John Maddison was a ship's carpenter.  We don't know what part of England he called home.  He saved enough money to pay the passage of 12 emigrants, inclding himself.  This entitled him to 600 acres of unclaimed land. He arrived in 1653, and claimed land in King and Quenn County, a county lying between the York and Rappahanock Rivrs, and very near the Chesapeake Bay.  From this beginning, he built the estate to 1900 acres in the remaining thirty years of his life.