Madison County History and Genealogy

History and Genealogy



History of Madison County


Town of Madison


From History of Madison County, Ohio, Chester E. Bryan, Supervising Editor, B.F. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis (1915)

Prior to the above action relative to the county seat, as has appeared in the general history of the county, the court of common pleas of Franklin county, in 1810, appointed Phillip Lewis, director, to lay out a seat of justice for Madison county. A town was laid out and platted, which was designated by the name of Madison, which plat was acknowledged before Thomas Gwynne, a justice of the peace of Deer Creek township, November 13, 1810, and placed on record in the county recorder's office. Research has failed to reveal anything of record designating the site of the town of Madison, further than that in the index book referring to the plats of towns appears "Madison (Deer Creek T. S.)." It is a tradition that London was built upon the site of Madison. Below is set out all matters pertaining to the town of Madison that search has revealed in the records of the court house. December 4, 1810, John Pollock and George Jackson were allowed the sum of fourteen dollars each for their services for fixing on the place for the county seat of Madison county, by order of the board of county commissioners.

December 14, 1810, Robert Shannon, William Reed and Alexander Morrison, associate judges of Franklin county, were allowed six dollars and two dollars, respectively, for attending at the town of Franklinton, by the request of Philip Lewis, Esq., director of the town of Madison, for giving him directions and fixing on the day of sale of the lots in said town, by order of the board of county commissioners. Also under the same date, "ordered that there be allowed to Elias N. Delashmutt, sheriff of Franklin county, $.50 for summoning court at the request of P. Lewis, Esq., director of the town of Madison."

"January 3, 1811, ordered that there be allowed to Philip Lewis the sum of $20 for part of his services in laying off the town of Madison, in the county of Madison."

January 8, 1811, the board of commissioners ordered one hundred and fifty dollars to be appropriated for the purpose of erecting a jail in the town of Madison, and that the same be advertised, the sale to be on the 14th of January, next. On the latter date the commissioners met, and after being informed that there was a new committee appointed bv the Legislature to explore the county and afilx the seat of justice, permanently, agreed to postpone the sale of the jail.

"June 10, 1811, ordered that there be allowed to John_Arbuckle, Esq., the sum of $4 for acting as a crier for two days in the sale of lots in the town of Madison, by the order of the director."

Returning.to the town of London, it is found that one hundred and three and three quarters acres of the Murfin tract was, on the 14th of September, 1811, in consideration of four hundred and fifteen dollars, deeded to the director of the town. However, the town had previously been laid out and platted on this_ground, as the plat was acknowledged by Patrick McLene and certified to before Samuel Baskerville, one of the associate Judges of Madison county, September 13, 1811. The plat comprised one hundred and twenty-eight in-lots and twenty out-lots, the former being four by eight poles in size. The lots were bounded on the north by Fifth street, on the south by Front street, on the west by Water street and on the east by Back street. The original number of streets was ten; Main and Main Cross (now High) streets were made six poles wide, and all others four and one-half poles. Two lots were reserved for county buildings, two for churches and academies, one out-lot for burying grounds and one for John Murfin.

The cabin of Murfin as early as 1809 stood on the south side of West High street. He was a Virginian. His wife's name, as written in the deed for the land, was Janey, but very likely, if properly written, would be Jane. He removed from London at an early date to the state of Indiana; thence to Illinois, where he died. Three houses were built in London in 1811, one by David Watson and a second by Rev. Father Sutton, but it is not known who built the third.


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