James Madison Short Biography Early Years He was born at Port Conway, Virginia, on March 16, 1751, to James and Eleanor Rose Conway Madison, both of English heritage. James was the eldest of ten children and was raised on the family’s large plantation in Orange County. His father was prominent in the community, serving as a leader in the local militia, and as justice of the peace and a vestryman in the Anglican church. Young Madison was instructed by private tutors as there were few schools in the region during that time. Madison enrolled in the College of New Jersey, which would become Princeton University, and was a voracious reader and a good student. While in college, he organized a debating club, known as the American Whig Society. He graduated in only two years, in 1771, spent a year studying to be a minister, and then continued his studies at home for the next three years. Even as a young man, he had poor health; his friends described him as feeble and pa...