Marion County KS Genealogy – Access Genealogy

Biography of Charles Edwin Westlake

Charles E. Westlake. There is a type of business man who had apparently a peculiar genius for doing a number of things well and efficiently. Such a man had the commercial instinct highly developed. Charles E. Westlake of Sedan illustrates the type. He had been a farmer and rancher, had merchandised in several different lines, had been an oil producer, and is now engaged in the undertaking business at Sedan, and one of the livest and most energetic citizens of that town. Both he and his family have been identified with Kansas a great many years. The Westlakes originated in … Read more

Biography of David Edward Lamb

David Edward Lamb is a member of the Pettit & Lamb Mercantile Company at Herington in Dickinson County. This company operates the largest department store in that county, and the firm of Pettit & Lamb had been in existence for over twenty years. Mr. Lamb’s individual experiences and achievements since he came to manhood have made him a leading citizen of Kansas, and he represents a very honored family in this state. He was born November 27, 1866, at the Village of Independence, near Dayton, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, William Lamb, was a native of Pennsylvania. His parents were … Read more

Biography of Calvin M. Hill

Calvin M. Hill. One of the long established business houses of Topeka, and one which has established itself firmly in the confidence of the public by reason of the honorable manner in which its affairs have been conducted, is the wholesale wall paper and retail paint business of Calvin M. Hill. Mr. Hill has been a resident of Kansas for thirty-four years, having come here with his parents in 1882, and, with the exception of four years has been identified with the painting and decorating business throughout his career. His present enterprise was started in a small way sixteen years … Read more

Biography of John S. Dean

John S. Dean, of Topeka, has been a Kansas lawyer for over thirty years, was for five years United States district attorney and by the force of his ability and his acknowledged service in many capacities is undoubtedly one of the foremost living lawyers of the state. His birth occurred in Seneca County, Ohio, November 11, 1861, and he is a son of William O. and Harriet J. (Curtiss) Dean. Mr. Dean was well educated, having attended college at Oberlin and determined upon the law as a profession when quite young. He became a student in the office of Judge … Read more

Biography of Gideon Penrod Marner, M. D.

Gideon Penrod Marner, M. D. This is a name known throughout the length and breadth of Marion County because of Doctor Marner’s long and active career as a physician and surgeon. Doctor. Marner had practiced at Marion for a quarter of a century and most of his experience and work in the profession had been in Kansas. He was born January 4, 1856, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a locality famous as the scene of one of the greatest calamities in history, the Johnstown flood of 1889. However, the Marner family had moved from Western Pennsylvania many years before. His parents, Jonathan … Read more

Biography of Horace Greeley Kyle

Horace Greeley Kyle, whose name is widely known over the State of Kansas on account of his legislative experience and active participation in public and business affairs, is a successful stock farmer and owned a splendid place in Dickinson County known as “The Cedars.” That is the scene of his business activities as a farmer and raiser of blooded livestock. Mr. Kyle is a native of Kansas and belongs to the pioneer and territorial element. He was born in a log cabin four miles west of Holton in Jackson County October 21, 1861. His father, James B. Kyle, came to … Read more

Biographical Sketch of Herbert Hickman

Herbert Hickman is editor and owner of The Florence Bulletin, and had proved himself a very diligent and enterprising young newspaper man, coming up from the ranks of an apprenticeship as a printer. He was born in Las Animas, Colorado, December 6, 1893, a son of George W. and Maggie H. (Brown) Hickman, both of whom died when he was a small boy. His father was a native of Missouri and his mother of West Virginia. Herbert had a twin brother, Harvey Cecil, who died at the age of five years, and the youngest child, Warren Milton, was born in … Read more

Biography of Willard Volney Church

Willard Volney Church is one of the older settlers in Marion County. This county had been his home for upwards of forty years, and during that time he had played a varied part as a lawyer, public official and business man. Mr. Church was born at Fort Ann, New York, February 16, 1853, a son of Volney and Harriet (Bush) Church. Mr. Church had the rather rare distinction at this time of being the grandson of a Revolutionary soldier. His grandfather, Willard Church was born at Mansfield, Connecticut, in 1758 and was a very young man when he took up … Read more

Biography of Ralph C. Stone

Ralph C. Stone is a native Kansan and since early manhood had been identified with Harvey County as a farmer, merchant and banker. He is now cashier of the Hesston State Bank. The Hesston State Bank was established in 1907, with Mr. William F. Rapp as its first president. Mr. Rapp is still president, with H. Schilling, vice president, Mr. Stone, cashier, and Miss May Rapp, assistant cashier. The bank owned the modern brick block in which it is situated on Main Street. It is one of the stronger country banks of Western Kansas. Its capital is $10,000, surplus and … Read more

Biography of James Dodwell

James Dodwell. The career of James Dodwell, pioneer harnessmaker of Butler County and a well known resident of the county seat, El Dorado, is one considerably apart from the ordinary and of unusual interest. In its unfolding it had invaded various fields of endeavor and the occupations of war and peace, and through it Mr. Dodwell had worked out an admirable destiny and had established his right to be numbered among the self-made men who have attained success in spite of the most discouraging circumstances. James Dodwell was born in the City of New York, in 1845, and, having been … Read more

Biography of Braden C. Johnston

Braden C. Johnston is a lawyer by profession and had in a few years’ time snccessfully established himself with a good practice and standing at Marion. A native of Kansas, his birth occurred on a farm two miles north of Lyons in Rice County March 7, 1889, His parents are James A. and Cynthia (Chitty) Johnston. His mother is of the same branch of Chittys that gave to the legal profession some of its brightest lights both as lawyers and authors of standard law books. James A. Johnston was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1852, and when a child he … Read more

Biography of Andrew Jackson Bixler, Rev.

Rev. Andrew Jackson Bixler, an Ohio man by birth and a veteran Union soldier, came to Marion, Kansas, over forty-five years ago and gave the best years of his active career to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is now living retired in a comfortable home at Marion. His had been a life of almost ceaseless activity and devoted to the welfare of church and society. His birth occurred on a farm in Stark County, Ohio, October 6, 1844. His parents were David L. and Catherine (Richards) Bixler. His father, who was born in Maryland in 1796, moved … Read more

Biography of William H. Rhodes

William H. Rhodes. As proprietor of the Sunrise Stock farm, comprising 230 acres, situated near Manhattan, in Riley County, Kansas, William H. Rhodes occupies a prominent place among agriculturists in this part of the state, the products of his farm because of their standard merits having a wide distribution. Mr. Rhodes was born in Atchison County, Kansas, March 31, 1869, but was reared in Marion County, Kansas. His parents were John M. and Martha (Kuhn) Rhodes. John M. Rbodes was born in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and died in Marion County, Kansas, in 1914, when aged seventy-nine years. His father, Christian … Read more

Anderson, H.W. – Obituary

Enterprise, Wallowa County, Oregon Graveside services are being held this morning (Thursday) at 10 o’clock in the Enterprise cemetery by the Booth-Bollman Funeral Home for Henry Walderman Anderson whose body was found Sunday morning in his cabin on the mountainside on Scotch Creek above Alder Slope south of Enterprise. The Rev. John Sinclair will officiate. Mr. Anderson owned a tract of land on Scotch Creek and had been cutting timber. He frequently walked to Enterprise for food supplies. About three weeks ago, after being notified by neighbors that Anderson had not been seen for several days, Sheriff Dick O’Brien and … Read more

Kansas Registrations of Enemy Aliens, 1917 – 1921

The series contains original affidavits of registration that record personal information about each registrant, their photograph affixed to the majority of documents, and the registrants fingerprints. All of these are specific to Kansas, and most have the actual documents attached.

Biography of Miller M. Van Denberg

Miller M. Van Denberg. One of El Dorado’s oldest business men and citizens is Miller M. Van Denberg, who had lived in that community for thirty-nine years. The name is most prominently associated with the lumber business. In that connection it is known not only in El Dorado but in many other towns of Kansas and Oklahoma. Mr. Van Denberg had owned at different times as many as twenty-three lumber yards in these two states. However, his home had always been at El Dorado. Perhaps the chief fruit of his many years of business effort had been the opportunity presented … Read more

Biography of William M. Burkholder

William M. Burkholder is one of the younger native Kansans filling places of responsibility and action and recently became proprietor and editor of the Anthony Bulletin. He had one of the older papers of Harper County. The Bulletin had enjoyed an independent existence since 1891, but is a continuation of several earlier papers. The old Harper County Enterprise was founded at Anthony in 1884, was consolidated in 1891 with the Alliance Bulletin of Harper, and was continued under the name Weekly Bulletin. The editor and publisher prior to Mr. Burkholder’s ownership was R. P. McColloch. The Bulletin is independent in … Read more

Biography of William Hebard Grayum

William Hebard Grayum. Perhaps one of the greatest factors in the wonderful progress that the State of Kansas had made in the last twenty years, had been the recognition of the value of education and the provision made for the extension of a sound public school system. Communities vie with each other in efforts to secure for the heads of their own institutions, scholarly men with progressive ideas, and to these hearty support is generally given, with results satisfying to the schools and the public at large. In this connection may be mentioned the able principal of the high school … Read more

Biography of Fred Eugene Pettit

Fred Eugene Pettit is a veteran business man and merchant of Marion County, and until he retired a few years ago conducted one of the largest stores at Peabody. Mr. Pettit was reared and educated and gained his first mercantile experience in the State of Illinois. He was born at Wyoming in Stark County, Illinois, January 8, 1861, a son of Peter and Mary Anne (Bailey) Pettit. Peter Pettit was born in New York State and located in Illinois in 1851, when the country was new and undeveloped. After a few years he lost his health and suffered invalidism throughout … Read more

Biography of J. Newton Rogers, M. D.

J. Newton Rogers, M. D. While too much credit can never be given the pioneers as a class, the work of the physician in a new and frontier country is deserving of special consideration. Not even the minister of the Gospel did so much to relieve affliction and distress as the hard working, patient and skillful doctor who rode his rounds, often for many miles between calls, and disregarded weather and every hardship in order to be of service to those who needed him. Of pioneer, physicians there was perhaps no finer type than the late J. Newton Bogers, who … Read more