Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. The Kelley R. Bailey Family was named the Outstanding Farm Family of the Year for Madison County at the Farm Bureau banquet held in the autumn of…
Category: History
Labor Day… why and how we celebrate
Story Submitted: When you think of Labor Day, what comes to mind? For many, it’s the last long weekend before school starts. It’s a weekend with picnics and barbecues, and maybe a…
TYPHUS Outbreak in Greenville
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. An outbreak of typhus in Greenville was investigated by the State of Florida in Feb. 1928.Major C.N. Hobbs, District Sanitary Engineer with the Florida Board of Health,…
Madison native receives Navy Cross for Valor in War World II
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Capt. Dale Leslie received the Navy Cross in 1943 for action he took in the South Pacific during World War II. He was awarded the medal for…
Former slave: Florida’s oldest woman lived in Madison County in 1970
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Many people live for a long time, but in 1970, a woman returned to Madison from Orlando and she had claim to the title of Florida’s oldest…
Greenville bank heist led by former Miami policeman
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Three people, including a Miami policeman, reportedly robbed the bank in Greenville on June 24, 1931. Foster Sloan, the former policeman, along with Audrey Logan and Yates…
Silent screen star hailed from madison
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. The footlights which once shown bright have dimmed to low, and the whirr of the movie projectors from the past have become silent when it comes to…
Before Lorenzo Cain… there was Archie Ware
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Before Lorenzo Cain ever became a World Series champion with the Kansas City Royals, another Madison Countian won the World Series and played in the Series three…
Madison Countians wounded, captured, and killed at Gettysburg
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men…
Meteor explosion startles Madison County residents
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Citizens in Madison County were startled on the night of May 29, 1859 at approximately 10 o’clock by what they thought was a tremendously loud clap of…
Murder in May of a minstrel and a woman
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. As the lazy month of May began to skip, instead of dragging itself, into the month of June and the summer months, the news during its final…
Play Ball! Madison’s “Lolly Coolers,” “Peacherinas,” and “Heavy Hitters” drain Lake City
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. In 2017, baseball is as popular in Madison County, as it ever was before. With fans rooting on the home high school and middle school teams, as…
Legendary lawmen search for wrong man, find right man
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Whether people loved them or hated them, they would be hard pressed to deny that Simmie Moore and Joe Peavy were legends in Madison County law enforcement,…
Like a phoenix, Merchants Hotel rises from the ashes after 1907 fire
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. A shudder of horror thrilled the crowd as they watched the pride of Madison go up in flames. Renovated and reopened only a little over five years…
20 years later, memories of downtown fire still charred in memories
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. The evening of April 18, 1997 was supposed to have been a night of celebration, not of disaster and near tragedy. There were not supposed to have…
Light & Darkness at the turn of the 20th Century in Madison County
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. The Fall of 1901 was dark, as it had been for ages in Madison, but measures were being made to bring light over the face of the…
History of The Hickory Grove Turpentine Camp
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. Eloise Glass Stewart was born at the Hickory Grove Turpentine Camp; and for well over 100 years, the Hickory Grove community has been her home. Mrs. Stewart’s…
Tree Scraper invented and patented in 1945 by John E. Strickland
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. On Sept. 18, 1945, the United States Patent Office issued patent number 2,384,976 to John E. Strickland of Madison, for his tree scraper, which would be used…
The haunting of a house in Lee
Jacob Bembry: Greene Publishing, Inc. For years, even while it was occupied, the house last occupied by this writer’s maternal grandparents, Jake and Ava Lee Sealey, and their daughters, Kathy (Wilson) and…
The sink hole ghost of Cherry Lake
Jacob Bembry, Greene Publishing, Inc. Among the lore of Madison County folks, you will find the occasional sighting of an unknown swamp creature, or, more commonly, stories of ghosts. One such ghost,…