John Knox McMullen, of Ellinwood, editor and owner of the "Ellinwood Leader," is a native Kansan and a young man of energy and ability who is a worthy representative of the progressive younger generation of the state. He was born at Great Bend, July 21, 1881. His parents, Joseph McMullen and Jane McClellan, were both natives of Colraine, Ireland, where the former was born June 28, 1828 and the latter on Feb. 18, 1836. They were married in their native land on Jan. 4, 1860, and became the parents of seven children: Robert, born March 27, 1862; Ellen, born March 24, 1865; Elizabeth, born Jan. 26, 1867; Mary, born Nov. 30, 1868; Joseph Erwin, born Feb. 18, 1875; Jennie, born May 5, 1879; and John Knox, born July 21, 1881. Upon emigrating to America, these parents located in Kansas where they resided until their respective deaths, the father having passed away on Aug. 27, 1883, and the mother on Jan. 5, 1907. John Knox McMullen, the youngest son this family, was reared in Kansas and obtained his education at Great Bend. Before and after school hours in 1897 his spare time was spent in the office of the "Barton County Democrat," where he learned the printer's trade. He has followed that line of endeavor continuously since then, having taken charge of the "Ellinwood Leader" on his own account on Jan. 1, 1911. This is a Democratic weekly paper and under his able management has taken its place among the strong publications of Barton county.

In 1903, at Great Bend, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McMullen and Miss Mabel De Motte, the daughter of Emory and Martha De Motte. Four children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. McMullen: Lola, born June 10, 1904, and died May 17, 1906; Ruth, born Oct. 5, 1906; Lloyd, born Sept. 17, 1908; and D. Duayne, born Aug. 21, 1910.