The Comanche County History Book, Volume 1
The very best source of historical information for the county is Comanche County History , published in 1981 by the Comanche County Historical Society, Coldwater, Kansas. Copies of the book are still available through the Comanche County Museum, 105 W. Main, Coldwater, Kansas, 67029. Phone: (620) 582-2108.
The image at left is a scan of the embossed front cover artwork on the book, which was designed by artist Stan Herd.
Without a doubt, it is the finest and most comprehensive county history book I've ever seen. Michael Crowe, History Book Chairman, describes the making of the book in his introduction to it, which follows.
A Message From the Chairman...
Because time passes so quickly, the Comanche County Historical Society recognized the need to preserve our county's history in a more permanent way. A snowy January day in 1980 marked the beginning of the Comanche County History Book project.
It was the will of well intentioned citizens to publish an account of history to be preserved for future generations to look back and find heritage. We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we did compiling it.
The history that is recording in the following pages reflects the heitage and life-style of all the individuals who wrote it. Therefore, each family history submitted to this book was not changed in any way unless authorized. All of those stories that were longer than the allotted space and those that had more than one photograph were paid for at set rates. We reserved the right to edit any general history for reasons of space or to reflect historical accuracy.
People who live or have lived in Comanche County exerted their efforts to compile as accurately as possible the history of the county. The history book committee diligently researched and recorded the material submitted to them, so that this book would be as complete as possible.
Not everything included in this book will be to the satisfaction of all who read it. To err is human and we deeply regret any mistakes made within these pages. In this brief history we were dependent upon the reference material made available as the recorded the history of Comanche County, Kansas. If you have additional information we would appreciate receiving it in case of future printings.
We take this opportunity to acknowledge the cooperation of Comanche County citizens - both past and present - who were absolutely overwhelming in helping to compile this book. We thank those who typed, addressed, proofread, pasted, and contacted people.
Additional thanks to artist Stan Herd for the artwork used throughout the book, as well as the Kansas State Historical Society, which was helpful with photographs and information.
Michael E. Crowe
History Book Chairman
December 29th, 1980.
The following list of surnames is for the family histories in Comanche County History, which was published & copyrighted in 1981 by the Comanche County Historical Society, Coldwater, Kansas, and was printed by the Taylor Publishing Company of Dallas, Texas.
The hardcover book has 816 pages. It isn't indexed but the family histories appear in alphabetical order; many of the entries include photographs of the founders of that family in Comanche County as well as members of the family at about the time the book was published.
Adams, Aita, Albright, Alder, Alexander, Allderdice, Allen, Alley, Anconetani, Andreson, Andree, Anthony, Arnold, Arthur, Ashcroft, Ashlock, Atkeson, Austin, Avery.
Bachman, Bacon, Baessler, Bailer, Bailey, Baker, Balleu, Barber, Bard, Bardot, Bare, Barker, Barnes, Barnhart, Barnthson, Barrett, Basnett, Bateman, Bauer, Baxter, Bayless, Bayne, Bean, Bearly, Beebe, Beeley, Beger, Beitler, Belcher, Bell, Bender, Bennet, Bergner, Berrey, Betschart, Betzer, Beyers, Beyler, Bibb, Bickford, Biddle, Bigbee, Billings, Billington, Bilyeu, Bird, Black, Blackard, Blake, Bliss, Blount, Blue, Boehs, Boisseau, Boles, Boley, Bonham, Bontrager, Booth, Boschmann, Boshell, Botts, Bowers, Bowman, Bramlett, Brammer, Bramwell, Brass, Bratcher, Braun, Brewer, Briggs, Brink, Brite, Brosius, Brown, Browning, Brumbaugh, Bryan, Bryant, Burditt, Burghardt, Burkhall, Burnett, Burnette, Burr, Burrill, Burry, Burt, Butcher, Butts, Byram.
Caley, Callahan, Callaway, Campbell, Canfield, Carleton, Carlisle, Carpenter, Carrick, Carter, Carthraie, Cary, Cell, Chadwick, Chambers, Chamness, Chase, Chilek, Christopher, Clark, Clayton, Cline, Clinesmith, Cobb, Cohlmia, Cole, Coles, Collett, Colvin, Conard, Conrad, Cook, Coonfield, Cooper, Copple, Cordray, Couchman, Craig, Crane, Crawford, Creighton, Crissup, Critzer, Croft, Crouse, Crowe, Crowley, Crum, Cummings, Curran, Curry.
Dale, Daley, Daily, Darnell, Darroch, Daugherty, Davis, Day, Deck, Deewall, Delaney, Dellinger, DeMoss, Denney, DePriest, DeWeese, Deyoe, Dickinson, Dickson, Dillinger, Dodson, Doherty, Doig, Doran, Dorsey, Doughty, Dowling, Downing, Draper, Dudley, Duer, Duncan, Dunn, Dykes.
Eaton, Eckert, Edmonds, Edmonston, Einsel, Elliot, Ellis, Ellison, Elwell, Ely, Emerson, England, Enright, Eskew, Estills, Eubank, Evans, Ewy, Ezell.
Farrow, Fausett, Fellers, Ferrin, Filson, Finch, Finney, Fisher, Fitzwater, Fleming, Flowers, Foree, Foster, Frazier, Frederick, Freeman, Fretz, Friend, Fry, Fryman,
Garber, Gard, Garten, Gates, Gaylord, Gean, Gerber, German, Gilchrist, Giles, Gillett, Gillmore, Girk, Girton, Glasscock, Glenn, Gohn, Goodale, Goos, Graham, Graue, Gray, Green, Gregg, Greim, Griffin, Griffith, Grover, Gunden, Guseman, Guss, Guyer.
Haas, Haberlein, Hackney, Hadley, Hall, Haltom, Hamilton, Hancock, Hannah, Hanson, Harbaugh, Harden, Harkleroad, Harmon, Harness, Harp, Harper, Harris, Hart, Hartzen, Harvey, Hase, Hasz, Hatfield, Haun, Hayes, Haynes, Hayse, Hazen, Hecht, Heft, Heitmann, Helton, Helvie, Henderson, Hendrix, Herd, Herrington, Herron, Hess, Hewett, Heyerly, Hill, Hines, Hinkle, Hoch, Hodges, Hoffman, Holcomb, Holler, Holmes, Holsapple, Hoofer, Hopkins, Horner, Hough, Housley, Hubbard, Huck, Huckelbridge, Hudson, Huff, Hughes, Hullett, Hutsell, Hyder.
Isenbart.
Jackson, Jacobs, Jarnagin, Jeffries, Jellison, Jenkins, Johnson, Jordan.
Kay, Keasling, Keesee, Keller, Keltner, Kendrick, Kennedy, Kerstetter, Kimes, Kimple, Kindsvater, King, Kirby, Kirk, Kitson, Klasser, Klingensmith, Knapp, Kurz.
Lafferty, Lamkin, Landess, Langham, Large, Larimer, Larrick, Larson, Lauffer, Lawler, Lawrence, Lease, Lee, Leeper, Lehrman, Lehman, Leiss, Lenertz, Lewis, Lindau, Lindley, Lindsay, Lindstrom, Lindt, Linger, Little, Livingston, Loesch, Loewen, Loffland, Lohrding, Looney, Loucks, Louthan, Lyon, Lytle.
Mahan, Malone, Maloney, Maltby, Mann, Maple, Maris, Mark, Markowitz, Marley, Marsh, Martens, Martin, Martinson, Mast, Mathias, Meadows, Meers, Meester, Mehl, Melkus, Mendenhall, Mercer, Metzger, Metzker, Meyer, Millam, Miller, Mills, Minnick, Mitchell, Moberley, Mog, Monroe, Moore, Moores, Morlan, Morris, Morrow, Morton, Muench, Mullins, Murphey, Myers.
McCay, McConnell, McCorkle, McCulla, McDaniel, McEnterfer, McFall, McFarland, McGee, Mcliveen, McIntire, McIntyre, McKinney, McLaughlin, McLean, McMillen, McMillin, McMinimy, McMoran, McMurray, McNeely, McPhail, McVey.
Neeley, Nelson, Neumann, Nevens, Newby, Newell, Newton, Nicholas, Nichols, Nicholson, Nickelson, Nielsen, Nighswonger, Nokes, Norman, Northern, Norton.
O'Banion, O'Gwin, Oller, Olson, Orr, Osmon, Ott, Overocker.
Parcel, Park, Parker, Parkin, Parks, Parsons, Patterson, Patton, Payne, Peacock, Peak, Pearson, Peaster, Pendergraft, Pennington, Pepperd, Percifield, Peterson, Petty, Pfeiffer, Phillips, Pierce, Platt, Plumb, Poer, Pope, Potter, Pounds, Powell, Price, Prilliman, Proctor, Purcell, Pyeatt.
Rafler, Rainbolt, Ramey, Rankin, Ray, Reed, Reiss, Rempel, Renfro, Replogle, Retzlaff, Rhodes, Rich, Richardson, Ricker, Ridge, Rieff, Rietzke, Riner, Riney, Ring, Robbins, Robertson, Robinson, Roetker, Rogers, Rowland, Royse, Rumsey, Rush, Russell.
Sailor, Sanders, Sangster, Sankpill, Saunders, Sawley, Sawyers, Schenk, Scherich, Schesser, Schmidt, Schmoker, Schneider, Scholle, Schrock, Schultz, Schumacher, Schweitzer, Scovell, Seaman, Searls, Sedalnick, Selzer, Seyfert, Seyfrit, Shane, Shaw, Shelden, Shepherd, Sherman, Shipley, Shipman, Shoemaker, Shrauner, Shrubshall, Sibbitt, Simonds, Sinclair, Sinkle, Sitler, Six, Sizemore, Small, Smith, Smutz, Snell, Snow, Snyder, Sollars, Sooter, Sparks, Squire, Stalcup, Staples, Stark, St Clair, Steadman, Stephens, Stewart, Stith, Stringer, Strobel, Stubbs, Stull, Sullivan, Sunderland, Swaim, Swayze, Swisher.
Tade, Tarr, Taylor, Teter, Tharp, Thomas, Thompson, Thornhill, Thornton, Thurman, Timmer, Timmons, Tinker, Tobias, Todd, Toothaker, Towner, Trease, Tritsch, Troyer, Trummel, Tryon, Tschanz, Tucker, Turley, Turner.
Uhl, Umberger, Unruh, Uselman.
Vance, VanMeir, VanVranken, VanWey, Vardaman, Vargus, Veatch, Vermillion, Vincent.
Wade, Wadel, Wagnon, Wait, Walker, Wall, Wallace, Waller, Wallingsford, Ward, Warner, Wasinger, Watson, Waugh, Webb, Weber, Webster, Weimert, Wheeler, White, Whitney, Whitzel, Wilborn, Wilkerson, Willems, Williams, Wills, Wilson, Wimmer, Windus, Winn, Winters, Withrow, Witters, Wolf, Womacks, Wood, Woods, Woolfolk, Wright, Wymer.
Yanson, York, Young, Younker.
Zane, Zeigler, Zerby, Zielke, Zimmerman.
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This page was last updated 10 November 2003.