Madison Township

The First Pioneer

IT is certain that Abner Cox was the first permanent settler in Madison Township. Other families had lived there before his appearance, as, vhen he came, he found rude cabins, or rather bark wigwams, where white people had temporarily resided. It is well known that the vanguard of civilization was a rude class of hardy white people, who seemed capable of leading a comfortable, at least a satisfactory life, remote from settled communities. At the first appearance of permanent settlers, the country became too densely populated for these hunters and their families, whereupon they took up their march twenty or thirty miles out into the trackless forest, where their only companions were the Indians and a multitude of wild animals. They were the ones who made game scarce at the time of the permanent settlement. Bears had almost wholly disappeared, driven away by the inroads of these experienced hunters. Deer were still numer6us, but not that superabundance found by the squatters, as the temperary residents were called, from the fact of their not owning the land upon which they resided. There was scarcely a township that did not have these earlier residents. In 1821, Abner Cox, with his large family, came to the township, as has been stated, for permanent residence. He entered considerable land in the northern part, and built a log cabin about eighteen feet square, without floor of any kind except earth, without door or window except the apertures over which were hung blankets, and without roof except a leaky one of rude clapboards hastily hewed out with a broadax from some soft wood. A huge chimney made of sticks, stones and clay completed this typical pioneer dwelling. It is stated that when the Beelers or other families came to that neighborhood soon afterward, they were all accommodated at this cabin - to the number of about twenty. The beds were given to the "women and children, and the men deposited themselves on the floor. It is humorously told that the floor was so thick with them that when morning came, the one nearest the door was obliged to roll out of doors in order to give the others a chance to move. After about a dozen had rolled out, there was then room enough to breathe. How would you like this, dear reader ?

Other Early Settlers

Thomas, George H. and Joseph Beeler came and entered land in 1821. The former afterward became the first Clerk and Recorder of the county. They located in the Cox neighborhood. Joseph Henshaw located in the northeast corner in 1821. The Landers family came in 1822 and erected cabins near Mr. Cox. James Curl, John Sells, Thomas Dee, Joseph Frazier, William McDowell, James Basket, Jesse McCoy, David Price, Joseph Sims, John Hamilton, John Barns and others came in 1821 or 1822. These men, except a few who did not reside in the township, located in the northern half, and by 1823 the C9X settlement was populous and prosperous. Other early settlers were Robert Furnace, Frederick Beeler, Edward R. Watson, Aaron Mendenhall, John and Thomas McNabb, Solomon and Francis Edmundson, Stephen McPherson, Solomon Steel, Levi Carpenter, John Spray, Daniel Vort, John and Enoch Sumners, Daniel Stephens, Charles Hicklin, Michael and John Carpenter, John Moffett, Levi Plummer, Charles Kitchen, Allen Field and many others. The poll tax payers in 1842 were William Allen, Hugh Boyd, M. P. Bradley, Reuben Burcham, W. A. Blair, John Beasley, Martin Burris, William Blackwell, Philip Ballard, Isaac Clark, Philip Chubb, Abner Coble, M. W. Carpenter, J. M. Carpenter, Jacob Coble, Fielding Carpenter, Levi Carpenter, Larkin Cox, Levi Cassady, Isaac Canady, John Canady, William Dorman, James B. Duree, Jesse Evans, Evan Evans, A. R. Fowler, Jeremiah Garret, Giles Garret, John Garret, Michael Goodposture, Daniel Gregory, John Hasty, Allen Hicklin, Henry Hoffman, Murdock Hasty, Robert Henderson, John House, Thomas Hicklin, Nelson Howe, Abner Jessup, Henry Knox, William Knox, Samuel Knox, Nelson King, George Kitchen, Moses Lear, John R. Leathers, Thomas Leathers, Madison Leathers, Abner Lowe, Jamea Leathers, Langford Leathers, James Landers, William Landers,. Mathias Lambert, Martin Long, John Morgan, T. H. Moreland. John Mendenhall, Isaac Mendenhall, John McNabb, Thomas McNabb, Thomas Mills, Willis Martin, James Morton, James Morgan, William Myers, William Morgan, Jr., H'enry McNabb, Andrew J. McNabb, Andrew McNabb, Aaron Mendenhall, William Parker, George Perkypile, David Perkypile, Abner Ross, John Roe, James Reynolds, Richard Rivers, Gabriel Stone, John Stone, John Scott, Henry and John V. Swearingen, John Simpson, Robert Sanders, James Sanders, Qeorge Sanders, G. W. Swearingen, James Stokesbury, R. T. Steel, Martillus Summers, Daniel Vert, Joseph Thompson, Thomas Tinsley, Blufert Tinsley, Jesse Thompson, William Woodward, Thomas Woodward, William West, Richard Wilkins and Goram Worth.

It is interesting to draw contrasts between the old times and the present. The farmer was not as well equipped with agricultural implements as now. Corn was planted and almost wholly cultivate^ with the hoe. A man who could raise eight or ten acres of corn had a large field. If he had three or four boys and as many women, he could manage to cultivate successfully about that number of acres. Even the hoes were not as bright and hard as now. Often they were wooden. The birds and squirrels were so numerous and voracious that the farmer had to guard his corn crop constantly. Wheat was sown broadcast and very often harrowed in by hand or by brushes pullied around by horses or oxen. All reaping was done with the historic old sickle. Think of it ! Less than fifty years ago the old sickle that had been in use from time immemorial, had been used in Egypt before the pyramids were built, had been used in the fields of Boaz long before the Christian era, in fact had been in use at such a remote period in the history of the world, long before authentic history began-, that the myths and fables of barbarous man reveal its existence. For thousands of years it had been the only reaper. Labor had lost dignity, if it ever possessed any, in olden times in the minds of man, and invention was not permitted to interfere with implements whose use was sanctioned by the Deity. Personal liberty, with wealth and independence in view, was limited to the domain of a serfdom constantly guarded by the blind and unscrupulous opulent. None but serfs were farmers. Children were compelled to conform to caste and follow the occupation of their fathers. Personal fitness was undreamed of. For the poor to be ambitious, aspiring and intelligent was a disobedience of the organic law and a sacrilege beyond the power of repentance. No wonder that agriculture made no advance, and that the sickle of barbarous man was unimproved by intelligence. It is less than fifty years ago that the old cradle came into general use. Farmers considered it a model of usefulness and a Godsend. It is a remarkable fact that as soon as the nobility of labor was generally conceded - only fifty or sixty years ago, and in the United States - the direction of invention was changed to that channel, and the stimulation to rapid and extensive agriculture revived every other pursuit, and led to thousands of contrivances to quickly save the crop and safely transport it to the consumer. The application of steam to a movable engine was due to the demand for quick transportation of farm products. Hence came that wonder, the railroad. As soon as labor became no longer ignoble, the rapidity of the invention of farm machinery became marvelous. Now the farmer can sit as independent as a king (he is the only one truly independent when he has a good farm, good habits and is out of debt), and almost see his crops sowq and harvested by machinery before his eyes. The farmer boy who has a good farm is foolish to leave it and rush oflF to the city to contract vices that will kill him and possibly damn kim. " Stick to the farm and it will stick to you."

Wild Animals

There was, scarcely a family that did not habitually have venison. The poorest hunter could occasionally kill a deer, but the old hunters,''those who did little else but hunt, were in the habit of furnishing such families with deer meat. The Beelers were quite prominent in their locality. The girls were as fearless as the boys. It is said that two of them on one occasion saw a bear in the woods, and while one remained to watch the animal the other hurried to the men, who were in the woods near by, to apprise them of the discovery and hurry them out to kill Mr. Bruin. What the outcome was cannot be stated. One day, a transient man named Capp, in the western part of the township, was chopping in the woods when he discovered a bear near him. He instantly gave the alarm, and dogs were put upon the trail. The bear made lively tracks, running through the bushes and tumbling over rail fences that were in the way. The dogs soon came up with it, and in a few minutes several men also, one of whom fired and wounded the animal. On it went, pursued by dogs and men, and soon another shot wounded it again. One of the men was 80 excited that when he fired he missed the bear and wounded one of the dogs. The third shot killed the bear, which was divided out in the neighborhood for consumption.

The first school in the township was taught in 1823. either in the dwelling of Abner Cox or in a vacant log dwelling standing near. The first teacher was one of the Beeler girls ; she had a school of eight or ten scholars. The second school was taught in the northeastern part of the township about 1824, and another soon afterward in the northwestern corner. The first schoolhouse was built in the Cox neighborhood in about 1827. The first teacher in this house is no longer remembered. The second schoolhouse was built south of the gravel road in the western part not far from 1830, and about the same time one or two more were erected in the township. The first old house, above mentioned, had greased paper for windows, and a big fire-place of course. The lumber for the desks and seats was obtained at Moon's saw mill in Brown. In 1840, there were five schools in the township. In 1843, the school law came into effect, by which public money was raised by taxation to be used in the maintenance of schools. All schools before that, or nearly all, had been supported by subscription. In 1852, the foundation of our present school system was laid, since which Madison Township has had good schools.

No other portion of the county, unless it is Brown Township, has better facilities for religious worship than Madison Township. It has six or seven church organizations and five buildings. As early as 1830, the Baptists had an organization in the northern part, the leading members being William Landers, Andrew McNash, Grimes Dryden, John Dunham, John Burnam, S. B. Parker, Joshua Cox, Jefiierson Jones, John Bray, William Pope and others. This church was built in the thirties.

The Mt. Gilead Christian Church was organized about the same time, among the members being Eijoch Summers, David McCarty, Samuel B. Duree, and some of the McNabbs. The ground for the church, which was built late in the thirties, was donated by Thomas McNabb.

The Siloam Methodist Church was organized in the thirties, among the early members being Joel Jessup, Reuben Burcham, Samuel Pfoff, Hugh Boyd, Charles Allen, John Inman, John Bingham, J. M. Jackson and Aaron Thurman. This church was built early in the forties. Later members were James Stokesbury, Abner Jessup, Jesse Baker, William Allen, and T. G. Beharrell, pastor. The Centenary Methodist Church was of a later date, as was the Mt. Olive Methodist Church.