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JESSE T. MADDOX
Jesse T. Maddox
of Vernon County,
Missouri
By Ron Brothers 2008 email:
ronbrothersparis@suddenlink.net
4020 Lakeshore
Dr., Reno, TX 75462
By all the census records Jesse T. Maddox lists his state of
birth as Virginia, as well as his wife, Lucinda Ann. They both
appear to have been born about 1799. Their children Wilson C.,
George Anthony, Elizabeth Ann, Martha Jane, Josephus, and Sarah D.
are listed as being born in Tennessee. Ezekiel S., William T. and
John Stuart, are listed as being born in Illinois. Sistler's
Early Marriages of Tennessee lists no Jesse Maddox in the
marriage records of the state before 1820.
Jesse Maddox appears in the 1840 Census of Macoupin County,
Illinois. There are no land records in the county recorded under
his name. There is a Benjamin Maddox recorded as a Revolutionary
War Veteran on a pylon with others in the courtyard of the Macoupin
County Courthouse, Illinois. This Benjamin is also buried in the
county. There is no established relationship to Jesse Maddox at
this time.
Jesse Maddox first appears in Monroe County Missouri on July 23,
1845 Book H, page 277, where he buys 36 acres from Charles Burton.
An interesting note, he gave land to the Christian Church, which no
longer exists there, on November 27, 1845 Book H, page 331. As far
as I can tell the Maddox family was Methodist and later became
Baptist, there are no members of the Christian Church within memory
of anyone. Jesse's first son, Wilson C. Maddox, is on record
marrying a Mary Ann Head in October 1844 Monroe Co., MO. In the
1850 Census Wilson C. Maddox appears with his wife Mary T. or J. ???
next to the Maddox and Curry families, living with the Maupin
family. I am led to believe that Wilson may have married twice
because after he dies, his wife's name appears many times as Mary
Jane and not Mary Ann, but there is no marriage record to a Mary
Jane ????, only to a Mary Ann Head.
In the 1850 Monroe County, Missouri Census, Jesse's daughter
Elizabeth, has already married Robert M. Curry. Yet there is no
record of the marriage in Monroe County. (Later, in Vernon County,
Missouri, another of Jesse's daughters will marry a John Curry.)
There appears to be no male head of a household of Curry's in the
1850 Census of Monroe. The neighboring family next to the Maddoxs
in the census is one headed by Rebecca Curry (Female, white, age 40,
born VA). The Maddox and Curry families remained close to each
other for years to come.
The United States General Land Office records grants Jesse Maddox,
Wilson C. Maddox, William T. Maddox, Robert M. Curry and John Curry
all, 160 acres each of land adjoining each other, in July 1860, in
Vernon County, Missouri, Section 22, Township 34, Range 30, about 6
miles east of present day Sheldon, Missouri. However, the first
recorded land deed of the family in Vernon County is that of Wilson
in June 1858 where he buys a plot in the Town of Montevallo.
Jesse's first record is January 1859. John Stuart Maddox, another
son, buys land from his brother Wilson C. Maddox in March of 1859.
So the Maddox and Curry family appear to have migrated to Vernon
County. However, another of Jesse's sons, George Anthony, stayed in
Monroe County for a while. In 1865 George Anthony is found in Page
County, Iowa and in 1870 in Yamhill County, Oregon. George
Anthony's first son, Jesse W. Maddox, had a Power of Attorney drawn
up to his father George Anthony Maddox from the city of Callao in
the Republic of Peru (South America) on April 13, 1873. Another
daughter of Jesse, Martha Jane, married Thomas E. Willis in Monroe
County in March 1857. Another son, Josephus, went on to Bourbon
County, Kansas for awhile. No contact has ever been made to these
three branches of the family.
Perhaps Vernon County was to be the hope of final settlement for the
Maddox family in their journey across the mid-west. The coming
events of the Civil War, unknown to them, would devastate the family
beyond their wildest dreams. Jesse Maddox appears in the History
of Vernon County as being a member of the grand jury of the
county which passed an indictment against John Brown, the
anti-slavery activist, on May 9, 1859. His son, William T., also
appears in the book as being among petitioners on February 9, 1860,
for the incorporation of the town of Montevallo which the county
court granted on that date. Jesse would not live long to see the
horrors of war that his family would experience. Land records show
the death of Jesse to be 10 August 1861. In the same book, Wilson
and William appear among the citizenry in the account of a battle
fought 13 April 1862 in the town of Montevallo against a troop of
Union soldiers sent there to round up southern sympathizers. Wilson
is alluded to as the “Hotel Keeper” and one of the organizers. The
small town would be wiped off the face of the earth before the end
of the war from this and subsequent raids by the Union army only to
be relocated and rebuilt after the war a short distance from its'
original founding.
In the Probate records of Jesse Maddox a warranty deed (Book R, page
60, Vernon County Records) selling a large portion of the original
homestead to Aaron Dillion on 20 June 1869, cites “a graveyard
containing one half acre of land, then being used, will be reserved
and exempt from the sale.” The grave site has been rediscovered in
a field about 1/2 mile off the road by this author and contains six
unmarked graves and one marked grave with the headstone name of
Austin. This site had long been forgotten but recorded in the
cemetery records of the county as the Batts Cemetery after a
landowner in later years. A title search showed that it has not
been mentioned in any subsequent deeds thereafter. One of the
graves is very prominent and is outlined by several large stones
around its' perimeter. It is definitely an adult grave. Since the
known dates of death for Jesse and his son William T. and his son in
law Robert M. Curry are prior to the date of sale of this land it is
safe to assume that they are buried in this cemetery since it was
part of their lands.
Etta Mae Maddox Bramlett told that her grandfather John Stuart
Maddox joined the Confederate Army in Missouri. No records of his
enlistment have been located at this time. He later learned of the
birth of his son Ben Stuart Maddox (Jan. 1863) and deserted to
return home to see his first son. A squad of soldiers was sent
after him and he alluded them by clinging to a fallen log across a
creek near the family home. He later returned to his company. She
told that at the end of the war he was returning home from Kansas
with another man and was ambushed by Jayhawkers and shot dead in a
field. The friend fell to the ground to pretend dead hoping the
raiders would leave. The field was set ablaze by the attackers and
the friend escaped in the smoke. The story goes on to say that the
friend returned later and buried John Maddox in the field some
distance from his home.
Etta also told that all of the male members of the Maddox family
were killed in the Civil War. She did not know of the existence of
three other sons, George Anthony Maddox, Josephus Maddox and Ezekiel
S. Maddox who did survive the war. Probate records are available for
Jesse, William T. and John S. Maddox in Vernon County but none list
the actual date nor the cause of death of any of the three.
However, the date of death of John Stuart Maddox and Wilson C.
Maddox was found in an affidavit attached to a land deed of Robert
Sykes (Book G page 64; Vernon County) and in Vernon County Circuit
Court Records of Pigg vs. Lucy Ann Reed May 1877. According to
these sources both John and Wilson died on 20 Feb. 1865. There was
no cause listed. It is interesting to note that the two brothers
died on the same day and would lead one to speculate that they were
involved in a battle or skirmish of some kind. History records a
skirmish at Centre Creek, Missouri on this date but information
concerning that battle has not been researched at this time. There
are no known burial records of any of the male members of this
family in Vernon County, Missouri.
The family farm was attacked at some unknown date by, what Etta
called, Kansas Jayhawkers and the two story log house was burned.
It is not known for sure, but Order No. 11, the infamous Union
condemnation to burn the homes of western Missouri county residents,
may have been the cause of their flight from the county. Mary Jane,
the wife, and Lucy Ann, the daughter, of Wilson C. Maddox were among
the family there at the time. Lucy Ann was allowed to carry a tea
set and table utensils away from the farm by the attackers. Etta
told, that Mary Jane, Lucy Ann, along with the wife of John Stuart
Maddox, Martha Jane, and her son Ben Stuart Maddox, were put on a
boat and sent down the Mississippi River. This could not be so, as
the Mississippi was many days travel from the farm and no
tributaries ran through the county. They may indeed have ended up
in New Orleans as Etta told, and it is likely they did, but not in
the manner Etta described. Etta maintained that in New Orleans,
they somehow met Tilford M. Reed, who fell in love with Lucy Ann
Maddox. Tilford sent the four to Lamar County, Texas to stay with
“Grandpa Hull.” After the war, Tilford escorted the family back to
Vernon County. He married Lucy Ann Maddox in Vernon County on 13
Nov 1866 (Book A, page 97). He is on record as buying property in
Montevallo, Vernon County MO. Book G, page 242, dated 11 Jan 1868.
For some unknown reason Tif and Lucy moved back to Lamar County,
Texas before the 1880 census.
Tif and Lucy Maddox Reed later moved to Choctaw County, Oklahoma
after 1900. Lucy gave the sugar bowl and a spoon to Etta before she
died. Etta was having the spoon melted down for an ornament in
Commerce, Texas in the early 1930's when she was told that the spoon
contained the royal “Stuart Coat of Arms.” No picture was ever made
of the spoon or it's embellishment and the spoon was later lost in
an old trunk left when the family was moving near Powderly, Lamar
County, Texas. The sugar bowl never contained a coat of arms and to
this day remains in the family in possession of Phyllis Gayle Maddox
Papineau. This author has examined the bowl and there are no
markings denoting its' origin or maker.
The significance of the spoon was that it provided a link with the
old story told in the family for years that all the first born male
children should be named Stuart because of a pact made when the
Stuarts married into the Maddox family. There is no known marriage
record proving this at this time. The marriage record of Jesse
Maddox has not been located and the last name of his wife Lucinda
Ann has been discovered in the Missouri Death Certificates of two of
her children, Ezekiel S. Maddox and Elizabeth Ann Maddox Curry, as
Simmons. It is a fact that descendants of Jesse have been named
Stuart, i.e. John Stuart Maddox, son, Ben Stuart Maddox, son of
John, Jesse Stuart Maddox, son of Ben, and Travis Stuart Maddox,
son of Ben by his second wife, and Don Stuart Maddox, grandson of
Ben. Some of the Curry descendants have middle initials of “S.” but
their exact names are unknown because contact with living
descendants has been unfruitful at this time.
The
daughter of Jesse Maddox, Elizabeth Ann who had married Robert M.
Curry, stayed in Vernon County and maintained a farm on part of the
original homestead. Robert died in January 1866. She remained a
resident there, unmarried, until 1916 when she died. Death
Certificate records on Elizabeth show she died 1 Jan 1916 in Sheldon
and is buried in the Toalson Cemetery in Vernon County. The
children of Robert Curry and Elizabeth Ann Maddox were: Sarah A.,
Lucy J., John N., George Wilson, Mary S., Thomas J., Jefferson C.,
and Martha M. Curry. Some of the families married into by these and
other descendants are Martin, Garrett, Ambler, Dungan, Wilson,
Hobbs, Yount, McClenagan, Jobe, Doyle, Rapp, Murray, and Arnold.
One of Elizabeth's daughters, Sarah Ann Curry, married Daniel Boon
Arnold and later inherited part of the original homestead of Jesse
Maddox and his Curry son-in-laws. Some of the Curry family sons
remained in Vernon County in Milo and Sheldon for many years. The
Sheldon Enterprise newspaper contained stories of George
Wilson Curry, Guy O. Curry, Denver Oney Curry, Thomas S. Curry,
Thomas J. Curry and Sterling Price Curry. To date no living
descendants in Vernon County, Missouri with the last name of Curry
have responded to this authors' inquiries.
Jesse's grandson, Ben Stuart Maddox, (the son of John Stuart Maddox
killed in the war) returned to Vernon County, Missouri along with
his mother, the former Martha Jane Cooper, in the Tilford M. Reed
party about 1866. It was told by Etta Maddox Bramlett that his
mother remarried to a man by the last name of Orall. Apparently Ben
spent the remainder of his childhood days somewhere in Missouri with
his step father and his mother. Ben married Nancy S. Ambler,
daughter of James Ambler, in Vernon county on 3 Feb. 1885. For
unknown reasons he moved his family of wife and two children back to
Lamar County, Texas about 1890. There his entire family died before
1892 and was buried in the Old City Cemetery in Paris, Texas without
markers.
It was told that Ben Maddox returned to Missouri, date unknown, on a
train one time and stepping off the train met “his old friend” Frank
James, brother of the famous Jesse James. Frank was 20 years older
than Ben and chances of them being long time friends seem almost
nil. The validity of this story is not known but it was told many
times by Etta, the daughter of Ben Maddox.
The old story in the family continues on to say that Ben Maddox went
to work in Dallas, Texas and helped build the first steel bridge
across the Trinity River. It has always been told that he worked on
the bridge before his marriage to Nancy Ambler. However, research
on the bridge revealed that it was constructed when he was merely a
child in 1872. A second bridge was constructed in 1892 and he could
have worked on that project before he married Mary Magdalene Reed.
In 1892 Ben married Mary Magdalene Reed, a niece of Tilford M. Reed,
in Lamar County, Texas. He raised a large family of which one of
the daughters, Martha Jane, I am a grandson. He remained in Lamar
County, Texas until his death in 1952. At one point in time, during
the late 1940's he yearned to return by train to his old home place
in Vernon County. His son, Elvis Coy Maddox, offered to drive him
there in his automobile. They drove all night and arrived in
Sheldon the next day. They drove to a nursing home to see his
cousin, who it is believed to have been Martha Mattie Curry. She
was sitting on the front porch and recognized Ben immediately
shouting out his name. She told him that few, if any, of his
cousins were still alive, but some still lived near the old home
place 6 miles east of Sheldon. He became discouraged and
disheartened that he knew none of their names and that they would
not know him. He ordered Elvis to take him back home. Not even at
his own son's begging to see the old home place would Ben consent to
driving out there, excusing himself to the fact that he was so old
now and would not be able to recognize any landmarks. They returned
to Texas almost immediately and Ben never again mentioned his lost
birthplace.
Vernon County Missouri shall always remain a mystery to this
author. It is the place where dreams were to come true for my
Maddox ancestors, but it became the place of misery, death and
destruction because of the Civil War. It holds many secrets of my
past some perhaps never to be known.
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Descendants of Jesse T. Maddox
1 Jesse T. Maddox b: Abt. 1799 in VA d: 10 August 1861 in
Vernon Co., MO
.. +Lucinda A. Simmons b: Abt. 1799 in VA m: Bef. 1820 in TN d: 16
October 1875 in Vernon Co., MO
...... 2 Wilson C. Maddox b: Abt. 1821 in TN d: 20 February 1865
in Vernon Co., MO
.......... +Mary Ann Head b: Abt. 1821 m: 14 October 1844 in Monroe
Co., MO d: Bef. October 1847
............... 3 Lucy Ann Maddox b: 14 June 1847 in MO d: 17
October 1917 in Kent, Choctaw Co., OK
................... +Tilford M. Reed b: 13 July 1837 in IL m: 13
November 1866 in Vernon Co., MO d: 03 June 1916 in Kent, Choctaw
Co., OK
...... *2nd Wife of Wilson C. Maddox:
.......... +Mary Jane b: Abt. 1823 in KY m: 31 October 1848 in
Vernon Co., MO
...... 2 George Anthony Maddox b: Abt. 1829 in TN
.......... +Susan Catherine Greer b: Abt. 1821 m: Bef. January 1850
d: Bef. August 1854 in Monroe Co., MO
............... 3 Jesse Weatherson Maddox b: January 1850 in
Monroe Co., MO
...... *2nd Wife of George Anthony Maddox:
.......... +Caroline C. Woodson b: Abt. 1820 in VA m: 12 December
1852 in Monroe Co., MO
............... 3 Martha Maddox b: Abt. 1854 in MO
............... 3 Sarah J. Maddox b: Abt. 1855 in MO
............... 3 Paulina Maddox b: Abt. 1857 in MO
............... 3 Lucy Maddox b: Abt. 1859 in MO
............... 3 Benjamin Maddox b: Abt. 1864 in MO
...... 2 Elizabeth Ann Maddox b: 16 January 1825 in TN d: 01
January 1916 in Sheldon, Vernon Co., MO
.......... +Robert Marian Curry b: Abt. 1830 in KY m: Bef. 1850 d:
Bef. January 1866 in Ft. Scott, Bourbon Co., KS
............... 3 Sarah Ann Curry b: February 1851 in Monroe Co.,
MO
................... +Daniel Boon Arnold b: Abt. 1851 in VA m: 04
September 1870 in Vernon Co., MO d: Bef. 1900
............... 3 Lucinda Jane Curry b: Abt. 1853 in MO
................... +James Rogers Ambler b: January 1840 in MO m:
28 May 1872 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 John N. Curry b: Abt. 1855 in MO
................... +Fannie Dungan b: Abt. 1864 in MO m: 05 June
1881 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 George Wilson Curry b: 08 July 1856 in Monroe
Co., MO
................... +Eliza A. Wilson b: Abt. 1856 m: 10 May 1883 in
Nevada, Vernon Co., MO d: 1889 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 Mary Susan Curry b: Abt. 1858 in MO
................... +Henry Yount m: 19 December 1880 in Vernon
Co., MO
............... 3 Thomas S. Curry b: 07 May 1861 in Vernon Co.,
MO d: 16 November 1936 in Caney, Montgomery Co., KS
................... +Emily J. Hobbs b: January 1871 in MO m: 13
September 1889 in Vernon Co., MO d: Bef. 1910
............... 3 Jefferson Clark Curry b: 27 May 1862 in Vernon
Co., MO d: 1941 in Doyles Port, Barton Co., MO
................... +Mary Ann Ambler b: 01 December 1867 in Vernon
Co., MO m: 14 March 1886 in Vernon Co., MO d: in Iantha, Barton Co.,
MO
............... 3 Martha Mattie Curry b: Abt. 1864 in Vernon Co.,
MO d: 30 January 1955 in Nevada, Vernon Co., MO
...... 2 Martha J. Maddox b: Abt. 1831 in TN
.......... +Thomas E. Willis m: 09 March 1857 in Monroe Co., MO
...... 2 Josephus Maddox b: Abt. 1831 in IL
.......... +Mary Ann b: Abt. 1835 in IL m: Bef. 1853
............... 3 James F. Maddox b: Abt. 1854 in MO
............... 3 Charles W. Maddox b: Abt. 1856 in MO
............... 3 Jesse R. Maddox b: Abt. 1857 in MO
............... 3 Lucy F. Maddox b: Abt. 1859 in MO
...... 2 Sarah D. (Sariah) Maddox b: Abt. 1833 in IL
.......... +John M. Curry b: Abt. 1835 in KY m: 17 September 1857
in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 Sterling Price Curry b: July 1861 in Vernon Co.,
MO d: 17 February 1928 in Vernon Co., MO
................... +Laura Loretta Martin b: July 1861 in MO m: 25
March 1885 in Vernon Co., MO d: 1938
............... 3 Martha Curry b: Abt. 1864 in Vernon Co., MO
...... 2 Ezekiel S. Maddox b: 03 February 1836 in Monroe Co., MO
d: 23 November 1920 in Atlanta, Macon Co., MO
.......... +Malissa J. Wright b: 04 September 1841 in MO m: 06
December 1860 in Vernon Co., MO d: 08 July 1885 in Macon Co., MO
............... 3 James A. Maddox b: Abt. 1864 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 Lew Ellen Maddox b: Abt. 1864 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 Ann E. Maddox b: Abt. 1868 in Vernon Co., MO
............... 3 Mary J. Maddox b: Abt. 1876 in MO
............... 3 Infant Maddox b: 23 June 1877 in Macon Co., MO
d: 10 August 1877 in Macon Co., MO
...... *2nd Wife of Ezekiel S. Maddox:
.......... +Ida Augusta Bryan b: 25 November 1865 in Tinneus, Linn
Co., MO m: 27 May 1894 in Sheldon, Vernon Co., MO d: 12 May 1945 in
Iantha, Barton Co., MO
...... 2 William T. Maddox b: Abt. 1838 in IL d: Bef. July 1869
in Vernon Co., MO
...... 2 John Stuart Maddox b: Abt. 1841 in IL d: 20 February
1865 in Vernon Co., MO
.......... +Martha Jane Cooper b: Abt. 1838 in IL m: 30 January
1862 in Vernon Co., MO d: Bef. August 1904 in MO
............... 3 Benjamin Stuart Maddox b: 10 January 1863 in
Sheldon, Vernon Co., MO d: 02 June 1952 in Paris, Lamar Co., TX
................... +Nancy S. Ambler b: Abt. 1865 in MO m: 03
February 1885 in Vernon Co., MO d: Bef. 1891 in Paris, Lamar Co., TX
............... *2nd Wife of Benjamin Stuart Maddox:
................... +Mary Magdeline Reed b: 03 August 1873 in
Powderly, Lamar Co., TX m: 07 December 1892 in Paris, Lamar Co., TX
d: 19 September 1912 in Powderly, Lamar Co., TX |
