GREENWOOD COUNTY, Part 9

MADISON.

The Madison of to-day is a new town on the Howard Branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. Already it has a lusty life of it own; yet, back of it is a closed page. Young Madison is the child of Old Madison, and the parent town deserves a brief sketch before we pass to the new. Early in 1872, a log house was put up in the timber northwest of the present town, and here E. Smith placed a stock of general merchandise, and did business with the settlers sprinkled over the surrounding country. Trade must have been better than expected, for shortly Green, Strails, Cunkle and Oglesby built houses and began to do business. Then came a quiet season, for the space on which the hamlet was located was too narrow for a very extended village. So matters stood when the railroad was built and New Madison came into existence.

Madison was laid out by the Madison Town Company, which was incorporated in June, 1879, with L. J. Cunkle President; S. J. Wells, Secretary, and W. Martindale, Treasurer. The first building erected in the new town was the residence of W. H. Green. Shortly after, the stores which had been in use in the old town, were removed to the new, and Green, Cunkle and Oglesby continued their respective businesses. The first marriage in the place was that of S. F. Wickler and Miss Alice Smith; the first child born was a daughter of James Butler; the first death that of George Ivy. Physicians were plentiful in the new town -- Drs. L. J. & I. W. Cunkle and A. Stanly showing their shingles to a suffering public. Other professions gave in a representation from time to time, and now all are fairly represented.

A postoffice was opened at Old Madison at an early day, and T. B. McClure appointed Postmaster, a position which he retained until January 1, 1881, when W. O. Lunsford was appointed. The post office is located in theNews building.

School privileges have been freely accorded to the children of both the old and new town, but a separate school building was not built until the new town was laid out. The present schoolhouse was then begun and rapidly completed. It is 26x36, and cost $1,000. Its first teacher was E. Walters, who was succeeded by G. W. Kendrick, the present Principal. Two departments are taught, the lower grade being in charge of a lady teacher. The school now numbers 126 scholars.

The town now has a population of 300 and is rapidly growing. There are two drug, two hardware and two general stores, three groceries, a restaurant, harness and show-shop, a millinery store, a meat market, carpenter-shop, hotel and grist-mill, the latter more particularly described already. A number of substantial residences are already built and more are in progress. Few towns of its age can look forward to a brighter future than Madison, and those who have felt the hearty hospitality of her future than Madison, and those who felt the hearty hospitality of her citizens may well look on her encouragingly hand wish her "God speed."

CHURCHES AND OTHER LOCAL MATTERS.

The Methodist Episcopal Church at this place was organized in the old town by Rec. H. P. Baker, and services were held with a good degree of regularity. Upon the completion of the schoolhouse in the new town, it was occupied for the services of this society until the completion of the church building. This structure, a neat wooden one, was built at a cost of $1,700, and was dedicated on October 22, 1882. The society now has a membership of 20, and is in charge of Rev. J. C. Hull.

A Sunday school, organized in the fall of 1879, has an average attendance of 60, and is in charge or G. W. Kendrick.

The Methodist Protestant Society was organized in the country, and held services there until the new town was built, when they removed it, and now hold services in the Methodist Episcopal Church. The church has a membership of thirty-five and is in charge of Rev. A. A. McMurray.

The Madison News was started on May 2, 1879, by W. O. Lunsford, representing several parties desirous of promoting the growth of the town. At this time, it was a six-column folio (22x35), and as such it ran until January 1, 1882, when it was enlarged to a seven-column sheet. It has a circulation of 600 copies weekly, and is issued on Friday. The first few numbers of this sheet were issued in old Madison, but the real existence of the paper is one with that of the town it has materially helped to build up.

Madison Lodge, No. 196, A., F. & A. M., was organized in the fall of 1880, with a membership of ten, and the following officers: W. H. McKeaney, W. M.; W. Dunkerly, S. W.; Philip Hayes, Secretary; William Milner, Treasurer. The lodge now has a membership of sixteen, and the following officers: D. C. Callen, W. M.; Charles Moxley, S. W.; W. Dunkerley, J. W.; W. R. Phenis, Secretary; W. Milner, Treasurer. Meetings are held in the schoolhouse on Friday of each week, when the moon is full and every two weeks thereafter.

Madison Lodge, No. 171, I. O. O. F., was organized in the fall of 1880, with a membership of eight, and the following officers: S. B. Green, N. G.; W. H. McKeaney, V. G.; W. S. Mason, Secretary; A. S. Stanley, Treasurer. The lodge now numbers thirty-six, and has the following officers: G. O. Lovett, N. G.; G. A. Abshire, V. G.; H. D. Porter, Secretary; W. H. Green, Treasurer. Meetings are held each Saturday evening in the schoolhouse. The property of the society consists of regalia to the value of $100, and $315 in cash.

The Madison Grist-Mill was built in the old town in 1878, and removed in 1881 to its present location in the cast part of the new town. In 1882, it was sold by its builder, James Wilson, to Green & Harlan, who now run it. It has two runs of Buhr stones -- one for wheat and one for corn -- and can turn out 160 barrels of flower per twenty-four hours. Power is furnished by an engine of forty-five horse-power. The whole establishment is valued at $3,500.

The Strong House was built in 1880, by a stock company organized for that purpose, and known as the Madison Hotel Company. The officers of this company were S. V. Bitler, President; T. B. McClure, but the company otherwise remains as originally formed. The building, which cost $3,000, in one of the best country hotels in Kansas.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES -- MADISON TOWNSHIP (BITLER - LOVETT).

W. S. BITLER, farmer and stock-raiser, Section 16, P. O. Madison, was born in Auglaize County, Ohio, in 1846, and is a son of Mr. Daniel Bitler, of Lyon County, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. He came to Kansas with his father in 1866, and located in this county in March, 1880. Of his farm of 240 acres, ninety are under cultivation, with an average corn yield of fifty bushels to the acre, which is used principally for feeding stock. He, in partnership with his father, Daniel Bitler, of Lyon County, usually carries from 300 to 700 head of cattle, and sixty to seventy-five hogs. His shipments of the former average twenty to twenty-five carloads annually. His residence, a handsome two-story stone building, occupies a commanding position upon rising ground, and is insured against fire in the sum of $1,600; his barns, etc., for $500 whilst both farm buildings and residence are insured against the danger of a tornado in the sum of $1,000 more. In 1874, Mr. Bitler married Miss Arminda Keith, and of their five children but two survive -- Ina, born November 22, 1879, and Ella, born December 22, 1881. Mr. Bitler is School Director for his district, and takes a warm interest in the welfare of his adopted State and county.

DANIEL D. BLAKELY, farmer, Section 2, P. O. Madison, was born in Hancock County, Ind., in 1844, and is now one of Greenwood County's early settlers. His father, Mr. Samuel Blakely, located in Jefferson County in 1857, and in 1858 moved to this county, locating upon the farm (now occupied by the subject of this sketch) of 160 acres, Section 2, Township 22, Range 11, ninety acres of which are at present under cultivation, with a yield of oats, thirty-five, and corn, forty-five to fifty bushels per acre, and an excellent orchard of 300 trees. Mr. B. has 140 head of cattle, forty hogs, and several horses and mules. During the war, he was a member of the State Militia. The log house built by his father upon his first locating here, is still in good condition, and is at present rented; the present Mr. B. having in 1872, built a two-story frame residence, which he occupies with his family. Mr. Samuel Blakely died in February, 1878. Mr. Blakely married a daughter of Mr. J. R. Hensley, who came here from West Virginia in 1859, and owns a farm of 160 acres on Section 4, Township 22, Range 11, seventy acres of which are under cultivation. Mr. Hensley was one of the judges of the election of 1859, when all the votes cast in Madison Township only numbered thirteen. Mr. Blakely was Township Trustee in 1879-80, and has been a member of the School Board for the past thirteen years. His father was Justice of the Peace for many years, during the early history of the township.

S. BRUMBAUGH, farmer, Sections 22 and 28, P. O. Madison, is a descendant of the old Pennsylvania Dutch settlers, and was born in Miami County, Ohio, and has been a farmer from boyhood. He came to Kansas in 1870, and located upon his present farm, on Section 22, since which he has added 160 acres not yet improved on Section 28. He has one-third of the homestead farm under cultivation, and it is principally bottom land. His grain yield is very good, corn averaging sixty, and wheat eighteen bushels per acre. He has a fine orchard of 200 trees, and usually has about seventy-five head of cattle. In 1879, he built his present residence, which is one of the finest on the Verdigris River. It is a two-story frame structure, containing ten rooms, and cost upward of $1,500, and is situated upon a gentle slope, and the lawn in front is ornamented with some fine young evergreens; his barns, etc., are also superior to any in the county. Mr. B. was married in 1860, and has four children -- La Fayette, born April 20, 1865, and now attending agricultural college in Manhattan; Fidelia, now nineteen years of age, who also attended Manhattan College for one year; Viola Bell and Aminda V.

JAMES BUTLER is a native of Perry County, Ind., and was born in 1848. His father A. J. Butler, moved from Munfordville, Ky., to Perry County, Ind., when he was eighteen years old. There his father was married to his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Inahan, a native of Indiana. In 1859, his father came to Kansas, and located upon a farm in Franklin County, near what is called Dutch Henry's Crossing, a locality well known to the partisans of John Brown, where he died in 1876. September 15, 1864, the subject of your sketch enlisted at Osawatomie in Company L, Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry, and participated with his company in operations against Price, and also in frontier and plains duty until he was taken ill and confined in the hospital at Fort Leavenworth until mustered out May 14, 1865. He returned to Franklin County, and in 1867 went to Lawrence, and from there to Butler County, where he remained until 1870, when he located upon a farm situated just across the county line of Lyon County. Here he remained until 1878-79, when he removed to this county, and at once opened a shop in Madison which he has since conducted. His uncle and brother reside in Butler County, and during the war times were members of the Tenth Kansas Regiment. Mr. B. was married August 9, 1874, and has four children. He owns his residence and shop in Madison, and is one of the first settlers of the new town. He is a clergyman of the first degree in the German Baptists, or, as they are more commonly called, Dunkards, and takes a great interest in everything that pertains to the welfare of the State and county.

E. E. DODGE, farmer, Sections 20 and 28, P. O. Madison, is a native of Boston, Mass., where he was a locomotive engineer. He came to Kansas in 1869, and for the first three years located in Lyon County, and was engaged in stock-raising. In 1872, he bought his farm here, and built a fine two-story stone residence. The home is on Section 20, Township 22, Range 12, and contains ninety acres, thirty of which are under cultivation only, for corn; on Section 28, Township 22, Range 12, are 160 acres. There are 320 acres in Section 4, Township 22, Range 12, which are yet uncultivated. Mr. D. has devoted his attention principally to stock, and has usually from 150 to 175 high grade native cattle, mostly of his own raising. He raises annually about fifty calves from a pure Durham bull which he bought in Illinois, at a cost of $250. It is seven years old, and weighs 2,200 pounds. Mr. D's orchard contains over 200 apple and peach trees of the best varieties. In 1872, Mr. Dodge returned to Boston, where he married Miss Mary E. Hartz; they have five children, viz., Alice, William, Edward, Annie, three years of age, and an infant. Mr. D. is Clerk of the School Board, a P. G. and Per. Sec. of Madison Lodge, No. 171, I. O. O. F. and is now filling for the second time the office of Trustee of Madison Township, in which capacity he informs us that the average receipts of the township are about $700, and expenditures, chiefly on roads, are about $400. The total amount of taxable property in the Township in 1882 was $369,576, and there were only 114 tax-payers. Number of horses in Township, 614; cattle, 4,773; sheep, 1,252; hogs, 933; acreage in corn, 4,946; wheat, 44; rye, 120; millet, 400; and 90 acres devoted to orchards, which contain a total number of 5,809 fruit trees, and but $225 of which was brought to market; peach, apple and cherry trees predominate in the order named. There are 36,703 rods of fencing, principally wire, hedge and stone.

WASHINGTON DUNKERLY, farmer, Sections 11, and 1, P. O. Madison, is a native of Fountain County Indiana, and came to Kansas in the spring of 1871, locating upon his present farm on Verdigris River. He has now 100 acres of good bottom land under cultivation on Section 11, Township 22, Range 11, with an average corn yield of fifty, and wheat yield of twenty bushels to the acre, with millet fully three tons per acre. In 1877, he married Mrs. A. Duncan, and during the following year purchased forty acres on Section 1, Township 22, Range 11, from the A. T. & S. F. R. R. Co., about one-half of which is now under cultivation. Upon both his farms are excellent orchards, containing in all about 500 good bearing trees, and both farms contain substantial frame residences and commodious barns. Mr. Dunkerly has but one child, yet in its infancy. He is a charter member and S. W. of Madison Lodge, No. 196, A., F. & A. M., and is a member of the School Board of this District, No. 1.

W. H. GREEN, merchant, etc., was one of the early settlers here, and his residence, which was moved from the old town to the present town of Madison, was the first for a short time the only house in town. He was born in 1844, in Miami County, Ohio, and enlisted at Covington, Ohio, August 16, 1862, in Company B, Forty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and upon the expiration of his term of enlistment in 1864, re-enlisted in Company B, Eighth Ohio Cavalry. He participated in the engagements at Knoxville, Dutton Hill, Linchburg and Beverly (where he was wounded in the head and captured, but made his escape a few hours afterward) and was with the regiment in all of its active service until mustered out at Clarksburg, Va., May 30, 1865. In 1867, Mr. Green came to Kansas, locating in this township where he engaged in farming until 1874, when he commenced business as general merchant, in the old town of Madison. In 1882, he purchased the grist mill of Mr. Wilson (built 1876), in Madison. It is a steam power (thirty-five horse) and has a capacity, with two run of stones, of eighty bushels of corn and forty to fifty barrels of flour per day, and is insured for $2,000. He is the owner of 880 acres in the county, divided into five farms, two of which improved, one of them, which is situated two and a half miles from Madison and is rented, contains 360 acres, 115 of which are under cultivation, with an average corn yield of sixty-five bushels per acre. The other contains but eighty acres and is four miles from town, and well improved; both have good residences and outbuildings, insured. During the summer of 1883, Mr. G. built upon the corner of Third and Main streets a fine two-story store of stone with iron front and plate-glass windows at a cost of $2,500. He also owns twelve town lots in addition to those occupied by his residence and stores. In 1865, he married Miss Mary Arnold, of Ohio, who has borne him seven children, viz.: Owen, born August 14, 1867; David, September 17, 1869; Clara, December 18, 1871; Austin, January 15, 1873; Charles, March 8, 1879, and two yet in fancy. Mr. Green is a charter member of Madison Lodge, 171, I. O. O. F.; has been Treasurer of the School District and Town Company ever since his residence here; shareholder and director of the Madison Hotel Company, and one of the leading men of the community.

SOLOMON B. GREEN, is a native of Miami County, Ohio, and was born September 13, 1845, and in Covington, Ohio, May 2, 1864, he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Forty-seventh Regiment Ohio State National Guards for 100 days, an upon the expiration of his term re-enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Ninety-fourth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and during his term of service was principally engaged upon detached and guard duty in and near the city of Washington until the close of the war, when he was mustered out October 24, 1865. In the spring of 1866, he came to Kansas, spending the first year on the Cottonwood River Valley, and then moving into this county and locating upon the Verdigris River where Madison now is; engaging in blacksmithing for six years. He now owns a farm near town and has his shop rented, he in turn being engaged since 1880 in the livery business, having well a equipped establishment, and keeping a better class of vehicles and animals than are usually found in other than metropolitan stables. Mr. Green owns his residence and several city lots. October 4, 1869, he married Miss Rachel Ann Harrison; they have three children living and one dead; Medie Bell, born January 25, 1870, died May 28,1870; Orrin O., born June 17, 1871; Gertrude, born December 23, 1875, and Walter J., born August 31, 1878. Mr. Green is the N. G. and Lodge Deputy of Madison Lodge, No. 171, I. O. O. F., and has been Justice of the Peace for several years.

JACOB HOLDERMAN, farmer, Section 21, P. O. Madison, is one of the largest farmers in Greenwood County, and also one of its most extensive cattle dealers. He was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1829, and when a young man removed to Illinois, and engaged in farming until his removal to Kansas and settling upon his present place in 1867. He owns 3,200 acres in this county, 1,300 of which are in one tract. His residence, one of the finest in the county, is situated upon the home farming Section 21, Town 21, Range 12, of which 150 acres are under cultivation, upon which corn is chiefly raised, Mr. Holderman keeping from 400 to 500 cattle, and a large number of hogs. He ships about twenty-five to thirty car-loads of cattle annually. Mr. and Mrs. Holderman have four children, viz.: Magdalene, Homer, Lot and Sherman. Two of his farms, on situated on the Fall River and another upon the Verdigris are rented. Mr. H. has never taken any public office, and although ever taking a warm interest in the welfare of his adopted State, and one of the most influential men of this vicinity, has ever reserved to himself the right of being independent in politics.

EVAN J. B. JONES, farmer, Section 16, P. O. Madison, was born in 1841, in Cardigan, Wales, and came to this country when eighteen years of age. During the first two years after his arrival, he worked in the rolling mills of Portsmouth, Ohio, and upon a farm in Illinois until June 8, 1861, when, in Quincy, Ill., he enlisted in a company then organized for the defense of the Union, and which was to have formed part of the Second Illinois Cavalry, but Mr. William Rose, who was in command, was persuaded by Jim Lane to bring his men to Kansas, which he did, and the subject of this sketch soon afterward became a member of Company F, Fourth Kansas, in which he remained until the regiment together with the Third Regiment became united as the Tenth Kansas. He participated in all active service until the close of the fight at Prairie Grove when he was shot in the left arm, necessitating amputation three inches below the shoulder. Upon recovery, he refused to be discharged, and acted as scout in Missouri, for Col. Weir and Gen. Blunt until the Missourians found him out, after which he acted as messenger until mustered out at St. Louis, Mo., in 1863. He still, however, continued to act as scout for Gen. Ewing until the close of the war, when he returned to Illinois, and was for some years engaged as shepherd near Springfield. In 1869, he came to this county and obtained employment with the Hon. William Martindale, in which he continued until November 9, 1881, when he married Mrs. Sarah J. Rose, and went to live on his present farm, which he purchased several years previously, but which he had rented until then. He has about eighty acres under cultivation, and has raised corn to average fifty bushels per acre. He has no children of his own, but is assisted in the work of the farm by his stepson. Mr. Jones is a United States pensioner at $24 per month, and although twenty years have passed since he lost his arm, would be one of the first to respond, crippled as he is, should our county again require the services of all loyal citizens in the field.

GEORGE O. LOVETT, was born in 1845, in the town of Lockport, Niagara Co., N. Y., and when yet a young boy accompanied his parents to their new home in Iroquois County, Ill., where he received his education and resided for fifteen years, engaged in farming and school teaching. July 24, 1862, Mr. Lovett enlisted in Company A, Seventy-sixth Illinois Infantry and participated in the siege of Vicksburg, the engagement at Jackson, where he was wounded by a ball in the right thigh, and taken prisoner, but was exchanged four weeks afterward and rejoining his company, at Mobile, where he was with his regiment in its charge upon and capture of the enemy's works; he was mustered out May 24, 1865, at New Orleans, La., and is now a United States pensioner. Upon leaving the army, Mr. Lovett returned to Illinois, and in April, 1878, came to Kansas, and during his first year of residence here taught school in Madison Township. He is now the agent of six fire and one life insurance companies and is a Notary Public. He was elected Justice of the Peace in February, 1880, and re-elected in 1882.He is a charter member of Madison Lodge, No. 171, I. O. O. F. and Clerk of the School Board and also of the Town Company.