Daniel Webster Slayton was born in Steuben County, New York, on November 6, 1862. He attended school in Fairfax, Virginia, where his family lived following the Civil War. Slayton travelled to Montana Territory in 1884 and worked at the Ford sheep ranch near White Sulphur Springs and, later, in a lumber camp near Martinsdale. In 1885 Slayton and his brother Dalon claimed range land near Lavina, Montana. They began raising sheep on a share agreement with the Ford ranch and eventually acquired large herds of sheep and extensive property holdings. Slayton also owned the Slayton Mercantile Company and had interests in the Lavina State Bank and the Citizens State Bank of Roundup. Slayton was a Republican. He served on the Fergus County Board of Commissioners and was elected from that county to the Montana House of Representatives in 1911, and to the Montana Senate from Musselshell County in 1917 and 1919. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 1920. Slayton married Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ellis of Fairfax, Virginia, on November 8, 1887. The couple had five children; Lydia, Daniel E. (born March 15, 1891), Bert, Ernest, and Ruth. Daniel Webster Slayton died in Lavina on September 8, 1927. Lizzie Ellis Slayton died in 1940.
Papers. 1883-1934. 3.5 linear feet. The Daniel Webster and Lizzie Ellis Slayton papers include general correspondence (1883-1918) and diaries (1884-1887, 19O7-1934). The majority of the correspondence is between D.W. Slayton and Lizzie Ellis, primarily in the period before the couple was married in 1887. The letters, which have been transcribed, describe Slayton's activities and experiences as a ranch hand, logger, and sheep rancher, and conditions in Montana Territory. There is also a small quantity of letters between Slayton and family members and others. Daniel E. Slayton's letters (1917-1919) to his parents discuss his activities in the military in the U.S. and France during World War I. The diaries kept by D.W. Slayton (1884-1927) describe his daily life and activities. Several of the diaries were kept in shorthand; however these have been transcribed with the exception of the 1885 and 1886 volumes. The diaries kept by Lizzie Ellis Slayton (1917-1918, 1928, 193O-1934) describe her daily activities, social life, health, etc. One diary kept by Daniel E. Slayton (1907) when he was sixteen years old describes attending school in Helena and Bozeman, friends, activities, summer work on the ranch at Lavina, etc. Typed transcriptions of the diaries are in the collection. The collection also contains clippings (1909-1932) on the Slayton family.
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The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection