"Phila" Maxfield was listed as an agriculturist in the 1840 census in the Town of Milton, Vermont; his family was described as follows:
| age | male | female |
| 30-39 | 1 | 0 |
| 20-29 | 0 | 1 |
| 5-9 | 0 | 1 |
| 0-4 | 1 | 2 |
The 1850 census (701:141) reported this family at Madison Township, Lake County, Ohio, as follows:
| Name | Age | Sex | Occupation | R.E. | Birthplace | Other |
| Philo Maxfield | 49 | M | laborer | VT | ||
| Susanna Maxfield | 37 | F | VT | |||
| Martha A. Maxfield | 17 | F | VT | school | ||
| Philo Maxfield | 15 | M | VT | school | ||
| Sarah J. Maxfield | 13 | F | VT | school | ||
| Isaac Maxfield | 10 | M | VT | school | ||
| Alvira Maxfield | 9 | F | VT | school | ||
| Eugene Maxfield | 6 | M | OH | school | ||
| Joel Maxfield | 4 | M | OH | school | ||
| Warner Maxfield | 5/12 | M | OH |
This record indicates that Philo married SUSANNA probably some time before 1832. Susanna was born at Vermont about 1812/3. Based on the birthplaces of the children, the family moved from Vermont to Ohio sometime between 1841 and 1844.
I have not found the Philo Maxfield family in the 1860 census. Three of the sons were reported in other households in Madison Township. Isaac, age 20, was in the household of James and Laulona Dayton (996:362). Eugene, age 16 and still in school, was in the household of Louis and Emeline Roberts (996:357). Joel, age 13 and still in school, was in the household of Isaac Hickox (age 43 farmer) and Lucy Waite (age 23 tailoress) (996:354). The family was broken up. Perhaps Susanna died. Perhaps the daughters had married. Perhaps some of the children had died.
Isaac and Eugene were soon serving in the Army in the Civil War, and Joel enlisted later in the war.
In 1869, Benzie County, Michigan, probate records reported Philo Maxfield, partially deranged, living at Benzonia Township (Probate file # 90, reported by Jay Homer on free pages, rootsweb). The court received a petition on 18 January 1869, in reference to a poor, partially deranged man named Philo Maxfield. He was described as an old man, living on a homestead with no family for five years. One son who lived not far away had left and moved to Ohio. He had other children there, a daughter with her husband living near but described as poor and having children.
Mr. Maxfield has a singular swelling in his head, an enlargement of the skull bone so that his brain is affected. He is partially deranged and is incapable of taking care of himself. Children have not properly taken care of him. I was notified of his situation by the Benzonia people. I visited him two weeks ago last Saturday and found him alone in a very open log house in filth and with the appearance of suffering for want of proper care and in danger of burning up his house or dying there alone.The petitioner, Elias E. Kirkland, hired neighbors to care for him. Kirkland indicated that the homestead had some value, had cleared land, which the son-in-law had sown with wheat the previous fall, and Maxfield had a few tools. The petitioner asked that a guardian be appointed and added that the son-in-law was anxious that it be done. On 11 March Silas F. Judson was appointed guardian. The only remaining item in the probate file is a statment dated 14 October 1903, that Judson died in 1883, and his heir had no knowledge of the estate of Philo Maxfield.
I find no further mention of Philo Maxfield. He probably died before 1903, perhaps soon after the 1869 court activity.
Philo and Susanna Maxfield had the following children:
Information on this family is found in:
NOTE: This genealogy page contains the information which I have available at this time. It is not a thorough genealogy. If anyone is interested in pursuing this further, contact me at the e-mail address at the bottom of the page, and I can make suggestions for more complete research.
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