Frank and Annie Canton

alias Joseph Horner
b 1849 d September 27, 1927

The Daily Oklahoman 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
June 1, 1994

Annie May Wilkerson Canton, the daughter of William H. and Julia A. Wilkerson, was born May 1, 1867, in Metamora, Woodford County, Illinois. She passed away on September 3, 1948, at Guthrie, Oklahoma, and interment was by the side of her husband and her daughter, Ruby, in Fairlawn Cemetery Oklahoma City. Mrs. Canton Is survived by a sister, Nancy W. Stevens (Mrs. A. W.), of Buffalo, Wyoming.1 Annie May Wilkerson was married to Frank M. Canton on January 21, 1885, at Big Horn, Johnson County, Wyoming. Soon afterward the young couple established their first home at Buffalo in the same county. They moved to Nebraska City, Nebraska, in 1892, two years later to Pawnee, and subsequently lived at different times in Perry, Guthrie, and Edmond, Oklahoma. They were the parents of two daughters: Ruby and Helen who died at the age of three years. As wife and homemaker in Wyoming and Oklahoma, Mrs. Canton knew firsthand many exciting incidents in territorial history, and experienced many tense moments in her husband's wide and varied career. This tribute to her memory would be incomplete without brief mention of that picturesque pioneer, Frank M. Canton, and of their daughter, Ruby, who served twenty years on the faculty of Central State College at Edmond.

Josiah Horner better known as Frank M. Canton, was a famount American Old West lawman, and at one point in his life, an outlaw. While in Nebraska, he officially changed his name to Frank M. Canton and vowed to give up his outlaw ways.

Frank M. Canton was well known as the Adjutant General of the Nation-al Guard of Oklahoma, appointed to this position directly after Statehood in 1907, by Charles N. Haskell, the first Governor of Oklahoma.

A native of Virginia, he had gone as a child with his parents to Texas, and later worked as a cowboy on one of the first cattle drives north up the Chisholm Trail through the Indian Territory to Abilene, Kansas, in 1869. His work in charge of cattle drives later took him farther west, and his career as a peace officer began with his appointment as deputy sheriff in Custer County, Montana, while employed as field inspector for the Wyoming Stock Raisers' Association with headquarters at Miles City, Montana, during a "cattle rustlers' war" in that region. He settled at Buffalo in 1880, was elected sheriff of Johnson County in 1882, and was reelected in 1884. Shortly after the opening of the Cherokee Outlet, he came to Pawnee where he was commissioned deputy sheriff by Rank Lake, first elected sheriff of Pawnee County, Oklahoma Territory, who had formerly sewed as a deputy under Sheriff Canton in Wyoming. During the gold rush to the Klondike in 1897, Canton went to Alaska in the employ of the North American Trading and Transportation Company with headquarters at Circle City where he was appointed Deputy United States Marshal. On his return to the States two years later, he accompanied a Government relief train to China with supplies for the Americans during the Boxer uprising.  Canton traveled to Oklahoma, and became a respected U.S. Marshal under Judge Isaac Parker, based out of Fort Smith, Arkansas. He worked with other famous lawmen such as Heck Thomas, Chris Madsen, and Bill Tilghman during that time. In 1895, Canton joined a posse that tracked down Bill and John Shelley, who had escaped from the Pawnee jail and barricaded themselves in a cabin across the Arkansas River.

General Canton served with honor in the position at the head of the National Guard of Oklahoma in the three succeeding administrations of Governor Charles N. Haskell, Lee Cruce. and Robert L. Williams, until failing health caused his retirement.

Daughter, Ruby Cantan [1885~1928], a beautiful and talented young woman who had specialized in music under the instruction of Rudolph Ganz in Chicago, continued her college courses, and was appointed Librarian at Central State Normal School at Edmond, by Governor Haskell in 1908. Subsequently she studied in the Library School of the University of Chicago, and upon her return to her post at Edmond, was the first to teach library science in Oklahoma. She studied further during summer vacation at different times in Columbia University. Pittsburgh University, and Carnegie Tech at Pittsburgh, and traveled aboard in 1926. She was an active member of the American Library Association in the state, and served as President of the Librarian's department in the Oklahoma Educational Association before her death in 1928. A special collection of books in Evans Hall at Central State College is known as the Ruby Canton Library, and a beautiful stained glass window has been dedicated to her memory.
 in Central's proposed "Y" Chapel of Song at Edmond.

After the loss of Ruby, Mrs. Canton began her own work in the public service of the State. She was a devoted member of the Christian Science Church and of the Eastern Star. She was appointed by the Board of Director of the Oklahoma Historical Society on November 15, 1930, as guide in the splendid new Historical Building, a position that she held continuously for over fifteen years until failing health caused her retirement. Her commanding presence and her never failing interest, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the Museum exhibits on Oklahoma history made her especially fitted for her work in the Historical Society. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from over the state, the nation, and foreign countries to the halls of the Historical Building during her long service will always remember Annie M. Canton's striking personality and the fine welcome she extended in the work that she loved, to the honor of the Oklahoma  Historical Society Oklahoma City.

Frank, Ann and Ruby are all buried at Fairlawn Cemetery, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The Daily Oklahoman 
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
June 1, 1994

cemetery stone photos courtesy Marti Graham
 

Compiled, transcribed and submitted by Marti Graham. February 2009. Information posted for educational purposes for viewers and researchers. The contributor is not related to nor researching any of the above.

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