09/01/2026
Joseph James Madden was born November 17, 1905, to William Kennedy and Ella Elizabeth (Kennedy) Madden. William Madden was a farmer. He was born in Indiana, but both of his parents were immigrants from Ireland.
In 1910, the Madden family was living in Eel River Township in Allen County with their eight children ranging in age from 2 to 18. Two additional Madden children died in infancy. They were active members of the Ege Catholic Church.
In February of 1918, just five months after his diagnosis, Joseph's father, William, died at the age 59 of liver cancer at the family home in Eel River Township near Churubusco. The weight of that loss must have been heavy on the large family with many of the children in school and still living at home. The following year, Joseph graduated from the eighth grade at Eel River School.
In 1920, the widowed Ella Madden was still living in the family home and farming in Eel River Township with seven of her children ranging in age from age 8 to age 22.
During his high school career at Churubusco High School, Joseph played basketball during his junior and senior year. He also performed in the school plays during his junior and senior year. He graduated with the Churubusco High School Class of 1923.
After graduation, Joseph attended the University of Notre Dame where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy. He graduated from Notre Dame in 1928.
In 1933, Joseph was a bachelor living at 1505 North Anthony Boulevard in Fort Wayne and working as a supervisor for the Lincoln Life Insurance Company.
On August 30, 1934, at the age of 29, Joseph married Anna Marie Carlin in Fort Wayne.
In 1940, Joseph was still working as an accounting supervisor for Lincoln Life Insurance. He and his wife, Anna, were now living at 4542 Wilmette Street in Fort Wayne. Anna's younger sister, Elizabeth, was living with them as well and working as a stenographer.
The following spring, the Maddens celebrated the arrival of their first child, a son they named Joseph Thomas Madden on April 21, 1941.
Joseph eventually became a supervisor of the mortgage division of the Lincoln Life Insurance Company. In 1950, he was 44. He and Anna now had two young sons, Joseph and James, and Anna's mother, Carrie Clark, was living in the home as well.
We know that Joseph remained employed with the Lincoln Life Insurance company for many years, representing the company in business dealings well into the 1960s. He would retire as vice president of the company. He was a member of the St. Michael of the Archangel Catholic Church and a member of the Fort Wayne Country Club.
Just in time to spend the winter coldest months of winter in Florida, Joseph moved to Beach Road in Sarasota, Florida, in January of 1976. Sadly, his sunny retirement life was cut short and five weeks later, he died at the age of 70 in Sarasota on February 23, 1976. He was likely buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Fort Wayne.
