Lingle: Madison 1871

William S. Lingle gave an enthusiastic endorsement of Madison. The West Lafayette journalist was not a completely un-biased observer. He was the son of Hinds of Madison, who was first married to his mother.

“We have been accustomed of late years to hear Madison spoken of as one of the dead cities of the Northwest, and while everybody conceded the rare beauty and remarkable healthfulness of her situation, the insisted they every element of development had been paralyzed and her days were numbered.

Everybody who knows Madison by heart, loves the place—loves the people, and while mourning her departed greatness, they were ready to believe that when a good man died in the tribulation of such ‘earth-earthy’ places as Lafayette or Chicago, he went straight to Madison for eternal purpose. But we enter protest against the popular verdict, and having visited Madison within the past ten days, we beg to say if sin her behalf that if dead she is a very lively corpse. By courtesy of old-time friends we went through her shipyard and marine railway, where one hundred and fifth men are employed—through her starch factories, where labor, the soul of a city’s growth, finds remunerative rewards, and were eighteen hundred bushels of corn are consumed daily! We visited its extensive sirup factories, where the saccharine, maple flavored, golden and toothsome, is manufactured from corn on the Belgian process. We found, in short, to epitomize the memoranda of a three days’ inspection, that the manufacturing industry of this modern Herculaneum averages over a million dollars a per month.

Actual production and value of raw material. She manufactures saddle trees by the thousand, and can launch a new steamboat for her marine railway every sixty days—all complete, with engines, boilers, and entire outfit of Madison manufacture. Dead, indeed! Why there is not a vacant house in the city-not one.

Of course there is not the bustle and activity that distinguished Madison in that earlier epoch when her line of railway monopolized and all commerce and communication with Indianapolis and the State stated the erection of new works of greater capacity. The total cost of the new works will amount to about $800,000. When the mains and connections shall all have been completed, an abundance of pure water, both for manufacturing and household purposes will be supplied to consumers of low rates.”

John Hawkins 1819/1820

In his letters to his family in Baltimore, John Hawkins spent most of his time expressing religious views. But his letters also contains nuggets of information about daily life in the Madison area.

"Life of John H.W. Hawkins, compiled by his son, Rev. William George Hawkins A.M.."

New York: 1859. Sheldon Blakeman & Co.

Bedford, Ky. Nov. I7, 18I9.

I have been working for a Mr. Thompson, in Bedford, eleven miles from Madison, ever since the 23d of August, and expect to work for him all winter. I get better wages than I got in Baltimore or anywhere else. Board is low, — two dollars and a half per week. I shall soon be in want of some linen, but do not like to pay what they ask for it in this country. Linen that you can get in Baltimore for fifty cents, they ask one dollar and a half for here, and this is too extravagant. If you can possibly find an opportunity of sending me enough for the present, I will compensate you for it if I am ever privileged to see you again, which I hope I may next spring.

Madison, Indiana, Dec. 2I, 1819.

Bring tea and coffee with you, for these are scarce articles here; coffee sells at fifty and sixty-two and a half cents per pound, tea at three dollars and fifty cents per pound. I know not when I shall see Baltimore again; perhaps not before next fall; it may be not before a year from that time.

Madison Feb. 26, 1820.

I feel indebted to you for your fatherly advice; certainly, you could not do me a greater favor, at present, than to forward me such wholesome food. Receive my sincere thanks, for it is the only reward I can offer you at present. You know the way; go on, and God will, in the end, take you to himself. I must now give you some detail of the times in the West. There is general suffering among the people. I never witnessed such distressed families as I have seen in the past few months. Only reflect; it has now been eleven months since I left you, and I have done but five months' work; this, certainly, is discouraging. I must leave the country. If I could raise the money I would come on to Baltimore immediately.