The many wills of Dr. Edward Maddox (d. 1694)

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by in Developing stories, Edward Maddox, Religious leanings

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Four accounts of Dr. Edward Maddox’s 1694 will offer little hope of making a father-son link between the doctor and Cornelius Maddox, our 8th great grandfather, but reveal an unexpected possible link to George Washington’s boyhood home.

Dr. Edward Maddox’s original will burned with other Stafford County, Virginia, court records in the Civil War, but the four secondary will records below imply that Cornelius was not included for land inheritance.  If Cornelius was a son, he would have had precedence of inheritance over Edward’s daughters Alice and Amey/Anne and over the local parish (see accounts 3&4), but he received nothing in these documents.  On the other hand, the doctor owned thousands of acres at various sites in Maryland and Virginia along the Potomac River and these four documents do not necessarily cover all of them.

The first three deeds, below, combine to form a 550-acre allotment along the Rappahanock River one mile below the falls, in Stafford County, Virginia.  This would later be the site of George Washington’s boyhood home, Ferry Farm.  The fourth account is for a 500-acre allotment along the Passapantanzy Creek in Stafford County.

1. The first account of Dr. Edward Maddox’s will is a 1710 deed recorded in Richmond County, Virginia, establishing ownership of 150 of 550 acres that Dr. Edward Maddox owned on Acquia Run in Stafford County, Virginia.  The first house built on this site (pre-1710) was recently excavated by the George Washington Foundation and the results can be seen here.  Here’s the deed:

“3-263: John Hamilton died seized of 150 A. in Richmond Co. part of 550 A. purchased by Edward Maddock purchased of John Waugh Clk. of Stafford County.  Said 550 A. is part of 2000 A. granted Col. John Catlett 2 June 1666 & by conveyances vested in Maddock, who by will 13 June 1694, gave 150 A. of remaining 550 A. not disposed of by his Will to Clark.  Endorsement by Marmaduke Beckwith, Clk. of said Co.  Escheat grant to Maurice Clark of Richmond Co. 150 A. on Rappahanock R. adj. Mr. Brent & John Robins in Richmond Co. 14 Sept. 1710.”  – From “Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants,” Book No. 3, 1703-1710, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1987, p. 44.

2. The second account of Dr. Edward Maddox’s will is related to the first account, above.  It is a King George County, Virginia, deed in 1722, claiming that Dr. Maddox willed a 200-acre portion of a 500-acre plantation (the same as in the first account) to his heir John Robbins (possible descendant of Edward’s second wife, Marjery (Stone) Maddox).  This land was “about a mile below the falls” of the Rappahanock River in Stafford County.  Here’s the deed:

“Indenture ffirst day of March 1721/ffryday 2nd March 1721 between THOMAS STONE of Charles County in the Province of Maryland Gent. and WILLIAM THORNTON of King George in Colony of Virginia .. by Deeds of Lease and Release .. for thirty pounds Sterling .. grant 200 acres about a mile below the ffalls of Rappahanock river it being part of a tract containing 2000 acres granted to Colo. JOHN CATTLETT by pattent bearing date 2 June 1666, 500 acres of which by sundry means conveyance passed in the proper court became property of one EDWARD MADDOCK late of Stafford County Deceased who by his last will in writeing bearing date 23rd June 1694 and duly proved in Stafford County Court December the 11th 1694 relation thereunto being had .. did give 200 acres of land above said of the said ffive hundred acres to one JOHN ROBBINS son of ROBERT ROBBINS in Maryland and his heir .. with this reservation and proviso that if JOHN ROBBINS should dye without issue of his body lawfully begotten said land should descent to JOHN STONE Son of JOHN STONE Elder of Maryland and his heirs forever which said parties being dead without heirs of their body .. the same doth descend to the within named THOMAS STONE only Brother of the said JOHN STONE of the whole blood as heir at law.”  – From 1721-1735 King George County Deed Book 1, Part 1, (Antient Press); pp.54- 58.

3. The third account of Dr. Edward Maddox’s will also relates to the first and second accounts, above.  In this 1723 King George County, Virgnia, deed, Alice Cale (probably the doctor’s daughter) receives 200 acres of the 500-acre plot that was originally owned by Dr. Edward Meaddock.  This third account of 200 acres completes the dispersal of Edward’s 550-acre plot along the Rappahanock River.  Cale’s acreage is specifically described in the National Park Service’s survey of George Washington’s Ferry Farm site.

“Indenture 3rd/4th March 1723 between CHARLES CALE and ALICE his wife of Parish of Hanover King George County and WILLIAM THORNTON of same by deeds of Lease and Release .. sold 35 acres for ffourteen pounds current money tract being on North side of Rappahanock River in King George about a mile below the ffalls of the said river .. it being part of a tract of 2000 acres granted to COLL: JOHN CATLET by Pattent bearing date 2d day of June 1666 ffive hundred acres of which having been passed by sundry conveyances at length became the right of EDWARD MEADDOCK late of Stafford County deceased who by his last Will in writing bearing date 23rd day of June 1694 and duly proved in Stafford County Court December 11th 1694 relation being thereunto had .. did grant unto the within named ALICE now the wife of the said CHARLES CALE 200 acres part of the said 500 acres of which 200 acres are hereby leased and is a part and includes the plantation whereon the said Charles did lately live .. bounded .. East side of mouth of Claburns run; land now in possession of WILLIAM THORNTON which he bought of Mr. THOMAS STONE; on run a little above Fitzhugh’s Mill pond ..
Witnesses Thomas Benson, Charles Cale
John x Hall, Wm. x Hall Alice Cale
ALICE being soley and secretly examined .. acknowledged her Right of the Land .. to be to the uses in the said Deed ..
7th August 1724 .. Deeds of Lease and Release recorded.”  – From: 1721-1735 King George County Deed Book 1, Part 1, (Antient Press); pp. 249-252.

4. The fourth account of Dr. Edward Maddox’s will is from a circa-1899 history of Stafford County’s Overwharton Parish, in which the author claims Dr. Maddox willed the entirety of his estate – 450-500 acres with a home along the Passapantanzy Creek in Stafford County – to the parish in 1694.  Importantly, in this account Dr. Edward Maddox was apparently punishing his only heir, Amey Maddox (probably a misspelling of Anne Maddox), by not willing anything to her.  But we know the doctor did have at least one other heir in the county – his daughter Alice, in account #3, above.  Here’s an account of the Parish register by circa 1899 researcher William Boogher:

“The largest legacy that Overwharton Parish received during the Seventeenth Century was from Doctor Edward Maddox.  The last will and Testament of Doctor Edward Maddox ‘of Stafford Parish, Stafford, in the Colony of Virginia’ was dated June 23, 1694; it was admitted to probate on December 11, 1694.  His only child, Amy Maddox, married without his approbation, Thomas Derrick and for this reason Doctor Maddox mad the following bequest:

‘I first give and bequeath this plantation whereupon I now live and all the lands thereto appertaining and to me belonging to be and forever after to continue as a glebe and manse for the reception and encouragement of a pious and able minister in that parish wherein I now live being commonly known and called by the name of Stafford, or the upper parish of Stafford County; and that after my decease it be well and truly improved and managed at all times for the intent above said excepting that while there is no minister to serve ye cure in the said parish then I will and desire that the said plantation and land together with all its profits and advantages (before the time of vacancy above said) fully  improved and laid out for the relief and support of such poor and indigent as in the said parish shall seem most in want at the discretion of the church wardens and vestry of the above said parish for the time being.’

“Doctor Maddox’s plantation consisted of between 450 and 500 acres on Passapantanzy Creek not far from the plantation of the Reverend Mr. John Waugh.  It was enjoyed as a glebe by the curate of Stafford [later Overwharton] Parish until after the death of the Reverend Mr. Robert Buchan in 1804 when Doctor Maddox’s descendants instigated suit claiming it was no longer being used as stipulated in his last will and Testament and recovered it.” – From Boogher, William Fletcher. Virginia, Overwharton Parish Register, 1720 to 1760, old Stafford County. Washington: Saxton Printing Co., 1899, pp. 176-195, online at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vastaffo/overwhartonparishregister176.htm.

Separately, three land records recorded during the formation of Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 1696 indicate that an Edward Maddock owned three of the by-then deceased Doctor Edward Maddocks’ former lands.  These three plots lie about 8-10 miles south of the current Capital Beltway, just east of the north-south Route 210 in Prince George County.  Since the doctor was dead by 1694, it is possible that the three 1696 parcels of land had been transferred to an heir in the years before the doctor’s death.  Or the records are in error.  Here are the land records:

Prince George’s County, Maryland – Land Owners at Time PGCo Was Formed – 1696: Tract Name: LYONS HOLE; Owner: Maddock, Edward: Orig County = C {Charles = C, Calvert = V}; Patent Date: May 8, 1669 : Ref: Libor 12 f 448 : Map Location: P-15
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Prince George’s County, Maryland – Land Owners at Time PGCo Was Formed – 1696: Tract Name: STONEHILL; Owner: Maddock, Edward: Orig County = C {Charles = C, Calvert = V}; Patent Date: May 8, 1669 : Ref: Liber 12 f 450 : Map Location: P-16
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Prince George’s County, Maryland – Land Owners at Time PGCo Was Formed – 1696: Tract Name: MADDUCKS FOLLY; Owner: Maddock, Edward: Orig County = C {Charles = C, Calvert = V}; Patent Date: Jun 21, 1675: Ref: Liber 19 f 100 : Map Location: Q-14

Field trip!

27 Sunday Apr 2014

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Steve Maddox, great grandson of John Napoleon Maddox, drove to the farmland of Crawford County, Illinois, this week to speak with Mary Burkett Laughead, a centenarian and once neighbor of John Napoleon, about her memories of the Maddox family.  Mary had been featured in a recent Robinson Daily News article, which detailed her long history in the area.  Here’s what Steve discovered:

“The trip started with a quick address lockup in Google……….unbeknownst Google does not have directions for BFE/Hell’s Half Acre.  I got lost and ended up in a cornfield access road, I gave up.  I drove to my grandfather’s house  and asked him about Mary.  He absolutely knows her, as a matter of fact she was his Bible School teacher when he was young. They are also good friends and share a cup of coffee occasionally.  We loaded up in the pickup truck and hit the gravel roads.  On the way to Mary’s farmhouse we passed a field and my grandfather pointed to it and told me that was where Napoleon was raised!  Bryon McGill had a 2 story farmhouse there, but is now gone.  It is due west of the Maddox Farm.  We pulled into Mary’s driveway,  for a 100+ year old farmhouse on 2 acres of land, it is in great shape and well maintained.  I noticed that someone was mowing the grass………..yes Mary was mowing the grass!  She slowing got off the riding lawnmower and graciously invited us into her home.  After the cordial communications and the birthday wishes, we explained to her the reason of our visit.  I asked if she was really born in the house………she pointed into the next room at a table. Enough said!

“Mary stated that she remembers all 8 children of Napoleon.  She was closest to Milford because of their age.  They played in woods and hide-and-go-seek. She does remember Irene and stated “she was a pretty girl”.  They were not close friends due the age difference.  We did explain the Irene story and she sincerely wished she could have provided some answers.  Mary was a fascinating person to spend an hour with.  She shared stories of her father and how she helped on the farm, and then took it over after his death.  They started with 40 acres, acquired 60 more, and the last purchase was for 80 additional acres.  The first 40 and 60 were farmed with horses, much like Napoleon.  She went to college in Indianapolis and returned on occasion.  Indianapolis has a circle in the middle of downtown called Monument Circle, it is the mecca for all events.  Mary told us the story how she rode the cable car across town to watch a show.  After the show was over she stepped onto Monument circle to witness all the “News Boys” screaming and crying…………Pearl Harbor.  She also shared a story about her father Hugh.  Hugh would dress up as Santa Claus each Christmas, jump on his horse and ride to the Maddox Farm to pass candy out to the Maddox kids.  Imagine the sight!  It’s hard to even imagine Christmas without the commercialize that exist now.   Mary is a fantastic person to speak with.  Intelligent, great sense of humor, and healthy.  My final question to her was “What is the secret?”.  She chuckled (I doubt I’m the first person to ask this question), Mary just looked at me and said “Hard work”.

“We did drive by the Maddox Farm on the way home.  The owners are building a new home between the original farmhouse and the orchard.  They will be tearing down the farmhouse.  If I could move it I would.  The owners are typical country folk and don’t like visitors.  We did try and get access to the barn when it fell, and they declined.  The only reason we acquired the wood planks is because of a mutual friend.  I would like to try and see if we can visit the house before it’s destruction and possible acquire some of the wood.”

Joseph the Baptist

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in Religious leanings, Revolutionary War

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We know that Cornelius Maddox was an Anglican in the 17th century, based on his British citizenship and his family’s name in the records of the Anglican Nanjemoy Parish in Charles County, Maryland.  The family’s 1790 move to Abbeville, South Carolina, followed the Revolution, and the Revolution resulted in a rejection of Anglicanism among many of the victorious rebels.  In the case of the Maddoxes in South Carolina, Baptist Protestantism was the favored religion.  Baptist Protestantism was gaining a strong foothold in the settlements of western South Carolina at the time.

When Benjamin (III) and Joseph Maddox left South Carolina around 1810, they settled in Christian County, Kentucky, for a few decades before eventually settling in Illinois.  We have now determined from Joseph’s certificate of marriage to his first wife Susannah Shelton, in 1825, that Joseph was a Baptist at that time.  On the marriage certificate is Baptist Minister John Bobbitt‘s name.  At the time, most churches were nothing more than open-air arbors, or services were held in settlers’ cabins, according to William Henry Perrin’s 1884 religious history of the county.  Minister Bobbitt would be buried in the Bobbitt Cemetery near Kelly, Kentucky.  It is quite possible that he was one of the originators – in name or deed – of the Mount Zoar Baptist Church, which was established in Kelly in 1841.

Of the many Baptist churches of Christian County that might have served as the Maddox family’s parish, the Crofton Baptist Church stands out.  It was just upstream from Joseph’s farm and included Joseph’s Long and Ford neighbors, and later was served by two Maddox ministers.

The evolution of religious leanings over the generations is curiously fluid.  Later, John Napoleon Maddox was a Methodist, but his daughter Irene was a Presbyterian.  Later generations have chosen yet other creeds.

The Devil’s Backbone

05 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by in Civil War, Maddox Cemetery, Maps

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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.

Walter Maddox’s war record

13 Monday Jan 2014

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We previously detailed the war record of Walter Maddox, who served as a fifer and drummer in the Maryland 7th Regiment, which wintered at Valley Forge and participated in notorious battles at Monmouth, Trenton and elsewhere.  Walter’s death is recorded in the National Archives’ “Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, compiled 1894 – ca. 1912, documenting the period 1775 – 1784,” on roll 0407 – an image worth keeping on file…

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Cornelius… not a “pauper”

14 Thursday Nov 2013

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We received the Maryland Archives’ official copy of the “Returns of the Deputy Commissary of Charles County,” 19 April 1706.  We previously explained that Cornelius was described as a “pauper” in this record of the bond posted for the administration of his estate.  Well it turns out that the “pauper” description is a clerical error.  In the original, the word can be seen abbreviated in the margin next to Cornelius’ entry.  In contrast, some adjacent entries for other deceased men are annotated with the word “inventory” in the margin.  It looks like a reviewer of the record somehow overlooked Cornelius’ (extensive) inventory, which was conducted on 9 March 1706.  A scan of the archival copy is below.

As a silver lining, this document proves that James Maddox was the first son of Cornelius Maddox – a question for some other researchers.  It also provides further proof of Mary Smallwood’s marriage to Cornelius.

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Maddox ties to the Luckett and Brawner families in Maryland and South Carolina

13 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in Abbeville, Brawner Family, Luckett Family

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Benjamin (I)’s will was signed on 23 August 1770 and his estate was appraised in January 1771.  The appraisers were Ignatius Luckett and Benjamin Brawner.  This raises the question about the relationship between these three families.

The Maddoxes were linked to three sons of Ignatius and Jane Notley Hanson Luckett.

  • Benjamin I’s son Walter had a daughter named Eleanor who married John Luckett, one of Ignatius Luckett’s sons.
  • Walter’s son, Cornelius married Susannah Luckett, the widow of William Luckett who was also a son of Ignatius Luckett.  We do not know Susannah’s maiden name.
  • Benjamin I’s son, James, had a son, Notley.  Notley had married Elizabeth (not sure if she was a Cox, Hussey or Martin).  After Notley Maddox died, Samuel Luckett, son of William and Susannah Luckett and grandson of Ignatius, married Notley’s widow.
  • We also know that Henley Maddox, Benjamin (II)’s son, was married to Jinnett Luckett, the daughter of Ignatius and Margret Luckett and granddaughter of Ignatius, and the widow of Pryor Posey.  In her will dated 25 August 1800 and proved 1 December 1800, Margaret Luckett lists Jinnett and her two daughters, Peggy, and Marsha Maddox.

That brings us to the Brawners.  Cornelius had a son named Edward, whose daughter Anne married William Brawner.  Their son, Isaac (1765-1830) married Mary Ann Maddox (1770-1790) but we cannot confirm her maiden name.  After her death, Isaac married Ann Taylor.  Benjamin I had a daughter, Mary Ann of the same age.  We show her as the wife of Rhodum Posey.  Other records show her as also the wife of Thomas Dyson.  Might this be the wife of Isaac Brawner?

Dr. Edward Maddox’s Justice of Peace role in Stafford County, 1691, helps explain Cornelius’ activities there

24 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by in Edward Maddox

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We recently discovered the book, “Notes From the Records of Stafford County, Virginia, Order Books,” published by the Virginia Historical Society in 1937.  Page 243 notes that Dr. Edward Maddox was sworn in as a Justice of the Peace on 12 August 1691.  We knew that Edward had a prominent role in the county as a major land owner, but his specific role as a Justice is revelatory.

Edward’s role could explain his purported son Cornelius‘ later activities in Stafford County – especially Cornelius’ 1697 warrant for the hunt for the fugitive Esquire Tom.  Edward’s Justice role might have given Cornelius entry into Stafford County lawmaking.  We already knew that Edward and Cornelius had strong links to Stafford County through their land dealings and their relationship to George Mason’s family (Edward married George Mason I’s widow), but Edward’s precedent-setting role as a Justice adds one more circumstantially supportive tic to the theory of a father-son relationship between Edward and Cornelius.

Distinguishing between Benjamins “senior” and “junior” in Abbeville, S.C.

01 Thursday Aug 2013

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It’s important to clarify the father-son relationship between our Benjamin (II) and Benjamin (III).  Census and other official records listing them as “senior” and “junior” help with the distinction.

Benjamin (II) is first called “senior” in a will dated 28 Feb 1784, in Charles Co., MD, according to CC Wills, 1780-1791.278, sourced in “Early Families of Southern Maryland,” Volume 9, Elise Greenup Jourdan, Heritage Books, 2007, p. 202.  Benjamin (II) is listed on the 1790 Charles County, MD, federal census, but without the “senior” title because his son was only 14 and not old enough to be listed separately.  Benjamin (II) sold his plantations – Posey’s Chance and Hornfair – in Charles County and moved to Abbeville County, SC, in 1790.  Benjamin (II) also is listed on the 1790 Federal Census in Abbeville, SC (p. 468), which was administered later in the year.

Both Benjamin (II) and Benjamin (III) are listed in the 1800 Federal Census of Abbeville, SC, on pages 19 and 22, respectively.  Benjamin (III) was 24 and running his own farm by then.  Their names still did not include their “senior” or “junior” titles.  They’re distinguishable by their ages and the ages of their family members on the census.

Benjamin (III) is first officially listed as “junior” in his brother Thomas Maddox’s inventory, taken on 7 February 1805 in Abbeville County, SC (Abbeville County CC Box 12, Pack 1459).

Benjamin (III) sold 100 acres to Cornelius Cook on 5 September 1808, but he is not listed as “junior.”

Benjamin (II) is listed as “senior” on the 1810 Federal Census of Abbeville County, SC, on roll 60, page 57.  Benjamin (III) is listed without his “junior” title on the same census, on roll 61, page 325.  Their ages and the ages of their family members on the census again confirm the distinction.

Benjamin (III) is listed one last time as “junior” on the estate sale record for his deceased brother or uncle John Maddox on 9 November 1810 in Abbeville, SC (Book 3, page 92).  Benjamin (II) is listed without his “senior” title in his January 1811 sale of 165 acres in Abbeville, SC, to Patrick Sperrin.  His wife Elizabeth released her dower rights.  Benjamin (II) died shortly after his 1811 sale of the 165 acres.

One unrelated family historian has argued that Benjamin (III) is identifiable with a Benjamin who was the father of Chandler and Lawson Maddox (who are later orphaned in Georgia), and who lived in Laurens County, SC in ca. 1790-1810.  They also argue that Benjamin (father of Lawson and Chandler) moved to Georgia, and later to Alabama, with many other Maddoxes.  This historian’s argument has proliferated on the Internet.  However, the genealogist Joyce Smelley Odom has demonstrated that Chandler and Lawson were actually Benjamin (III)’s nephews.  The Benjamin who moved to Georgia also was Benjamin (III)’s nephew – the son of William Maddox (1776 MD – 1867 AL).

Cornelius the pauper?

20 Thursday Jun 2013

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The book Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, Volume X: 1704-1707, Liber 19C:35 (page 75), lists a “bond of James Maddox administrator of Cornelius Maddox (pauper),” dated 7 March 1705/6, and explains that “Mary Maddox the widow renounced administration, in favor of the eldest son James Maddox,” dated 25 February 1705/6.  Benjamin Adams secured the bond.

The title “pauper” is jarring, given Cornelius’ success in planting, his known property, his marriage into a well-to-do family, the support system that his large family could offer, and his sons’ primogeniture-based land ownership.  But it’s very likely that this refers to our Cornelius.  Our Cornelius did die around the time that this bond is recorded (Cornelius’ estate was inventoried on 9 March 1705/6), his first son was named James, and Cornelius’ widow’s name was Mary (Smallwood) Maddox.

Reviewing Cornelius’ March 1706 inventory, the list of property would not place him in the pauper category.  Beyond the necessities – tables, chairs, featherbeds, soap, buckets and more – that would support a small household, there were luxuries, including a silk petticoat, 5 books, wigs, pewter plates and utensils, and more.  His estate was sold off at a profit for the family.  It’s likely that the term pauper was applied in a court document simply to flag what were probably disproportionate debts, since he died mid-career and unexpectedly.