Joseph Maddock(1720 ~ 1794)

Joseph Maddock's grandparents were Abel and Alice Maddock of Chester Shire, England. He was a baker. Chester was a strong Quaker area. Joseph's parents were Nathan and Hester Maddox who made the big move from England to New Castle Co., Delaware, in America. It was there at Brandywine Creek in 1720 that Joseph Maddocks was born. Around 1742, he married Rachel Dennis/Tennis at Haddonfield, Camden Co., New Jersey, just across the state line from Philadelphia. They settled in Chester Co., PA, near Philadelphia. For a time, Joseph was a magistrate there. In 1746 Rachel Maddox was received as a member of the Newark Quaker [also called Friends] Monthly Meeting.

As more and more non-quakers moved into Pennsylvania, many Quakers migrated to the newly-opened Carolinas, including Joseph. The Cane Creek Quaker Meeting was established in 1751 Orange Co., what is today's North Carolina and Alamance Co., near the Virginia state line. And the New Garden Meeting was established in nearly Guilford Co. three years later. Quakers continued to pour into the Carolinas between 1750 and 1770. On November 2, 1754, Joseph and Rachel Maddock along with daughters, Daborah and Mary, were received into membership by a certificate of transfer from the Newark Monthly Meeting in Pennsylvania dated September 3, 1754. It was located fourteen miles south of today's town of Graham, Orange/Alamance Co., NC. Joseph and his family settled ten or fifteen miles northeast of Cane Creek on the Eno River near today's Hillsboro in Orange County. There he built a grist mill on the Eno River.

Joseph did well and made friends with several influential community leaders, all Quakers or sympathetic to the Quakers. Between 1762 and 1763 there was a congregational dispute about re-instating a member, Rachel Wright. After this time, she was re-instated, but the hurt feelings among members continued. (I do not know if she was related to the governor of Georgia, James Wright.) Because of this and some political differences regarding British taxes, Joseph and his friends grew restless for a new beginning farther west.

On September 1, 1767, his friend Joseph Stubbs, presented to Georgia Governor, James Wright, a petition of "Sundry families at present residents in Orange County in the Provence of North Carolina but lately from Pennsylvania," requesting a reserve of land for the Quakers. As a result, 12,000 acres were reserved for them, and five months later another 12,000 acres. The head of a family could be granted 200 acres, plus 50 acres for his wife and 50 acres for each child. In late 1767 and early 1768, Joseph led about 70 Quaker families to Georgia to get away from the politics of North Carolinians rebelling against the British government. They named their new community Wrightsborough after the governor of Georgia. It was in today's McDuffie County.

A stone house built in Wrightsboroughin the typical New Jersey-eastern Pennsylvania style.

Although someone else arranged for the two land grants, Joseph Maddock established the community and was a commissioner for the sale of the Ceded Land to prospective settlers. He was named deputy governor and magistrate. For a copy of the petition of February 7, 1769, and list of people Governor Wright granted land to, go here.

There, at Sweetwater on the north fork of Briar Creek, Wrightsborough Twp., Joseph built another grist mill in 1768. Joseph also bought Lot #66 in the town of Wrightsorough on July 3, 1770. The town itself was located on Twon Creek, now known as Middle Creek. The township and town included all of today's McDuffie County, and portions of Warren and Columbia Counties.

The community grew so fast that in 1768, Joseph Maddock and Jonathan Sell presented another petition to Governor Wright for more land, a road be built through it, and that the land be surveyed and warrants issued to the owners. But the Creek Indians stole so much of the settler's horses and cattle that they had difficult planting crops. In 1771, twenty-five families left the settlement; eventually all returned but thirteen. But their situation grew worse. So in 1774, the governor ordered that a fort be built there to protect the non-violent Quakers.

During the Revolutionary War, the non-violent Quakers remained neutral, which irritated both sides. Further, in 1779, a band of countrymen turned raiders looted and burned everything in their path. In 1775, part of Joseph's property was sold by the marshall of Savannah and Joseph went bankrupt. The Quakers continually refused to fight for either the British or Americans. In 1779 Maddock spent several months as a prisoner of the Americans for having aided Loyalist colonel James Boyd in the Battle of Kettle Creek. In 1780 all of Georgia and most of South Carolina was restored to the British. But in 1781, it was returned to American rule. That same year, another band of guerrillas killed and plundered anyone not fighting for the American side. In March 1781, Joseph's plantation and mill were burned by the raiders. By late Spring, the raiders had killed thirty-five settlers, including eleven in their sleep.

In the autumn of 1781, Joseph Maddock led one-fourth of the settlers of Wrightsboro to the Britsh-occupied Ebenezer, Georgia, near Savannah. British Governor Wright, an old friend of the Friends, provided them with financial assistance. They also appealed for aid from the London Meeting, and it is in this appeal that their story from their migration from Pennsylvania to the present time was told and preserved, with special emphasis on the activities of Joseph Maddock.

While away from Wrightsborough, he suffered food shortages, severe weather, and diease. So they petitioned Governor Wright to return to Wrightsborough and face the raiders which they thought better than what they were suffering in Ebenezer. Their request was turned down. But Savannah was evacuated by the British army, and on July 11, 1782, Joseph Maddock and his Quaker followers were allowed to return to Wrightsborough.

This Methodist Meeting House was built where the Quaker Meeting House had been burned, and still stands today. Several of the pews are from the Quaker Meeting House of 250 years ago.

By this time, the following Maddockses had been or were residents of Wrightsborough (provided at www.geocities.com.Heartland/Plains2064/wrightlist):


NAME BIRTH PARENTS SPOUSE
Anna Maddock Nathan and Michelle James Anderson
Benjamin Maddock Joseph and Rebecca Polly Franklin
Benjamin Maddock Joseph and Rachel
Chloe Maddock Nathan and Michelle
Deborah Maddock c. 1741 Joseph and Rachel Thomas Stubbs & Peter Cox
Eleanor Maddock 1787 Samuel and Rachel James Cook
Elizabeth Maddock Nathan and Michelle
Esther Maddock 1740 Joseph and Rachel John Stubbs
Francis Maddock 1779 Samuel and Rachel Phebe Cook
Hannah Maddock Joseph and Rachel
Henry Maddock Joseph and Rebecca Latia Manru
Isaiah Maddock Joseph and Rebecca Olivia Burnley
John Maddock Nathan and Michelle Dorcas Mote
Joseph Maddock 1720 Nathan and Hester Rachel Dennis
Joseph Maddock Jr. Joseph and Rachel Rebecca Hinshaw
Joseph Maddock Joseph and Rebecca Mary Vaugn
Joseph Maddock 1775 Samuel and Rachel
Mary Maddock Joseph & Rachel
Mary Maddock Nathan and Michelle
Nathan Maddock Joseph and Rachel Michelle? Mitchell?
Nathan Maddock Nathan and ____
Nathan Maddock 1778 Samuel and Rachel MarthaBrown,SarahFouts, Martha Miller
Rebecca Maddock Nathan and Michelle
Samuel Maddock c.1750 Joseph and Rachel Rachel Jones
Sarah Maddock Nathan and Michelle Jonathan Randal
Sarah Maddock 1774 Samuel and Rachel John Seybold
William Maddock 1785 Joseph and Rebecca SarahHuffman,HannahStubbs

They tried to return to normal. But more and more non-Quakers were moving into the area. Plus, they could not compete when selling their crops with crops raised by slave labor of their neighbors. So a general exodus began once again. This time they haded for Tennessee and Ohio. Joseph remained behind. He died in poverty on April 9, 1794. The exodus was complete by 1805 and no Quakers that we know of were left in Wrightsborough. The town remained in existence until the 1920s.

Much of the above is from an account given by Ralph Hayes, a Maddock descendant.