Ambrose Madison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ambrose Madison | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 17, 1696 Orange County, Colony of Virginia |
| Died | August 27, 1732 (aged 36) Orange County, Colony of Virginia |
| Cause of death | Murder by poison |
| Occupations | 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]
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 Admiral Sir William Penn. Madison's great-grandfather Isaac Madison was born in London in 1590 to John Isaac Madison of Aycliffe and Rebecca St. Leger Horsmanden of Lenham, and had moved to Jamestown in 1608, a year after its founding.[3]
Marriage and family
In 1721, Madison married Frances Taylor, daughter of James Taylor and aunt of Richard Taylor, a wealthy and influential man in the colony. As a member of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains, Taylor later acquired 8,000 acres of land in the Piedmont. With his help, in 1723 Madison and his brother-in-law Thomas Chew acquired 4,657 acres of land in present-day Orange County, Virginia, where planters from the Tidewater were moving for new land to support tobacco cultivation.
