 Chief Poweshiek |
State
of Iowa |
 Poweshiek
County |
Early Poweshiek County
Courthouse |
Sheridan Madison Malcom Bear Creek Warren Washington Pleasant Scott Sugar Creek Union Jackson
Madison Township
The first settler in Madison Township was Joseph Enochs in 1854, followed soon by George Estlick and Uriah Jones. Madison Township was organized in 1855 through the efforts of Uriah Jones. The first primitive, grist mill in Poweshiek County was built on Walnut Creek in 1853 by Jacob Lockhart. It was capable of turning out about a bushel of meal an hour.
The first marriage was that of Joseph Kent and Eliza Jones in 1853. The first child was Bailey Kent in 1854. The first death was Robert Jones, two-year-old son of Uriah Jones, in 1854.
Early in the 1850s the settlers built a log school house, which became known as the Kent School. The first teacher was Henry Hickman, who was paid $8 a month. David Mayer was the first secretary of the school board. He levied and collected the first school tax before the township was organized. The first physician was Dr. Edward Barton, beginning in 1854. He lived in Brooklyn, but covered most of Madison Township as well as a large portion of the rest of the county.
The Kent Cemetery was platted next to the Kent School. Later, in the early 1900s, the school was moved a mile to the north and east. A chapel was then built next to the cemetery.
There was once a post office, called Clearfield, in northwest Madison Township.
