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George Madison, governor for only weeks in 1816, was born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in June 1763 to John and Agatha (Strother) Madison. His brother James Madison became the Episcopal bishop of Virginia and president of William and Mary College. U.S. President James Madison was a second cousin. Little is known of Madison's early years. He served in the militia during the Revolutionary War, and by the mid-1780s he was in Kentucky. He was twice wounded in the Indian campaigns of 1791 and 1792, and served as a major in the Kentucky Volunteers during theWar of 1812. He was captured soon after the Battle of Frenchtown (January 18, 1813) and was held prisoner until 1814.

A public-minded citizen, Madison served as auditor of Kentucky public accounts for twenty years and was a trustee of the Kentucky Seminary and a director of theBank of Kentucky. Despite failing health, which prompted him to resign as auditor, he acceded to public demand that he run for governor in 1816.James Johnson, the other Jeffersonian Republican in the race, withdrew, and Madison was elected without opposition. Too ill to return toFrankfort, he was administered the oath of office by a justice of the peace inBourbon County on September 5, 1816. He died on October 14, 1816, the first Kentucky governor to die in office. His wife, Jane Smith Madison, had died five years earlier. Madison was buried in theFrankfort Cemetery.

Lowell H. Harrison, ed., Kentucky's Governors 1792-1985 (Lexington,Ky., 1985).

LOWELL H. HARRISON
Entry Author

In theprint edition this entry appears on pages 601 - 602