This morning, a distant relative contacted me and inquired about the line of Joseph Maddera Jr. and Margaret Womble. Though I am not descended from this line, I do have some information that might help those who are researching it.

According to two independent Maddrey family researchers:
Joseph was born between 1752 and 1755 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. He married Margaret “Peggy” Womble (alternate spellings: Wombwell and Wombell) in Isle of Wight in 1784. According to one of the two researchers, the couple had four children by 1790. Joseph, a miller by trade, moved to Wake County, North Carolina, in 1797. Two of Joseph and Peggy’s children, born after the 1790 census was taken, appear to have been raised in Wake County: Josiah and “Frankie.”

Josiah married Polly Betts, daughter of Andrew Betts, on Oct. 3, 1810, in Wake County. The late Dr. Charles E. Maddrey (1876 – 1939) wrote:
“Joseph Maddry was evidently a miller by trade and came into southern and southwestern Wake with the families of Norris, Burt, Womble, Beets, Carter, Holleman and many others who came from the Isle of Wight and adjoining counties into Wake about the close of the eighteenth century. Josiah Maddry, evidently the son of Joseph Maddry and Margaret Womble, was born in Isle of Wight about 1790. There was always a strong and persistent tradition in the family that Josiah was born in Virginia and came to North Carolina when he was a boy. When I, Dr. Charles E. Maddrey, was a young man, my great aunt Tempy, then living in Texas, and nearly ninety years old, wrote me that her father was born in Virginia.” Later, Josiah “conducted a mill on Buckhorn Creek, a tributary of the Cape Fear River in Southwestern Wake County. In all probability the mill was on the site of the present Rollings Mill. Josiah was also engaged in farming. The family lived near the present railway junction known as Duncan. Josiah was a charter member of Holly Springs Baptist Church when it was reorganized in 1822. He took a letter from this church in the fall of 1822 and together with Polly his wife, became a charter member of Shady Grove Baptist Church located five miles west of Holly Springs.”
Dr. Charles E. Maddrey lists three children of this marriage: Jane, Samuel and Tempy. He notes that, according to the 1860 census, Josiah and his family later moved to Floyd County, Georgia.

In his pamphlet, “From Quakers to Crackers,” Robert F. Madry adds this intriguing anecdote about Maddrey descendants in Georgia: “The 1860 census of Floyd County, Georgia, lists a Joseph Madra who apparently relocated there. Some of his descendants owned and operated a traveling circus through the southeastern United States from 1830 to 1870. The circus was known as the Circus Madras and was based in DeKalb County, Alabama, but was moved to southern Alabama during the Civil War.”

I’d love to hear from descendants of Josiah or descendants of Frankie (who may be in Louisiana). If you can add to any of this, please post your comments on this weblog or email me.

Next:
Descendants of JAMES MADDERA / MADRAY / MADDREY (1750 – 1783) and MARY WOMBWELL / WOMBELL / WOMBLE

This weblog is designed as a networking resource for genealogists interested in the family line that originates with James and Sarah Maddera in Isle of Wight, Virginia, sometime shortly before 1680. In subsequent generations, their surname goes through a number of spelling variations, including Madray, Maddray, Maddry, and Maddrey.

The 1920 U.S. census shows that the Commonwealth of Virginia was home to 1 family using the name Maddera, 1-4 families using the name Madray, 4 – 10 families using the name Maddry, and 8 – 22 families using the name Maddrey. The Maddera spelling was more prominent in the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama and Utah. The Madray spelling was prominent in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, Florida and Texas. The Maddry spelling was prominent in North Carolina, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and California. The Maddrey spelling was most popular in North Carolina, where census records show 23 – 43 families using the name.

According to Oxford’s Dictionary of American Family Names, Madray and Maddry are variations on Maddrey, the Americanized form of the Spanish “madera,” which means “wood” or “timber” (from the Latin “materia”). One entry says that the name Madera is “probably applied as a topographic name or a habitational name from a place named with this word, as for example La Madera in Asturies.”

Several researchers have speculated on the origins of the name:

In a March 7, 1982, article in the Raleigh News & Observer, J.C. Downing says that the name may be derived from the Old English word "maedire" or "maeddre," which denoted a maker, user or seller of a red dye made from the root of the madder plant. Downing makes reference to Thomas Mader of County Norfolk, Jacob le Madur of Lincolnshire, Walter le Madere of County Essex and Thomas Madder of London -- all of whom lived in the period 1221 - 1327. Alternately, the name might be derived from the French word "madre" ("mother") or the Old French word "madre" (denoting the maker or seller of onyx). Another possibility is that the name is associated with a place in France called Madre, a Spanish place named Mader (meaning "place at a woods"), or with the Portuguese Madeira Islands.

Brian Kelly Madaris includes James and Sarah Maddera on his webpage, supposing (“although there is no strong evidence”) that James might be a son of Domingo Madeiras, a Portuguese settler whose own origins on the East Coast of North America are unclear.
See: http://www.mindspring.com/~kellcin/history.htm

Robert F. Madry Sr., author of an unpublished pamphlet entitled “From Quakers to Crackers: A Madry Family History,” says: “Earliest records of the Madry family indicate that they were Huguenots who came from the small French district of Madrie in the department of L’Eure and who probably had originated in the area of Basque in northern Spain.” He goes on to suggest that the Madrie family settled in the area of Stirling, Scotland, “where they probably were engaged in seafaring activities as indicated by the Maddera coat of arms.” A few years ago, Mr. Madry paid a visit to the Genealogical Society in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he came across a reference to Thomas Madoure, present at the Marches of Kyrknes in 1395.

The common ancestor of the Maddrey family in North America seems to be James Maddera. 17th Century Isle of Wight County Virginia, Will & Deed Book 1 contains the following entry: “John Murray sells James Maddera 100 acres in U.P. adj. Thomas Took Elizabeth Murray also signs. 20 Jan. 1681. Sam Cook.” This indicates that James bought 100 acres of land in the Upper Parish of Isle of Wight County. Robert F. Madry Sr. locates this property “on the east side of Lawne’s Creek about a mile south of its juncture with the James River.” He adds that “other property owners in the immediate vicinity were Thomas Tooke, Robert Flake, Capt. Francis England, Thomas Blake, Edmund Brantley, George Wombwell and Col. Nathaniel Bacon.”

Nathaniel Bacon is famous as the leader of “Bacon’s Rebellion.” For details, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon or
http://www.nps.gov/colo/Jthanout/BacRebel.html

According to one family researcher, James was a participant in Bacon’s Rebellion. She cites the signature of “James Maddora” on a petition found in Cal. State Papers, Vol. 30, Folio 84 as proof. Her notes also indicate that “James is the ancestor of the Isle of Wight County, Virginia / Warren County, North Carolina Maddrays,” and that “his son Zachariah is the ancestor of the Surry County, Virginia / Northampton County, North Carolina Maddrays.”

Based on a reading of Zachariah’s will (recorded in Surry County Deeds, etc. 1738 – 1754; Reel 6, page 749-750, Virginia State Library), she adds: “We assume that he was a farmer of some means. He giving his son ‘James, plantation where he lately lived, son John, plantation where he now lives, son William a piece of land on Pigeon Swamp known by the name of Goodman’s.’ All three children are given slaves.”

For more information on Zacharias Maddray (note spelling variation), see the website of Forrest Davis King, http://members.aol.com/vafdking/maddray.htm. The website also features a wealth of information on James Jr., brother to Zacharias. According to King’s research, James Jr. had three sons, Joseph (1725 – after February 26, 1777), Richard (1726 – before May 25, 1812), and James III (1726 – before August 12, 1760). Joseph (1725 - after February 26, 1777) had at least two sons: James and Joseph Jr. These brothers married the Womble (alternate spellings: Wombwell and Wombell) sisters, Mary and Margaret.

I believe that I am descended from James and Mary, who settled in Northampton County, NC in the late 1700s.

More to come...

The Lowlands near Stirling

Callandar
Originally uploaded by longblackline.

One family researcher has suggested that James Maddera immigrated from Stirling, Scotland.

I took this photo while passing through Callandar, near Stirling, in the summer of 2000.

Lawne's Creek

Lawne's Creek (2)
Originally uploaded by longblackline.

One family researcher says that the property of James Maddera sat “on the east side of Lawne’s Creek about a mile south of its juncture with the James River.”

This is a view of Lawne's Creek, looking north toward the James from Lawnes Drive / Burnt Mill Road in Surry County, VA.

Bacon's Castle

Bacon's Castle (2)
Originally uploaded by longblackline.

One family researcher has suggested that James Maddera was a member of Nathaniel Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

The Arthur Allen family's home in Surry County, Virginia, was occupied as a fort during Bacon's Rebellion. Today, it is known as "Bacon's Castle," and owned and operated by the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities.