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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.
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