Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2000
From: BArnold147@aol.com
To: GROOM-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Great-Granddaughter of Abraham Groom, KY, MO.I have taken the following from information sent to me by Beverly J. Cordonnier, who has graciously given me permission to share it with all researchers. .......... Linda
Mary Ann Ellis Poage Maddox
1838-1885Daughter of Greenberry Poage and Hannah Victor
Granddaughter of Robert Poage and Elizabeth Groom
Great-Granddaughter of Abraham Groom and Jane Crawford
Mary Ann Ellis Poage married Samuel R. Maddox on May 3, 1860. Samuel was born August 15, 1831 in Jackson County, Kentucky, the son of Charles and Sarah A. Maddox of Clinton County. Mary Ann and Samuel lived in Clinton County, Missouri and in 1870 were were listed in the census for Hardin Township.
Ten children were born to Mary Ann and Samuel;
- John,
- Sarah Jane,
- Robert,
- Josephine,
- William,
- Adaline,
- Frederick,
- Laura,
- Henry
- and James.
"They resided in Missouri until 1871, then going to Kansas , where they remained until 1881. They then moved to Montana, residing there two years, then they returned to Kansas and lived there about a year."
(from Samuel's obituary)In the Spring of 1885 the family decided to return to Montana. During the journey, the family stopped at Medicine Lodge, Barber County, Kansas. The following are excerpts taken from a book, "Medicine Lodge, The Story of a Frontier Town," and tell of the evening of April 20, 1885.
"As darkness came on, distant flashes of lightning lit the black cold bank and the rumble of thunder drifted over the hills. The storm came close, with more lived flashes of lightning and crashes of thunder, but prairie dwellers are accustomed to violent storms, and the people along the Medicine went to bed as usual."
This storm, however, was different. The rain came suddenly and with raging fury, and "continued without interruption for five hours," a savage storm such as the Pilgrim Bard described in his "Legend of Flower Pot Mountain."
"The early town of Medicine Lodge was built on a rise of land between the Medicine Lodge River and Elm Creek. Spring Creek, rising a little way west of Elm, ran south past the town, washing the feet of the highland town site and connecting with Elm Creek a few hundred yard below. As the town grew, new residence lots were laid out on a lower flat between the occupied site and Elm Creek and new houses were quickly built there."
"Spring Creek was a clear, beautiful spring branch, scarce two miles long. Elm was a shallow stream about eighty feet wide, rippling between banks four to six feet high. A little below the flat stood a large grove of tall, well-branched old elm trees, the most beautiful spot in the county and a natural picnic and camp ground. All season long covered wagons pulled in to stay overnight, or for several days, while the travelers rested, washed clothes, renewed supplies, or looked for a suitable homestead location. On summer evenings and Sundays many a family group or gathering of young folks sought the grassy shade for picnics. On that Monday evening before the storm ten wagons sheltered in the grove and some forty people tended their camp chores, then went to bed, in tents, in wagons, and under wagons."
"The land on either side of the Medicine River and Elm Creek is high, rolling prairie, gashed by numerous canyons and washouts. Down these steep-banked ravines the water dashed in a terrific torrent that night, swelling the river and its tributaries. Barber County settlers living along these streams had been careful to build their houses and corrals on high ground, well above the known high water marks, but none had foreseen such a flood as now swept down upon them in the night."
"Big trees and debris of all kinds were rushing downstream with the torrent, crashing into houses and sheds, wrenching them from their moorings and sweeping them along with the rest of the wreckage. "Fence posts were snapped off or pulled entirely out of the ground and barbed wire was broken as easily as a man would snap a twine string in two." The water was full of heavy rolling quicksand, and "woe to the unfortunate human or dumb brute that chanced to be caught in the whirling mass of water and ruins."
"The heaviest damage to property and the greatest loss of life occurred in the flat, or bottom, east of town. Until Monday evening fifteen homes stood there, "neat and tasty, surrounded by fences and gardens." By four o'clock Tuesday morning all the lowland between Spring and Elm creeks was under water, a flood three to ten feet higher than the highest water marks shown on the old trees."
"Most tragic of all was the fate of the Samuel Maddox family. With his wife and eight [10] children, the old man was on his way from Chautauqua County, Kansas, to Montana Territory. They had a good outfit, two wagons, nine head of horses and mules, a large tent, a goodly supply of household furniture, and $1,500 in cash in a trunk in one of the wagons."
"The family was sound asleep in the tent under the trees when the first onrushing wave of water struck. Wakened by water flooding into the tent, they all ran for the wagons. The older members boosted the smaller children into the wagons, and then tried to turn the rigs against some of the big trees to keep them from being swept way, but the water rose so quickly and dashed against them with such force that they had to give up and climb the nearest trees to save themselves."
"The wagons whirled away in the darkness. One lodged against a cluster of trees in the grove, but the other was carried to a point just south of town, where it overturned, flinging its human freight into the flood. The oldest girl [Sarah Jane], a pretty lass with long golden hair, caught hold of a tree, climbed it, and stood high among its new-leaved branches, screaming in utter fright. Her terrible shrieks, it was later said, could be heard a mile away, bring hundreds of people to stand on the opposite bank, helpless and sick at heart. About a hundred yards below, her thirteen-year-old brother [Frederick] held onto the branches of another tree, likewise crying piteously for help."
"As daylight paled the darkness there were some in the crowd who insisted the screaming girl held a baby in her arms, then others said they saw her drop the child. In the frenzied excitement, some members of the crowd on the bank began to offer $500 to anyone who would try to cross the roiling stream to rescue the girl and her brother - but none dared to make the attempt."
"And then came P. B. Cole, his son Sam, and Frank McAlester, all on horseback. The Coles lived three miles east of Medicine Lodge, beyond the flooded area, and had just learned what had happened in the town and along the creek. They rode straightway into the water, swimming their horses toward the marooned girl and boy. Mr.. Cole took the girl onto his stout little horse and returned to the bank with her, while McAlester brought the boy out in the same manner. And when the rescue had been accomplished, the crowd let out with a cheer that could be heard for miles."
"The father and his eldest son, [John] with the two brought out on the horses, were all of the family that survived that night of storm and flood. Later in the day the other's body was found, half a mile below the grove where her son and daughter clung to the trees, nearly buried in driftwood and sand. The bodies of the two youngest boys were recovered nearby, [Henry & James] the other two girls [Adaline and Laura] were found not far way, and the body of the eighteen -year-old son [William] was taken out of the mud at the Kiowa ford, far downstream. During the search, Sam Cole the oldest Maddox son found the other wagon box and the trunk, still intact, with the $1500 inside."
"By Tuesday evening ten bodies lay in coffins in the district courtroom, while hundred filed by, seeking family members and neighbors still among the missing. Not a body was few bruises and scratches, though tender and careful handling had almost succeeded in hiding such unpleasant reminders of the horror of the flood. By Wednesday morning the graves were dug, and at eleven o'clock the first coffin was carried to the cemetery, after prayer by a minister and a song service by some of the good women of Medicine Lodge."
"The six members of the Maddox family are still buried in the Medicine Lodge graveyard, and P. B Cole's granddaughter, Mrs. Lois Cook, faithfully puts flowers on their graves every Memorial Day."
"Farewell, and be a requiem said,
For one and all who perished,
Sweet be your sleep, though buried deep
'Neath sand, or in the churchyard laid,
Your memory shall be cherished."Samuel and his surviving children,
continued on their journey to Montana.
- John,
- Sarah Jane,
- Robert,
- Josephine
- and Frederick
They made their home Sedan, Gallatin Co., Montana.It was there that Samuel died, January 13, 1915.
He was mourned by his five children - three boys and two girls, twenty-two grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held at the family house Monday afternoon by Dr. E. T. Gruwell interment taking place in the Sedan cemetery.Samuel and Mary Ann Poage Maddox and Family
1 Samuel R. Maddox b: August 15, 1831 in Jackson Co., KY.
d: January 13, 1915 in Sedan, Gallatin Co., Montana. + Mary Ann Ellis Poage
b: April 26, 1838 in Clinton Co., Mo.
m: May 03, 1860 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co., KS. (drowned in flash flood)
Father: Greenberry (George B.) Poage
Mother: Hannah Victor1. John Calhoun Maddox
b: February 15, 1861 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: February 01, 1926 in Wilsall, Park Co., Montana
+ Sarah Ellen Woosley m: February 15, 1887 in Bozeman, Gallatin Co Montana2. Sarah Jane Maddox
b: August 22, 1862 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: 1937 in Twin Bridges, Madison Co Montana
+ John Christian Seidensticker m: March 12, 18823. Robert Allen Maddox
b: February 20, 1864 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: April 30, 1943 in Yakima, Yakima Co WA
+ Mary Gertrude Morrison
m: December 27, 1891 in Sedan, Gallatin Co., Montana4. Josephine Maddox
b: March 18, 1866 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: March 09, 1950 in Bozeman, Gallatin Co., Montana
+ Joshua Young Woosley
m: March 23, 1887 in Livingston, Park Co., Montana
d: lived in Bozeman, Mont5. William Maddox
b: December 16, 1867 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co., KS. (drowned in flash flood)6. Adaline Maddox
b: October 13, 1870 in Clinton Co., MO.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co KS (drowned in flash flood)7. Frederick J. Maddox b: May 17, 1873 in KS.
8. Laura Maddox
b: January 17, 1874 in KS.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co., KS. (drowned in flash flood)9. Henry Maddox
b: June 12, 1878 in KS.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co., KS. (drowned in flash flood)10. James A. Maddox
b: February 23, 1880 in KS.
d: April 21, 1885 in Medicine Lodge, Barber Co., KS. (drowned in flash flood)