Ira C. Buzick was one of the pioneer lawyers of Lincoln County. He was the first man elected to represent that county in the State Legislature after the county was formally organized in 1870. He had a long and active career as a lawyer and in public affairs, and the name is still continued on the professional rolls of the Kansas bar through his son, Alonson Ruckman Buzick of Salina.
Ira C. Buzick was born June 21, 1841, at Dayton, Ohio. His parents were also native Ohioans. At the age of twenty-two he took up the study of law, and when twenty-five years of age graduated from Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania. He soon afterwards went west and first located for practice at Oregon, Missouri. In 1868 he represented Holt County in the Missouri Legislature. He also founded the New Era, the first republican paper even published at Savannah, Missouri. Besides his newspaper work and his practice as a lawyer he served for a time as principal of an academy at Savannah.
In 1870 Ira C. Buzick came out to Kansas and located in Lincoln County. Lincoln County was created about 1867, but it had no civil organization until 1870. Mr. Buzick took an active part in that process by which the county was organized, and in the election of November of that year he was chosen to represent the county in the State Legislature during the session of 1871. He was very active at Topeka in behalf of his constituents and also gave important service on various committees. As a lawyer he built up a splendid practice at Lincoln and his services were in demand in litigation in other counties and also outside the state. As a criminal lawyer he had few peers and was also an orator of great power and effectiveness. He stood high in the public affairs both of his town and state. He was a thorough lawyer, was devoted to the science of jurisprudence, and was one of the most scholarly men of the Kansas bar.
Ira C. Buzick died suddenly in the Union Station at St. Louis, Missouri, in November, 1904. His brother, A. R. Buzick, is a prominent business man of Lincoln County, being president of the Sylvan State Bank and owner of the Buzick Stock Ranch.
Ira C. Buzick married in 1873 Miss Elizabeth Farrel, who was born in New York state September 4, 1853. She now makes her home with her son, A. R. Buzick in Salina. She was the mother of two children, the older being Mary Myrtle, who is now the wife of J. P. Lang of Salina.
Alonson Ruckman Buzick was born at Lincoln, Kansas, July 19, 1889, and since an early age had directed his studies and efforts toward excellence in the same profession which his father adorned. He was graduated from the law department of the University of Kansas with the class of 1914, and for about two years practiced at Kansas City, Kansas. In 1916 he opened his offices at Salina and had already acquired a substantial practice in that community.
On January 16, 1915, he married Miss Phyllis Margaret Burrough. Mrs. Buzick was born in Kansas City, Missouri, June 27, 1896, a daughter of Phillip E. and Cora (Swanson) Burrough. Both her parents died in 1903. Her father for a number of years was British Vice Consul at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. Buzick have one son, Ira C., born December 24, 1915.