Between July and December 2001 I posted the Biographical Directory from the 1879 edition of the History of Madison County, Iowa on the Rootswebs mailing list for the county (IAMADISO). The directory was organized by place of residence. The following biographies contained a Vermont connection. There were also many other residents (including my greatgrandfather from PA) listed with no biographical data Marilyn CT SOURCE: The History of Madison County, Iowa, containing A History of the County. Its Cities, Towns & C., Union Historical Company, Des Moines; !879. (reproduction 1976, sponsored by The Women of the United Methodist Church, Peru, Iowa.) DOUGLAS TOWNSHIP KINSMAN, D., farmer, Sec. 27; P.O. Winterset; born in Williamstown, Orange county, Vermont, in 1818, and in 1856 emigrated to Bureau county, Illinois, where he remained until his removal to this county in 1867; he owns ninety acres of land; has held various township offices; he married Miss Mary MARTIN November 24, 1839; she died in Princeton, Illinois, December 12, 1865; he married for his second wife Lora BURNHAM March 21, 1867; she was born December 26, 1825, and was a native of Vermont; has four children by first marriage: Rosamah, born November 28, 1840; James W., born August 19, 1842; Herman A., born March 25, 1844; Sarah W., born August 26, 1845; lost one son, Jason M.; James W. enlisted in the Ninety-third Illinois infantry in the late war and served three years. ------------------------------------------------------------------- GRAND RIVER TOWNSHIP BROWNELL, J. W., farmer, Sec. 6; P.O. Wells; was born in Vermont in 1831, and came to this State in 1868; hold office of postmaster, and has filled an unexpired term of county surveyor; he married Miss Harriet E. HAWLEY in 1858; she was born in Vermont; has four children: Flora A., Bertha A., Almon F., Wilford E. -------------------------------------------------------------------- JACKSON TOWNSHIP PERKINS, E. G., farmer, Sec. 35; P. M. at Maple Grove; born in Orange county, Vermont, in 1822; moved to Sylivan county, New Hampshire, with his parents and brothers; was educated at Newbery Seminary, Vermont; is a graduate of South New Market; remained in New Hampshire until of age, then went to New York City and engaged in the grocery business; remaining there four years, thence to Washington City as clerk in census office; in 1851, he entered 240 acres of land in Lincoln township, Madison county, Iowa, which he partily improved and then returned to New Hampshire, where he remained six years; he, with his family, emigrated westward, settling in said township for some ten years, then changed his location for one in Jackson township, where he now resides; in the year 1864 he was deputized treasurer and recorder; he was county supervisor from Lincoln township one term, and has capably filled each township office; in 1865 he was elected Captain of Lincoln Holmes Guards; owns 200 acres; he was married in Charleston, New Hampshire, to Rosette A. MIRRILL; by this union they have five living children: Edgar, Helen, Nettie, Clara and Alice; Charles died in 1874. TROBRIDGE, C. S., farmer, Sec. 35; P.O. Maple Grove; born in Franklin county, Vermont, in 1823; moved to Ohio in 1843, to Illinois in 1847, and to Madison county, Iowa, in 1869; he was married in Ohio, to Fannie OSBORN, in 1851; she was born in Pennsylvania in the year 1819; two children have blessed this union: Martha and Lydia; he served as a soldier in the late war, enlisting August 6, 1860, and was discharged at Springfield, Illinois, September 5, 1865, having done good service with the gallant Ninety-fifth Illinois; he now owns a home and 80 acres of land. ----------------------------------------------------------- JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP HAZEN, DANIEL, farmer, Sec. 27; P.O. Van Meter; born in Grand Isle county, Vermont, in 1823; he lived there until nineteen years of age; he then went to Franklin county, New York; at the age of twenty-two (1845) e came west; his mother gave him twenty dollars, and when he landed in Clayton county, Iowa, in July, 1845, he had just twenty-five cents in money; he worked as a day laborer, and received from twelve to twenty dollars per month for his services; in 1855 he married Miss Mary L.EGGLESTON, a native of St. Lawrence county, New York; they were married at Prairie du Chine, Wisconsin; in 1865 they removed to this county and located where they now live; he owns a farm of 400 acres well improved and under high cultivation; they have two sons: Burt C. and Carl L. McBRIDE, M., farmer, Sec. 22; P.O. Van Meter; born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1839, and when seventeen years old came alone to America, landed at New York city, went to Grand Isle county, Vermont, where he remained three years, and in the spring of 1851 removed to Clayton county, Iowa; here he was married to Ellenor HAZEN July 25, 1856, of the same county, formerly of Grand Isle county, Vermont; they have five living children, two died in infancy: Laurence, Carrie, Nellie, Cora and Hattie; Mr.McBride had the sum of $100 in his pocket on reaching Vermont, and from his indomitable perseverance he has now 240 acres of land, which in 1866 he found a raw prairie; his farm is cultivated with that thrift which characterizes the man that "paddles his own canoe" through early life; on it is found an apple orchard of thirteen-hundred trees; his homestead is one of the most desirable in the township. ------------------------------------------------------ LEE TOWNSHIP JOHNSON, N. W., farmer and stock-raiser, Sec. 14; P.O. Booneville, Dallas county; was born in Buenos, Ayres, South America, where his father was engaged in business, in 1829; his father was a native of Connecticut, and his mother of Rhode Island; in 1834, when the subject of this sketch was five years old, they returned to the United State and settled in Brooklyn, New York, and after a residence of one year removed to Connecticut; he early formed a desire to follow the water as an occupation, and commanded a ship from 1854 to 1862, when the business was ruined by the damages incident to, and growing out of, the civil war; while engaged in this business he was very successful, and on his return trip from the coast of Africa, after the outbreak of the rebellion, he barely escaped being captured by the Alabama, being in sight of the smoke of one of its victims; he afterward made a successful trip to the Cape of Good Hope, where he sold his cargo and ship at a handsome profit in gold, and returned to his home; he then started a prospecting tour west, and after traveling the State from east to west, selected his present farm in this townshp, and settled on 1863; it comprises 960 acres of splendid land in a high state of cultivation, and is one of the best stock farms in the county or State; the Badger river runs through the entire north portion, affording plenty of water and fine groves for shelter and wood, much of it being black walnut; he is a large stock-feeder, and buys a great deal of grain from those who have it to sell; he married Miss Emma JOHNSON in 1863; she is a native of Vermont; his family consist of his wife and eight children, two being by his former marriage; their names are Ellen, Wm. G., Caroline, Louisa, Emma, Nelson L. , Nancy and Nicholas. ----------------------------------------------------- MADISON TOWNSHIP PETERS, A. M., farmer, Sec. 11; P.O. De Soto; owns 640 acres; born in Grand Isle county, Vermont in 1829; came to Madison county, in 1868; before settling in Madison county, Mr. Peters was for several years in Clayton county, this State, where he was in the mercantile business; in 1854 Mr. Peters went to California where he spent fourteen months in the mines; since 1868 Mr. Peters has been living where he now is; where he owns the finest house and barn in the county, which was built by him at a cost of nearly $13,000; his house is considered by all to be the finest farm residence in the county; was married in 1855 to Miss Jane SMITH, of Essex county, New York; has nine children living, and one dead; Mr.Peters has about twenty-five acres of grove or timber planted, consisting of chestnut, butternut, ash (white), walnut, spruce and larch; member of the M. E. church. ------------------------------------------------------------- MONROE TOWNSHIP SHELDON, M. R., farmer, Sec. 15; P.O. Clanton; born in Vermont in 1838; he emigrated to Illinois, and lived there six years; he enlisted in the Second Illinois cavalry during the late war and served three years, and was in ten battles, besides various skirmishes; after the war he settled in New York near Albany, and married Miss C. VAN HOSEN in 1866; she was born in New York; he came to this county in 1868, and has made all the improvements on the place where he now resides; his success is an evidence of what all may do that have his energy; he owns ninety acres of land; has held various township offices; has three children: Myron, Delia and Charles. ---------------------------------------------------- UNION TOWNSHIP MCLAIN, JOHN, farmer, Sec. 25; P.O. Patterson; born in Ireland November 1, 1831, and came to this country in 1847, and settled in Vermont, from there he went to Buffalo and remained there two years, and then to Chicago and lived there two years, and came to this county in 1858; he wns 220 acres; has held office of school director; he married Martha WEIR October 3, 1855; she was born in Ireland; has four children: Robert W. born Aril 5, 1856, John T. born February 28, 1858, Mary J. born February 19, 1860, James W. born November 19, 1864. MCCONKEY, W., farmer, Sec. 26; P.O. Winterset; born in Wayne county, Ohio, and removed to Indiana where he lived nineteen years and came to this county in 1856; owns 140 acres of land; has held offices of town trustee and school director; he married Mary MATTHEWSON in 1849; she was born in Vermont, and died in 1850; he afterward married Miss Sarah J. TISDALE in 1851; she was a native of West Virginia; has five children: Nancy M. J. Patience, Maggie A., Sophia and Martha; lost one daughter: Martha E. by first marriage, and two by second marriage: Mary H.