Thomas S. Maddox
The Maddox family trace their ancestry back to colonial times and have found that the first member of the family concerning whom definite information has been preserved came to Ohio from Delaware about 1800 and located in Ross county, near the present city of Frankfort. The first member of the family to come to this state was David Maddox, a pioneer Methodist preacher and a native of Sussex county. Delaware, as was his wife, Elizabeth Lingo. They were married in their native state, settled in Ross county, Ohio, about 1800, and lived there the remainder of their lives, both being buried at Clarksburg, in that county. Rev. David Maddux was a soldier in the War of 1812, serving in one of the Ohio regiments.
The children born to Rev. David Maddox and wife were Benjamin, Collins, William, Zachariah, Smith, John, Mitchell, Samuel, Mesister, Mary and Polly. David Maddox and wife were the great-grandparents of Thomas S. Maddox, the present prosecuting attorney of Fayette county. The grandfather of Mr. Maddox was Benjamin Maddox, who was a babe in arms when his parents moved from Delaware to Ohio. He was reared to manhood in Frankfort, Ohio, and after his marriage to Ann Timinons, a natixe of Ohio, he located about ten miles from Clarksburg, where he farmed until his death in middle life, his wife surviving him many years. Benjamin Maddox and wife were the parents of a large family of children, Robert A., Stewart, Drusilla, William, Edward, Martha, Harriett and Franklin. The widow of Benjamin Maddox married William Crabbe after the death of her first husband and two children were born to her second marriage, Mrs. Millie Foster and Mrs. Emma Knowles.
Robert A. Maddox, the father of the immediate subject of this sketch, was born in Ross county and there reared to manhood. He enlisted for service in the Civil War in Company D, Eighty-ninth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for about eighteen months. He first enlisted for a short term, and upon the expiration of his first enlistment re-enlisted, serving throughout as a private. After the close of the war he returned to his home county and followed his trade as a blacksmith until his death November 4, 1902, being in his seventy-third year at the time of his death. His wife died January 26, 1906, at the age of seventy-six. He was married before the war to Martha A. Taylor, the daughter of William and E;izabeth (Nessell) Taylor, natives of Pike county, Ohio. To this union were born eleven children, five sons and six daughters, ten of whom lived to maturity. These children in the order of their birth are as follows: William, deceased; Lizzie, deceased, was the wife of Harvey Thrush; Drusilla. who died at the age of nineteen years; Margaret Ann, the wife of Frank Walston. of Williamsport, Ohio; Samuel O., of Washington C. H.; Mary Belle, the wife of Frank Kelley, of Washington C. H. ; Robert Franklin, of New Holland, Ohio; Thomas S.. with whom this narrative subsequently deals: James S., of Sabina, Ohio; Nettie O.. deceased, who was the wife of George Wright, and Vonnie May, who died in infancy.
William Taylor, the father of the wife of Robert A. Maddox, was a shoemaker by trade, and he and his wife were early settlers in Fayette county, where they lived to the ripe old ages of seventy-six and ninety-seven respectively, and are buried in Coon's cemetery in Jefferson township. William Taylor and wife reared a family of children: William, George. Chester, John, Elizabeth, Allemon, Christina Newman, Mrs. Nancy DeMoss and Martha A., the wife of Robert A. Maddox.
Thomas S. Maddox, the present prosecuting attorney of Fayette county, and the son of Robert A. and Martha (Taylor) Maddox, was born in Clarksburg, Ross county, this state, on March 7, 1864. He was reared in Williamsport, Pickaway counly, this state, and Octa. this county, attending; the public schools in both of these places. As a young man he taught school and for eight years was a successful instructor of the youth in Fayette county. During this time he served as a member of the board of county school examiners, serving in this capacity for nine years. During the time he was engaged in teaching he was working on the farm in his summer vacations, and during the winter season, while teaching, spent his spare moments in reading law.
Mr. Maddox applied himself so diligently to his legal studies that he was ready for admission to the bar in March, 1894, and at once began the active practice of his profession in Washington C. H.. where he has since lived. As a lawyer he ranks well with those who have been engaged in this profession in Fayette county, a fact which is shown by his election as county prosecuting attornev in 1912. He has been a life-long Republican and in the summer of 1912 his party nominated him for this position, and upon his subsequent election at the November polls he took his office on January 1, 1913. He is showing marked zeal in prosecuting all offenders of the law, and is building up a reputation as a man who is free from all entangling alliances and a man who is thoroughly able to cope with any legal situation which may arise in his office.
Mr. Maddox was married July 3. 1889. to Elizabeth Lamb, the daughter of John W. and Alice B. (Hall) Lamb, and to this marriage have been born two sons, Robert Ray and Thomas Emory. Robert Ray is assistant prosecutor under his father and ex-deputy probate clerk. Robert Ray married Ruth Deere and has one daughter, Carrie Elizabeth. The other son, Thomas Emory, is still in school.
Mrs. Maddox was born in Holt county, Missouri, and her father was a native of North Carolina, while her mother was born in Kentucky, and after their marriage they became early settlers in Clinton county, Ohio. Both have been deceased many years. They were the parents of three children, Monterey, Tina, and Elizabeth, the wife of Mr. Maddox. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Maddox were Isaac and Catherine (White) Lamb, natives of North Carolina and early settlers in Clinton county, Ohio, where she died, while the grandfather died in Missouri. Isaac Lamb and wife were the parents of three children, John W., Jehu and MIrs. Maria King. The maternal grandparents of Mrs. Maddox were Harvey and Nancy (Van Hook) Hall, natives of Kentucky and early settlers in Clinton county, this state, where they died. Harvey Hall and wife were the parents of a large family of children: Alice B.. Amanda, Margaret, Ann, Tabitha. Monterey, William. Dean, Elias and Elizabeth.
Mr. Maddox is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Fraternal Order of Eagles and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Maddox is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and, while Mr. Maddox is not actively identified with the church, yet he is interested in all the work of the church and contributes of his means to its support.
From History of Fayette County Ohio - Her People, Industries and Institutions by Frank M. Allen (1914, R. F. Bowen & Company, Inc.)