieve the 
Pettigrew outfit which was surrounded by Indians at what is now Beulah, 
Wyoming, sixteen miles from Spearfish. A party of six had been sent to 
Spearfish to get relief but only two arrived there as four were killed 
by the Indians. On the return to Spearfish the bodies of the slain men 
were taken to that town and there they were buried the next day. 

	On the 24th of December, 1879, Mr. Walton was united in marriage 
to Miss Mary Louisa Roberts, who was born at Liverpool, England, a 
daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Eden) Roberts. The father died in 
Liverpool and the mother and her family afterward came across the 
Atlantic about 1873, first settling in Ames, Iowa. In 1877 they came to 
the Black Hills and took up their abode on a homestead a mile and a 
half west of Spearfish. The mother still resides upon the home place 
and is now eighty years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Walton were born the 
following children: Robert Edgar, who was killed by a runaway team in 
1910, when twenty-seven years of age; Emma, the wife of James Wester, a 
mining engineer living at Morenci, Arizona; Lee, who married Miss Uva 
Walthall follows farming near Lewistown, Montana; Annette, a teacher at 
Provo, Utah; Louise, who is a teacher at Winterquarters, that state; 
Clyde, who was weighmaster at Scofield, Utab, but has recently removed 
to Idaho; Amy, who died in infancy; and Hugh Ernest and Gladys, both 
attending school. 

	The family attended the Congregational church and Mr. Walton 
gives his political support to the democratic party. Fraternally he is 
connected- with the Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias and has 
passed through all of the chairs in the local lodge of the latter 
organization and is serving as a representative to the grand lodge. He 
is well known in this part of the state. Almost his entire life has 
been passed upon the western frontier, his early youth in the mining 
regions of Montana and the period of his manhood in South Dakota He has 
lived to witness remarkable changes here and has borne his share in 
carrying forward the work of improvement and advancement.