Ambrose Madison
Ambrose Madison | |
---|---|
Born | Orange County, Colony of Virginia | January 17, 1696
Died | August 27, 1732 Orange County, Colony of Virginia | (aged 36)
Cause of death | Murder by poison |
Occupation(s) | Planter and politician |
Spouse | Frances Taylor (m. 1721–1732; his death) |
Children | James Madison Sr. |
Parent(s) | John Madison Isabella Avarilla Minor Todd |
Relatives | Lt. Col. John Madison Sr. (grandfather) |
Ambrose Madison (January 17, 1696 – August 27, 1732) was an American planter and politician in the Piedmont of Virginia Colony. He married Frances Taylor in 1721, daughter of James Taylor, a member of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Tidewater. Through her father, Madison and his brother-in-law Thomas Chew were aided in acquiring 4,675 acres in 1723, in what became Orange County.[1] There he developed his tobacco plantation known as Mount Pleasant (and later as Montpelier.) The Madisons were parents of James Madison Sr. and paternal grandparents of President James Madison.
After Madison died of a short illness in August 1732, three slaves were convicted of poisoning him, and one was executed for the crime. It was the first time in Virginia that slaves were convicted of killing a planter.[2]
Early life and education
Ambrose Madison was born in 1696 in Virginia, He was the son of sheriff, planter, politician and major landowner John Madison and Isabella Minor Todd. He was tutored and trained by his father to be a planter. He had an older sister, Elizabeth Ann Madison born in 1687. She was married to George Penn, the great uncle of
Marriage and family
In 1721, Madison married Frances Taylor, daughter of James Taylor and aunt of
Development of Mount Pleasant and murder
Frances and Ambrose Madison's share of land was the basis of their plantation, which they called Mount Pleasant (later to be known as
Ambrose Madison died that summer at age 36 after a short illness, on August 27, 1732. The family or the sheriff believed he was poisoned by slaves, and three were charged in the case.[2] As the historian Douglas B. Chambers notes in his 2005 book on the Igbo in Virginia, historic evidence was severely limited. There is no way for historians to assess what the charges were based on, and if they arose more out of planter fears of slaves than slave actions.[2]
According to the brief court records, three African slaves were charged and convicted by the justices of the Commission of Peace of poisoning the planter. The justices apparently believed Dido and Turk, owned by the widow Frances Taylor Madison, had lesser roles and, after punishing them by whipping, returned the slaves to her for continued labor.[2] Pompey, owned by a neighboring planter, was believed the ringleader and was executed.[2] As Chambers notes, they were the first slaves convicted in Virginia of a planter's murder.[2]
Unusually, the widow Frances Taylor Madison never remarried; the tobacco plantation yielded revenue and she may have received support from her extensive Taylor family, who were also in Orange County.
By 1780,
References
- ^ Taylor, Elizabeth Dowling. A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, Chapter 1
- ^ a b c d e f g Chambers, Douglas B., Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia, Oxford, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2005, pp. 5-9
- ^ Tyler, Lyon Gardiner (1915). Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 92.
- ^ Note: A total of 37,000 Africans arrived in Virginia from Calabar in the slave trade of the 1700s, during the period of planter expansion into the Piedmont, and 30,000 were Igbo. Chambers (2005), "Murder at Montpelier", p. 23
- ^ Taylor (2012), "Slave in the White House", Chapter 1
External links
- Chambers, Douglas B., Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia, Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi, 2005
- Montpelier, home of James Madison
- Madison Biography, James Madison University