J. C. Maddox

    J. C. Maddox, Montpelier, one of the leading attorneys of Blackford County, is a native of Virginia, born in Bedford County, 20 August 1819, a son of Michael and Frances (Jones) Maddox. The father of our subject was also born in Bedford County, Virginia, his father having settled there years before the war of the Revolution, where he spent the remainder of his life.

    Michael Maddox was reared to manhood in Bedford County, and was there married. He afterward removed to Adams County, Ohio, and later settled in Highland County, of the same State. There his first wife died. By his first marriage he had ten children. He was again married in Highland County to Frances Jones, a native of Greenbrier County, Virginia, and while on a visit to their native State Joseph C., the subject of this sketch, was born.

    In 1832, when a mere boy, he left his home, coming out to Indiana alone, stopping first at Richmond, Indiana, at which place he met a man by the name of Conner, and Indian trader, with whom he went to the Godfrey farm on the Indian Reserve. A man named William Rockhill, of Fort Wayne, had a contract from the Government to build a brick house on the Indian farm, and J. C. Maddox and a man named William Kaiser, of Randolph County, off-bore brick there that summer. He returned with Mr. Conner to Grant County, remaining with him between one and two years. During this time he traveled about the country, but made his home with Mr. Conner. He then came back to Indian Reserve, remaining there about one month, when he went to Randolph County, and lived there until his marriage, but spent much of his time in traveling over this and other States.

    In December, 1838, he was married to Miss Laura Porter, a native of Clermont County, Ohio, and a daughter of Elias Porter, one of the old pioneers of Blackford County, having settled on the Godfrey farm in 1833, when Mrs. Maddox was a child. Their marriage took place in Greenville, Darke County, Ohio. At the time of his marriage, Mr. Maddox was not worth one dollar, his earnings having been spent in traveling. After his marriage he settled about two miles east of Montpelier, Blackford County, on land owned by Henry Hayes, located on Section 1, Township 24, Range 11. This land was heavily covered with timber, which he immediately went to work to clear. He split rails for 35 cents a hundred, and part of the time worked for 50 cents a day and boarded himself, and many a time he worked all day for a bushel of corn. He remained on the land above referred to from February until June of the year 1838, then removed south to Section 12, where he remained until January, 1840. Here he spent much of his time in the hunting season trapping raccoons and hunting with dogs, the pelts of which he carried to Fort Wayne on his back, and exchanged for land, and in this way he acquired sixty-five acres of land on Section 5, Township 24, Range 12. This land was also covered with timber, and no improvements had been made save where the Indians had built a sugar camp. He moved to this land with his wife and one child, when the snow was fifteen inches deep on the ground. He cleared about fifteen or twenty acres, remaining there until 1843, when he packed what he could carry on two horses and went to the present site of Camden, where he obtained a wagon, then proceeded down to Wayne County, where he found employment on the White Water Canal. He remained there until the fall of 1848, when he returned to Camden.

    He was very successful while on the canal, clearing about $15,000 or $16,000 by his work, but as the company failed he only obtained about $10,000 of it. He invested all his money in real estate, knowing that this was the best investment that could be made in the county. He remained at Camden until the spring of 1849, when he removed to Matamoras, Blackford County, where he purchased a small store and carried on the mercantile business until 1853, at which time the Fort Wayne, Muncie & Cincinnati, now the Fort Wayne, Cincinnati & Louisville Railroad, was located, when he was elected the first director and chairman of the committee which located the road. He then removed to Montpelier, where he carried on the dry goods business until February 28, 1855, when he returned with his family to Camden, Jay County, taking with him his stock of goods. From that time until 1879 he lived at intervals on his farm at Camden on Section 12, Township 24, Range 11, and since 1879 he has been a resident of Montpelier.

    In the spring of 1839 the father of Mr. Maddox came to Blackford County, Indiana, buying 137 acres of timber land, on which Joseph C. settled, remaining on that land until January 1840, as mentioned above, and he is now the owner of that land. He was at one time the largest land owner in this part of the country, owning 4,900 acres, and is now the larges land holder in Blackford County, and has given to his children much of his land. His father died in the fall of 1847.

    Mr. Maddox commenced the study of law about 1862, and the following year was admitted to the bar at Portland, Jay County, before Judge Kilgore. He now devotes his time to his legal practice and to the management of his property. He has been engaged in every murder trial except one that has ever been held in Blackford County, and also the celebrated Walker case of Wells County, the equally celebrated Blackburn Lovell case in Ohio. He defended Mary Mayer, at Piqua, Ohio, who shot a man in the Catholic Church. In the Walker murder case his fellow counsel were Dailey & Mock, of Bluffton, Indiana, and John R. Coffroth of Lafayette. He was also the defending la3wyer in the Whitaker case of Blackford County.

    Politically Mr. Maddox was an old line Whig, but he has been identified with the Republican party since its organization. Some of the very brick which he off-bore on the old Indian Reserve in 1832 are now in a house which he owns in Camden, having purchased this house in 1865. This house was built in 1841 by Goldsmith Chandler, and he was employed in carrying brick and mortar for three masons at 50 cents a day. When he worked for a bushel of corn a day, he carried the corn a distance for fourteen miles to have it ground, returning with it the same day. Mr. Maddox has never been an office seeker, having found abundant employment outside of that line, and the only position of public trust he has held being that of a director of the railroad. He has always taken an active interest in the advancement of his town or county, and has been prominently identified with the development of this part of the country.

Source: Biographical and Historical Record of Jay and Blackford Counties, Indiana by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1887.