Eenie, Meenie, Minee, Mary

The Fulton area, which apparently encompassed more than the official area annexed to the city of Madison, was commonly called “Pottersville” at one point in history, according to those “in the know” in Madison. Neighbors frequently referred to the area as Pottersville because of the large number of family members by that name. Things being what they were, it seems almost everyone in this section of town was somehow related to a Potter, even the Brushfields (the family that first caused me to start this blog) were related by marriage.

Because of my research I was honored to meet and talk with the great-great-granddaughter of William and Mary Potter from Delaware, one of those early pioneer families in the area. Mary DeCar is the starting point for information in this post. A second interview is definitely in order. Little did I know, Mary DeCar, one of the women who works at the local JayCee Grocery, where I generally shop downtown, is also the wife of a local steamboat historian, Mr. Louis DeCar, who has given many presentations about steamboats in the local schools. I have used a couple of quotes about part of Madison’s history as Mr. DeCar told it. I include a little information on Mr. DeCar at the end of this post.

Although we cannot positively identify who’s who in this photo, we can start with the presumption that they are related. I was told the photo contained “original Potter brothers”. The history rescue project’s mortality lists of 1850-1880 censuses listed a John Potter, age 66,  from Delaware, as deceased, October 1870, so he may have been gone by the time this photo was taken. Mr. DeCar seemed to think one in the photo was John Potter, Mary’s great-grandfather, John Potter, who showed up as being alive on the census, shown in a link below. Who knows. Maybe other photos will someday reveal who’s who. I do think the shantyboat house is what I see in the background.

Mr. DeCar offered this up when I looked over the original family photo,  “We know that Fulton was there in 1835 (when the William Potter family settled here) because when the original Potter family came here from Ohio, they, uh, I think it was oh, probably, 150 miles north of Cincinnati, up that way…and they migrated down here and that was where they settled…was in that area up there…but I think some of those structures were already there.”

No doubt, some structures were there before the Potters came to the area, but anything built in Fulton proper, before 1937, was washed away in Ohio River floods. The “hint” of a building is shown in a photo of Mary’s grandmother (Samantha/Mattie) with children. Virginia, her mother, is the child at the right in photo (see enlarged). Mrs. DeCar said (about this photo) “That’s the home that went away in the ‘37 flood. That’s my grandmother, that’s my mom, that’s Aunt Laurie, that’s Commodore and Bailey that is Ednie, the other girl.” The photo was marked c1910; the flood that took the house was the 1937 flood. If anything was on the part of Fulton closest to the river, it’s gone.

In checking the 1835 date for the Potters settling in the area, I came across the death notice for John Potter, son of  William and Mary Potter, one of those original (Potter) pioneers in Madison’s Fulton area. The death notice (1835-1922) stated the family came to Madison when John Potter was 9 months old.

The 1920 census shows John Potter, age 85, living with a 20-year old boarder, next door to the William Potter family on one side and the James Potter family on the other side. The Tommy Gibbs family (a family who Mrs. DeCar says in whose house her aunt once lived) was nearby in the mix of Potter families on Brooksburg Road (now State Route 56) and Fulton Street. I still haven’t been able to access any deed records for Fulton and realize that will be difficult. One neighbor told me he has a copy of his, so that will help. I will get around to these at some point. Records are still not complete in the recorder’s office since the courthouse fire, but then, Fulton records may not have ever been part of those.

Where was I? Oh yeah, back to Mr. Potter.The death notice for John Potter, found in the Madison Courier, dated April 21, 1922, stated that Mr. Potter was “one of the best known citizens of the east end and the last of the original Potter brothers of pioneer river days,” further describing that Mr. Potter’s passing, due to Bright’s disease, had occurred at 5:50 in the morning, “at his home in Fulton, the little settlement adjoining the Madison corporation line on the east, which the family had practically built and made for more than half a century.” The notice stated that Mr. John Potter, Esq, was the ”last of a sturdy race, the decedent lived to a hardy old age (87) and was active” up to a recent time near his death. He was the last of the “original Potter family” that settled in Fulton, somewhere east of Ferry Street, in Madison, Indiana.

As for those original settlers, the 1850 census shows William and Mary Potter, from Delaware, ages 49 and 40, listed with nine children. Mr. Potter’s occupation was listed as a fisherman. The 1860 census does show  a John Potter, then a married adult at age 26, was born in Delaware,  living with wife Rachel, a 21-year old. An 1880 census shows father and son (both named John) Potter as fishermen. During my interview with Mrs. DeCar, I told her I had seen census records that mentioned some Potters were fishermen. She recalled  her grandfather’s fishing. I asked her what she remembered, to which she replied, “My grandfather fished all the time. Like we used to make doughballs for him. But he made…I told Louis I wished to God I ‘da kept one…but didn’t have sense enough, he made his own nets. I can see him now with those, and you know they made those needles or whatever you call them, they were wood; they’d carved them out. I ‘ve seen him sit and carve; that’s how they made them, and then they’d dip them in that tar, and see, back then we didn’t think they was anything to be so great.”

I would love to find more information on the fishermen in the area, but that will have to wait. While on the subject of fishing and boating Mrs. DeCar asked (about information found in my research), “Did anybody ever mention anything about my grandfather, his brother having boats on the river? Well…They had a gasoline boat; they hauled stuff to the distillery across the river…Grandpa and Bill (William Potter) had… they hauled stuff over there”….she deferred to her husband who said, “they operated it from Fulton, the docks there…across to Richwood. Grandpa Potter. That was quite a little business there; they hauled grain.”

Hmmm, sounds like a nice little enterprise; I will need to further investigate, though, because I could not figure out where Richwood was supposed to be on a map. Always something…

As previously alluded, Mary’s maternal grandparents were “Pud” John (25 Jan 1863 – 24 Sep 1948) and Samantha (also known as Mattie) Potter (10 Dec 1867 – 17 Jul 1936) of Madison, Indiana. “Pud”, as he was affectionately known, called his wife ”Maddie” or “Mattie” because she was often upset with him about  staying late and drinking at a relative’s shantyboat up on logs in Fulton. There is a house in Fulton that was built atop the shantyboat, but I am not sure yet if that was theirs. Mary added that her grandmother was not the only one who had a husband that  frequented the shantyboat too many times. Sounds like I need to do more research for another post.

Looking through the local library’s history rescue project, I found two of the birth records listed for two of John and Samantha’s children.  I noticed John’s middle name was different in the listing, but believe them to be the same person.

Potter, Chester John (age 36) & Samantha Bailey (age 30) Potter. Feb. 6, 1899 (3rd child) Fulton

 Potter, Gilbert John (age 32) & Samantha Bailey (age 26) Potter. Mar. 18, 1894 (1st child) Fulton

The 1900 census listed John and Samantha Potter minus one child, leaving Commodore as the only child at that point. The 1920 census showed John and Samantha Potter living on Brooksburg Road, also known as State Route 56 in Madison, Indiana, with five children, one of whom was Virginia Potter, Mary’s mother. Neither parent was listed as being employed at the time of this census but Commodore Potter was employed as a button cutter at the Melish Button Factory. Teenaged Virginia and brother (Daily or Bailey on records) worked at the Cotton Mill at that time.

Mr. and Mrs. DeCar had a photo of Commodore (shown above on the left) with “Pud”. Mary told me that Commodore was deaf due to a “bug” in his ear as a child. Commodore is also shown in a few other family photos. I found he had a distinct look about him, which usually made him easy for me to find in the other photos, even those without markings.

I was happy to see there were a couple of photos still available. I only used my camera to photograph them, rather than scan them in.  The photo below, showing everyone’s chicken catch of the day, was marked left to right as: Albert Potter, Edward Potter, William “Bill” Potter, Bailey Potter (boy in front of Bill), M. Gourley, John “Pud” Potter, Taylor Livingston “Bert” Potter. BUT…I think there was a mix up on the names on the photo because the second man from the left looks like one of the Gourleys in the neighborhood now, so I will assume I am correct due to the familiar face:

We can assume the barrel contained some of their favorite neighborhood brew. The house in the background appears to be the one that still stands on Fillmore Street, mentioned in my post Bertha’s Bevy. Maybe it was the day they put the addition on the house, who knows.

A great photo of the Potter Button Factory, as it was known, can be found in my post, Button, Button. It would seem it was operated out of a frame house on Park Avenue. Part of a newspaper account about the factory is mentioned in the aforementioned post.

Another photo worth mentioning is one which showed nearly all the men in the neighborhood at the time the photo was taken. The building, one of many stone houses built in the area, is long gone of course, and fortunately, this priceless photo remains, showing the names of those included in the photo.

Before I get too far off on the family, which proves I need more than one post about Potters, let’s get back to Mary Frances Robinson Potter DeCar. Mrs. DeCar, Mary, is the second eldest of 10 children. At the time I posted this, I had not confirmed her birthdate, but she’s the daughter of Charles (29 Jun 1896 – 27 Nov 1976) and Virginia (Potter) Robinson (27 Mar 1903 or 1904- 18 Jul 1990. Mary’s parents were married April 21, 1923, in Trimble County, Kentucky. They lived at 1004 Park Avenue when Mary was born. Mary and her older brother were both born there. Mary told me,“They (her parents) were in the upper half, and the side next to Ferry Street were the Potters, Bert (Taylor) and Mame Potter. Out front they had a filling station in front of their side.” That would mean it was at the corner on the western side of the building on the Ferry Street side. I would think if there were any partial graves left (from the original cemetery there) they would have been destroyed by digging a spot for an underground storage tank. Anyway…I looked at the 1920 census which showed Taylor Potter and family living on Park Avenue. Mary volunteered that across the street from where she was born, at the Heilman house, she, on occasion, drank from the cement trough because the water was always cool. She drank from it until she found out it was a horse trough.

When I asked about other houses she remembered, Mary told me her aunt and uncle lived in the Gourley house “They had a barn, he had two cows, he had the horse, he had bees, I don’t know what else.” I asked if that was Wesley, and she said, No, It was Arthur.” They called him Opp. At one end of the house that way he had a garage, cause he was a mechanic, and THIS end they had a building built and it was, they had gasoline pumps in front of it, and you could buy soft drinks and bread or stuff like that. …It was right on the road.

Yes, the Gourley house is one about which I will do a post when I interview Patrick Gourley, who says he has a deed to the property I can look over. A Gourley shows up in one or two of the photos she shared with me.

I asked about the house next door to me, if she ever went there when it was what another neighbor called “a dance hall”. Mary said, “You know where the Chappells lived. (Yes) Bill Potter lived there and had a night club there. He did. They had dances there; the young kids hung out there and everything. My mom and dad would never let us go because mother didn’t approve of him. When he had that he was staying down there with my grandfather. But his daughter wouldn’t have him in her house because she was the post mistress. He was her father but that is as far as it went. (Stella Cisco?) Yeah, Stella.”

 I think we will just leave that one alone for now. It is obvious I need to do another post or two or more on the Potter family, but for now, I will try to bring this post back around to Mary and save the rest for another day. I did find an 1850 census listing for George and Sarah Robinson, who must be related to her father’s family, but I will connect those dots some other time.

As I said, Mary Frances Robinson DeCar was the second of ten children. Mary said she was raised on Filmore, worked at the neighborhood grocery store, which was under two different owner during the time she worked there, next to Greiner’s Brewery at the corner of Ferry and Park. Mary married a man from another neighborhood family, John Henry Moore, Jr. Mr. Moore was her first husband. Mr. Moore. was the son of Bertha Sheets and John Henry Moore of Madison. The 1920 census shows John H. Moore and wife Bertha on Filmore with seven children, one of whom was John H. Moore, Jr., born July 10, 1906 in Covington, Kentucky. An earlier census, from 1880, showed Henry Moore living on Filmore with his wife, Martha, two daughters and their son, John H. Moore, so the family owned the same property for quite a while. Another post ( Bertha’s Bevy ) gives a little more on the Sheets-Moore family.

Mary was married to Mr. Moore until he died on Sept. 14, 1945. The Moores had one daughter, Nancy Ellen Moore Coghill, who was born September 19, 1945, just a few days after her father died. Unfortunately, Mrs. Coghill died a couple of years before this interview, on May 3, 2007. Nancy was raised by her mother and step-father, Louis DeCar.

The DeCars met at Mary’s sister Polly’s wedding to Donnie Stewart, a man from another neighborhood family. The DeCars married July 3rd, 1955, so Mr. DeCar became step-father to Mary’s daughter, but the DeCars had no children together. I met Mr. DeCar when I was looking for information on the Potters and Robinsons of the east of Ferry area of Madison and figured I should mention him someplace in the post.

 Although I had a short interview with them both at their Madison hilltop home, Mr. DeCar gave me the mini-version of his usual schpiel, which I found interesting. I am sure he is a wealth of information about Madison in general, but my visit was mainly to get information about Mrs. DeCar’s connection to the Potters from the time period the area east of Ferry was referred to as Pottersville. He had drawn a little map of the neighborhood of who lived there in 1961, putting down the name Robinson at the address at which I now live. He also had some Potter genealogy as well as a couple of photos to show me.

Louis DeCar was born in Madison, Indiana, to Swiss immigrant, Angelo Luigi DeCarlo (shortened to DeCar) and Helen Rector, a native Madisonian, on June 30, 1923. Angelo DeCar, who learned horticulture at the University of Milan, Italy, worked at the Madison State (Psychiatric) Hospital. Louis was born in the old John Hinz house on the hospital grounds. His father died in 1924, so Louis was raised alone by his mother.

Louis DeCar graduated from Madison High School in 1941, served in World War II, lived and worked in Madison all of his life. He is an ardent fan and supporter of all things basketball and is a steamboat aficionado as well. He has given many talks to local schoolchildren about his memories of Madison.

When I asked Mr. DeCar if he knew anything about the Brushfield family he mentioned both he and his wife remembered Richard Brushfield, but neither elaborated. He mentioned that Elizabeth Brushfield, daughter of Benjamin Brushfield, who lived on W. Main Street had been his Sunday school teacher. After we discussed a couple of the Brushfields, Mr. DeCar said,“The way they sold their brooms, they peddled them from house to house, on foot, and they come to our house every year and he’d ay to my mother, Time for a new broom, and mom would buy a broom. My mother swore, somebody told her she could buy brooms in the store and she said, They’re not as good as the Brushfield brooms.”

I kind of figured as much.

The DeCars told me there is a yearly Robinson-Potter reunion. Maybe I can get some more information from the next one.

 

 

It’s been a while…

Golly! It’s been since September that I posted?!! Sorry folks. I AM working on it.

 Check out some older posts while I am working on another one. I recently interviewed a member of the Potter family for a post about the Ferry to Fulton area of Madison, Indiana, which was sometimes called Pottersville, due to the number of Potter family members in the neighborhood. Even the Brushfields were related, so this could take a while. Actually, I have chosen one (LIVE!!) member of the family as a starting point. Look for a post soon, something with old photos, too. YEAH!!!

Benjamin, the grandson

I often wondered what happened to the children or grandchildren of Benjamin Brushfield. Today I am just filling in a small branch on the family’s tree for the first grandson. The first child and son of Richard Brushfield and Sarah Harris, who were married April 23, 1861, was named after his grandfather, Benjamin Brushfield (Derbyshire, England) who settled in Madison, Indiana in 1832. Little Benjamin was born in the next year of his parents’ union; Christ Episcopal Church family records show he was baptized on April 25, 1862. Cemetery records show he died in 1933.

 

I don’t have a lot of information on Ben Brushfield, save for that gleaned from city directories and the census . The 1887-1888 Sutton Illustrated Directory lists him as Brushfield, Benj, blksmith, res 1010 E First. The city directory of 1890-91 has the family listed at 605 E. Main while he worked at 805 Walnut, which directories show as wagons and carriages manufacturers, Charles W & Alfred D Miller . Madison’s City Directory of 1903 and 1907 both list Benjamin as a blacksmith, with his wife, Anna, living at 921 W. Main. The census showed him at a buggy factory in 1910, married with one child, and a blacksmith/wagon maker living with his wife, Anna, and daughter (Sarah) in 1920. Subsequently, the 1923 directory lists them still at 921 W. Main Street. I am unsure exactly when he moved to the W. Main Street address, but these do help narrow it down to a couple of years.

 

 In a letter from his daughter and only child, Elizabeth Sarah Brushfield, to another family member in England in 1979, Miss Brushfield gave a few details about the family, saying that all of the other Brushfields, Benjamin’s siblings, parents and grandparents, lived on the east side while her father chose to live on the “West End” which seemed a great distance in the days before cars and rapid transit were popular. The Brushfield family in England sent me a few photos recently, one of which is shown here, of Benjamin, his wife Anna and baby Elizabeth.

 

click to enlarge

In her letter, she states her father, Benjamin, was the eldest of his siblings and that she was the youngest of the six grand-children. Miss Brushfield (who never married) wrote that her father had been married twice. His first wife lived between 15-20 years, contracted tuberculosis and died without having children.

 

 

The Madison Jefferson County Library’s History rescue Project shows grooms listings with Benjamin listed twice. The listing shows him married to Luella Sisson on November 19, 1885. Incidentally, the record showed that Benjamin’s brother, William also married a Sisson—Amanda C. Sisson.

 

Benjamin was later married to Anna Elizabeth Distel on June 5, 1902. His second wife, Anna E. (1865 – 1936) gave him this single heir who says (in the letter mentioned) that she was a disappointment to parents who were hoping for a son. Elizabeth Sarah, who later went by the name Betty, says she was educated in Madison and went on to college to become a high school teacher, living in Chicago and finally retiring in Bloomington, Illinois.

 

Miss Brushfield mentioned (in her letter) that her mother was more interested in her own family (the Austermuhle-Distel family; she had 7 siblings) and therefore did not see much or know much about the Brushfields. I looked for a little information on the Distel family, and found what appears to be Anna’s parents and another family member buried in Springdale Cemetery (on myindianahome.net) :

 

Distel, George, b. Wachterbach, Germany, Jan 12 1826 – Aug 3 1895

Distel, Anna E., w/o Geo. St., b. in Liebrunen, Germany, Nov 3 1823 – Mar 19 1908

 

The site also shows George and Ann (Austermuhle) married in Madison on May 30, 1852, though a March 20, 1908 newspaper death notice for Mrs. Distel says they were married in 1851. The 1880 census lists George Distel and family on Cemetery Street, with a 1890-91 city directory showing Distel George, stone cutter, res 215 Cemetery.

 

The Madison Jefferson County library history rescue pages for brides listings showed more Austermuhle marriages as well as some other Distel listings. George W. Distel, once a bricklayer listed in the Madison City Directory (1890) was Anna (Distel) Brushfield’s brother, a councilman.

The death notice of July 21, 1936, tells that Anna Brushfield had been ill about two months prior to her death. The only other mention was about her love of growing dahlias, and a little about her daughter.

 

Not much else on Benjamin the first-born grandson at the moment, except he reminds me of my brother. I think Benjamin looked more Italian than English. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An American Matriarch

I was privileged to have recently received some family correspondence and memorabilia from the Brushfields of England,  and will be using bits and pieces of that which I find appropriate for postings in this blog. Included from research previously done by another family member, Pearl DeWitt of Indianapolis (now deceased), who was the great-grand-daughter of Benjamin and Martha Brushfield, is a death notice she typed from what she found in the Madison-Courier, dated July 30, 1887.

In the notice, the newspaper writer states that he knew the Brushfields for more than forty years as “honored citizens” who came directly to Madison in 1832, mentioning they were here to “assist in the organization of the present Christ [Episcopal] Church parrish [sic] over fifty years ago”, further clarifying its reception into the Indiana Diocesan Convention in 1835 as when the church was founded. I found the wording interesting, as I suspect the Brushfields were somewhat instrumental in the founding of the Christ Church, simply because of ties in England.

The writer of the death notice also reveals that when the Brushfields came to Madison they “bought ground and built a home in the east end of the city, in which portion of the city they continued to live” , saying that a few years “ago” they had built “a fine mansion.” I take that to mean the house at 1030 Park Avenue, a once-stately brick Federal which has fallen into disrepair. We have not been able to date the actual build-date for that house, but assumed it to be around 1880.

Mrs. Brushfield, having been a “most domestic and faithful wife” was also a pioneer mother in Madison who came here on faith.

Mrs. Brushfield’s husband’s death notice is in another post, the Death of Mr. Benjamin Brushfield.

 

Madison’s Sanborn maps

The “best” map was incomplete, but still, there were those willing to sign their name to it being the best. I’m not sure I understand why the Sanborn maps for the city of Madison cut off well before the corporation line, but at least they were consistent that way. It’s not like the city limits had shrunk in the years before these maps were made.  This isn’t my first mention of them in this blog, nor will it probably be the last. The problem is, so many others have considered these maps to be the best, and thus the problems associated with whatever was not corrected has been perpetuated for more than a hundred years.

What problems, you ask? Let’s start with the assumption that a certain amount of authority is given maps, and those who refer to certain maps that are inaccurate would further a certain amount of information as well, even though it is incorrect. Going against that which has been considered the most complete and reliable information from the past is not the easiest way to document accurate history.

Looking at the city of Madison’s Sanborn maps most would assume the information is correct, especially since the signatures of three individuals are evident on the maps, verifying the accuracy of the information contained on the maps, using the words, “the most complete and best map that has ever been made of this city”.  Well, if you look at the easternmost section there, you see it stops about Ferry. The city limits is a bit farther east, so I beg to disagree; it is not the best or most complete map. Even the 1854 map respected the boundaries of the city.

It’s not that I cannot or will not use the Sanborn maps; I just use them knowing mistakes are inherent in the ones for the neighborhood I am researching, thus a combination of maps or other resources must be used in determining the completeness of this or other areas I might research. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of written history about this area but I have more than one source for information.

In 1892, those who read the map signed on again, and every Sanborn map after that omits the area near the corporation line. 

Why? Who knows. I looked up Sanborn maps in Wikipedia, and what I found today( these entries are edited and change) read:

“Originally created solely for insurance assessment purposes, it was said that at one time, insurance companies and their agents, “relied upon them with almost blind faith”. The maps were utilized by insurance companies to determine the liability of a particular building through all the information included on the map; building material, proximity to other buildings and fire departments, the location of gas lines et cetera. The very decision as to how much, if any insurance was to be offered to a customer was often determined solely through the use of a Sanborn map.”

Well, I suppose if you weren’t lucky enough to be on the map,you might have difficulty proving yourself worthy of insurance, so it’s a good thing some believed in a higher power and the insurance that belief brought them.

The maps still included the City Waterworks, which was further east of the line north to south where they stopped illustration on the maps. So if you look at the Sanborn maps for this area and can’t figure out the location I am writing about, well, it’s not on the Sanborn maps.

It’s  no wonder no one knows anything about this area.

some progress

The following three news articles will bring you up to date on some of what has been going on in meetings for the past month, in addition to that which is on the Milton-Madison Bridge site. The results of the August 13th PAG meeting describe the proposed action to do a superstructure replacement with minimal approaches, and applying for a TIGER grant. Nothing’s a done deal until it’s a done deal, but this is what has been going on. I decided to hold off on saying anything until a few news articles came out, because this blog isn’t just about the bridge.

Excerpts from the Madison Courier: Bridge to Use Existing Piers :

“The option to build on the existing piers was jumped ahead of other route possibilities that consultants have been studying because of the possibility of stimulus funds, the bridge advisory group was told at a packed meeting at Milton Baptist Church in Milton, Ky. The decision to move forward with one option this early in the bridge replacement process was a surprise.

An application for the stimulus funds must be submitted by Sept. 15. The announcement of recipients of the funds will be in January 2010. The stimulus funds would pay most of the costs, but Indiana and Kentucky each would pay a share.

The option, as well as the other options that are still under consideration in case a grant is not received.”

 Milton-Madison Bridge consultants announce KYTC, INDOT apply for stimulus funds to replace Milton-Madison bridge. 

 Another excerpt from the Madison Courier:  Bridge’s Impact on Historic Property Studied :

 

“Consultants for the Madison-Milton bridge project met with historic preservation experts for two days this week to examine how historic district properties might be impacted by the construction of a new bridge.The group was given a list of historic properties that could be adversely affected by construction of a bridge (superstructure is built on the existing piers). Group members came up with measures to reduce, eliminate or resolve each separate adverse effect. The results of their work will be listed in a document that will be considered by both states and the state historic preservation offices in Indiana and Kentucky.

 

Negative impacts included physical destruction, inconsistent alterations, relocation of properties, a change in character of the properties, incompatible visual elements, neglect of properties and transfer, and lease or sale of properties without preservation.”

 

 Milton-Madison bridge project gives some FAQs on their site.

 

A few excerpts from Can Milton, Madison survive a longterm bridge closure? (a Roundabout article):

 

“Business owners on both sides of the Ohio River are worried that a recent proposal by the bridge study group to use the existing piers for a new bridge superstructure rather than construct a totally new bridge will destroy the local economy.”

 

Further…”If approved, the bridge would be closed in January 2011 for up to 12 months while a new superstructure, similar to the current one, is erected on the 80-year-old existing piers. Experts agree that the piers are capable of lasting for another 80 years.

During the superstructure replacement, construction would begin in spring 2010 with periodic lane and bridge closures. In January 2011, the bridge would be closed completely for up to 12 months while the old superstructure is removed and the new one erected. Two ferries would shuttle commuters back and forth and operate 24-hours a day. The ferry service would be free – paid for through the grant.”

“Several PAG members questioned why the grant money couldn’t be used to fund one of the alternatives for a new bridge alignment. Carr said time and right-of-way acquisitions and relocation are factors against the grant money being used for a new bridge. He also said that right-of-way issues can take years to resolve. In the meantime, the bridge continues to deteriorate at a pace faster than was originally thought.”

Many are concerned that this whole process has been too rushed while others are doing whatever they can to do the best they can in telescoped time to get the TIGER grant. I have heard more terminology than I can repeat as part of the 106 consulting parties; it’s been an interesting process to be part of though. I don’t know that I would want to sit through meetings like those government folks do  for a living. Of course, there are probably some like myself that get paid nothing more than the simple satisfaction of  maybe helping a neighborhood remain intact (plus lots of research and a history blog maybe).  

 

 All of the alternatives are still open until they have TIGER money in their hot little hands and all mitigation has been settled. There’s quite a ways to go yet, so I’m sure I have more meetings to sit through before I am assured the house I presently live in will be there awhile. 

 

**See also http://mustbemadison.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/re-usable-piers/ for an update

Bertha’s bevy

For some reason I couldn’t let go of the thought that the little house a block and a half from the river could possibly be in the path of a bulldozer if one of the alternative options for a new bridge deems it. I drove by, took a photo of the property, as is, and decided to do a little history. The photo shows the building is in a current state of rehabilitation, having been directly impacted by a large tree during high winds that damaged many buildings in Madison when Hurricane Ike’s storm effects reached here. Though I have not yet done a deed or tax search, the usual first place to start was with the old maps. It would appear the building is shown on the 1854 map, and then sporting a new addition by the time 1887 rolls around.

 

I thought I might start with a city directory to trace one family who lived there. I came across the name Forse when I looked at the 1890-91 city directory online. I felt guided to look for another name. In this case I went to the 1920 census next and the name that caught my attention was Bertha, one of the many Sheets family members who lived in the Sheets Add.

 

 Looking through the original handwritten copies of the earliest plat books gave me this description (click to enlarge) of the Sheets Add.

 

Bertha Sheets was born July 11, 1876 in Madison, Indiana. Life in Madison came to an end for her on September 2, 1947. I found that according a genealogy site where I found the Sheets family tree, at familyorigins.com , Bertha married John Moore on October 19, 1892. According to the  site, the marriage of John and Bertha (Sheets) Moore produced nine children: Helen Moore, Clifford Moore, Barbara Moore, Dorothy L. Moore, Roy Edward Moore, Bess Moore, Mable Mae Moore, Gladys Kick Moore and John Henry Moore.

 

The 1920 census shows Bertha and John Moore (who was listed as an engineer) with seven children with the addition of a grandchild, named Emma listed at 1004 Filmore.  According to the census, Bertha’s parents, Peter and Helen Amanda (Roll) Sheets lived next door. A little about Peter can be found in my post, On a Roll with Sheets.  The census also shows the Charles Eaglin family living on the other side, next door. The Eaglins were mentioned in the last post I did, an Eaglin or Two.

 

The name of one of Bertha’s children kind of “jumped out” at me, so I decided to see where that went. I looked up Gladys Kick Moore on the familyorigins site. As it turned out, Gladys was married to Ralph W. Sauer, who was born on May 24, 1904. He died on May 26, 1972. His parents were Henry Sauer and Ella Barton. The name Sauer rang a bell, since Chris Sauer is how Mr. Cunningham came to be in the property on Park Avenue. Madison is a small town, so many know the name; Mr. Sauer (as of this date) owns Shipley’s Tavern, among other business ventures.

 

I traced Bertha’s family back to John Sheets who was born in 1797 in Prussia, Germany. He died on June 13, 1875 in Jefferson County, Indiana. That makes him one of the original settlers here in Madison, Indiana. I’m sure that’s important to some here. John Sheets was married to Elizabeth Leishman between 1812 and 1839. Children were: Unknown Sheets, Hannah Sheets, John Sheets, Jacob Scheitz Sheets, Francis Frank Sheets, Michael Sheets.

According to these genealogy pages, the son, John Sheets was the father of: John Sheets , Jacob Sheets, Peter Sheets , Nicholas Sheets, and Margaret Sheets. The information says Peter Sheets was born in 1849 and died on September 6, 1939. He was married to Helen Amanda Roll on September 3, 1869. Children were: Bessie Sheets, Janet Jennie Sheets, William Sheets, Charles Jack Sheets, Bertha Sheets, and James Chapman Sheets.

I have come full circle for now and that little house is more important to me  because if it weren’t for Bertha’s bevy the dots would have never connected to put me here.

an Eaglin or two

In the 1887 Sutton Publishing Company’s Madison, Vevay, Vernon, North Vernon, Jefferson County Illustrated Directory, I came across the name Egland and Eaglin, wondering if these people were of the same family, and realized the address listing was the same in this particular directory. What I found on one page was, Eaglin, Thos., barber, at 314 Mulberry, res 104 Ferry Street and then on page 64 these listings:

Egland, Joseph, barber, res 104 Ferry

Egland, Mrs. Louisa, wid, res 104 Ferry

Egland, Martin, wine and beer saloon, 104 Ferry, res same

Nothing like inconsistent spelling. I found the “wine and beer saloon” interesting, so Martin became a person of interest.

I looked at the census information for 1880 and found there was a listing for Martin Eagland, wife Laura, step-daughter, Jennie Gibbs and step-son, Thomas, showing them on the south side of High Street (which is also known as E. First). 

I went back to the 1887 directory to look at the Gibbs listing on Ferry, which showed Miss Jennie, res 104 Ferry and Thomas, lab at 105 Filmore. Again, not too sure about the addresses here; maybe they just wanted everyone to be sure they were at the corner.

A check of the 1890-91 Madison City Directory on the MJCPL history rescue pages shows a different spelling and an address now at 216 e. First:

I found this interesting, that James Egland listed as a teamster, Joseph and Tobias barbers and now Martin is listed as a musician.

 

The 1900 census shows Martin and wife Bell Eaglin on W. Third Street, no children. There is a listing for Eaglin, Isabella,  w/o Martin, Dec 15 1874 – Feb 23 1913 on myindianahome.netunder the Springdale Cemetery listings.

 

I don’t know why I picked Martin out of the bunch but I did and went online for a couple of searches. I found two death notices, dates as written, on Rootsweb:

 

Obit #1

Madison Daily Herald, 18 Sept 1923
————————————-
DEATH OF MART EAGLIN
————————————-
Well Known Madisonian Expires Following Stroke of Paralysis
————————————
Martin Eaglin, aged 73, died at four pm yesterday afternoon at his home
at the corner of First and Craigmont following a stroke of paralysis he
suffered a few days ago which at work in Kentucky. Mr. Eaglin had been
in ill health for several years, but was able to be about until
stricken.

The decendent lived in Madison most of his life and at one time served
on the police force. He was also well known in former days as a
Musician and played with several local orchestras. He is survived by a
widow, but no children…

Funeral services will b held at the residence at 2:30 pm tomorrow
afernoon and the burial will be at Springdale Cemetery…

——————————————-
Obit #2

The Madison Daily Herald, Sept 19, 1924
——————————————
MARTIN EAGLIN
—————————————–
Martin Eaglin, a well known resident of this city, passed away at his
home yesterday evening after being stricken with paralysis at his home
yesterday morning. Mr. Eaglin suffered the stroke while at his camp
across the river, Neighbors over there notified his brother, Mr. Tobe
Eaglin, who had him removed to his home and sumoned Dr. E. C. Totten.
Mr. Eaglin remained in an unconscious condition up unil the time of his
death…

The decedent was 74 years of age and is survived by his wife and three
brothers; Messrs. tovias, John, and James Eaglin, all of this city; and
three sisters: Mrs. Mahala Grubb this city; Mrs. Louise Hayes, of
Warsaw, and Mrs. Nan Spencer, of Patriot. He was a member of the
Christian church.

Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 pm from his late
residence, 1105 west First Street. Interment will be in Springdale Cemetery…

**According to the sexton, Martin Eaglin is buried in plat B lot 148 in Springdale Cemetery; he was 73 when he died on 9-14-1923.

 

Take your pick, I guess. My pick turned out ok, since he turned out to have been a Madison notable, having served on the police force and he was a musician.

 The step-son Thomas Gibbs, his wife and children are showing up back in the old neighborhood, on Filmore, and on Front are John Eaglin and family, as well James Eaglin and his family. Again, not sure about these addresses since the 1880 census says south side of High Street, which might have been considered a Filmore address. This is why deeds help, if they owned a home, at least.

Twenty years later, in the 1920 census, John’s son, Charles, and his wife and daughter, are still there, shown as living on Filmore. Sometimes it is hard to say if they’ve moved or the census taker mixed up the street names, which is something I have found happens. Unless I do deed research, looking at a property description for those who owned it, or more lengthy in-depth family research on each and every one, I won’t know for sure.

So far, I have found two Eaglin deed mentions; here are the property descriptions, one easily recognized but  I’ll have to go into where they are at a later date or in a different post:

 

While preparing this post I happened to notice I had a few pages of previously copied directories which showed the nameCharles Eaglin at 1012 Park Avenue for the years 1927 (W.H. Hoffman’s City Directory, page 253), 1942 (C.R.Hoffman’s City Directory, page 282) and one  there in 1947 (C.R. Hoffman’s City Directory, page 278). I have not looked at every directory nor do I have deed information on that address at this time, but I do have a photo of it.

According to theJefferson County Historical Society webpages, they have records of “Eaglin, Charles & Family (chief of police, sheriff) 4 pages photocopied newspaper stories: golden anniversary, obits 1941.”

I’m not yet sure this is the same person or another relative, so will check that out for another post. 

Stay tuned…things change around here.

Cap’n Billy

I decided to look over my notes on the 1890-91 city directory for putting some familiar names to some of the houses around here. I did not realize at the time I painstakingly went through the directory that these were already on the internet on the Madison Jefferson County Public Library’s History Rescue Project . Oh well. I will check there more often before hand-writing out or photocopying every page in a directory that has information I need.

 I was actually looking for information on the Wells family, who had lived at 1030 Park and found (on the library’s history rescue project) that John A. (age 40) & Lottie McQuin (age 35) Wells had their second child Carl Ansel on April 24, 1893 while they were living at that address, so neither family must have lived there very long. I knew that the Wells family owned the house while they themselves lived there. Anyway…

The name Lepper came up as being next door, at 1030 Park Avenue, a couple of years before that. In checking the library’s site, I saw that the Vail’s Undertaker records showed Benjamin C. Lepper died 7-17-1889 (Cincinnati) so I can only imagine that he shows up in the 1890-91 directory because it went to press before he died. The Leppers are listed in the 1890-91 directory as follows:

Lepper Benjaman C, steamboat clk, res 1030 Park ave (not sure about that spelling)

Lepper Miss Daisy, res 1030 Park ave

Lepper Miss Josie L, res 1030 Park ave

Lepper Miss Lillie, res 1030 Park ave

Lepper William C, steamboat clk, res 1030 Park ave.

According to the MJCPL site, the Lepper girls were mentioned in the records of the First Baptist Church. Benjamin C. Lepper had been involved as “an owner and operator of steamboats in the Cincinnati-New Orleans trade.” There was a note about the Captain Wm. C. Lepper family moving into the “old Col John Abe Hendricks homestead” at 424 West First Street, as that residence had been vacated by Rev. J. S. Gatton (the Madison-Courier 5-27-1891).

 

Another search of the library’s records brought up their River to Rail pages and since their information is so wonderful you may  just as well use the link to read the rest. Mr. Lepper was a well-respected riverboat captain who lived in Madison for a little while, and apparently was lucky enough to have a job he truly loved.

cooper Joe’s house

While at the library today, browsing through old newspaper clippings in files marked Jefferson County History, I came across a number of interviews by Chas. E. Heberhart, for the Madison-Courier, “They Say and Do in the Country” , one marked August 8, 1939. I really enjoyed reading this one about the neighborhood cooper shops, mainly one east of Ferry Street which burned in 1977; thus the property now sports an apartment building. There is an earlier post on this,  1004 E. First Street in Madison, Indiana; I did say I would add to it when I got more information.

The person being interviewed, Joe Guerich, had been born in the house sixty-six years prior the interview by Mr. Heberhart, a good hundred years before it burned to the ground. According to the interview, Mr. Guerich was living in the same house his grandfather had built, “way back when Madison was just a doubtful point on a map.”  I have mentioned before that I have to wonder when the house was really built because in the account after the house burned in 1977,  I read it was built in 1801. 

There was more to the house description. Mr. Heberhart wrote that the dwelling  “once soared to three stories dominating the whole panorama of Fulton in its youth and even into its adult age, for the lowering of half a story is only a matter of about 40 years ago.”  That’s a good sized frame building for that time period.

Part of the 1887 Bird’s Eye View map shows where the building sat at the corner of Ferry and E. First Street in Madison.

 

1880 Census showing the Guerich family.

Joe came from a long line of coopers; Louis Guerich was mentioned in the interview as having had made barrels in his workshop there in the 1850s and up until the 1880’s. Apparently it was still there at the time of the interview. 

It was a cooper’s site, remember, so it should be of no surprise that there was a large brick oven in the shop, described as being six feet wide, six feet deep and ten feet high, appropriate chimney with a good brick base. It was made large to accommodate a full-sized barrel. The interviewer also wrote that it was “isolated to the degree that it was no danger to the rest of the structure.” I found the way this read to be interesting, considering the place burned to the ground in 1977.

If you have a few minutes to spare at the Madison, Indiana library sometime, or the Jefferson County Historical Society,  you can read the rest of Mr. Heberhart’s articles. You’ll find the rest of this one here.