Ray and Mary Grace Begin the Dance

Ray and Mary examine something while his mother, Vala,
and Aunt Helen watch from the windows.
March 1943

Ray Morgan and Mary Grace Burkhardt did get married - July 21, 1946, but it was not an easy course to get to that point. They knew of each other in high school, but didn't date until Washburn. Their first date was an arranged date that included a professor in the fall of 1942. The relationship picked up when Ray's reserve unit at Washburn was told to report to Fort Leavenworth in late March 1943. According to their letters, they became engaged sometime during March or April 1943.

But how did they happen to be in the same place to meet each other? That tale involves the whims and decisions of eight other people or the parents of these eight.

The Sharpe family
circa 1865

William Sharpe and Rebekah Hutton had been married nearly 20 years when they decided in 1869 to move their family of 10 children across the Atlantic in steerage, eventually arriving in Kansas when their youngest child died in Junction City, KS. According to family lore, William walked down the railroad tracks from Junction City until he found the land he wanted. The legend says 50 miles, but by my calculations it was more like 25 miles, still not an easy walk. The land was in Morris County where another young Englishman had recently arrived.

The Walker family
circa 1898
Edna on the right in the front row

Edna's father, Edward Walker, the second son of a dairyman-cheese-maker, walked out the door of his family home, Russia Hall, and headed to Liverpool, less than 50 miles away. There he began his ocean journey, eventually arriving in Morris County, too, by 1870. One family story is she caught his eye when she came into Parkerville to shop. Edward had trained as a druggist in England before he came to Kansas and he had a general store, Plant & Walker in Parkerville. He and Betsy were married in 1871. By the time Edna and her twin were born in 1888, he was principally a farmer. Shortly after the twins' birth, Edward and Betsy moved their family of seven to Topeka in for a chance at a better education.

Burkharts
circa 1900
Edgar is number 6

Mary Grace's father, Edgar, was the son of a first generation American and of a woman whose grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, Johann Burkhardt, left Prussia in 1847 at a time of strife there and moved to Tazewell County, Illinois. His first wife died on the voyage leaving him a widower with an infant daughter. Not long after arriving in Illinois, he wed a widow, Lavina Hulsopple, with six children of her own. Over the years they had four more children, including Joseph who was Edgar's father. According to the 1860 census, the Burkhardts were still living in Illinois, but by 1870 when Joseph was 16, they were in Linn County in Kansas. After Lavina's death in 1880 they moved on to Osage County.

Edgar's mother, Philadelphia Schoonover, who went by Delphia was born in Beverly, Virginia in October 1862, a time of great upheaval in Virginia.  Her great grandfather, Benjamin Schoonover, served in the Revolutionary War,but her mother's uncles, John  and George Louk, joined Company F, Virginia 31st Infantry Regiment. This regiment provided support for Stonewall Jackson.

Delphia's uncles joined the Confederate Army
This is the way they were listed on a draft registration:
In Rebel Army

Delphia and her parents arrived in Kansas in 1880 and settled in Fairfax township in Osage County, Kansas. Fairfax was also the home of one Joseph Burkhart. Joseph and Delphia were married in April 1882 in her family home.




Edna had spent her life in Topeka eventually attending Washburn where she met Edgar. Like Edna's family, Edgar had moved to Topeka for the better chance of education, His uncle, Draper Schoonover,urged Edgar to go to the Washburn Academy in Topeka as a preparation for Washburn. Scranton where he grew up didn't have a high school. At the Academy he became a football star.

Topeka Daily Capital
Page 7
November 26, 1905

According to Mary Grace his path through high school and college was not a straight path due to circumstances beyond his control. One year he lost his tuition money in order to bail a brother out of jail.




Although he was a year older than Edna he graduated from Washburn a year after she did. Edna taught school for a year while he was finishing up, but when they were married in 1913 she was forced to resign. It seems married women weren't allowed to teach. So they lived on his lesser salary as a traveling salesman. After the birth of three children and a brief stint living in Osage City, Edgar put together the financing to open his shop in Topeka in 1921. Mary Grace was born in 1923 and by 1926 the Burkhardts built their new home on Jewell which is still in the family.

On the left Edna with her brother-in-law, George Bale,
and Edgar in 1911.

  Coming up next, how Ray ended up in Topeka to meet Mary Grace.