Reminiscenses of Greeley, KS by Marie Boling Cornelius

Marie Boling Cornelius was born in Greeley in 1903. She was the daughter of Otis Boling and Sarah Lee. Sarah's father, Samuel Lee, was a bootmaker in Watford, NY and made boots for President Lincoln. The President was so pleased that he gave Samuel a grant of land in Washington county, KS and the Lee family moved to KS. Sarah met and married Otis Boling in Kansas. Sarah and Otis and their infant son Earl are both buried in the cemetery in Greeley.

In 1973 Marie started writing down her memories and ended up with over 400 hundred handwritten pages. She wrote about her life and her family and also the many individuals that she knew when living in Greeley and Lane. Although she did not have much formal schooling, her writing is clear and engaging and her memories are simply wonderful.

The following links will take you some of Marie's writings. These and other materials have been generously shared with the Anderson county website by her son, Merl "Bus" Cornelius, who has also contributed his mother's and his own writings to the Kansas Collection. Their histories, stories and pictures of Lane, KS can be read here.

• Greeley, KS 1908
• The Boling Family
• Oklahoma trip, 1903, tells the story of the Boling family's move to Oklahoma from Greeley, KS.
• Salt, a story about the early days in Anderson county, KS