Susannah Henry Madison was born in Virginia to John and Sarah Winston Syme Henry. John Henry, born in Scotland, settled in Virginia in 1730. He was a modest gentleman farmer who was a Justice of the peace and a colonel in the militia. Susannah was the youngest sister of the patriot, Patrick Henry (1736-1799).

Patrick Henry was a self-made lawyer who served in the House of Burgesses from 1765 to 1774, when Lord Botetourt (Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt), Governor of Virginia, dissolved the House when on May 16 they passed resolves that upheld their exclusive right to levy taxes, to redress grievances and consult with other colonies. This was one of the direct grievances that lead to the American Revolution. Patrick Henry was a member of the 1st and 2nd Continental Congresses (1774, 1776). Henry was elected governor of Virginia in 1776 and reelected to serve two additional years, after which he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson. He was again chosen governor in 1784 and 1785.

Susannah Henry married Thomas Madison of Botetourt County, Virginia about 1770. Thomas Madison was the son of John Madison and Agatha Strother Madison (through whom they were also connected to the family of President Zachary Taylor). In the Revolutionary War he became a general of the Virginia militia, a member of the Council of the State of Virginia (1789-1790) and a member of the House of Delegates (1793). Madison's brother George was elected governor of Kentucky in 1816, but served for only a few months before his death. George Madison (1763-1816), a Revolutionary War soldier, wounded at St. Clair's Defeat in 1791 during the Northwest Indian War, moved to Kentucky about 1795. At this time Governor Shelby appointed him State Auditor of Government Accounts. In 1812 he was one of the few survivors of the Battle of the River Raisin. George Madison was a well-known and popular figure in Kentucky. Thomas Madison's other brother, James, was bishop of William and Mary College. Thomas was also first cousin of President James Madison. (Several of Susannah Henry Madison's sisters married men whose families and careers were interwoven conspicuously in Virginia and early Kentucky history.)

Apparently Susannah Madison moved to Warren County, Kentucky several years after the death of her husband in 1798, to be near her youngest daughter Margaret Madison Johnson. Margaret married Sylvanus Johnson of Fincastle County, Virginia in 1805 and moved to Kentucky shortly afterwards.

Mrs. Madison purchased several tracts of land in Warren County. She resided on the tract where the Murrell house was later built (on US 31W approximately 8 miles North of Bowling Green, KY)until her death. The log cabin located behind the Murrell house is believed to be where she lived, for she was originally buried on the property. An 1818 deed of the tract of land Mrs. Madison purchased was described as beginning "where Mrs. Madison now lives." In her will dated 1825 Susannah Madison cites herself as being a resident of Warren County.

At her death in 1831, Mrs. Madison left the property to her son Patrick Henry Madison. He in turn sold it to Samuel Murrell in 1837. Henry Julius Cowles (1831-1920) bought the property in 1883. In 1916 Cowles' nephew, Eugene Cowles, had Mrs. Madison's remains removed to the Odd Fellows Cemetery at Smith Grove, Kentucky, a few miles northeast of the house.

Credit: National Register of Historic Places inventory

National Governors Association