- JAMES MADISON ALDEN, son of Levi and Baodicea Warner Alden,
was born in Claremont,
- NH, Feb. 9th, 1813. He was the fifth in a family of eight
children, they being (1) Louisa, who married Jacob R. Peterson;
(2) Albert, who married Mary Parmenter; (3) Thomas, who married
Hulda Blodgett; (4) John, who married Caroline Pearce; (5) James
Madison, who married Catherine Warner Alden (daughter of Chester
and his 2nd cousin); (6) Levi, who married Sarah Ann Leach; (7)
Lucinda, who married (1) Henry Baker, (2) Horace Baker; (8) Alfred,
who never married.
- On the May 1st, 1837, James Madison Alden married his second
cousin, Catherine Warner Alden
- of the house of Chester and Tryphena Wagner Alden. They went
from Claremont, NH, soon after their marriage, probably in 1839,
to NY state, living for a time in Albany, Syracuse and Scipio.
Answering the call of the west, they arrived in Janesville, WI,
Sep. 25th, 1846.
- Immediately upon his arrival in the Wisconsin city he commenced
the manufacture of red brick, an
- occupation he continued in until his death which occurred
Dec. 25th, 1887.
- On March 3rd, 1859, James Madison, in the company of two
of his sons, Albert Warner, Who
- was then 21 years of age and Edward Chester, a lad of 19,
started for Pikes Peak in search of gold; but never reaching
their destination, they turned back. The next spring, however,
he joined a party of friends this time reaching the Peak, but
before the summer was over he returned home, satisfied to hunt
for gold in his brick kilns.
- As he was delegated by his companions to supply the needs
of the inner man while on the trip west,
- he gained some notoriety as a cook and in consequence was
called "Cook Alden", a name that became more popular
than the "Uncle Jim" of earlier days.
- When the Civil War broke out, he saw his three sons, Albert,
Edward and Levi, go in defense of
- the flag: then came his time to be of service to many a soldier's
family and it was no uncommon thing for a soldier's wife to find
a pile of stove wood at her door in the morning where not a single
chip was in sight the night before.
- He enjoyed doing for others and he had a able assistant in
his good wife. For many years he was
- an ardent supporter of prohibition and had great hopes for
the future success of that party but was called home without
a realization of his hopes.
- He was one of God's noblemen; a diamond in the rough and
a more honest, straight-forward man
- never lived. He wasn't a polished gentleman, but his descendants
never need to feel ashamed of him as their ancestor.
- Both, he and his wife, Catherine, were descendants of Hon.
John and Priscilla Mullins Alden, being
- of the seventh generation.
-
- Taken from "The Family Precedes the State: Sons and
Daughters of Hon. John and Priscilla Alden - Lineage of Alice
Alden Fenton Robinson of the James Madison Alden Chapter"
by Frank Albert Alden, Melrose Park, Illinois, 1934.
Courtesy of Helen
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