CHAMPION S

CHAMPION S. MADING

Donated by Barbara Dempsey

This is my G G Grandfather Champion S Mading. He was b: 5 Sep 1801 in Pittsylvania Co., VA and d: 26 Jan 1879 in Edwards Co., IL. He was a farmer, soldier in the Seminole Indian Wars, Capt in the Black Hawk War, Justice of the Peace, Ordained Minister and Representative for Edwards Co., IL. He spelled his last one with one "d " and the Macedonia Cemetery records show that he died in 1878.

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Excerpt from 1682 Combined History of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash Counties, Illinois with Illustrations Descriptive of their Scenery and

Biographical Sketches of some of their Prominent Men and Pioneers, published by J L McDonough & Co., Philadelphia.

Champion S Madding
To the year 1828 belongs also the immigration of Champion S Madding. He was a native of Virginia, and when seven or eight years of age, left that state and moved with his father's family, to Tennessee, where he married and followed farming till he set of for Illinois, with his wife and five children, William C, Isabel, L B, Sallie and J M. After a short sojourn in Richland County, he settled on section 11, township 1 N. He has at different times, three wives, and reared eight children. Mr. Madding was a soldier in the Florida, and a captain in the Black Hawk wars, commanding a company on the banks of the Mississippi, in the battle resulting in the surrender of Black Hawk. He was a large, powerful man, weighing 225 pounds. He was one of the early regular Baptist ministers, and the frequent companion, in preaching, of Rev Jere Doty. The oldest living settler of Shelby precinct is Starling Hill. he was born in Washington county, Kentucky, in the year 1803. Limited as were his early educational advantages, he has, by indomitable perseverance and steady effort, made himself thoroughly well informed. While in his native state he followed farming and shoemaking. At the age of twenty-five, with his wife and three children, Clarissa, Mary M and Sidney, in a four horse wagon, he came to Illinois, and first settled near the site of the village of West Salem, where he built a log house and cleared some land. In 1829 he moved to the northwest quarter section 11, township 1 south, range 10 east, entered land and began improvement. Mr. Hill's occupation has been that of a farmer and stock-raiser. He is now retired and resides with his son, on the old homestead, at the age of eighty years. His wife was Elizabeth Bassett, by whom he had sixteen children, and in addition to these he also reared twelve orphans. For a period of three months he served in the Black Hawk war in Captain Madding's company.