| Wesley Harvey Maddox was born in Highland County, Ohio on September 2, 1821, where he was reared until his sixteenth birthday. In 1837 he came to Indiana, having a brother in Winchester, Randolph County, with whom he remained from February until the following April, when he came to Blackford County, and after his parents came to that county he made his home with them until after his father's death. In 1842 he and a half-brother (?) bought 160 acres of land on section 36, Chester Township, Wells County, Indiana; giving his half-brother a horse for his share. At that time he had not a dollar, but at once set to work hunting coon and deer, and at the close of the year 1844, had his 80 acres paid for, and in 1845, he purchased the 80 acres belonging to his half-brother, when he went to Wayne County and began working for ten dollars per month. |
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| After working four years in Wayne, Fayette and Union Counties, he had paid for his land, making a trip home every year and going to Bluffton to pay his taxes. A log house, 18x24, had been built on the land by the former owner who had settled here in 1841. Mr. Maddox was married November 8th, 1849, and on November 22, settled on the place. It was then wild timber land with only an acre cleared, and their joint possessions consisted of a bedstead, a few dishes, two cows and two colts-but Mr. Maddox made a table out of black walnut, which he still has in his possession. (1887) He had been quite a hunter from the time he came to Indiana until he settled on his land, and from that time devoted his time to clearing and improving his place, |
| the above text was taken from the Biographical Record of Adams and Wells Counties-published in 1887 |
| On November 8, 1849, Wesley Harvey Maddox married Eliza Ann Grove, daughter of Thomas and Anna (Wilson) Grove. |
| Wesley and Eliza were the parents of eight children: 1) Leander Erastus Maddox 2) Frances Ann Maddox 3) Joseph Collins Grove Maddox 4) Thomas Grove Maddox- b) Jan 25, 1857 d) March 21, 1857 5) William McKendree Maddox 6) Sarah Ellen Maddox 7) Laura Belle Maddox 8) Wesley Harvey Maddox (II) |
| Wesley Harvey Maddox was born September 2, 1821 in Highland county, Ohio. He died on June 26, 1903. He was buried in Woodlawn cemetery in Montpelier, Indiana on June 28, 1903. Eliza Ann Grove was born March 11, 1826 in Fairfield County, Ohio. Her death occurred May 9, 1874 in Wells County. She is buried with her husband at Woodlawn cemetery in Montpelier, Indiana. |
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| Eliza Ann Grove Maddox was the first teacher in Chester Township, Wells County, Indiana and was the first female teacher in Wells County. The Maddox Schoolhouse was located on a corner of the Maddox Homestead. |
| remaining there until he moved to his present farm on section 24 of the same township, and from his small beginning has accumulated 328 acres of land, of which 218 acres have been cleared. In politics Mr. Maddox has been a Republican since the organization of the party. He has held among other local offices that of township trustee. He takes an active interest in the affairs of his township and in the cause of advancement of education, and has given his children good educational advantage. His wife was the first teacher in Chester Township and the first female teacher in Wells County. She taught the first school in Chester Township on land now owned by John Graves (1887). Mr. Maddox has experienced the privations as well as the pleasures of pioneer life and has witnessed the country change from a state of nature into well-cultivated fields and thriving towns and villages. |
| From "The Memorial Record of Northern Indiana". Eliza Ann Grove was the daughter of Thomas and Ann (Wilson) Grove. Her father was a native of Pennsylvania, and in the spring of 1837 located in Wells County, Indiana, where he died forty years later, at the age of sixty-six. His wife passed away in 1867, at the age of fifty-three years. Their children were Eliza Ann, Samantha, Catherine, George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Joseph, Thomas McLaughlin, Joshua, susana, Lewis and Francis Marion. The maternal grandfather of Eliza Ann, George Grove, was a native of Germany, and crossing the Atlantic to America took up his residence in Pennsylvania, where he married. Subsequently, he removed with his family to Ohio and later to Indiana, where his death occurred. His children were George, Joseph, Thomas and Lewis. Mrs. Maddox was born March 11, 1826, in Fairfield County, Ohio, and on the 8th of November, 1849, her marriage was celebrated. She carefully reared a family of several children, and on the 9th of May, 1874, passed away in Wells County, Indiana. |
| Third Generation - Wesley Harvey Maddox son of Michael, grandson of Nathan |
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| MADDOX FAMILY HISTORY |
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| Woodlawn Cemetery Montpelier, Indiana Wesley H. Maddox Sep.2, 1821 - June 26, 1903 Eliza Ann Grove Mar. 11, 1826 - May 9, 1874 |
| Wesley Harvey Maddox date unknown |
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