Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

JAMES FRENCH⁵ MAXFIELD (John⁴, Michael³, John^2-1) was born on 25 March 1778^[1] a son of John N. Maxfield and his wife Rhoda French. He died on 4 August 1833.^[2] He married at Pittsfield, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on 24 June 1802 RACHEL BLAKE.^[3] She was born at Chichester, Rockingham County, in the section that later became Pittsfield, on 1780, a daughter of John Blake and Mary Brown.^[4] She married as her second husband, at Pittsfield on 14 October 1835 NICHOLAS BUSWELL.^[5] She died sometime after the 1860 census, in which she was recorded.

Harry Dana French reported the birth of James French Maxfield at Chichester on 25 March 1778; however I have not found this birth record. His parents were married at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachuestts in 1777, and when his father, John Maxfield, purchased land in Chichester on 3 April 1779, he was described as being "of Salisbury." The first-born child of John and Rhoda, he may have been born at Salisbury but moved with his parents to Chichester at about the age of 2, and lived there for the rest of his life.

James Maxfield of Chichester and Rachel Blake of Pittsfield were married at Pittsfield on 24 June 1802 by Rev. Benjamin Sargent.^[6]

James Maxfield was called "Gentleman" in numerous records, and "Captain" in one record. He was involved in numerous land transactions:

• 28 Apr 1801, Edmund Rand of Chichester, yeoman, sold to James French Maxfield of Chichester, yeoman, for $200, land in Chichester, lot # 21 in 8th range, 1st division, 50 acres.^[7]
• 1 December 1801, Jeremiah Mead of Newmarket, Rockingham County, yeoman, and Mary his wife, sold to James French Maxfield of Chichester, yeoman, for $25, one quarter part of common undivided lot #23, 8th range, 1st division of Chichester, 50 acres.^[8]
• 27 Nov 1807, James French Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman, as guardian of Jonathan Robie of Chichester, sold at public auction to Rhoda Maxfield [his mother] wife of John Maxfield, spinster, for $143.91, a parcel of land in Chichester, and to Ebenezer Prescott Jr of Pittsfield for $90.25, land in Pittsfield.^[9]
• 29 Dec 1810, James F. Maxfield of Chichester, yeoman, sold to John Maxfield [his father] of Chichester, yeoman, for $105, one quarter part (in common and undivided) of lot # 23, 8th range, 1st division, Chichester; 50 acres.^[10]
• 8 April 1813, James French Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman, sold to John Maxfield [his father] of Chichester, yeoman, for $130, a parcel in Chichester part of lot #21, 8th range, 1st division, 13 acres.^[11]
• 13 February 1816, James French Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman, sold to John Maxfield [his father] of Chichester, yeoman, for $190, a parcel in Chichester, part of lot 21, 8th range, 1st division, 19 acres.^[12]
• 2 October 1816, James F. Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman, sold to Joshua Lane of Chichester, Esq., for $50, 1/12 part of sawmill in Chichester on Gilmanton Brook, on privilege which John Maxfield and others bought of Stephen Robie, also 1/12 part of iron works about said mill with a privilege of mill yard and driftway.^[13]
• 22 October 1816, Jonathan Gove of Loudon, Rockingham County, husbandman, sold to James F. Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman, for $20, 1/12 part of a saw mill in Chichester on Gilmanton brook on the privilege which John Maxfield and others bought of Stephen Robie, also a privilege of mill yard about said saw mill, also a driftway to pass to and from mill both to Loudon and Gilmanton Roads, so called, with the shutting gates and bars.^[14]
• 30 March 1819, James F, Maxfield of Chichester, Gentleman sold to Rhoda Maxfield [his mother] of Chichester, spinster, for $108.12, the remainder of the parcel in Chichester part of lot #21, 8th range. 1st Division.^[15]

This growing Maxfield family was reported at Chichester in census records from 1810 through 1830. These records only indicate the numbers of persons in various categories of age and sex. They can possibly be explained as follows:^[16]

Rachel is placed where she is based on her age in the 1870 census. In the genealogical notes of Harry Dana French her place in the list of children of this family, between James and John, would identify her with the unidentified girl, born about 1808. The placement above assumes the census taker under-estimated her age in 1830. The children of this family evidently left home early. In 1820, Jewett, 17, and Benjamin, 16, are missing, and I do not find them elsewhere in the census. In 1830, James, 23, and the unidentifed female, about 22, are missing, not yet married, and not found elsewhere in the census.

James French Maxfield died on 4 August 1833. The grave marker at Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery, Chichester, has been transcribed in the "Cemetery Transcriptions from the New England Historic Genealogical Society Manuscript Collections," as "died August 4, 1853, age 55 years."^[17] However, as James was 55 years old in 1833, and his wife remarried in 1835, this is most likely a misreading of one numeral.

Widow Rachel (Blake) Maxfield soon remarried, to Nicholas Buswell, at Pittsfield, on 14 October 1835. At that time she lived in Pittsfield, he in Gilmanton, Strafford County, New Hampshire.^[18] I have not found any record of them in the 1840 census. According to the 1850 census he was born at New Hampshire about 1778/9. The 1850 census found them living with her recently married son John at Gilmanton, as follows:^[19]

"Hannah Bussell" is most likely Rachel's daughter, Hannah Maxfield, who did not become a Buswell until she married Nicholas' son Samuel in 1856. The 1860 Census reported Rachel, probably a widow, living with her daughter Hannah, and her step-son and son-in-law Samuel at Gilmanton:^[20]

I have not found a death record for either Nicholas or Rachel Buswell.

James French Maxfield and his wife Rachel Blake had the following children:

1. JEWETT⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 20 September 1802.
2. BENJAMIN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 11 June 1804.
3. JAMES⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 5 June 1806.
4. JOHN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 10 April 1810;^[25] d. at Gilmanton on 14 August 1859;^[26] m. at Barnstead, Belknap Co., NH, on 4 December 1849 LOUISA PARSONS,^[27] b. at New Hampshire abt. 1809/10,^[28] d. at Laconia, Belknap Co., on 4 April 1896.^[29] The 1860 census reported Louise Maxfield, 50, tailoress, living at Gilmanton Iron Works with Mary Parsons, 56, tailoress, perhaps a sister.^[30] They apparently didn't age too rapidly, as the 1870 census reported Mary Persons, 61, and Louisa Maxfield, 56, keeping house together at Gilmanton Iron Works.^[31] The 1880 census reported Louisa Maxfield, 70, keeping house by herself at Gilmanton.^[32] Louisa Maxfield married at Gilmanton on 19 December 1882 MORSE P. DOCKHAM.^[33] The marriage record reported them both of Gilmanton, he a farmer age 70 years, she 66. Morse was born at Tuftonborough, Carroll Co., NH, a child of Ephraim D. and Dolly Dockham,and this was his fourth marriage. Louisa Maxfield was born at Gilmanton to Joseph Parsons and this was her second marriage. Morse Dockham was reported in the 1880 census at Gilmanton, age 68, farmer, married to Mary, age 67.^[34] He had married Mary J. Gilman at Gilmanton on 19 March 1873.^[35] Morse died at Laconia on 19 April, 1893, of old age.^[36] Louisa survived him by three years and died at the Belknap County Farm of old age and consumption.^[37]
5. JOANNA⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 28 April 1812;^[38] d. at Chichester on 5 July 1882;^[39] m. at Barnstead on 28 October 1841 CHARLES HODGDON CARPENTER,^[40] b. at Chichester on 18 December 1818, d. at Chichester on 30 November 1910, child of David Carpenter and Mary Perkins.^[41]
6. RACHEL⁶ MAXFIELD b. at New Hampshire say abt. 1813/14;^[21] m. at Pittsfield on 9 April 1842^[22] (int. at Salem, Essex Co., MA, 13 March 1842)^[23] WILLIAM KENNEY, b. at Massachusetts abt. 1804/5.^[24]
7. NAOMI⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 7 February 1819;^[42] d. at Northwood, Rockingham Co., on 30 April 1898;^[43] m. on 19 June 1845 EBEN COE DOW,^[44] b. at Northwood on 25 April 1818, d. at Northwood on 7 April 1900, child of Phineas Dow and Elizabeth Hoitt.^[45]
8. HANNAH WEED⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 10 February 1821;^[46] d. at Albany, Orleans Co., VT, on 30 October 1919;^[47] m. at Canterbury, Merrimack Co., NH, on 8 May 1856 SAMUEL BUSWELL,^[48] b. at Canterbury (then Rockingham Co.) on 22 February 1805, d. at Hopkinton, Merrimack Co., on 12 April 1892, child of Nicholas Buswell and his first wife Hannah French.^[49]

¹French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass., New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, NH, about 1952.
²Ibid; "Cemetery Transcriptions from the New England Historic Genealogical Society Manuscript Collections," database, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 2012), Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery, Pleasant Street, Chichester, Merrimack Co., NH. See further discussion in article.
³State of New Hampshire. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH, Index to Marriages Up to 1900;Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.
⁴French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass.; supported by age in census records.
⁵State of New Hampshire. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH, Vital Records: Bride's Index, 1640-1900;Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.
⁶New Hampshire Index to Marriages Up to 1900.
⁷Deeds, 166:298; digital images, Rockingham County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds/rockingham : accessed 2012).
⁸Ibid., 166:299
⁹Ibid., 182:267-68; 193:101-03
¹⁰Ibid., 190:371
¹¹Ibid., 200:45
¹²Ibid., 208:323
¹³Ibid., 210:355
¹⁴Ibid., 211:296
¹⁵Ibid., 223:50
¹⁶Third Census of the United States: 1810, population, Chichester, Rockingham Co., NH, 25:315; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population, Chichester, Rockingham, NH, 60:136; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Chichester, Merrimack Co., NH, 76:179; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
¹⁷"Cemetery Transcriptions from the New England Historic Genealogical Society Manuscript Collections," database Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery, Pleasant Street, Chichester, Merrimack Co., NH.
¹⁸New Hampshire Vital Records: Bride's Index, 1640-1900.
¹⁹Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, 425:105A, 41, digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2011).
²⁰Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, 666:260, 423; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2011).
²¹Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Salem Ward 3, Essex Co., MA, 613:553A, 34; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
²²New Hampshire Vital Records: Bride's Index, 1640-1900.
²³Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the Year 1849 (Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1918), 4:76.
²⁴1870 Census, Salem Ward 3, Essex Co., MA, 613:553A, 34.
²⁵Buzzell Cemetery, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, database, Find a Grave (findagrave.com : accessed 2012); French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass.
²⁶State of New Hampshire. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH, Index of Deaths to 1900;Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT; Buzzell Cemetery; Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, mortality schedule, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, 3:1:8; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
²⁷New Hampshire Index to Marriages Up to 1900.
²⁸1809/10 based on cenus records for 1850, 1860 and 1880; 1813/4 in 1870 Census.
²⁹New Hampshire, Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, NH, New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2011).
³⁰1860 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, 666:223, 79.
³¹1870 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, 836:121A, 237.
³²Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, (roll 760) enumeration district (ED) 7:88C, 179; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
³³New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947; Index and images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013).
³⁴1880 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH, ED 7, 760:85B, 119.
³⁵New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947, Family Search.
³⁶New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947, Family Search.
³⁷Ibid.
³⁸New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947 Family Search; Pine Ground Cemetery, North Chichester, Merrimack Co., NH, database, Find a Grave (findagrave.com : accessed 2012)--1 May 1812.
³⁹New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947 Family Search; Pine Ground Cemetery
⁴⁰Vital Records: Bride's Index, 1640-1900.
⁴¹New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947 Family Search; Pine Ground Cemetery
⁴²Canterbury Cemetery, Northwood, Rockingham Co., NH, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 2013).
⁴³Canterbury Cemetery; New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947 Family Search.
⁴⁴French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass.
⁴⁵Canterbury Cemetery; New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947 Family Search.
⁴⁶Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
⁴⁷Ibid.
⁴⁸French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass.
⁴⁹Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008.

Buzzell Cemetery, Gilmanton, Belknap Co., NH. Database. Find a Grave. findagrave.com : 2012.

Canterbury Cemetery, Northwood, Rockingham Co., NH. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2013.

"Cemetery Transcriptions from the New England Historic Genealogical Society Manuscript Collections." Database. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2012

French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass. New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, NH, about 1952.

New Hampshire, State of. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH. Vital Records: Bride's Index, 1640-1900. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.

________. Index of Deaths to 1900. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.

________. New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2011.

________. Index to Marriages Up to 1900. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.

________. Marriage Records, 1637-1947. Index and images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.

Pine Ground Cemetery, North Chichester, Merrimack Co., NH. Database. Find a Grave. findagrave.com : 2012.

United States Department of the Census. Third Census of the United States: 1810, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, mortality schedule. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

Vermont, State of. Vermont Death Records, 1909-2008. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

Vital Records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the Year 1849. Salem, MA: Essex Institute, 1918.