Cornelius Blackley Burge, the city clerk of Topeka, was born on a farm in Porter county, Indiana, Jan. 6, 1874, a son of John H. Burge, a native of Ohio, and his wife, Evelyn Blackley, a native of Indiana. John Burge brought his family to Kansas in 1880, when his son, Cornelius, was but six years of age, and located on a farm in Republic county, in the western part of the state. The journey from the Indiana home was made with the primitive method of transportation employed by the early settlers, the family traveling overland in a covered wagon. After residing for five years in Republic county, the family removed to a farm in Riley county.

In these two counties Cornelius Burge spent his boyhood, receiving his early education in the district schools. When he was seventeen years of age his parents located in Topeka, where they now make their home, and where his father is the proprietor of one of the hotels. Mr. Burge held his first position in the business world in the offices of the Santa Fe Railroad Company at Topeka, and while thus employed attended the night schools. He remained in the offices of the railroad company for five years, and then spent a year on a farm in Graham county. Returning to Topeka he became a student in a business college, where he thoroughly prepared himself for capable occupation of the positions which he has since held. After completing his course of study he was stenographer with the Rock Island Railroad Company for five years, and then became chief clerk and stenographer for the Kansas State Labor Commission. In April, 1907, Mr. Burge was elected city clerk of Topeka, on the Republican ticket, and was honored with a reëlection without an opposing candidate for the office. He is now serving his second term as city clerk, and as a competent public official enjoys the trust and esteem of the entire community. Mr. Burge is a Scottish Rite Mason and an Odd Fellow, and is a member of the Modern Woodmen, the Red Men, the Knights and Ladies of Security, and the Knights of the Protective Art. He was married, in 1900, to Miss Della May Evans, of Topeka. They have two children, Josiah and Cornelius Blackley, Jr.