Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Brolyer, Edwin D. 1876 - ************************************************ 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@yahoo.com May 31, 2007, 12:23 pm Author: Emma E. Forter (1917) EDWIN D. BROLYER. Edwin D. Brolyer, the well-known plumbing and heating contractor at Marysville and one of the leaders in that line throughout this part of Kansas, is a native of the old Hoosier state, but has been a resident of Kansas since he was eight years of age and of this county all the time since then, with the exception of about a year spent as a bank clerk at Emporia and the time he spent completing his schooling in the state university. He was born on a farm in Wabash county, Indiana, May 13, 1876, son of Henry and Jennie (Hubbard) Brolyer, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana, who came to this county in the early eighties and settled on a farm north of Axtell, where Henry Brolyer spent his last days, his widow later moving to Axtell, where she is now living. Henry Brolyer was born on a farm in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, February 11, 1836, and was eleven years of age when his parents moved to Indiana, where he grew to manhood on a farm in the vicinity of Wabash. He married Jennie Hubbard, daughter of a farmer in the Peru neighborhood, bought land in that vicinity and there continued farming until the fall of 1884, when he came to Kansas with his family, arriving in Marshall county on September 4 of that year. Upon coming to this county Henry Brolyer bought a farm of eighty acres three miles north .of Axtell, paying ten dollars an acre for the same, and there established his home. Henry Brolyer was a good farmer and made substantial improvements on his farm. There he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in 1902. His widow is now living at Axtell, in the seventy-sixth year of her age, she having been born in 1841. . She is a member of the Christian church, as was her husband, and their children were reared in that faith. There were eight of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the sixth in order of birth and all of whom are living save two. As noted above, Edwin D. Brolyer was about eight years of age when his parents came to Marshall county and he grew to- manhood on the home farm north of Axtell, receiving his elementary education in the district school of that neighborhood. This schooling he supplemented by attendance at the Kansas State Normal School during the years 1897-1901, and then entered the medical department of the Kansas State University at Lawrence, with a view to fitting himself for the practice of medicine, but presently abandoned that idea, preferring a life of trade rather than that of a profession, and after eighteen months spent in the medical school accepted a position as a clerk in a bank at Emporia and was thus engaged for eight months, at the end of which time he returned to Marshall county and bought a general store at Mina, which he successfully operated until 1904. He then traded his store for a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Center township and farmed the same from March, 1904, until December, 1905, when he sold the place and moved to Marysville, where he entered upon his present line of business and has since been very successfully engaged along that line. During his school days, Mr. Brolyer "spelled out" his vacations by working at the plumbing trade and completed his apprenticeship at Wichita, becoming a very proficient plumber and steam-fitter. He was thus well equipped for the business when he established his plumbing shop at Marysville and it was not long until he had built up a fine business covering this section of Kansas and the adjacent sections of Nebraska, his contract work taking him over a wide territory. Mr. Brolyer has equipped a number of large buildings with their heating plants, one of his most notable contracts having been that in connection with the equipment of the Community House at Marysville, and his reputation for excellent workmanship is now well established. Mr. Brolyer is a Republican, ever giving his thoughtful attention to local civic affairs, but has not been included in the office-seeking class. On April 28, 1903, Edwin D. Brolyer was united in marriage to Myrtle Grant, who was born in this county on May 2, 1881, daughter of William H. and Louvina Grant, natives of Illinois and early settlers in Marshall county, locating near Vermillion, where Mr. Grant became a large landowner. To Mr. and Mrs. Brolyer two children have been born, Kenneth, born on March 6, 1906, and Tressa, January 16, 1908. Mr. and Mrs. Brolyer are members of the Christian church and are active workers in the same. They have a very pleasant home at Marysville and take a proper part in the general social activities of their home town. Mr. Brolyer is a Mason and a member of the Knights and Ladies of Security and takes a warm interest in the affairs of these two organizations. 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/brolyer521gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/ksfiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb