Notley MADDOX and his "perhaps" wives"
submitted by Agnes Donnelly

On the CD The Hines, Lowder, and Maddox Family Genealogies by William N. Hurley, Jr., the following statement is made: "Family group sheets at the Historical Society of St. Mary's County in Leonardtown state that he (Notley Maddox born 1773) was married perhaps three times; Katie Southerland in Culpeper County, Virginia; and to Nancy Freeman and Sallie Moore. Order not stated."

Notley MADDOX born 1773 is my family's ancestor so a great deal of effort has gone into identifying and documenting this family. Until reading the above statement, the only documentation found pointed to just one wife and she had been identified only as Catherine. From 1810 through 1850 when Catherine was enumerated by name with Notley in Rappahannock County, Virginia, the age of the oldest female in the family increased each census period within the age ranges for being ten years older. Based on this age progression, it was presumed there was only one marriage.

In an effort to rule out the other two possible marriages, emails were sent to descendants of Notley and Nancy Ann FREEMAN MADDOX and to Notley and Sallie MOORE MADDOX.

These exchanges revealed that Nancy Ann FREEMAN and her Notley moved from Fauquier County, Virginia (1805) to Shenandoah County, Virginia (1810), along with her father and mother, Hezekiah and Mary FREEMAN, then to Fayette County, Kentucky (1820 and 1830) and to Morgan County, Illinois (1840, 1850, 1860 - Nancy Ann only). Examination of the marriage records and censuses for those dates and places confirmed that a Notley MADDOX was indeed in Fauquier County when he married in 1805 as well as Shenandoah County and Fayette County in the census years listed previously. (His name in each of these censuses is shown only as Notley [or various spellings of same] and his age appears to be about twenty years younger than the John Notley MADDOX born 1761 offered by William N. Hurley and other authors as the husband of Nancy Ann FREEMAN; but that's another story.)

After Notley's death in Illinois in 1836/37, Ann MADDOX, as she was calling herself, appeared in the Morgan County censuses until her death in the mid 1860s. In the last census in which she appeared, she is living in the household of her son, Thomas H. MADDOX.

The exchanges with descendants of Sarah (Sallie) MOORE and her Notley MADDOX indicated they married 20 May 1835 in Rutherford County, TN as evidenced by their marriage license on file in Rutherford County, TN. Descendants of this Maddox line indicate that this Notley was in fact Notley Warren MADDOX although his marriage license only lists "Natty Maddox."

Notley MADDOX born 1773 was married to Catherine SUTHERLAND. Her father's will written in 1834 states she was married to Notley MADDOX of Virginia and according to the 1830 (Nolly MATTOCK) and 1840 censuses he was the only Notley MADDOX in Virginia on those census dates.

In conclusion, all located documentation points to Notley MADDOX, who shows up in the 1810, 1820, 1830, 1840 and 1850 censuses in Culpeper/Rappahannock Counties, Virginia and who was born in 1773, as the husband of only one wife, Catherine SUTHERLAND. He was not the husband of Nancy Ann FREEMAN or Sallie MOORE.