Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Sixth Generation

Collins Maxfield, of Dartmouth, married ANN ELIZA WEAVER of New Bedford, at Providence, Rhode Island, on 27 November 1849 (NB Merc M 787). Ann Eliza, the daughter of John and Hannah D. Weaver, was born at New Bedford about 1829. She died within a year of their marriage, of a feaver, at Dartmouth on 19 June 1850, age 21 (VR Ma 48:67:106; NB Merc D 564). The 1850 Census (309:440) reported Collins S. Maxfield, 34, farmer, head of a household at Dartmouth that consistred of himself and siblings Sarah, Basheba and Benjamin.

Collins Maxfield, farmer, of Dartmouth, age 37, married SOPHRONIE MERRY, 27, of New Bedford, at New Bedford on 12 May 1853 (VR Dart(H) 1853:69:124:136). John Guidwood, clergyman, officiated. The daughter of William and Harriet Merry, Sophronie was born at Tisbury, on Martha's Vinyard, between 13 March and 28 July 1825 (based on age in various documents).

Sophronie (Merry) Maxfield died at Dartmouth on 23 July 1859, age 34, from consumption (VR Dart(H) Deaths 1:29:7; NB Merc D 564). The newly widowed Collins Maxfield, farmer, died about a month later, at Dartmouth on 31 August 1859, age 44 years, 3 months and 5 days, from an absess (VR Dart(H) 1:29:6; NB Merc D 564). He was a farmer.

The two orphaned children were raised by their Uncle Benjamin and Aunt Sarah. They both appear in the household of Benjamin Maxfield in 1860, and Walter is still there in 1870, while William lived with Uncle William Munroe Maxfield.

Collins Smith Maxfield and his second wife Sophronie Merry had the following children:

1. WALTER S. T.⁷ MAXFIELD
   • b. at Dartmouth on 12 August 1854 (VR Dart(H) Births 2:34:74)
   • Census 1880 at New Bedford (525:192C) in household of cousin Annie Russell
     • Walter Maxfield, cousin, single, male, white, 25 b. MA, bookkeeper, parents b. MA MA
   • Census. 1900 at 15 Water Street, New Bedford (637:3B)
     58. Maxfield, Walter, head, white, male, b. Aug 1856, age 43, single, b. MA, parents b. MA MA, cook, restaurant
   • Census. 1910. at 263 Acushnet Avenue, New Bedford (579:159B.)
     Maxfield, Walte, lodger, male, white, 54, single, b. MA, parents b. MA MA, farmer
   • Census 1920 at 428 Purchase Street, New Bedford (687:23B) in household of Mabel L. Andrews
     • Maxfield, Walter L. roomer M W 63 S b. MA parents b. MA MA salesman, cement co.
   • d. at New Bedford on 24 December 1929 (age 75-4-22, at St. Luke's Hospital) (Rural Cem NB Spruce-334)
   • bur. at Rural Cemetery, New Bedford, on 28 December 1929 (Rural Cem NB Spruce-334)
2. WILLIAM MERRY⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Dartmouth on 23 November 1856

Information on this family can be found in:

• Census records

NB Merc D

Deaths Recorded in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874. Free Public Library, New Bedford, Ma.

NB Merc M

Marriages Recorded in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874. Free Public Library, New Bedford, Mass.

Rural Cem NB

Grave Marker. Rural Cemetery, New Bedford, Ma., and New Bedford Cemeteries cardfile.

VR Dart

Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. Boston: NEHGS, 1929, 1929, 1930.

VR Dart(H)

Holbrook, Jay Mack, ed. Massachusetts Vital Records: Dartmouth. Oxford, Mass.: Holbrook Research Institute, 1992. microfilm.

VR MA

Massachusetts Vital Records. Division of Vital Statistics, State House, Boston, Ma.; microfilm, Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, Ut.