History of Madison County, Iowa

VOLUME I

For several years it has been my ambition to prepare and compile a History of Madison County. That time has been delayed until in the fall of 1914 when arrangements were made with The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company of Chicago to act as Supervising Editor of the first volume. Mr. W. L. Kershaw was employed to do the writing and compiling from the large source of material at hand.

The manuscripts of the late Andrew J. Hoisington, of Great Bend, Kan^s, who in the year 1905 gathered much valuable material for the purpose of publishing a History of Madison County, were secured through the kindness of his .sister, Mrs. Samuel Johnson, of Union Township. (Read the Life of Andrew J. Hoisington in Volume Two.) Much of the material from this manuscript was incorporated in this History.

Another source was from the material collected by the Madison County Historical Society since its organization in 1904. All papers presented before the Historical Society are preserved as well as other matter of historical value. Much of this material was drawn upon for this History.

Also the two histories, viz: Davies' History and Directory of Madison County, published in 1869, and The History of Madison County, published in 1879, were used. These two books were written at a time when many of the early pioneers were still living who knew much of the beginning of things in Madison County. Nearly all those persons have passed away, which makes the collecting of early history more difficult.

The newspaper files of the Winterset papers, especially the special historical numbers published at various times by The Madisonian, The Reporter, The News, and The Winterset Review, were freely used.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF MADISON COUNTY I

CHAPTER II
INDIANS AND THEIR VILLAGER IN MADISON COUNTY 12

CHAPTER III
MADISON'S ADVANCE GUARD OF CIVILIZATION 20

CHAPTER IV
MADISON COUNTY ORGANIZED 29

CHAPTER V
PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMISSIONERS' COURT 36

CHAPTER VI
COUNTY BUILDINGS 57

CHAPTER VII
POLITICAL 66

CHAPTER VIII
ORGANIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN MADISON COUNTY 75

CHAPTER IX
EDUCATIONAL 78

CHAPTER X
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS 9O

CHAPTER XI
THE MEDICAL PROFESSION 99

CHAPTER XII
BENCH AND BAR 1O3

CHAPTER XIII
THE PRESS 114

CHAPTER XIV
POSTOFFICES 117

CHAPTER XV
FIRST MARRIAGES IN THE COUNTY 123

CHAPTER XVI
MADISON COUNTY CLAIM CLUB 126

CHAPTER XVII
THE REEVES WAR 134

CHAPTER XVIII
SWAMP LANDS 138

CHAPTER XIX
LOST AND FORGOTTEN TOWN SITES 144

CHAPTER XX
SOME MADISON COUNTY MILLS 15O

CHAPTER XXI
THE SIMPLE LIFE 156

CHAPTER XXII
TRANSPORTATION 169

CHAPTER XXIII
OUT OF THE BOUNTEOUS HAND OF NATURE 176

CHAPTER XXIV
THE "UNDERGROUND RAILROAD" 183

CHAPTER XXV
MADISON COUNTY IN THE CIVIL WAR 185

CHAPTER XXVI
MADISON COUNTY SOCIETIES 217

CHAPTER XXVII
QUAKER SETTLEMENT IN MADISON COUNTY 221

CHAPTER XXVIII
CLAYTON COUNTY COMES TO MADISON 228

CHAPTER XXIX
SCHOOLS AND RATTLESNAKES 233

CHAPTER XXX
ASSOCIATIONS AND OTHER THINGS 24O

CHAPTER XXXI
SOUTH TOWNSHIP 25O

CHAPTER XXXII
UNION TOWNSHIP 269

CHAPTER XXXIII
SCOTT TOWNSHIP 279

CHAPTER XXXIV
DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP 288

CHAPTER XXXV
LINCOLN TOWNSHIP 296

CHAPTER XXXVI
CRAWFORD TOWNSHIP 3OO

CHAPTER XXXVII
WALNUT TOWNSHIP 307

CHAPTER XXXVIII
WEBSTER TOWNSHIP 313

CHAPTER XXXIX
PENN TOWNSHIP 316

CHAPTER XL
MADISON TOWNSHIP 32O

CHAPTER XLI
JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 33O

CHAPTER XLII
JACKSON TOWNSHIP 341

CHAPTER XLIII
LEE TOWNSHIP 344

CHAPTER XLIV
GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP 349

CHAPTER XLV
OHIO TOWNSHIP 356

CHAPTER XLVI
MONROE TOWNSHIP 360

CHAPTER XLVII
THE CITY OF WINTERSET 363

CHAPTER XLVIII
FRATERNAL BODIES OF WINTERSET 376

CHAPTER XLIX
WINTERSET IN 1864 — PIONEER MERCHANT 389

CHAPTER L
MISCELLANEOUS 395

 

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As a very little child I had the old gully that cuts into the shore, or at least the shallows, of the old Carboniferous Sea, which you know as Kipp's Hollow, and which I knew as Bradfield's, for a playground. The fossils of its rocks were my first playthings. Its little brook ran through our calf lot, and it was the first thing I ever dammed.

One of the first questions that I ever asked myself was why some of its rocks were red, and round and smooth. Why the pebbles were round and smooth, and why some of the rocks were flat and white, and seemed to grow in the ground, and how the funny shells got into them. Why some of the soil was black, and some red, and some yellow.

A sarcastic teacher came nearly preventing all outward expression of this liking for the outdoors by assigning us a nature topic, and then singling out my little effort, and ridiculing it before the whole school, characterizing it as stolen gush. It was not stolen; it was not gush. But her sarcastic words hurt so bitterly, the gibes of my none too gentle companions cut so deep, that it was years before I dared tell anyone that it was not just for the hunting that I explored every crook and turn of every one of Middle River's ravines, and hunted its rock exposures; and that it was not the passionate love of fishing alone that made me get acquainted with every riffle on the river, and every peculiarity of its bed.