Madisonia
Here is the news clipping I promised...
Madisonia…Reviewing our heritage
By Ted Sloat
The severe drought of 1839 left the Mississippi so low that an upriver steamboat remained out in the channel rather than attempt a landing here at the site of old Fort Madison and the captain hurried ashore in a skiff.
“We need a doctor bad,” he told the group at the landing. “We’ve got a mighty sick woman in labor aboard.”
Some hurried to fetch Dr. J. C. Walker who joined the captain and headed back to the steamboat.
“Her name is Mrs. Thomas Riddle,” the captain explained as he leaned to the oars. “She and her husband and their three sons rode up from Keokuk to Montrose on the stage wagon and I think the jolting must have started her. We were loading at Montrose and tried to talk her and her husband into staying at Montrose, but they wouldn’t listen. They were going to settle in Fort Madison, they said, and it was so close to the end of their journey.”
Dr. Walker helped deliver twin babies but was unable to save their lives or that of the mother. The bodies were brought ashore and, as was customary, a quick burial was made.
Family legend says the triple grave is in Old Settler’s Park, at that time called Upper Square, but it seems more likely that burial was made in City Cemetery which had been surveyed four years earlier when General John Knapp and his cousin, Nathaniel Knapp, founded the town of Fort Madison.
There were already several graves in City cemetery by 1839. The first burial there was that of General John Knapp who died in 1837 following a New Year’s party at his hotel, the Madison House. He became ill and quinsy developed which proved fatal.
His cousin, Nathaniel, was buried there six months later. He was slain at a small hostelry not far from Bentonsport where he and an acquaintance had gone on business. When they returned to the hostelry around midnight they found a man from Burlington in their bed and Knapp demanded to know what he was doing there. The man leaped up and ran Knapp through with a sword cane.
Thomas Riddle didn’t live long after his wife’s death, and left three orphaned sons, William, George and Alec. All three were adopted but information about George and Alec is meager.
George was adopted by Dr. Walker and his wife, Martha, a daughter of Dr. Abraham Stewart. She had come to Fort Madison with her parents in 1835 and married Dr. Walker not long after his arrival here the following year.
One of their daughters, Emily, became the wife of Rev. George Stewart, pastor of the Union Presbyterian Church here in the 1870’s.
George grew up in Fort Madison, moved to Montrose and later became manager of the Rand lumber Co. at Burlington. His son, William Oscar, married Katherine Eltinge, of Mediapolis.
The family’s search for the mother who died so tragically in childbirth aboard the steamboat here lasted for generations but no trace of the grave has been found.
This account is certainly interesting, although it is somewhat disjointed at times and hard to follow. Plus, there are now more questions…One account has three sons named, George, William and Thomas. Here we have Alec? And what about that murder with a sword cane? That’s an interesting side story.
One thing I did look up and that was the distances between the towns of Keokuk, Montrose and Fort Madison. It was a total journey of 20 miles on the river, with 8 of those miles between Montrose and Fort Madison. (I drive to Chico, 20 miles, quite easily and sometimes more than once a day.) Imagine the story if…if our 3rd Great Grandmother and Grandfather had listened to the advise of the captain and decided to spend a few days in Montrose before hurrying on to Fort Madison. Imagine how our 3rd Great Grandfather felt when he realized that he was now alone with his three small sons; alone on the edge of the wilderness. All of his plans and dreams were now gone forever. He was, I’m sure, a young man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. In a few more years (1841) he would be gone and his children would be orphans.
(I will post a map in a few minutes and it will show you the relationship of the three towns mentioned in the news clip.)
Madisonia…Reviewing our heritage
By Ted Sloat
The severe drought of 1839 left the Mississippi so low that an upriver steamboat remained out in the channel rather than attempt a landing here at the site of old Fort Madison and the captain hurried ashore in a skiff.
“We need a doctor bad,” he told the group at the landing. “We’ve got a mighty sick woman in labor aboard.”
Some hurried to fetch Dr. J. C. Walker who joined the captain and headed back to the steamboat.
“Her name is Mrs. Thomas Riddle,” the captain explained as he leaned to the oars. “She and her husband and their three sons rode up from Keokuk to Montrose on the stage wagon and I think the jolting must have started her. We were loading at Montrose and tried to talk her and her husband into staying at Montrose, but they wouldn’t listen. They were going to settle in Fort Madison, they said, and it was so close to the end of their journey.”
Dr. Walker helped deliver twin babies but was unable to save their lives or that of the mother. The bodies were brought ashore and, as was customary, a quick burial was made.
Family legend says the triple grave is in Old Settler’s Park, at that time called Upper Square, but it seems more likely that burial was made in City Cemetery which had been surveyed four years earlier when General John Knapp and his cousin, Nathaniel Knapp, founded the town of Fort Madison.
There were already several graves in City cemetery by 1839. The first burial there was that of General John Knapp who died in 1837 following a New Year’s party at his hotel, the Madison House. He became ill and quinsy developed which proved fatal.
His cousin, Nathaniel, was buried there six months later. He was slain at a small hostelry not far from Bentonsport where he and an acquaintance had gone on business. When they returned to the hostelry around midnight they found a man from Burlington in their bed and Knapp demanded to know what he was doing there. The man leaped up and ran Knapp through with a sword cane.
Thomas Riddle didn’t live long after his wife’s death, and left three orphaned sons, William, George and Alec. All three were adopted but information about George and Alec is meager.
George was adopted by Dr. Walker and his wife, Martha, a daughter of Dr. Abraham Stewart. She had come to Fort Madison with her parents in 1835 and married Dr. Walker not long after his arrival here the following year.
One of their daughters, Emily, became the wife of Rev. George Stewart, pastor of the Union Presbyterian Church here in the 1870’s.
George grew up in Fort Madison, moved to Montrose and later became manager of the Rand lumber Co. at Burlington. His son, William Oscar, married Katherine Eltinge, of Mediapolis.
The family’s search for the mother who died so tragically in childbirth aboard the steamboat here lasted for generations but no trace of the grave has been found.
This account is certainly interesting, although it is somewhat disjointed at times and hard to follow. Plus, there are now more questions…One account has three sons named, George, William and Thomas. Here we have Alec? And what about that murder with a sword cane? That’s an interesting side story.
One thing I did look up and that was the distances between the towns of Keokuk, Montrose and Fort Madison. It was a total journey of 20 miles on the river, with 8 of those miles between Montrose and Fort Madison. (I drive to Chico, 20 miles, quite easily and sometimes more than once a day.) Imagine the story if…if our 3rd Great Grandmother and Grandfather had listened to the advise of the captain and decided to spend a few days in Montrose before hurrying on to Fort Madison. Imagine how our 3rd Great Grandfather felt when he realized that he was now alone with his three small sons; alone on the edge of the wilderness. All of his plans and dreams were now gone forever. He was, I’m sure, a young man, probably in his late twenties or early thirties. In a few more years (1841) he would be gone and his children would be orphans.
(I will post a map in a few minutes and it will show you the relationship of the three towns mentioned in the news clip.)
posted by Steven | 4:55 AM
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