Marshall-Jackson County KS Archives Biographies.....Brandenburg, Charles Wilson 1865 - living in 1917 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 11:56 am Author: B. F. Bowen CHARLES WILSON BRANDENBURG, D. D. S. It has been said that probably no one man has done more to rehabilitate the Democratic party in Kansas than has Dr. Charles W. Brandenburg, the well-known dental surgeon at Frankfort, this county. And his friends affirm this statement to be true. At any rate, it may be truthfully said that no one has been more faithful in the service of the party or more ardent in his championship of the principles of Democracy than has Doctor Brandenburg. From the days of his boyhood, when, at eighteen years of age, he succeeded in effecting an organization of Democrats in Jackson county, right in a very hotbed of rampant Republicanism, Doctor Brandenburg has been unceasing in his advocacy of the principles of the party he has held dear to his heart and, in season and out of season, morning, noon and night, has given his most earnest attention to the work of perfecting an effective organization of the party in this state. As noted above, it was when little more than a boy that Doctor Brandenburg gained a reputation for study Democracy throughout this state by his zealous efforts on behalf of an organization of that party in his home county. Not long before he had come here from his native Virginia and had located at Holton, in Jackson county, a place where Democrats were mighty few and far between. Holton had been settled by Abolitionists and in the early eighties Republicanism still was dominant as a political factor there. Despite the many obstacles thus presented, young Brandenburg in 1882 succeeded in effecting a strong working organization of the Democratic party in Jackson county and thus came to the early and favorable notice of the party managers in this state. From that time forward few men in Kansas were more active or influential in the councils of the party in this state than he and for a score or more of years he has been one of the most familiar figures at the banquets and gatherings of his party in this state and in other states of the middle West, while for years he has been recognized as the wise and kindly dictator of his party in this district. In 1894 Doctor Brandenburg was the nominee of his party as the representative from this district to Congress, in opposition to W. D. Calderhead, but that was Republican year in this district and his party's genial ambition in his behalf was not gratified. In 1896 Doctor Brandenburg was a delegate from this district to the national Democratic convention at Chicago that first nominated William Jennings Bryan for the Presidency, and was one of the most influential among the enthusiastic young men who secured for Mr. Bryan the nomination amid scenes of political fervor that are now historic. In 1900 Doctor Brandenburg was selected with David Obermeyer to go to Washington to present the claims of Kansas City for the national convention before the national Democratic committee, that year, and when convention hall was burned not long before the time for the holding of the convention, he was the first man to telegraph one hundred dollars to the fund for the rebuilding of the same. In 1904 and in 1908 the Doctor also was a delegate to the national conventions of his party and in 1912 was one of the enthusiastic party of Kansans present at the national convention at Baltimore, where he was an ardent champion of the nomination of Woodrow Wilson. The Doctor organized this district for Wilson and did much effective work during the memorable campaign of 1912. Since 1884 he has attended, as a delegate or as an alternate, every state and national convention of his party and has been prominent in the councils of the party throughout this section. For twenty-two years he was district chairman of the party and a member of the state committee .of the same, while for sixteen years he was a member of the state executive committee of seven members and for eight years was chairman of the Marshall county central committee. When the Doctor took charge of his party in this county few Democrats had held office here, but in 1912 Wilson carried the county and practically the entire Democratic county ticket was elected. Doctor Brandenburg is a man of large stature—big of body and big of brain—a natural leader of men. He is widely traveled, having been in every city of consequence in the United States, and has a wide acquaintance among politicians throughout the country. He is a member of nearly a score of fraternal and secret societies and has been prominently identified with the higher councils of the fraternal orders with which he has been affiliated. Dr. Charles W. Brandenburg is a native son of the Old Dominion, but has been a resident of Kansas since he was fifteen years of age and is thus as much a Kansan as .though "native and to the manner born." He was born in Loudoun county, Virginia, January 30, 1865, a son of Virginia parents, of German descent and of Colonial stock, some of his ancestors having served as soldiers of the patriot army during the Revolutionary War. The founder of the family in America was a member of an European noble family, one of the Prussian Brandenburgs, who came to this country in Colonial days and established his home in Virginia. In 1880, he then being fifteen years of age, Charles W. Brandenburg left Virginia and came out to Kansas to make his home with an uncle at Holton. There he completed his common schooling in the Holton high school and then entered Campbell University at Holton, being one of Professor Miller's first students, and attended that institution during the years 1883-84, after which he began the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. A. W. Davis, at Holton, presently beginning the practice of that profession there and was thus engaged until 1888, when he entered the old Kansas City Dental College and after supplementary instruction there, in 1890, located at Frankfort, where he opened an office for the practice of his profession and where he ever since has been located, long having been one of the best-known and most successful dental surgeons in northern Kansas, his clientage extending to many towns and cities hereabout. In 1885, at Holton, Dr. Charles W. Brandenburg was united in marriage to Addie M. Kellar, a daughter of the Hon. J. H. Kellar, former district judge and for many years a member of the Kansas state Legislature, and to this union two children have been born. Fay, wife of Dr. W. W. Reed, of Blue Rapids, and Marjorie, who is still in school. Mrs. Brandenburg is postmistress at Frankfort, having received her commission to that important office from President Wilson. The Brandenburgs have a very pleasant home at Frankfort and have ever taken a proper part in the general social and cultural activities of that city. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/brandenb23bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 7.5 Kb