BEN M. MADDOX The descendant of southern ancestors and himself a native of the south, Ben M. Maddox was born in Summerville, Chattanooga county, Ga., October 18, 1859, the son of George B. T. And Sarah (Dickson) Maddox, they too being natives of that state. In 1877, when he was seventeen years old, Ben M. Maddox started out in the world on his own responsibility, at that time going to Texas, where he hunted buffalo on the plains. From there he went to Arizona and followed mining from the spring of 1878 until February of the following year. In the meantime he and some friends had determined to come to California, and in February, 1879, the part of three left Prescott, Ariz., having one pack horse and one saddle horse between them for the overland trail. The journey being safely accomplished, Mr. Maddox went to the mining camp of Bodie, Mono county, where he secured work on a newspaper, and subsequently he found work of a similar character in Mammoth City, same county. Newspaper work then gave place to mining, following this for a time in Mammoth City, and later, in 1880, in Fresno Flats, Madera county, where he was employed in the Enterprise mine, and in the latter place he also clerked in a hotel for a time. In September, 1881, Mr. Maddox went to Mariposa, where he found work at the printer’s trade on the Gazette, and the following year, in San Francisco, he worked on the Chronicle. Giving up work on the latter paper in October, 1882, he returned to Mariposa and was employed on the Herald until he purchased the paper later in the same year. After continuing the publication of the Herald for four years he sold it in 1886 and the same year came to Tulare county, with the intention of purchasing the Tulare Register. Being unable to carry out this plan at that time he returned to San Francisco and resumed work at the printer’s trade This was for a short time only, however, for on October 18, 1886, he was appointed deputy clerk of the superior court and thereafter gave his whole time and attention to the duties and obligations which thus devolved upon him. A hope with Mr. Maddox had long cherished was realized when, on Thanksgiving Day, 1890, he became the owner and proprietor of the Visalia Times. For two years he ran the paper as a weekly, but on February 22, 1892, the paper became a daily, and as the Visalia Daily Times it has ever since been published under his able management. The management of his newspaper has not absorbed all of his thought and attention, as the following will show: When the Mount Whitney Power Company was organized in 1899 he was elected a director, in 1901, was made secretary of the corporation, and on September 9, 1902, he became business manager of the company, and he still holds this responsible office, having in the meantime relinquished to some extent the active management of his newspaper in order to devote his time to the interests of the power company. In 1894 he was nominated for secretary of state on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated in the election. As secretary of the Democratic state central committee he served two terms, and several times was chairman of the Democratic county central committee. He also served as president of the Visalia board of trade for four years and for some time was the director of that body. At the present time he is chairman of the county state highway commission, a director of the Visalia electric railroad, president of the Encina Fruit Co., president of the Evansdale Fruit Co., and a director of the Producers’ Savings Bank. Some year ago Mr. Maddox in company with William H. Hammond opened up and put on the market the Lindsay Heights and Nob Hill Orange colonies, orange land which is now fully developed. At Mariposa, Cal., March 15, 1883, Mr. Maddox was married to Miss Evalina J. Farnsworth, a native of California. They have five children, Morley M., Hazel C., Ruth E., Dickson F. And ben M., Jr. Fraternally Mr. Maddox is a Knight Templar and a thirty-second degree Mason; also belonging to the Shrine, the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the World.