We Were Always Free: The Maddens of Culpeper County, Virginia, a 200-Year Family History

by T.O. Madden, Anne Miller

When T.O. Madden found a leather-bound trunk in 1949 which had belonged to his great-grandmother--a free black woman who worked in the home of President James Madison--it changed his life forever. Inside were documents which revealed his family's 200-year story: a great family epic. Photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 17, 1992

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a kid I had a hard time getting into history, but that has long changed. Learning about a family's story, and a quite unique story at that, through generations was really intriguing. I found the author to be very informative and organized in his writings on several members of his family. It was nice that he shared images photographs of documents, heirloom household items, and of family members themselves. The author was also very unbiased in his writings, giving only the facts of his family history and attaching none of his emotions to these accounts, which I found to be very nice but also somewhat shocking. I would've understood if Madden was more vocal on the racism that persisted throughout the family's different lives and how it shaped them. His writing, however, does a great job of covering these subjects and experiences, and Madden makes the book very approachable and digestible.

[Betsy Starks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a genealogical history of a free Negro family in Virginia and us informative of the times and how the free Blacks lived before, during snd after the Civil War. A goid example for someone writing her own genealogical family history.

[Cris Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and fascinating. Willis Madden's story of his tavern, from its unlicensed founding to its rise in the 1830s and 1840s to its devastation during the Civil War is both amazing and tragic, and T. O. Madden's life story in the last chapter is awesome too.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good reference work