Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

JONATHAN MORSE⁵ MAXFIELD (Benjamin⁴, Joseph^3-2, Johh¹) was born at Massachusetts about 1812/3, a son of Benjamin Maxfield and his wife Polly Sargent.^[1] He was still living at the time of the 1892 New York state census. He married sometime before the 1840 census ELEANOR ________, who was born at New York about 1812/3,^[2] and died at Williamson, Wayne County, New York, on 6 August 1888.^[3]

The sixth of about nine children, Jonathan moved with his family of origin to Onondaga County, New York, probably before he had reached the age of three. By the time he was seventeen, that family had moved to Wayne County, New York. Jonathan settled there, and farmed there the rest of his life.

The 1840 census reported the Jonathan Maxfield family, consisting of one man and one woman, both in their twenties, at the Town of Sodus, Wayne County. Jonathan was engaged in agriculture.^[4] The 1850 census reported the family in the nearby town of Williamson:^[5]

Jonathan Maxfield participated in a number of property transactions in Wayne County:

• 21 September 1855, Robert Bean of Sodus and Polly his wife, sold to Jonathan M. Maxfield of Williamson for $300 land in Sodus, part of lot # 9, second range, 12.54 acres.^[6]
• 2 April 1856, Jonathan M. Maxfield and Eleanor his wife of Williamson sold to Maxson Kenyon of Sodus for $700, land in Sodus, the parcel he had purchased in the previous year.^[7]
• 14 February 1863, William Earl of Craven and Alexander Oswald and Edmund Bucknell Estevert, through their attorney Benjamin F. Young, sold to Jonathan M. Maxfield of Williamson for $611, land in Williamson, in subdivision 4, lot # 12, 4th range, 50.22 acres.^[8]
• 26 October 1867, Oliver Whiton and Emaline his wife of Williamson sold to Jonathan M. Maxfield of the same town for $400, land in Williamson village, lot 15, one-half acre.^[9]
• 19 February 1868, eight persons surnamed or related to Cole, all of Williamson, sold to Jonathan M. Maxfield of Williamson for $375, land in Williamson, subdivision 2, lot # 39, 10 acres.^[10]

The 1860 census reported Morse Maxfield head of a household at Williamson. In addition to Morse, 49, farmer, the family included Eleanor, 47, Harriet Hawley, 18, attending school, and Benjamin Maxfield, 83, now widowed.^[11] Harriet Hawley in 1860 is probably identical to Harriet Maxfield in 1850. I cannot explain why she was given the surname of Hawley in 1860. If the female in the 1840 census was Eleanor, she did not have a prior marriage to someone named Hawley, and the Currey children in 1880 are called the grandchildren of Jonathan.

Daughter Harriet Maxfield, born about 1841/2, probably married a man surnamed Currey before 1863, as Jonathan and Eleanor raised their grandsons, Lyman and Charley Currey. The 1870 census reported Jonathan Maxfield, 57, farmer, Eleanor Maxfield, 57, and Lyman Currey, 6, forming a household at Williamson.^[12] The 1880 census reported this family at Williamson consisting of Jonathan Maxfield, 67, farmer, Ellenor Maxfield, 67, wife, keeping house, Lyman Currey, 16, grandson, and Charley Currey, 16, grandson. Both boys were working on the farm and attending school.^[13] Eleanor died at Williamson on 6 August 1888.^[14] Jonathan was reported by himself in the 1892 New York state census.^[15]

Jonathan Morse Maxfield and his wife Eleanor had the following child:

1. HARRIET S.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at New York abt. 1841/2;^[16] m. bef. 1863 ALBERT CURREY. Reported in the 1870 census at Williamson, family consisting of Albert Curry, 35, farm laborer, Harriet Curry, 30, keeping house, and Charles Curry, 5, all born at New York.^[17]

¹1850, 1870, 1880 and 1892 census records. The 1860 census placed his birth at New Hampshire 1810/1.
²1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 census records.
³Vital Records of New York - Index;Onondaga County Library, Syracuse, NY.
⁴Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Sodus, Wayne Co., NY, 350:94; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
⁵Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, 612:149B, 334; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
⁶New York, Land Records, 1630-1975: Wayne County, 65:230-31; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2014).
⁷Ibid., 65:514-15.
⁸Ibid., 82:519-20.
⁹Ibid., 96:55.
¹⁰Ibid., 96:346-47.
¹¹Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, 876:362, 519; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
¹²Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, 1113:556B, 306; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
¹³Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, , population (roll 944), Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 193, 510D, 441; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
¹⁴Vital Records of New York - Index.
¹⁵New York, State Census, 1892, population, Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 2; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013).
¹⁶about 1841/2 New York from 1850, 1860 census records. 1839/40 New York in 1860 Census. As all ages for this family in that census are divisable by 5, they are probably estimates.
¹⁷1870 Census, Williamson, Wayne Co., NY, 1113:552B, 237.

New York, State Census, 1892, population. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.

United States Department of the Census. Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. 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.

Vital Records of New York - Index. Onondaga County Library, Syracuse, NY.

Wayne County, New York. "New York, Land Records, 1630-1975: Wayne County." Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2014