William McMullen

WILLIAM McMULLEN is an educator of wide experience, has taught country, town and city schools at various localities in Kansas, and is now county superintendent of schools for Smith County.

Mr. McMullen is a native Kansan, born at Kirwin February 1, 1886, and is of Scotch ancestry. His great-grandfather came from Scotland and was an early settler in Ohio. His father, Joseph McMullen, who was born in Ohio in 1842, was five years of age when his father died, and he soon afterward moved with his mother to Decatur, Illinois, where he grew up and from which town he enlisted in the Union army early in the Civil war. His enlistment was in the Thirty-fifth Illinois Infantry and he was with the Thirteenth Army Corps until late in the year 1863. He saw much of the hard fighting through the Mississippi Valley, beginning with the battle of Pea Ridge, later fighting at Island No. 10, Stone River, Vicksburg, Chickamauga and Chattanooga. He was mustered out at Atlanta and then returned to Decatur, Illinois.

In 1865 Joseph McMullen married, and in 1870 made his first venture into Kansas, becoming a homesteader in Norton County. After one year he went back to Illinois, but in 1885 returned here and settled at Kirwin, Kansas, and was a prosperous farmer in that vicinity until 1903. He then moved to his farm near Athol, where he finally retired and took up his residence at Shawnee, Oklahoma. He is a republican, and at one time was township treasurer of Valley Township in Phillips County, and at times held other local offices. He was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Baptist Church.

Joseph McMullen married Margie Pope, who was born at Moweaqua, Illinois, in 1851, and their numerous family of children includes: Emma, wife of J. W. Hill, a farmer and stock buyer at Moweaqua, Illinois; Susie, deceased wife of Charles Hoft, a farmer near Agra, Kansas; Ella, wife of James Hill, a farmer at Garden Grove, Iowa; Nellie, twin sister of Ella, wife of Ramey Bingham, a farmer at Shawnee, Oklahoma; Thomas, a merchant at Moweaqua, Illinois; Frank, a farmer at Shawnee, Oklahoma; Harry, manager of a cotton and oil mill at Paden, Oklahoma; William, who is eighth in the family; Zadell, wife of Roy Lyall, a farmer near Athol, Kansas; Glenn, wife of R. A. Moore, a farmer near Athol; and Hilda, employed in a general store at Shawnee, Oklahoma.

William McMullen secured his education in the public schools of Phillips County, Kansas, attending high school at Athol and Kensington, and later was a student in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia. He began teaching in rural schools and worked in country districts five years. For three years he was principal of the high school at Athol, two years in charge of the Kensington High School, and for a like period was principal of the Cedar High School. In November, 1916, he was elected county superintendent of schools of Smith County, and in 1918, so satisfactory had been his administration, he had no opposition for the office. He has under his supervision 143 schools, a corps of 190 teachers, and about 5,000 pupils.

Mr. McMullen is also active in teachers' organizations, among which is the Smith County Teachers Association of which he is president. He is a member of the State Guards of Kansas and a sergeant of his company. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Smith Center and superintendent of its Sunday school. Fraternally his affiliations are with Kensington Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and Cedar Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

April 18, 1906, at Smith Center, Mr. McMullen married Miss Anna Kaiser, daughter of Frank and Elizabeth (Swendener) Kaiser. Her mother died in 1915, and her father was a farmer at Canton, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. McMullen have three children: Francis Leo, born January 23, 1907; Margie, born January 30, 1909; and Dale, born July 23, 1911.