Category Archives: Maddox Cemetery

The Devil’s Backbone

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

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The Crawford County Historical Society recently pinpointed the various hellish-sounding geographic features around the Maddox farms in Crawford County, Illinois.

The Devil’s Backbone was a stone’s throw east of the Maddox farms.  It ran north-south from Heathville and probably paralleled or traced the current route 33.  It was so called because it went up and down so many hills.  The Devil’s Backbone was also called Purgatory Road, earning the name after a snake-infested swamp in its path swallowed too many livestock.

Devil’s Neck was the site of “The Battle of the Devil’s Neck” along the Wabash River, 3 miles south of Palestine.  The “battle” was really just an effort to arrest recalcitrant Southern sympathizers – mostly men who had avoided draft into Indiana units, including the “notorious” Harvey Beshears.

Hell’s Half Acre was a foreboding hang-out for horse thieves and other ne’er-do-wells, along the shores of the Wabash River in Northeast Montgomery Township.

Source: E. Tennis, Crawford County Historical Society Newsletter, January 2014.

Maddox Cemetery ghosts

07 Monday Jan 2013

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In our effort to chronicle the demise of the Maddox Cemetery in Crawford County, Illinois, here are some specs from recent research into its occupants.  In total, we can identify at least 13 people buried there based on two known lists.

The following list was compiled by Wilma Roesler and Imogene Bailey, June 1971.

1. Benjamin Maddox, died Aug. 26, 1855 – age 79y. 3m. 15d.

2. Thomas Maddox, died July 1, 1863 – age 43y. 3m. 26d.

3. Mary J. Maddox, died Feb. 15, 1848 – age 9m. 19d.

4. Amanda E. (Dau. of J.&J. Maddox) – died May 30, 1866 – age 5y. 28d.

5. Charlotte Maddox, died Apr.17, 1848 – age 10 days.

6. Susan Maddox, died Jan.10, 1881 – age 40y. 5m. 24d. (no marker).

7. Joseph Maddox, died Apr 30, 1884 – age 84y.14d. (no marker).

Another compilation, Merle Richard’s Cemetery Book, from the early 1940’s, lists the following occupants.

1. Maddox, Mary J., died 15 Feb 1845 – age 9m. 19d.

2. Maddox, Charlotte, died 6 May 1856  “Consort of Benjamin”

3. Maddox, Thomas, died 1 July 1863 – age 43y. 3m. 26d.

4. Maddox, Benjamin, died 26 Aug 1855 – age 79y. 3m. 26d.

5. Maddox, Charlotte E., died 17 Apr 1848 – age 10d.

6. Maddox, Albert A., died 5 Aug 1856 – age  2y. 6m. 23d.

7. Maddox, Jefferson, died 15 Jul 1875 – age 61y. 5m. 23d.

8. Maddox, Agnes C., born 21 Oct 1828 died 3 Sep 1856 – age 27y. 10m. 12d. “Consort of Wm. R. Landrith”  [Joseph’s daughter]

9. Maddox, Nancy A., died 18 Aug 1856 – age 1y. 2m. 29d.

10. Lane, John M., died 3 Aug 1863 – age 32y. 9m. 1d. [husband of Joseph’s daughter Elizabeth]

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The sad state of Maddox Cemetery

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

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The sad state of Maddox Cemetery

The Maddox Cemetery, located on former Maddox land currently owned by farmer Bobby Walker in Crawford County, Illinois, and containing the bodies of Maddoxes spanning three generations, has been unconscionably abused. We have sent Mr. Walker numerous pleas to sell the site for our preservation effort, but he has ignored or declined them. In 1995, we saw at least 5 gravestones at the site, but Mr. Walker has obviously destroyed and displaced them. Now, only Thomas and Charlotte’s graves are visible. It is shameful… and illegal.

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Mapping the 19th Century Maddox farms of Crawford County, Illinois

06 Thursday Sep 2012

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Here’s a map of the Maddox farms of Crawford County, Illinois. In the mid-19th century, beginning with Benjamin (III) in 1837 at the latest, the family moved from Christian County, Kentucky, to Illinois and bought at least five farms there over the next 70 years.  They lived within a mile of each other and were frequent visitors to nearby Flat Rock, Morea, Heathsville and Palestine.  Many of the family would be buried at the Maddox Cemetery, which is located on Benjamin (III)’s farm.

Missing from the map is a farm in the name of Joseph Maddox.  Joseph moved to Crawford County at age 77 (four years before he died), probably to live with one of his sons.  He brought his 5-year-old son John Napoleon with him.  He was buried in the Maddox Cemetery along with his father.