The Vogel family settled in Stuttgart, Phillips County, Kansas in the last quarter of the 19th century, emigrating from the Bavarian and Wurttemberg states of Germany. John Leonard Vogel married Elizabeth Scheller in Marysville, Kansas in 1871, and they had several children who continued to live in Stuttgart or elsewhere in Kansas. They were charter members of the Stuttgart Lutheran church. Their son John Henry Vogel was born in 1879 and married Margaret Maria Barbara Veeh, with whom he had several children, including John Henry, Junior (1916-2001) and Edgar Martin (1920-1961).

John Henry Vogel was born in 1916. He attended the University of Kansas, where he met his future wife Irene, and graduated in 1939 with a degree in Business. He served as a Republican Party Representative in the Kansas House of Representatives for several years, from 1963 until his retirement in 1980. During his time in the state legislature, he was chair of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee. He remained in Lawrence until his death in 2001 at the age of 85 and was active in the community, including membership in the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce and serving on the board of directors of Independence, Inc.

Irene Vogel (née Schaake) was also a Kansas native, born in 1915 and attending Lawrence High School, graduating in 1933. She obtained a degree from KU's School of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 1937. She and John Vogel had two children, Nancy and Gerald. Irene died in 1995 at the age of 79.

Nancy Vogel, eldest child of John and Irene, received her bachelors, masters, and doctorate from KU and served as teaching assistant at the University from 1968-1970. She then taught English at Fort Hays State College in Kansas from 1971 until her retirement in 2001. She still serves on the Board of Trustees at Fort Hays. Nancy was a President's Distinguished Scholar recipient in 1995.

Gerald "Jerry" Max Vogel, the Vogels' younger child, was born in 1943 and attended Lawrence High School and KU. He worked as a computer lab instructor at Independence Inc. and was also a member of the Lawrence Amateur Radio Club with the call sign WAØOWH. He was struck with polio as a child, which necessitated the use of a wheelchair from the age of 9 until the end of his life. He died in 2012 at the age of 69.

John Henry Vogel's younger brother Edgar was born in 1920. He served in the United States Army during World War II, in the 8th Air Service Group in an ordnance company. He spent over two years serving in New Guinea during this time. After being demobilized in 1946, Edgar went into partnership with his brother Howard until 1952, in the Phillipsburg Implement Company. Thereafter, Edgar farmed his family's land until his early death in 1961.