On April 23, 2023, I received an email from Frank Jastrzembski of "Shrouded Veterans" that gave us an opportunity:
I want to share my effort to place a government-issued veteran headstone at Old Jefferson City Cemetery in Jefferson City, Missouri, to honor U.S. Army Assistant Surgeon [Dr.] Thomas C. Madison, a veteran of the Mexican War and Civil War, and nephew of President James Madison. He currently doesn't have a headstone.
While the Department of Veterans Affairs will cut and ship the veteran headstone for free, they won't install it. I'm going to have to contract a local monument company named Capitol Monuments to install the stone. Their fee is $200.
Mr. Jastrzembski included two images of newspaper death announcements, one from the "Daily Richmond White, Friday Dec. 1, 1865, Richmond, VA," , and the other from "The Daily Dispatch, Thursday, Jan. 11, 1866, Richmond VA" .
I was interested in how, through which brother, Dr. Madison was connected to James Madison. I first went to "Find A Grave" and located a page with a copy of "The Daily Dispatch" notice, with Dr. Madison's birth/death dates and where he was buried. However, other than his military notations, there was no other information.
I then went to Ancestry.com and located Col. Ambrose Madison and the list of his children, tracing through sons and grandsons looking for Madison's nephews. I did not find "Thomas C. Madison" listed. What was listed was Dr. Robert Lewis Madison, born 1817; same year as Dr. Thomas C. Madison.
Fortunately, I have a copy of C. Thomas Chapman's "Descendants of Ambrose Madison, the Grandfather of President James Madison, Jr."; covering eight generations.
Here is what I found:
I went farther into Tom's research and found Dr. Madison's parent's information:
Robert Lewis Madison, Thomas's father, was the son of General William Taylor Madison of Woodberry Forest, brother of James Madison, Jr. However, when you look at their three son's name, you'll see that Dr. Thomas Madison was born in 1817 and Dr. William Alexander Madison "1817/1820" - twins or 3 year difference? Clear as mud.
Affirming that Dr. Thomas C. Madison was James Madison's nephew I asked our Board of Directors to vote on sponsoring this Veteran headstone; which they voted unanimously to so do.
Yesterday, February 29, 2024, I received another email from Mr. Jastrzembski announcing that the Veteran headstone had been installed:
If you are interested in the efforts of Shrouded Veterans, follow their Facebook Page.
Here is an interview with "Emerging Civil War" on YouTube.