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EDGAR BENTON MARCHANT
Vol. 3, p. 1147-1148

A man who is variously distinguished in Aline and other Oklahoma
localities is Edgar Benton Marchant; in law, in politics, in Masonic
activities, he holds high rank as a citizen of ability. It will be of
interest to review his ancestry and to trace the causes of his success
from stage to stage of his career.

Both parents of Mr. Marchant were persons of strong character and high
ideals, his father being of French and his mother of Irish origin.
Abraham Marchant, the former, was a native of Fayette County, Ohio,
and followed agricultural pursuits throughout his life. At the
outbreak of the Civil war, he was in California and enlisted in
Company G. of the Second California Cavalry. He died in service in
1861. He was one of the five sons of William Marchant, a relative of
the noted Marchant family of Rhode Island. Mrs. Abraham Marchant, the
mother of our subject, was, like her husband, a native of Ohio, and on
her mother's side a descendant of one of the old Virginia families.
Mrs. Marchant, nee Catharine LIMES, was when still a very young woman,
a very ardent advocate of temperance. In 1866 she participated in one
of the famous crusades against the liquor traffic. This courageous
raid took place at Greenfield, Ohio, and is said to have been the
first "slashing raid" ever made against the saloon evil. All her life
was devoted in generous measure to influence against the national
curse of alcoholism and in favor of law enforcement of all kinds. Hers
was a gallant fighting spirit, inherited perhaps from her
Revolutionary great-grand-father, Jesse ROWE. That noted gentleman
used his pension money for the lofty purpose of buying material for
the first Methodist Episcopal Church ever built in Fayette County,
Ohio, buying the lumber for the same from the grandfather of the late
Senator Foraker of Ohio. After the war between the states the widowed
Mrs. Marchant was again married in later years. Her second husband was
Thomas GASKILL, of Wilmington, Ohio. He died in 1895. She survived him
fifteen years, her worthy and efficient life closing at Aline,
Oklahoma, on January 4, 1910.

The birth of Edgar Benton Marchant had taken place on March 23, 1858,
in the log house which was the farm home of Abraham and Catharine
Marchant. Orphaned by the war, the lad early turned his mind to ways
and means of procuring his own livelihood. For him, also, the
newspaper route proved to be the first stage on the road toward
success. Greenfield, Ohio, was the locality in which he began his
independent activities. And for him, too, the printer's office seemed
the logical second step. He served an apprenticeship in the plant of
the Highland Chief of Greenfield, his first salary being $1 per week.
At nineteen years of age young Marchant began to be attracted to the
profession of law and proceeded to fit himself for that line of
vocational activity. In 1881 he removed to Kansas and in that same
year he was admitted to practice in the Sunflower State. His bar
examinations were passed at Kingman and he settled for practice at St.
John, of the same state. For sixteen years Mr. Marchant continued in
active practice, and held various successive offices of distinction.
For a time he was police judge of St. John; was deputy county attorney
of Stafford County; and also served as assistant attorney general of
Kansas for the special purpose of enforcing the prohibition laws of
that state in Stafford County.

In 1893 Mr. Marchant took an active and prominent part in the opening
of the Cherokee Strip in Oklahoma, locating at Pond Creek, where for a
time he continued his law practice, which he later carried on at Cleo,
Oklahoma. In 1894, business affairs called him back to St. John,
Kansas, and there he established the fraternity paper known as The
Kansas Free Mason. This periodical was the official gazette of the
Kansas Grand Lodge of Ancient free and Accepted Masons. The publishing
offices of this paper Mr. Marchant in 1895 removed to Wichita, Kansas.
It is needless to remark in this connection that he was one of the
leading Masons of the State of Kansas, having been master of the first
Masonic lodge ever instituted in Stafford County. His was the honor of
making the first Mason ever created such in that county.

To his adopted State of Oklahoma Mr. Marchant returned in 1900. At
Cleo he continued his work as an editor and publisher, at this time
establishing The Chronoscope at that place. In county and state
politics he has always been a consistent republican and his newspaper
policy has always been clearly defined as such. In 1901 the
Chronoscope was transferred by Mr. Marchant to Aline, which has since
been the home of the paper. In 1907 he sold the plant and established
his residence at Clinton, Oklahoma. There he gave invaluable service
in the advertising and upbuilding of the town. For two years he was
secretary of the Commercial Club of Clinton and was one of the most
enthusiastic "boosters" of that growing municipality. Indeed, it is
said of him that it was through his activities that Clinton was placed
upon the map in conspicuous letters.

Aline became Mr. Marchant's definite home in 1910, for a second time.
In that year he became identified with the law department of the
Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad, representing its interests in
personal injury cases. Aline is still the attorney's home and he adds
much to the town's well known atmosphere of success and social warmth.
Mr. Marchant has ever been one to whom distinction comes, now and
again, for his is a personality that invites such honor and fitly
bears it. At the time of the St. Louis World's Fair he was made
secretary of the Oklahoma Commission to the Louisiana Purchase
exposition. He had entire charge of the Oklahoma Building and its
exhibit; while Mrs. Marchant was the gracious and competent hostess of
the same.

Mrs. Marchant is a woman of education and culture. Before her marriage
she was Miss Ellen KERNS and a native of near Mannington, West
Virginia, that state also being the birth place of her parents, E. S.
Kerns and Jane KENDALL Kerns. In 1880 the family home was removed to
Kansas, and there Miss Kerns accepted a teaching position at the early
age of fourteen and a half years. In 1884 she was united in marriage,
at St. John, with Mr. Marchant, then a leading lawyer of that city.
Mr. and Mrs. Kerns removed to Oklahoma in 1893. The latter died at
Sedan, Kansas, in 1898; the former now resides in Cleo, Oklahoma. Mrs.
Marchant's graceful presence and fine intelligence make her a
distinguished member of society where she goes. She hold high honors
in the Order of the Eastern Star and is a leader in club and Sunday
school work.

We conclude this review by appending a few details regarding Mr.
Marchant's Masonic standing, for that phase of his prominence is so
well known both in Kansas and Oklahoma. He is now deputy grand master
of the third district of Oklahoma, in the organization of Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons; as this district is composed of Alfalfa, Woods
and Major counties, Mr. Marchant has jurisdiction over fourteen
Masonic lodges. In 1914 he officiated as special deputy grand master
at the laying of the corner stone of the new High School Building of
Lambert, Oklahoma. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and a Shriner,
at Guthrie and Oklahoma City, respectively. All in all, he may be said
to have reached a high pinnacle of success and popularity. His
ability, his geniality, his sincerity form the keynote of both his
business achievement and his social relations.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Earline Sparks Barger, December 27, 1999.