We’ve worked for years to connect our known ancestor Cornelius Maddox (d. 1705) to his purported father, Dr. Edward Maddox (d. 1694). Connecting Cornelius to his father promises to bring us to the beginning of the line of American Maddoxes, at long last. Now we have what we think undeniably proves Edward’s paternity of Cornelius.

After much searching, we happily discovered the Munslow Parish record book – a series of registers from a small and ancient Anglican parish in Shropshire, England. Page 93, covering parish transactions for the year 1651, clearly lists Cornelius Maddox’s baptism on 4 October 1651, along with his father Edward Maddox and his mother Ellinor Maddox. The Munslow Parish record book is online at http://www.melocki.org.uk/salop/Munslow.html.

We’re happy to have found Cornelius with his parents – finally – but just as importantly the same record book lists the baptisms of a brother Edward and a sister Alice. These two names confirm that the Cornelius in the record is our Cornelius because Edward (Cornelius’ father) would later list Alice in a will and list his son Edward’s widow Amey/Anne in a will in Stafford County, Virginia, in 1694. Also, according to the Munslow records, the younger Edward was baptized on 8 April 1648, a date that reconciles with the birth year that he would apply to himself in two Charles County, Maryland, documents decades later.