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.