Is a native-born citizen of Clinton county. His father, Zachariah Maddux, was a native of Georgia. He came to the State before it was admitted into the Union. He was a member of the first Legislature after the state was admitted into the Union. He first settled at Turkey Hill, in St. Clair county. At the date of his death he was a resident of Pleasant Ridge, five miles south of Carlyle. He died in June, 1825. He was a regularly licensed minister of the M. E. Church. While yet a resident of the South, he married Sarah SMITH. There were seven children by this marriage. Joseph W. is the youngest and sole survivor. He was born in Clinton county, Ill., September 16th, 1825. After the death of his parents (the mother died in 1830), Mr. Maddux was reared in the family of his cousin, Oliver Maddux. He received a fair education in the pioneer schools of over fifty years ago. He remained in the county at work upon the farm until 1850, when he made several trips north into Minnesota, and , in company with Captain BOND , Alf SLADE, and others, traveled by the overland route to Oregon. He remained on the Pacific coast five years. He spent two years in mining in northern California, and the remaining three in mercantile business. In October, 1855, he returned home, and engaged in the lumber business in Carlyle, establishing the first lumber-yard in the town. He afterwards engaged in merchandising, buying and shipping grain, and dealing in agricultural implements, and has so continued to the present time. He is the oldest merchant by several years now doing business in Carlyle. In that time he has held various local offices, and has been a member of the town board for many years. At present he is post-master, and was appointed to that position April 15th, 1881.

Politically, he was first a Whig; afterwards a Republican. He has been Chairman of the Republican County Central Committee for the past fifteen years.

On the 6th of December, 1856, he was united in marriage to Miss Ellen D. PETERSON, a native of New York, and daughter of Dr. B. B. Peterson, who came to Carlyle in 1852. Dr. Peterson died in 1854, in Michigan, where he had gone on a visit. There have been five children by this marriage, four of whom are living. Their names, in the order of their birth, are: Eliza, Clara, Esther, Celeste, who died in her sixth year, Winnifred McCabe, and Joseph W. Maddux.

Mr. Maddux has been one of the leading merchants of Carlyle for many years. Few men in the community are more respected, and none bear a higher character for integrity than Mr. Maddux. His family are members of the Episcopal Church.

Source: History of Marion and Clinton Counties, Illinois, 1881, Brink, McDonough & Co., Philadelphia

Submitted by: Pamela Safriet

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