Capt. Isaac Maddison

England

Death Notes

General Notes

Virginia, Prominent Families, Vol. 1-4; Volume IV Chapter XIII Hite, Madison, Fontaine and Maury Families. Madison Family.

"In a state document in London, there is a list of colonists who came to America in 1623, only seventeen years after the first landing of colonists at Jamestown in 1607. Among them was the name of Capt. Isaac Madyson, whose gallantry in the war with the "salvages," in 1622, Capt. John Smith so highly commended in his "History of Virginia," published in London, 1629, and reprinted in Richmond in 1819. In 1653 we find the record of a patent taken out by John Madison for lands lying between York and North rivers. This John Madison is thought to have been the son of Capt. Isaac Madison. He was the father of John Madison, Jr., and grandfather of Ambrose Madison, of Montpelier, who married (in 1721) Frances Taylor, daughter of James Taylor, of Orange Co., Va. From this marriage sprang most of the Madisons who settled on the east side of the Blue Ridge.

John Madison, Jr., was also ancestor to the very interesting western branch, which gave to Virginia her first Protestant Episcopal Bishop, viz., the Rt. Rev. James Madison, b. 1749; d. 1812. He took his degree at William and Mary College at Williamsburg in 1768, was the successful competitor for the Botetourt medal in 1772. He studied law under George Wythe, Chancellor of Virginia, and was licensed to practice, but soon after began to study theology and was ordained in England. He returned to America and in 1778 he was chosen first Bishop of Virginia, returned to England and was consecrated at Lambeth on September 19, 1780. During his first visit to London he attended the lectures on natural science of the celebrated Corvello and on his return to America he was made professor of mathematics and philosophy at William and Mary College. In 1777 he was elected President of the College, though only twenty-eight years old. From the time of his consecration as Bishop he did double duty, combining the duties of President of the College with those of his Bishopric. So enthusiastic and untiring was he in the pursuits of his calling, that he is said to have lectured from four to six hours, every day of the week, up to his last illness. His reputation is that of a refined and accomplished gentleman and an enlightened and liberal philanthropist. Bishop Madison married, first, Sarah Tate, and had two children, James Catesby Madison and Susan Madison, who married R. G. Scott, of Richmond, Va. There were no children by a second marriage.

George Madison was also a distinguished representative of the western branch of the Madisons. His parents, John and Agatha Madison, emigrated to Kentucky when he was an infant. At seventeen he enlisted as a soldier in defence of the "Western Frontier," was in several battles and, in St. Clair's defeat in 1791, was wounded. In the War of 1812 he was an officer. For twenty years he was auditor of public accounts and in 1816 he was elected Governor of Kentucky, for a term of eight years, but he died a few weeks after his election. George Madison married Jane Smith of Kentucky and left an only daughter, called Myra Madison, who married Andrew Alexander, of Woodford, Ky. Their only daughter Apporrine married Frank Blair, member of Congress from St. Louis, Mo.

Click here for details of Isaac's family with Mary Councilor