United States Flag

Ellis County, Kansas
City of Victoria

Kansas Flag

Victoria (named after England's Queen Victoria, of German descent) is a German-Russian community located 10 miles east of Hays. Scotch-English colonists settled there in 1874 and German-Russians settled north of town (in Herzog) in 1875. The two towns combined in 1913 under the name Victoria.

The impressive Catholic church named St. Fidelis got its name as "The Cathedral of the Plains" from William Jennings Bryan. This beautiful limestone church was built between 1908 and 1910. St. Fidelis has been named to the National Register of Historic Sites.

The history of Victoria is documented in The Golden Jubilee of German-Russian Settlements of Ellis and Rush Counties, Kansas, August 31, September 1 and 2, 1926

A Scotch-English colony of 30 aristocratic families left their homes April 1st of 1873 and arrived in Victoria in 1874. Among the group were:

Seth family A man and wife with six sons & daughters from Glasgow. The wife and two of the children died after the ocean voyage and are buried in St. Louis. Three more children died after arrival in Victoria. The remaining father and son later moved to California. 1
Mr. Chesshire Lived at Francis White ranch four miles east and south of Victoria. Died when his horse threw him and dragged him to death. 1
Captain Charles Prescott From Strode Park, Kent 2
Dr. Fenton Cameron  
Mr. Whitiker A man who had accompanied Livingstone on his first vist to Africa. 2
Jonas Waters  
George McDonald  
W. E. White  
David Fulton  
John A. White  
Alex White  
Francis G. White  
William Mack  
Thomas Carrick  
David Logan  
James Mack  
Sir Walter Maxwell Only 25 when he emigrated. Erected a Catholic church in Herzog.
John Mack  
Sir George Grant Founder of the Victoria Colony. Grant purchased land which was populated with between two and three hundred Englishmen located on that purchase.

Grant died in 1878 and was the first person buried at the Episcopal church at Victoria.

Alex Grant  
George Shields  
? Prettyman  
George Philip Sr. Married Jane Hardy
Alex Philip Married Anne Hardy
Jane Hardy Married George Philip
Anne Hardy Married Alex Philip
John Duncan  
Walter Mason  

(1) Account of Anne Philip Scott in the August 9, 1959 edition of the Hays Daily News.
(2) Article by Ruby Basye in the February 10, 1957 edition of the Hutchinson News-Herald


    Kansas GenWeb Project U.S. GenWeb Project