History of Madera

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-47423994-1', 'fortunecity.ws'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> <center> <br> <div> <script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="http://ad.broadcaststation.net/ads/show_ad.php?width=728&height=90"></script> </div> </center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=185 BGCOLOR="#003333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="0e1cac00dduajq.jpg"> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Browse My Site</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Madera"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family Tree"><U><B>Family Tree</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="History of Madera"><U><B>History of Madera</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Newspaper Ads"><U><B>Newspaper Ads</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Liberty Theater"><U><B>Liberty Theater</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pictures"><U><B>Pictures</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Madera Pioneers"><U><B>Madera Pioneers</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Madera Map"><U><B>Madera Map</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:tsh03@zwallet.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:tsh03@zwallet.com"><U><B>Email Me</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Comments"><U><B>Comments?</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Madera</B><B> & Hensal Genealogy</B></div> <bR> <div> History of Madera</div> <div> this is a brief history of MADERA, which came from a booklet that was published for the sesquicentennial of the town. it states as follows:</div> <bR> <div> The name Alexander is of Grecian origin and signifies a "Helper of Men." Alexander McDonald, second son of Donal, King of the Isles, had two sons who adopted the Christian name of their father as a surname for themselves and their descendants. Thus, a numerous clan of Alexanders descended from the ancient clan of the McDonalds, including both a nobility and a commonality. They came from the South of Scotland about Glasgow, Edinburg, and Stirling. Their cheifs were the Earls of Stirling and Devon</div> <bR> <div> John Alexander, the ancestor of our family in this country, was born in Scotland about the year 1700. He was the son of Thomas Alexander, of Lanark. He married Margaret Glasson, of the city of Glasgow, emigrated to county Armaugh, Ireland, and after a few years came to America in 1736. John Alexander brought with him his wife his sons Hugh, James and John; his daughters Margaret and Rachel.</div> <bR> <div> James Alexander, second son of John, married Rosey Reed, her mother was the Indian Princess Osceola, daughter of Oskinaway. Oskinaway was later Chief of the Culla-poohas Indians in California. James Alexander settled is Kishycoquillis Valley, near Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Lewsitown was then known as the Indian village of Ohesson. When the Delaware chief, Captain Jacobs, with his tribe from Kittaning, swept through the valley in 1756 the Alexanders fled to Carlisle. On returning they found their cabin had been burned by the Indians. James Alexander built a new home and called it "The Oaks", a fort-like structure of high oak logs. This old house is still standing today. James Alexander's nearest neighbor was the friendly Indian, Chief Logan.</div> <bR> <div> James Alexander was at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78, attached to the Commissary Department. For his services he received warrants for land which he later located in Clearfield County. To claim the land authorized by the warrants, he sent his friend John Reed up the Susquehanna River. Reed found favorable land above the anarrows on the Big Clearfield Creek where he carved the initials J.A. and J.R. on a large ash tree. This tree was the oldest landmark on the Clearfield Creek.</div> <bR> <div>  A surveying expedition was soon organized with Robert representing his father. They left the valley on the 10th of October 1784 and reached Clearfield Creek by the 27th. The following day beginning at the famous Ash Corner, surveys were made on the east side of the creek. This party of fourteen men attracted the attention of the Ricketts family. They came down the creek and warned them not to intrude on their land which they claimed by improvement.</div> <bR> <div> James Alexander's only visit to his lands on Clearfield Creek was in 1785 when he and his son Robert bought a flat bottom boat at Lock Haven and dragged it by means of a horse, all the way up the Susquehanna and Clearfield Creek, to the mouth of Muddy Run. Mr. Alexander owned four tracts of land here and willed one to each of his four youngest sons. The James Alexander tract became the property of William B. Alexander through an agreement with the other three brothers. In 1800 when 18 years of age, he visited the lands on Clearfield Creek and left a pint of apple seed with an old man who lived near the Moshannon Creek. When he settled on his tract, he planted an orchard of trees grown from that seed, known as "The Old Alexander Orchard."</div> <bR> <div> In 1809, he emigrated across the Allegheny Mountains to Clearfield Creek, conveying to his wife Nancy Agness, and two children and all their belongings on pack horses. Here he founded a new settlement and lived to be 80 years old. William B. died March 1862.</div> <bR> <div> William B. Alexander had followed his fathers dream of planting a settlement in the wilderness. The tract was soon occupied by the homes of his large family and this place was known as "Alexander's Fording."</div> <bR> <div> The Alexanders lived an uneventful life at the Ford until rafting began to attract speculators and industrialists from the East. The easterners were considered as intruders. Although the Hagerty's, Shoff's, and Whiteside's ahd settled at an early date they too were farmers so the quietness of Alexander's Fording lasted for fifty years.</div> <bR> <div> Charles J. Pusey and company arrived at Alexander's Fording, in 1859. The Pusey family became wealthy in the milling business and came here to establish their trade for the grain fields had begun to move West. It was not easy to buy land from the Hagerty's or Alexander's. Charles J. Pusey and his brother Joseph Pusey built a dam across the creek below the Ford. Proving their intentions and with all parties satisified, they purchased land on the East from William B. Alexander and on the West from James Hagerty. A sawmill and grist mill were then built, both operated by water power from the dam. The sawmill has disappeared beyond our memory. Floods have torn through the dam but the grist mill still stands a giant mass of timber, so secure as to withstand the yearly battering of raging water, logs, and ice.</div> <bR> <div> The settlement of mill workers, clustered around the Pusey home on the West bank of Clearfield Creek was known as Puseyville.</div> <bR> <div> The Madera Post Office was established January 11, 1861, by Charles J. Pusey. Mr. Pusey's wife, Ruth Atkins, selected the name "Madera" as a tribute to a very close friend of her brother. Her brother was in the iron business at Pottsville, PA.</div> <bR> <div> In 1862, Robert Alexander, son of William B. Alexander, laid out a town on the East bank of Clearfield Creek directly opposite Puseyville and named it Alexandersburg. This is now the main business section of Madera. The name Alexandersburg was not accepted by the people and only appeared on the original deeds. Charles J. Pusey left Puseyville in 1863 and the new postmaster, James G. Derby, moved the Post Office across the bridge to the new town.</div> <bR> <div> The first covered bridge was built in 1861 bringing the two towns together as one community for the first time. The trend to abolish private post offices and change the name to suit the town worked the opposite here. The name Madera was so popular that it gradually became recognized as the official name of the community made up o fthe settlements of Alexander's Fording, Alexandersburg, and Pusyeville.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family Tree"><U>Family Tree</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Newspaper Ads"><U>Newspaper Ads</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Liberty Theater"><U>Liberty Theater</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Pictures"><U>Pictures</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Madera Pioneers"><U>Madera Pioneers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Madera Map"><U>Madera Map</U></A>   |   History of Madera   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Comments"><U>Comments</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>