| Biography taken from "The Adams/Wells County Record"-published in 1887 |
| James Jackson Maddox, ex-soldier, lawyer, justice of the peace and a man of more than ordinary career, was a resident of Blackford County since 1839. He was born in Highland County, Ohio, March 7, 1827, a son of Michael and Frances (Jones) Maddox, natives of Virginia, who were married in Adams County, Ohio, came to Blackford County in the year named above (1839), bought 147 acres of land in Harrison Township, on which they lived until the death of the father in 1845, and that of the mother in 1870. |
| James J. and Sophia M. Maddox were the parents of seven children: 1) William McKinley Maddox -born Feb. 20, 1850 in Blackford County, IN. Died April 25, 1888 in Blackford County, IN. Married Mary K. Melick- born 1846 in ?. parents unknown. Died in 1935 in Blackford County, Indiana. Their children: a) Sophia Maddox b) James Wilson Maddox c) Otto Maddox 2) Elizabeth A. Maddox-born July 13, 1852 in Blackford County, IN. Died Oct. 29, 1936 1st Marriage to Walter Frosh (no information available) 2nd Marriage to Harry Caffery; a painter and printer from Goshen, Indiana. Harry born March 9, 1851. Died November 25, 1913. Harry and Elizabeth had the following children: a) Will Carlton Caffery (no information available) It was reported that Will Carlton Caffery resided in Los Angeles, CA in 1970. NOTE: The spelling of the Caffery name. I have seen reports that spelled the name as CAFFRAY. 3) Jacob G. Maddox-a trader of Hartford City was born April 13, 1855 in Blackford County, Indiana. Died July 21, 1929 in Blackford County, Indiana. 1st Marriage to Lucy Blake, born 1857. parents unknown. Died March 1, 1888. Jacob & Lucy's children: a) Walter Maddox b) Grace Maddox c) John Maddox NOTE: Lucy's name also spelled as "Lucie". 2nd Marriage to Permilia Hughes. Born April 18, 1861. Jacob & Permilia's children: a) Ocie Maddox 4) Peter L. Maddox-the popular liveryman of Hartford City was born Sept. 26, 1858 in Blackford County, IN. Died June, 1911. Married to Lucinda Porter-born Sept. 10, 1862 in Blackford County, IN. Died June 3, 1931 in Blackford County. Their children: a) Edward Maddox b) Clayton Henry Maddox c) Harry Maddox d) Lucille Maddox e) Rollie Maddox f) Charles Maddox g) George Maddox 5) Alonzo C.Maddox -a trader of Hartford City was born January 25, 1860 in Blackford County. Died April 18, 1923 in Blackford County, IN. Married to Nellie May McNeely-born Feb. 25, 1865. Died Feb. 28, 1960 in Hartford City, Blackford County, IN. Alonzo & Nellie had the following children: a) Gertrude Maddox b) Edna Maddox c) Robert A. Maddox d) Marian Maddox 6) John W. Maddox -born 1862 on the farm in Blackford County. Died in 1935 in Blackford County, IN. Married Margaret Hannen- born 1866. Died Feb. 23, 1936. Their children: a) Mary Maddox-married Thomas Hanley Flynn b) Kathryn Maddox c) Florence Maddox d) Margaret Rose Maddox e) John Maddox f) Nellie Maddox 7) James Henry Maddox -born Jan. 3, 1869 in Blackford County, IN. Died Jan. 29, 1919 in Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana. Married Clara Frances Morris- born Nov. 27, 1873 in Harrisburg, Fayette County, IN. Died Jan. 16, 1951 Hartford County, Blackford County, IN. Housewife & Teacher. Their children: a) Margaret Sophia Maddox b) Raymond Morris Maddox c) James Mitchell Maddox d) Elizabeth Alice Maddox |
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| James Jackson Maddox date unknown |
| law practice and auctioneering. In 1869 he relinquished the practice of law entirely and turned his attention to shipping stock, buying wheat and other grain; and to general trading. In 1869 Mr. Maddox had moved from Montpelier to Hartford City and had purchased two-hundred acres of land adjoining, for which he paid thirty one dollars an acre, but which is now worth more than one-hundred dollars, many factories being located in the vicinity, and he also purchased other land in the county which has likewise greatly improved in value. He continued in active business until 1895, since when he lived in retirement, having partioned his property among seven children, apportioning to each from eight thousand to ten thousand dollars. Mr. Maddox was in politics a Republican and served as justice of the peace twelve years under appointment by the county commissioners-twice during the administration of Governor Gray, once under Governor Mathews and once under Governor Mount. He was peculiarly popular as a justice and during his term married thirty-seven couples. As a politician he has been chairman of twenty-one Republican County Conventions, and as a lawyer has cared for about two hundred and twenty-nine lawsuits. As a soldier he enlisted, September 16, 1861, in the Thirty-Fourth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, attained the rank of second lieutenant and resigned at Camp Weakly, Kentucky, on account of some disagreement. Still this wonderful man had no education in youth, having only thirty days schooling in his life. Comment is unnecessary. |
| James J. Maddox was about twelve and one-half years of age when brought to Blackford County, Indiana, and here amid the swamps and forests was reared to manhood. He lived with his father until 1845, when upon the latter's death he began laboring out as a farm hand at six dollars per month and so continued until about 1847, when he went to Omaha, Nebraska, and engaged in general labor until 1848, then went to Fort De Moines, Iowa, whence he walked back to Blackford County, Indiana, averaging twenty-eight miles per day. Here, February 15, 1849, he married Miss Sophia M. Miller. |
| Immediately after marriage, Mr. Maddox began housekeeping in Harrison Township on the old homestead, of which he had purchased a portion, but withih a year had removed to a farm his brother owned and which comprised eighty acres. In 1852 he had begun auctineering, which took up most of his time until 1860; but in the meantime, in 1856, he contracted for two-hundred and fifty thousand miles of star mail routes in Iowa, went there and sold them, and came back with a profit of two-hundred and fifty dollars. In 1860 he was admitted to the bar by Judge Jeremiah Smith and followed the practice of law until 1869, though during the interval he was engaged in Hartford City and Montpelier in merchandising as |
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| Pat Glenn, a resident of Florida and a descendent of J.J. Maddox writes about the James J. Maddox homeplace: There are two houses. One is a one story wooden house. that, I believe, was built first and they lived in that house while the other house was being built. The other house is a big brick house. I was told as a child that Mary's grandfather (James J. Maddox) built it. It was a beautiful house. Inside it had 12ft ceilings and big hand-crafted moldings at the ceiling, around the doorways, and on the baseboards through the whole house. There use to be a big wooden porch across the whole front of the house with a walk on balcony from the second story. There was a big back yard and behind the wooden house there is a big brick garage. The address is 302 E. Washington Street. Just 1 block from the downtown. |
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| Many members of the James J. Maddox family are buried at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery east of Hartford City, Indiana |
| James J. Maddox gravesite compliments of Pat Glenn |
| Mary Maddox Flynn (second from left) is a daughter of John W. Maddox & Margaret Hannen. John W. Maddox was the youngest child of James Jackson Maddox & Sophia Margaret Miller. |
| l-r: Thomas Hanley Flynn-Mary Maddox Flynn-baby Mary Elizabeth Grady-Betty Flynn Grady-Joe Grady (the woman behind the baby is unknown) |
| Descendants of James Jackson Maddox |
| The Home Of James Jackson Maddox |
| write to Pat Glenn |
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| Biographical & Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties Lewis Publishing Company / 113 Adams Street / Chicago, Illinois 1887 History of Blackford County, Biographical Sketches pp. 880 JAMES J. MADDOX was born in Highland County, Ohio, March 7, 1827, a son of Michael and Frances Maddox, who were natives of Culpeper County, Virginia, and of English and German Descent respectively. The father was one of the early settlers of Highland County, Ohio, and is said to have built the first blacksmith shop in that county. In 1839 he came with his family to Indiana, by team, and located near the Godfrey Reserve in Blackford County, October 13 of that year, where the year before he had bought 147 acres of land, and here the family experienced many of the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. The father died on this place in 1845, in his seventy-fifth year. His widow remained on the homestead until about 1869, when she went to Nebraska to live with her children. She died in Falls City, that State, about 1873. James J. Maddox was twelve years old when brought to this county, and here he has since made his home. He began life poor, but by good business management he met with excellent success, and is today classed among the wealthy men of his township. He was married February 15, 1849, to Sophia M. Miller, born near Strasburg, Germany, a daughter of Jacob and Christina Miller, the former dying in 1869, and the latter in 1871. They have had seven children, of Whom six are living – Elizabeth A., wife of Harry Caffery, of Findley, Ohio; Jacob married Lucy Blake, and lives in Hartford City; P. L. married Lucinda Porter, and lives in Hartford City; Alonzo C. married Nellie Meneely, and is engaged in the grocery business at Hartford; John W. and James H. Their son William, who is deceased, was married, and left at his death three children. Mr. Maddox started each of his children in life for themselves with $3,000. In October, 1861, Mr. Maddox helped raise the first company from Blackford County, which was mustered in as Company I, Thirty-fourth Indiana Infantry, and after remaining with the company for a time he resigned his commission as Second Lieutenant and returned home. In politics he was a Democrat before the organization of the Republican party, since which he has voted the Republican ticket. He is now serving as justice of the peace, having been twice appointed to this office by the county commissioners. He was a delegate to every State Republican Convention from 1856 until 1870, and also several times since that time. |
| BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL RECORD OF JAY AND BLACKFORD COUNTIES, INDIANA; THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 118 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO, 1887. Page 738-743 THE CIVIL WAR Blackford county was faithful to its patriotic duty, raising its quota generally by volunteering, and with the usual amount of drafting. A resort to conscription, by the way, is no proof of a lack of patriotism, as many intelligent citizens holds, with a considerable show of reason, that all soldiery should be so raised. Isaac Goodin and Josiah Twibell were, perhaps, the most active men in Blackford County in raising recruits. THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY A sketch of the work of this regiment is given in the history of Jay County, in this volume. In it was a full company (I), from Blackford County. From this county Benjamin G. Shinn was Second Lieutenant of Company B. Of Company I, Josiah Twibell, of Montpelier, was captain, followed by two others from other counties, and finally by Chambers B. Shadle, of Montpelier; Isaac Goodin of Hartford City, was First Lieutenant, followed by two from other counties, and then by Chambers B. Shadle and William F. Bryson, in turn, from Montpelier; James J. Maddox, of Montpelier, was Second Lieutenant, followed successively by James M. Butler of Marion, Chambers B. Shadle and William F. Bryson of Montpelier, and Reuben Bennett, of Hartford City. |
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| Third Generation- James Jackson Maddox son of Michael, grandson of Nathan |
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| MADDOX FAMILY HISTORY |
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| LIEUTENANT JAMES JACKSON MADDOX - 34TH IN VOL INF |
| Full portrait of Lt. Maddox in uniform. He was from Montpelier in Blackford County and enlisted September 16, 1861. He was in the 34th Indiana Regiment. Photo from Digital Library - http://images.indianahistory.org/index.php United States History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Soldiers; Military uniforms; Daguerreotypes; Soldiers--Indiana--Blackford County; Military personnel; Ambrotypes; Portraits |