Ambrose Madison

Ambrose Madison (January 17, 1696 – August 27, 1732) was an American planter and politician in the Piedmont of Virginia Colony. He married Frances Taylor in 1721, daughter of James Taylor, a member of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains from the Tidewater. Through her father, Madison and his brother-in-law Thomas Chew were aided in acquiring 4,675 acres in 1723, in what became Orange County. There he developed his tobacco plantation known as Mount Pleasant (and later as Montpelier.) The Madisons were parents of James Madison Sr. and paternal grandparents of President James Madison.

After Madison died of a short illness in August 1732, three slaves were convicted of poisoning him, and one was executed for the crime. It was the first time in Virginia that slaves were convicted of killing a planter.

Marriage and family In 1721, Madison married Frances Taylor, daughter of James Taylor and aunt of Richard Taylor, a wealthy and influential man in the colony. As a member of the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition across the Blue Ridge Mountains, Taylor later acquired 8,000 acres of land in the Piedmont. With his help, in 1723 Madison and his brother-in-law Thomas Chew acquired 4,657 acres of land in present-day Orange County, Virginia, where planters from the Tidewater were moving for new land to support tobacco cultivation.

Development of Mount Pleasant and murder Frances and Ambrose Madison's share of land was the basis of their plantation, which they called Mount Pleasant (later to be known as Montpelier (Orange, Virginia). To clear the land to secure title, Madison bought 29 African slaves, likely Igbo, who worked under white overseers for five years before the Madisons moved to the property. The Madison family moved to the plantation in 1732 after a house had been built and tobacco cultivation had started. They had several children, and their oldest son was James Madison Sr., the future father of U.S. President James Madison.

Ambrose Madison died that summer at age 36 after a short illness, on August 27, 1732. The family or the sheriff believed he was poisoned by slaves, and three were charged in the case. As Chambers notes, they were the first slaves convicted in Virginia of a planter's murder. Her eldest son James Madison, Sr. inherited the plantation when he came of age at 21 in 1744. By the 1750s, the Madison plantation was referred to as "Home House." During his tenure, Madison acquired more land, so that he eventually owned 5,000 acres.

By 1780, James Madison, Jr., had become steward of Home House and called it Montpelier. It became famous after he was elected to two terms as president.