Martin Finley Getchell of the lumber firm of M. F. Getchell & Company, Williamsburg, Kan., is a native of Wisconsin where he was born at Fon du Lac, Aug. 8, 1868, to Thomas and Lottie R. (Swift) Getchell. The Getchell family is of German lineage. Thomas Getchell was a native of New Hampshire, where he learned the trade of cooper and during the Civil war he was a captain in the Thirty-second Bucktail regiment, that guarded Lincoln. Immediately after the war he moved to Wisconsin and remained there until 1876 when he came to Princeton, Franklin county, Kansas, where he engaged in the lumber business and in 1886 came to Williamsburg where he resided until his death in 1893. He was an honored member of the Grand Army of the Republic, an ardent Republican active in behalf of the party. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Getchell of this record was Charles Swift, a farmer and a life-long resident of New Hampshire.

Martin F. Getchell received his education in the public schools at Princeton and Ottawa, and also attended the business college at Lawrence, from which he graduated in 1888. After graduating he accepted a position with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad as agent and operator, continuing with that company ten years and then resigned to engage in the lumber business at Williamsburg, where he now does an extensive and successful business handling finished material for builders as well as rough lumber for all kinds of construction. He also owns valuable farm land and city property and is a manager of the Missouri & Kansas Telephone Company, which line he sold to the Bell Telephone Company in 1904. Politically, Mr. Getchell is a Republican and has filled the office of trustee of Williamsburg township and is now serving his second term as mayor of the town of Williamsburg. He is a member of the Masonic Lodge No. 224 at Williamsburg, and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks No. 803 at Ottawa.

In 1891 Mr. Getchell wedded Mamie Towle, daughter of Joseph Towle, a native Virginian, who was postmaster at Williamsburg, Kan., for twenty-five years. She died in 1894 and in 1904 Mr. Getchell was united in marriage to Lillian Plowman, daughter of D. H. Plowman of Caney, Kan. Mr. Plowman is a native of Illinois but removed to Caney, where he engaged extensively in the dairy business and where he has become a prominent citizen. At the present time he is a member of the Caney school board. Mr. and Mrs. Getchell have three children: Wayne, Elizabeth and Ruth. Mrs. Getchell is a member of the Presbyterian church. During Mr. Getchell's identification with the business interests of Williamsburg he has won recognition by his excellent business discernment, ability and enterprise as one of that town's most influential business men and both Mr. and Mrs. Getchell are prominent in social circles.