A Farmer's Life in Old Virginia: James Madison Agee (1851-1920)
[Note: This post is based on what I know – or think I know – about my wife’s great grandfather. A prize – not really! - for anyone spotting errors; I would be most grateful.]
James Madison Agee was born on April 9, 1851, in Roanoke, Virginia, during the pre-Civil War period when tensions over slavery began boiling over. Named perhaps in honor of the fourth President of the United States, James grew up in the Cave Spring area of Roanoke County, where rolling hills and fertile valleys made farming a way of life for generations of Virginia families.
Family Roots
James was the son of Jubal (Jabe) C. Agee and Caroline S. Crawford, who married in Montgomery County, Virginia in 1845. His father Jubal, born in 1812 in Bedford County, came from a large farming family with deep Virginia roots stretching back to the colonial period. James was one of at least thirteen children, born into a household that knew both the joys and challenges of raising a large family on Virginia farmland.
Growing up in the post-Civil War South, James would have witnessed firsthand the transformation of Virginia agriculture and society. The 1870 census finds the nineteen-year-old James living with his family in Cave Spring, likely already working alongside his father and brothers to maintain the family farm.
1870 census
And quite a family it was. According to records I’ve found, Jubal was number 5 of 13 children. And then despite not marrying until age 35, Jubal also had 13 children, with James Madison also checking in at number 5. This is something for numerologists to ponder. Not to mention. the two poor mothers of all of these 26 children. I need to look into this a bit more and make sure it’s correct.
Building His Own Family
At age 41, on March 23, 1893, James married Sarah Ann "Sallie" Grubb, who was born in 1869 and was considerably younger than him. Their union blessed them with two children who would carry the Agee name into the twentieth century. Their son, Omer Hezekiah Agee, was born on October 14, 1894. Their daughter, Myrtle Mae Agee (my wife’s grandmother), arrived on January 3, 1897.
I’m intrigued by the note, “The family Bible appears to be an old, worn Bible.”
The Agee family made their home in the Cave Spring District of Roanoke County, where James continued the agricultural traditions of his father and grandfather. Census records from 1900 and 1910 confirm the family's residence in Cave Spring, where they were part of a close-knit rural community.
Final Years
James Madison Agee died on May 5, 1920, in Roanoke County at the age of 68. His funeral was held at Laurel Ridge Church, with Rev. Dr. Morris officiating—a testament to his standing in the community. He was laid to rest at Poages Mill in Roanoke County, not far from the land he had farmed for decades.
A local newspaper obituary described him simply as "a farmer, of Roanoke County," a fitting epitaph for a man who had spent his life working the Virginia soil. His widow Sallie would outlive him by seventeen years, passing away in 1937.
