Kansas Biography

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Kansas

Biography

Online Resources

• County and Town Histories, includes biographies
• Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas
• A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans, 1919, Vol. 1, e-book, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, Vol. 4
• Men of Kansas, e-book
• A biographical history of central Kansas... Vol. 1, e-book, Vol.2, e-book
• The United States biographical dictionary : Kansas, e-book
• Portrait and biographical record of southeastern Kansas, e-book

Biographies in Local Histories

• Biographical information is often found in state, county, and town histories.
• Towards the end of the 19th century, began publishers soliciting short biographical/family histories from local founding families, offering to publish them in an upcoming local history. This then became an incentive for family members to buy a copy of the book.
• Families represented were not necessarily prominent. Practically everyone living there, especially in the Midwest, counted as an early settler.
• These biographies often start with the first member of the family to settle in the area, and detail their descendants at the time of publishing. They may tell where the family moved in from. Children's marriages often are given, with maiden names included.

Finding Biographies

• The county Wiki page lists several county histories. It also lists local libraries, and societies which probably have copies of local histories.
• Many histories are no longer under copyright and can be found in the following online, digitized book collections. Search with keywords "History" and "the name of your locality" (state, county, or town).
  • FamilySearch Books
  • Google Books
  • World Cat
  • HathiTrust
  • Internet Archive
• The FamilySearch library has extensive collections of these local histories. Many are digitized. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under your locality for the topics "Biography" and "History".

The Kansas State Historical Society and the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas have extensive collections of biographical material, but there is no statewide biographical index.

Several biographical collections are available online through the Kansas State Historical Society. These online collections include:

• The Lilla Day Monroe Collection of Pioneer Stories
• Kansas Memory, a new digital portal to names, events, and places of Kansas
• Kansapedia is another site from the Kansas Historical Society which includes biographical information on Kansas residents from many time periods and many walks of life.
• Genealogical and Biographical Record of North-Eastern Kansas; published in 1900: Contains 479 biographies and 38 photos, click on a name or a letter to locate an individual.

You may also search the biographical sections of statewide, regional, and county histories of Kansas. Some representative biographical encyclopedias are:

• The United States Biographical Dictionary: Kansas. Chicago, Illinois and Kansas City, Missouri: S. Lewis & Co., 1879. (Family History Library book 978.1 D3u; film 874388.)
• Kansas Pioneers. Topeka, Kansas: Topeka Genealogical Society, 1976. (Family History Library book 978.1 D3t.)