Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

MITCHELL⁵ MAXFIELD (Joshua^4-3, Joseph², John¹) was born at New Hampshire, on 1813^[1] a son of Joshua Maxfield, Jr., and his second wife Asenath Young. He died at Fort Ann, Washington County, New York, on 7 December 1886.^[2] He married before 1841 (first child born about 1841/2) HANNAH A. McCHENSEY. She was born at Washington County on 1821 and died on 1906.^[3]

Mitchell is placed here as a child of Joshua and Asenath because (1) Mitchell was reported in the 1840 census in the same community as Joshua; (2) Mitchell named a daughter Asenath, the same unusual name as Joshua's wife; (3) Mitchell does fit in to the age and sex categories of the Joshua Maxfield household in the 1820 census. This is not conclusive, but is suggestive, that Mitchell was a child of Joshua and Asenath. Hannah's full name is found on their grave marker; her county of birth is indicated on state censuses. The 1850 and 1880 censuses reported that Mitchell was born at New Hampshire, the other censuses gave his birth state as Vermont.

If we have identified Mitchell correctly as a child of Joshua and Asenath, he was born at New Hampshire, and spent the first few years of his life at Bradford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. He was born in 1813; Joshua Maxfield, Jr., was still a resident of Bradford in 1816, but by 1820 had moved to Chester, Windsor County, Vermont. By 1840 they had all settled at Fort Ann. Mitchell remained at Fort Ann the rest of his life. Mitchell Maxfield was a shoemaker.

The 1840 census report for Mitchell Maxfield does not agree with any other information we have on this family. I include it here; perhaps someone else can explain it:^[4]

The Mitchell Maxfield family was reported in federal and state censuses at Fort Ann from 1850 through 1880. In 1860 he was called Michael Maxwell, and in 1865 Michael Maxfield, but the information on family members clearly indicates these were the family of Mitchell Maxfield. The ages of family members were reported in the censuses as follows:^[5]

Married children had a habit of coming back home. In 1865 Catherine, married, was recorded as Katherine Frost, and her child, Chester Frost, age 6, was also in the family. Aurian, married in 1865, returned to the family in 1870 as Oriann Chapman, with her husband, Abram Chapman, age 40, a stone mason born at Massachusetts. I cannot explain the absence of George in 1865 or Phila in 1870. Phila was still unmarried in 1875. George, married in 1878, became a widower in 1879, and returned home by 1880. Cora, working as a domestic servant in the home of D. O. and Fanny Briggs, of Fort Ann, in 1870,^[6] returned to the family as Cora B. Little in 1875. Asenith had married Clark Westcott in 1880, and therefore was absent from the family in that year. Mitchell, the father, was described as palsied, therefore disabled, in the 1865 and 1880 censuses. In 1870 he was called a grocer, and had no employment in the remaining census records.

Mitchell, Hannah, and Auriann are buried together at the Fort Ann Cemetery.^[7]

Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington County, NY
findagrave.com

Mitchell Maxfield, Jr., married Charlotte Bentley about 1882. They had one child, who did not live long enough to appear in a census. Mitchell was described in the 1892, 1900 and 1910 censuses as a boat builder, or carpenter in a boat yard. In 1920 he was called a house carpenter, and in 1930, the year of his death, a flagman for a steam railroad. Mitchell fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898. Charlotte's mother, Mary Bentley, lived with them in 1900, born August 1836 at New York.^[8]

Mitchell Maxfield and his wife Hannah A. McChensey had the following children:^[9]

1. CATHERINE⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Washington Co. abt. 1841/2; m. bef. 1858 (child b. 1858/9) ________ FROST.
2. AURIAN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Fort Ann on 16 November 1842; d. at Ptiisfield, Berkshire Co., MA, on 1 December 1921;^[10] m. at Pittsfield on 1 June 1865 ABRAHAM M. CHAPMAN, b. at New Lebanon, Columbia Co., NY, abt 1829/30, child of Nathan C. and Polly E. Chapman.^[11]
3. PHILA A.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Washington Co. abt. 1847/8; no record after 1875 census.
4. GEORGE O.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Washington Co. on April 1850.
5. CORA BELL⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Washington Co. abt. 1852/3; m. bef. 1875 ________ LITTLE.
6. ASENATH⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Washington Co. on October 1855; d. at Fort Ann on 1936;^[12] m. (1) on 9 June 1878 CLARK H. WESTCOTT,^[13] b. at Pennsylvania abt. 1853/4; m. (2) abt. 1885/6 JOEL HARVEY b. at New York on 1843; d. at New York on 1935.^[14] He had m. (1) SADIE ________ b. 1850; d. at New York on 1879.^[15][16]
7. MITCHELL⁶ MAXFIELD, Jr. b. at Washington Co. abt. November 1855; d. at Fort Ann on 1 May 1930; m. abt. 1881/2 CHARLOTTE BENTLEY, b. at New York on 1864, d. at Fort Ann on 23 July 1931.^[17]

¹Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 2012), .
²Ibid.; Vital Records of New York - Index;Onondaga County Library, Syracuse, NY.
³Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Find a Grave.
⁴Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 348:225; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
⁵Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 610:81A, 200; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); New York, State Census, 1855, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 1-2, 29, 115; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013); Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 875:756, 549; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); New York, State Census, 1865, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 2, 3, 27; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2014); Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 1110:130A, 179; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013); New York, State Census, 1875, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 36, 328; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2012); Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population (roll 942), Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 134, 100A, 95; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
⁶1870 Census, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, 1110:130A, 175.
⁷Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Find a Grave.
⁸New York, State Census, 1892, population, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 2; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 2013); Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population (roll 1159), Stillwater, Saratoga Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 138, 19A, 435; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013); Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population (roll 1088), Whitehall, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 119, 19B, 409; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013); Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population (roll 1272), Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 203, 4A, 107; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013); Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population (roll 1657), Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 11, 4B, 128; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
⁹Information on the children of Mitchell and Hannah is derived from census records listed in the previous two footnotes unless otherwise indicated.
¹⁰"Pittsfield Deaths 1886-1941," database, MAGenWeb (magenweb.org : accessed 2013).
¹¹Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 2012), 180:63:41.
¹²Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Find a Grave.
¹³Mary S. Jackson and Edward F. Jackson, Marriage Notices from Washington County, New York, Newspapers, 1799-1880 (Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1995).
¹⁴Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Find a Grave.
¹⁵Ibid.
¹⁶Additional information on Asenath is from 1880 Census (roll 942), Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 134, 101C, 117; 1900 Census (roll 1172), Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, enumeration district (ED) 120, 2B, 53.
¹⁷Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY, Cemetery Records of the Township of Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. (Queensbury, NY: Indexed and compiled by Historical Data Services, n.d.). Onondaga County Library.

Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2012.

Fort Ann Cemetery, Fort Ann, Washington Co., NY. Cemetery Records of the Township of Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. Queensbury, NY: Indexed and compiled by Historical Data Services, n.d.

Jackson, Mary S. and Edward F.Jackson. Marriage Notices from Washington County, New York, Newspapers, 1799-1880. Bowie, Md: Heritage Books, 1995.

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

New York, State Census, 1855, population. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.

________, 1865, population. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2014.

________, 1875, population. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2012.

________, 1892, population. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013

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

"Pittsfield Deaths 1886-1941." Database. MAGenWeb. magenweb.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.

________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.