Death Certificate of Sarah Ann Maxfield
Massachuestts Vital Records
I am confused also about the Eliphalets. My Eliphalet (who married ???). is listed as born in NH about 1774/5. He was a joiner who moved about in NY, CT, NH and VT. How did I link them? While checking my Elnathan, also a joiner/builder, I noticed that he and Eliphalet both lived in Clinton County, NY and North Hero, VT. Looking at the census for 1850 I found more matches. Nathan married Lucinda Knowlton of North Hero (daughter of Elijah Knowlton and Polly Hamlin) about 1822 and had about 8 children. She had three sisters (Polly Freeman, Lovina, and Charlotte Temple) who married Hazens from North Hero. They all remained in North Hero and had large families. By 1840 Nathan and Lucinda had moved to southern Clinton County and up the river to Saranac, Clinton Co. In 1850 they were in Franklin Falls. Their son Sylvanus enlisted in the Civil War from Dublin, NH. In his seventies, Eliphalet went to live with with one of his Hazen sons-in-law. Nearby in the 1850 census is Polly Maxfield, 55 born in Mass., living with Charlotte Hazen (Lucinda's sister). Is Polly Eliphalet's wife?? (Source: Hazen Family in America, etc.)To summarize, she identifies Nathan with Eliphalet (1) because their migrations are similar, and (2) in the 1850 census Eliphalet and Polly Maxfield are living with relatives of Nathan's wife.
I don't know what the evidence is for saying that Elnathan was born in CT. He was a joiner whose work caused him to travel as did his father. I found several Maxfield families in Connecticut but the details don't match. The Waterford, Oakland Co. MI family is my family. They must have tried it and not liked it. Even the grandchildren returned. Lucinda had TB and went to Pierrepont, NY. The Franklin Falls family did not go west.
To understand these connections we need to look into the Hazen family. The following information is not from my research, but based on several entries in the Pedigree Resource File at familysearch.com. Joseph Hazen (b. 1741) married Olive Stoddard, and they migrated from Connecticut to Grand Isle, in what would become Vermont, where they raised ten children.
This doesn't prove anything. But it strongly suggest a connection.
Some of Nathan's life was summarized in an article on his son Elijah, in a history of Saint Lawrence County (His St Lawr 3:237), published in 1894.
[Elijah Maxfield was] a son of Elnathan, a contractor and builder, and a native of Hartford, Conn, who came to Vermont when a young man, where he married Lucinda Knowlton. Later he went to Michigan where he followed his trade until his death. He had ten children, four of whom are living . . .Nathan Maxfield married LUCINDA KNOWLTON about 1822, perhaps at Grand Isle County, Vermont. She was born at Vermont about 1803, a child of Elijah Knowlton and Polly Hamlin.
The 1830 Census (184:13) reported the Nathan Maxfield family at North Hero, Vermont. The household consisted of a male-female couple in their 30s, a boy and a girl between 5 and 10, and a boy under 5. The girl has not been identified; otherwise this corresponds with what we know of this family from other records.
Judging from the birth states of children, the family moved to New York State some time between 1835 and 1838. The 1840 Census (276:178) reported the family at Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York. At that time the household consisted of
| Line | Name | Age | Sex | Occupation | R.E. | Birthplace | Other |
| 26 | Nathan Maxfield | 51 | M | joiner | CT | ||
| 27 | Lucinda Maxfield | 45 | F | VT | |||
| 28 | Montravilla Maxfield | 26 | M | NY | |||
| 29 | Josephus Maxfield | 22 | M | farmer | VT | ||
| 30 | Charlotte Maxfield | 19 | F | VT | school | ||
| 31 | Samuel Maxfield | 17 | M | VT | |||
| 32 | Elnathan Maxfield | 14 | M | VT | |||
| 33 | Silvania Maxfield | 12 | M | NY | school | ||
| 34 | Sarah A. Maxfield | 10 | F | NY | school | ||
| 35 | Susan Maxfield | 5 | F | NY | school | ||
| 36 | Elijah Maxfield | 3 | M | NY |
The Census reported Sophronia Maxfield, age 16, at the town of Chataugay, Franklin County, in a large household headed by Thomas Persons (505:162A).
In the decade of the 1850s Nathan and Lucinda, and some of their children migrated to Waterford, Oakland County, Michigan. Nathan Maxfield died probably about 1860 or soon before. The 1860 Census (556:381) reported Nathan (Elnathan the son) head of a household at Waterford as follows:
| Line | Name | Age | Sex | Occupation | R.E. | P.E. | Birthplace | Other |
| 32 | Nathan Maxfield | 25 | M | day laborer | $ 0 | $ 0 | VT | |
| 33 | Sarah Maxfield | 21 | F | NY | ||||
| 34 | Susan Maxfield | 16 | F | NY | ||||
| 35 | Lucinda Maxfield | 55 | F | VT | ||||
| 36 | Elijah Maxfield | 13 | M | NY | ||||
| 37 | Ira Spears | 16 | M | farm laborer | NY |
Most of the family found their way back East. The 1870 Census (1099:52A) found Lucinda Maxfield, age 66, an invalid, living at Pierrepont, Saint Lawrence County, New York (Ellsworth Post Office) in the household of Timothy and Sally Shurtleff. Lucinda died at Potsdam, Saint Lawrence County, on 25 September 1875 (Bayside Cem).
Nathan Maxfield and his wife Lucinda Knowlton had the following children:
Maxfield, Sarah, 30, female, white, works in cotton mill, b. NY
26. Maxfield, Sarah, white, female, 40, boarder, single, housekeeper, b. NY, parents b. VT CT
Information on this family is found in:
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