MyIndianaHome.net

"Jefferson County was ceded by the Indians by a treaty on August 21, 1805, in a tract including Jefferson, Ripley, Jennings, Scott, Jackson, Washington and Orange counties. The treaty, signed by the Delaware, Eel River, Potawotomi, Miami and Wea tribes, was made by General William Henry Harrison.

John Paul and Lewis Davis purchased the land where the city [Madison] now stands from the government in 1809. Paul, Davis and Jonathan Lyon laid out the town in 1810. The first sale of lots was held the following year."

"At first John Paul called the town Wakefield but soon changed it to Madison... The county, named Jefferson, was organized in 1811 and county records date from that time."

--Extracted from Madison's 175th Anniversary Commemorative Book

Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana
Written by William Wesley Woollen, 1883.
Transcriptions by Ruth Hoggatt & Howard Maxwell.

Lancaster and Eleutherian College
Written by George S. Cottman, 1925.
Transcription by Ruth Hoggatt.

Early History of Madison and Jefferson County
Transcription by Ruth Hoggatt.

Jefferson County: Business and Industry

Histories Written by Robert W. Scott:

Jefferson County: Before the Beginning

Barbersville and Buchanan's Station

Canaan, Indiana, in the Nineteenth Century

Jefferson County: First Visitors and First Settlers

Jefferson County Post Offices

      Newspaper Articles: History

      Graham Township History 1907

      Lancaster Township
      Not a newspaper article, but a history by George Strelby Cottman

      Milton Township History, ca. 1910?

      Monroe Township 1870

      Shelby Township History, ca. 1910?

      Jefferson County: Township Histories

      North Madison 1849

      Pioneers of Jefferson County Reminiscences of Daniel Rector, 1873

      The Pioneers of Jefferson County, Reminiscences of William Robbins, 1873

      Pioneers of Jefferson County, John Smock Reminisences, 1874

      Pioneers of Jefferson County Reminiscences of Abraham Wilson, 1874

      The Pioneers of Jefferson County, Reminiscences of Alex. McCallister, 1874

      George Buchanan Recollections 1910

      Ruel Custer's Accounts of Mud Lick and Bellview, 1913

External Links:

Jefferson County Newspapers
Indiana State Library's list of county old newspapers.

WPA Life Histories from Indiana
Several accounts of Morgan's Raid thru Jefferson County.

Texts & Documents From the History of Hanover College

Madison and Her Steamboats