Alma Louisa (Buten) Maris 1836-1930  
Categories: Nortonville, Kansas, The Sabbath Recorder Obituary
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 109, No 15, p 479, Oct. 13, 1930.
  Alma Buten Maris was born at Little Genesee, N. Y., October 12, 1836, and died at her home near Nortonville, Kan., September 24, 1930, in the ninety-fourth year of her age.
  Alma Louise Buten was the daughter of Horace Buten and Anna Saunders Buten.   When she was but a baby, the youngest of three children, her father died.   The widowed mother moved soon afterward, with her three children, to Berlin, N. Y., when Alma was about two and a half years old.   Here the baby was taken to live with her grandparents where she grew to womanhood, working during her later girlhood days in a shirt factory there.
  In the spring of 1857 Mrs. Buten with Alma and her brother Charles joined a westward migration and journeyed to Farmington, Ill.   After spending a few weeks there they came with a company of some eighteen or twenty people to Kansas, arriving in the vicinity of what is now Nortonville, on October 5.   The following Sabbath the settlers held their first service of worship in the community that was to be their home and where they later organized their church.
  She was married to Isaac Maris December 7, 1858, at Pardee, Kan., after which the couple settled on the farm where Mrs. Maris lived nearly seventy-two years.   Her husband preceded her in death fifteen and a half years.
  Mrs. Maris was the last remaining constituent members of the Nortonville Seventh Day Baptist Church, originally the Pardee Church.   She was always a faithful earnest Christian and worker in the church and she was a charter member of its missionary society.   She was a patient, silent, loving wife and mother in her home and was held in high esteem by her neighbors and all who knew her.
  For the past seven years Mrs. Maris had been in declining health, due to her very advanced age, and about ten days before her death she became quite helpless and the slender thread of life steadily weakened until she quietly passed into the eternal life late on the night of September 24, 1930, lacking but a few days of being ninety-four years old.
  She is survived by three children: Jesse E. and Fred B. Maris, both of whom live near Nortonville; and Mrs. Eva Grady Jones, of Flint, Mich.   There are eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.   The grandchildren are: Alma (Mrs. Carroll) Davis, Nortonville; Edwin Maris, Sterling, Kan.; Fayette Echols, Kansas City, Mo.; Laurence Maris, Nortonville; Katherine Maris, Kansas City, Mo.; Donald Maris, Topeka, Kans.; Maris Grady, Paul, Lois, Marcella and June Grady, all of Flint, Mich.   The great-grandchildren are: Alfred and Edwin Lewis Davis, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Carroll Davis, Nortonville; and Jane Elice and William Robert Echols, son and daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Fayette Echols, Kansas City, Mo.
  Funeral services were held from the Nortonville Seventh Day Baptist church, September 27, the pastor officiating.   Interment was made in the Nortonville cemetery.     S. D. O.

Isaac Maris 1834-1915  
Categories: Minister / Pastor, Nortonville, Kansas, The Sabbath Recorder Obituary
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 78, No 15, p 478, Apr. 12, 1915.
  Rev. Isaac Maris, son of Jonathan and Thomison Morris Maris, was born in Mahoning County, Ohio, July 16, 1834.   He died at Nortonville, Kan., March 24, 1915.
  He was brought up in the faith of the Friends, and throughout his long life, he maintained his relationship with the church.   He came to Kansas in 1857.   For nearly fifty years he has been a gospel minister, and he has devoted much time and energy to preaching and promoting Bible-school work.
  He was married, December 2, 1858, to Miss Alma L. Buten, who had come to Kansas from the State of New York.   She was of a Seventh Day Baptist family, and was one of the constituent members of the Nortonville Church.   Mr. Maris observed the Sabbath with her and was always glad to do what he could for the welfare of the church.   To them were born two sons and one daughter.   The daughter died several years ago.   The sons, Jesse and Fred, live near the family home, north of Nortonville, and with their families, are among the most regular attendants and loyal supporters of the church.   An adopted daughter, Mrs. M. C. Grady, of Emporia, Kan., is also a member of the Nortonville Seventh Day Baptist Church.   So, while Mr. Maris was not a Seventh Day Baptist, he has been so intimately associated with our work in Nortonville from its beginning until the present time that we feel a distinct loss in his death.
  The funeral was held in the Nortonville Seventh Day Baptist church, March 26, under the direction of the Nortonville Ministerial Association.   The funeral sermon was preached by Rev. William B. Haworth, pastor of the Friends church at Lawrence, Kan.   Burial was made in the Nortonville Cemetery.     J. L. S.