Emanuel Madden who was Henry Madden's father (Dr. James Frederic's grandfather) and Mary Wiley's father (John R. Wiley) are listed in a paper on the "First Settlers of Mississippi and Alabama." Emanuel Madden was a Loyalist in the American Revolution and took refuge in Spanish Territory at that time. Henry Madden was a businessman involved in steamboats and shipyards. After the Louisiana Purchase, they moved from Natchez Mississippi to Rapides Louisiana which is on the Red River just north of present day Alexandria. Rapides was a natural source of tar for ship repairs. Family tradition has Henry Madden and Robert Fulton bringing steamboats to the Mississippi River.
The first Shipyard on Matagorda Islands in the 1840's was probably started by Henry Madden. Matagorda Island was called Madden Island by the locals for a short time from 1840's to about 1860. A German Seamaster named Weber took his vessels in the 1860's to the Madden Shipyard on Matagorda Island. His kids & James Henry Madden's kids married. Many of the Madden Boys would go to Fulton, TX making sails for this old German Seamaster.