Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

DAVID H.⁵ MAXFIELD (Joshua^4-3, Joseph², John¹) was born at Bradford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, on 23 February 1805^[1] a son of Joshua Maxfield and his second wife Ascenath Young. He died at Chester, Windsor County, Vermont, on 11 November 1882.^[2] He married first at Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont, on 6 May 1828 LAURA MILLER.^[3] She was born at Rockingham about 1806/7, a child of Matthew and Mary Miller. She died at Chester on 24 August 1876.^[4] He married second at Chester on 2 March 1879 REBECCA (THOMAS) CARPENTER.^[5] She was born at Rindge, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, on 4 August 1803, a daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Gregg) Thomas. She died at West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, on 18 February 1895.^[6] She had married first at Rindge on 1 May 1928 SETH CARPENTER.^[7] He was born on 28 August 1802 and died on 3 June 1843.^[8]

David Maxfield was the first child of Joshua Maxfield and his second wife. He had one older half-sister who survived to adulthood, and at least six younger siblings - five brothers and one sister. David spent his childhood at Bradford. By the age of fifteen his family had moved to Chester. A decade later his family of origin would be in Springfield, Windsor County, Vermont, and soon after that at Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, but David and his half-sister remained in Vermont. David lived the rest of his life at Chester.

David Maxfield worked as a shoemaker. He was active in the benevolent movements of his day. In 1852 he was a signer of a call to a meeting on the evils of slavery.^[9] He represented Chester at County Temperance Conventions in 1866 and 1871,^[10] and probably other years.

David Maxfield of Chester married Laura Miller of Rockingham at Rockingham on 6 May 1828. Sylvester Sage, minister, presided.^[11] According to a child's death record, Laura was born in the village of Saxtons River, which is in the Town of Rockingham. They had eleven children; at least seven, perhaps nine, survived to adulthood.

Census records before 1850 only listed the name of the head of household, and number in various age and sex categories. The 1830 and 1840 censuses could be partly explained as follows:^[12]

Perhaps the unidentifed persons are a combination of older relatives and young apprentices.

The 1850 census listed the members of this family at Chester:^[13]

The 1860 census indicated changes in the evolving family. The census taker incorrectly recorded the family name as "Maxwell." The last child, Franklin, had been born about 1851/2, Mary Emma died in 1854, and Mary Ann married in 1859. Laura and Caroline were absent from the census, although Caroline is known to have been still alive. David was listed as a boot and shoe manufacturer, Horace a shoe maker, and George a boot and shoe apprentice. George, Charles, Abby and Franklin were all attending school.^[14]

By 1870 the family had shrunk to three persons. Julia married in 1865, George about 1868/9, and Abbie in 1870. Caroline died in 1867. Franklin and Laura have not been located in this census. The household consisted of David, 65, Laura, 63, and Charles, 23, who worked as post-master.^[15]

Laura (Miller) Maxfield died at Chester on 24 August 1876, from cancer of the liver.^[16] That her death was reported in the Congregationalist is a sign of their prominence in religious and benevolent activity.

David Miller, of Chester, age 76, married Rebecca (Thomas) Carpenter, of Westminster, 74, at Chester on 2 March 1879. Henry Y. Slack, pastor of the Congregational Church, presided. The daughter of Francis and Elizabeth (Gregg) Thomas, Rebecca was born at Rindge on 4 August 1803.^[17] She had married at Rindge on 1 May 1828 Seth Carpenter of Surrey, Cheshire County.^[18] Seth died on 3 June 1843,^[19] leaving Rebecca a 39-year-old widow with three children. The 1850 census reported her living at Westminster with her children Edwin H., 21, Alfred, 17, and L. Elizabeth, 14.^[20] In 1860 she was at Concord, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, living with her son-in-law, Albert S. Granger, 25, her daughter, Loretta E. Granger, 24, and their son Clement, 2;^[21] Edwin Carpenter, 31, was in the next entry. In 1870 she was still with the Grangers, then at Westminster.^[22] Rebecca married David Maxfield after almost thirty-six years of widowhood.

The 1880 census reported David and Rebecca Maxfield, both 75, at Chester.^[23] Their marriage came to an end three and a half years after it began, when David died at Chester on 11 November 1882 from "inflamation."^[24] Rebecca died at West Bridgewater on 18 February 1895 from bronchitis. She is buried at Surrey.^[25]

David Maxfield and his first wife Laura Miller had the following children:

1. MARY ANN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester abt. 1829; d. at Rockingham on 27 October 1882 of typhoid fever;^[26] m. at Chester on 29 August 1859 HENRY O. THATCHER,^[27] b. at Vermont on 17 August 1832, d. at Cavendish, Windsor County, on 7 May 1910 of cerebral hemorage.^[28]
2. MERCY⁶ MAXFIELD b. abt. 20 December 1833; d. at Chester on 20 June 1834.^[29]
3. HORACE O.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester abt. 1834/5; d. at Plaistow, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on 11 June 1903, found dead in a field, death caused by exhaustion, exposure, and other causes;^[30] m. at Chester on 1 January 1879 MARIAN KEYES,^[31] b. at Ludlow, Windsor County, on 31 December 1835, d. at Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts, on 25 June 1884 from heart disease, child of Horace Keyes.^[32] The 1870 census reported Horace at a boarding house in Haverhill, working in a shoe factory.^[33] The 1880 census reported him at Fountain Street, Haverhill, in a household headed by George Wiggin [widower of Julia Maxfield] 41, unemployed shoe maker, children Maud (12) and Nellie (7) Wiggin, Horace Maxfield, unemployed shoe maker, 45, and his wife Miriam, 44.^[34]
4. LAURA A.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont abt. 1835/6;^[35] no record found beyond 1850 census.
5. CAROLINE J.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester on 17 February 1839; d. at Chester on 15 February 1867, strangulated hernia.^[36]
6. JULIA F.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester abt. August 1841; d. at Haverhill on 20 December 1878 meningitis;^[37] m. at Chester on 30 June 1865 GEORGE H. WIGGIN,^[38] b. at Massachusetts abt. 1838/9. For 1880 census entry see Horace O. Maxfield above.
7. GEORGE C.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester on January 1844.
8. CHARLES M.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester abt 1845.
9. MARY EMMA⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont abt. August 1848; d. at Chester on 21 June 1854.^[39]
10. ABBIE S.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chester abt. October 1849; d. at Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on 17 November 1872, hernia;^[40] m. at Chester on 15 June 1870 HARVEY G. KITTRIDGE, b. at Mount Vernon, New Hampshire, abt. 1848/9.^[41]
11. FRANKLIN M.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont abt. 1851/2.^[42] He could be the Frank Maxfield reported in the 1880 census at Lyonsdale, Lewis County, New York, age 28, boarder, single, working in a saw mill, born Vermont, parents b. Vermont.^[43]

¹State of New Hampshire. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH, Index of Births to 1900;Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.
²Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954; digital images of index cards, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013).
³Ibid.
⁴Ibid.; "Chester, Vermont, Vital Records," E:16, 32; New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, MA.
⁵"Chester, Vermont, Vital Records," D:35, 2; Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
⁶Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 2012), 455:669:4.
⁷New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947; Index and images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013).
⁸Frank Burnside Kingsbury, History of the Town of Surry, Cheshire County, New Hampshire: with a Genealogical Register and Map of the Town (Surry, NH: by the Town, 1925), 521.
⁹Vermont Chronicle, 18 May 1852; 19th Century U.S. Newspapers (infotrac.galegroup.com : accessed 2012).
¹⁰Ibid., 3 March 1866; 25 February 1871.
¹¹Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
¹²Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 187:115; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2011); Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 548:210; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
¹³Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 931:324B, 36; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
¹⁴Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 1328:110, 1017; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
¹⁵Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 1628:313A, 114; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
¹⁶Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954; Congregationalist, 6 September 1876; 19th Century U.S. Newspapers (infotrac.galegroup.com : accessed 2012).
¹⁷Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954
¹⁸New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947.
¹⁹Kingsbury, History of Surry, 521.
²⁰1850 Census, Westminster, Windham Co., VT, 929:269A, 6.
²¹1860 Census, Concord Ward 4, Merrimack Co., NH, 675:800, 774.
²²1870 Census, Westminster, Windham Co., VT, 1627:178B, 267.
²³Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population (roll 1350), Chester, Windsor Co., VT, enumeration district (ED) 252, 83C/D, 225; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
²⁴Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
²⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," American Ancestors, 455:669:4.
²⁶Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
²⁷Ibid.
²⁸Ibid.
²⁹Ibid.
³⁰State of New Hampshire. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH, Index of Deaths to 1900;Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.
³¹"Chester, Vermont, Vital Records,", D:35, 1; Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
³²"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," American Ancestors, 355:212:173.
³³1870 Census, Haverhill Ward 1, Essex Co., MA, 608:624B, 177.
³⁴1880 Census (roll 529), Haverhill, Essex Co., MA, enumeration district (ED) 187, 160A, 98
³⁵1850 Census, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 931:324B, 36.
³⁶"Chester, Vermont, Vital Records,", D:51; Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954.
³⁷"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," American Ancestors, 301:194:319.
³⁸Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954
³⁹Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954
⁴⁰Jay and Delene Holbrook, "Massachusetts Vital and Town Records," digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012), Lowell; Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts.
⁴¹"Chester, Vermont, Vital Records,", D:11, 23; Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954; Vermont Chronicle. 25 January 1870.
⁴²1860 Census, Chester, Windsor Co., VT, 1328:110, 1017.
⁴³1880 Census (roll 858), Lyonsdale, Lewis Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 183, 319C, 202.

"Chester, Vermont, Vital Records." New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston, MA.

Congregationalist, Boston, MA. 6 September 1876.

Holbrook, Jay and Delene. "Massachusetts Vital and Town Records." Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

Kingsbury, Frank Burnside. History of the Town of Surry, Cheshire County, New Hampshire: with a Genealogical Register and Map of the Town. Surry, NH: by the Town, 1925.

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2012

New Hampshire, State of. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Concord, NH. Index of Births to 1900. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT.

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

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

United States Department of the Census. Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011.

________. 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.

Vermont, State of. Vital Records, 1760-1954. Digital images of index cards. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.

Vermont Chronicle, Bellows Falls, VT. 18 May 1852; 3 March 1866; 25 February 1871.