Early Years Dos Passos as a Child John Roderigo Madison was born on Janu, in a Chicago, Illinois, hotel room, the illegitimate son of John Randolph Dos Passos Jr., a lawyer and son of a Portuguese immigrant, and Lucy Addison Sprigg Madison of, Virginia. He was raised largely by his mother in Brussels, Belgium, and London, England, unable to take his father’s name until his.