| Note |
- Olin Genealogy, pages 88-89: COL. D. B. DYER. During the past two years a considerable number of newnames have been added to the list of street railway presidents andmanagers, and in quite a number of instances the gentlemen thusinterested have become so through their railway investments in othercities than their homes. Such was the case with the subject of thissketch, Col. Daniel Burns Dyer, president and general manager of theAugusta (Georgia) Railway Company. The life and experience of Col. Dyerhave pre-eminently fitted him for his present responsible position, andwhen to these is added his personal magnetism and his power over men, wehave an ideal manager. Col. Dyer, although he has not divulged the dateof his nativity, is still a young man of 'something over thirty,' whoclaims Illinois as his native State, having first seen the light of dayon a farm near Joliet. A small part of his varied and complete educationwas acquired at the Illinois State Normal University. Having finishedthis part of his schooling, he went out to the Plains in 1869,representing the Government among the untutored red men, and trading thecomforts of civilization with them for furs. During the early part of hiscareer as Indian agent, he induced the savage and belligerent Modocs tosettle in houses and turn their scalping-knives into plow-shares. At thistime Col. Dyer had charge of seven other tribes, which he governed withbut a single outbreak. In 1883 he was placed in charge of the Cheyennesand Arapahoes. Two years later, turning to more peaceful pursuits, Col.Dyer began business in Kansas City as a broker and real estate agent,where he became acquainted with the great financiers who compose theJarvis-Conklin syndicate. Always interested in advancement of allenterprises West or South, the hero of this sketch went among the untamedpoliticians at Washington, and here was mainly instrumental in gettingthe Oklahoma bill passed. Immediately going to the newly-opened country,he worked for the advancement of its interests, and was forced by thegrateful citizens of Guthrie, already a large town, to accept themayoralty. Here, in a new town of heterogeneous elements, he displayed the greatest tactand executive ability, and in three months left the eighteen thousandpeople of Guthrie with a fully equipped municipal government. InDecember, 1889, Col. Dyer visited the South as far as Georgia, and,struck with the thrift and appearance of Augusta, returned in 1890, withthe principals of the Jarvis-Conklin syndicate. By February, arrangementshad been completed and the franchises granted for the magnificent line ofelectric railway which facilitates passage through the principal streetsof this modern Southern city. Now, as manager, Col. Dyer holds a highplace socially and financially in Augusta. In all local enterprises Col.Dyer has been ably seconded by his wife, the daughter of N. R. Casey, ofMound City, Illinois. Mrs. Dyer is a Southern woman by descent, and acharming and accomplished lady. (See portrait on another page.)
|
1849 - Aft 1893 (> 45 years)