Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fourth Generation

CURRIER⁴ MAXFIELD (Joshua³, Joseph², John¹) was born at Weare, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, about 1781-2 a son of Joshua Maxfield and his wife Sarah Currier .^[1] He died at Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, on 12 September 1857.^[2] He married first about 1801-2 MARY CARR,^[3] commonly called "Polly." She was born at Epping, Rockingham County, New Hampshire on 4 April 1778,^[4] a daughter of Sanders Carr. She died at Goshen on 15 November 1837.^[5] Currier married as his second wife at Newbury, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, on 28 August 1838 HEPSIBETH BORDEN,^[6] who was born at New Hampshire about 1800^[7] and died at Goshen on 8 April 1870.^[8]

Born at Weare, the sixth of seven children, Currier moved with his family during his childhood to the Bradford/Fishersfield, Hillsborough County, area. He married Mary Carr sometime around 1801-2. The 1800 census implied he was still with his parents, and did not name a separate household for him. Their first child was born in 1803, at Bradford. He was a farmer in Bradford according to a deed in 1808 and the 1810 census. However the New Hampshire Birth Index recorded the births of their children at Fishersfield from 1806 to 1818. These early records often were recorded after the fact, where the family later lived. The 1820 census reported the family at Fishersfield, engaged in agriculture. The birth of their last child, in 1821, was not recorded at Fishersfield, and has been attributed by Wright and French, the major secondary sources, to Goshen. A deed in 1824 described Currier Maxfield as "of Goshen," and every reference after that date has placed him in that town.

Currier Maxfield participated in the following transfers of property:

• 10 May 1808, Joshua Maxfield, Jr., and Currier Maxfield, both of Bradford, husbandmen, sold to [their father] Joshua Maxfield of Bradford, husbandman, for $2000, lot #2 in the part of the Town of Bradford annexed from Fishersfield, "land heretofore deeded to us by Joshua Maxfield," to be held through his life and life of his wife Sarah.^[9]
• 11 March 1824, Oliver Gunnison of Fishersfield, sold to Currier Maxfield of Goshen, for $600, a parcel part in Fishersfield, part in Wendell and part in Goshen, adjacent to land owned by Currier Maxfield, part of lot #8, 1st division of Fishersfield, part of lot #12 7th range in Goshen, 102 acres, 15 rods, also another parcel.^[10]
• 24 March 1827, Currier Maxfield sold to David C. Maxfield, land in Goshen, part of lot #8 and part of lot #12 in 7th range, 15 acres plus 102 acres. The amount paid was left blank. David, Currier's son, was 24 years old, and married eight months later. Currier signed with a mark.^[11]
• 19 December 1836, Page Maxfield of Goshen sold to [his father] Currier Maxfield for $250 a parcel in Goshen of about 32 acres, which Page had purchased on 16 March 1835.^[12]
• 6 February 1837, Robert Rice of Portsmouth, Rockingham County, merchant, for self and wife and by power of attorney for Ann Pierce Martin and Charlotte Martin of St. Petersburg, Russia, sold to Currier Maxfield of Goshen for $174 by quitclaim, two undivided third parts of a parcel partly in Enfield and partly in Goshen, 100 acres, part of lot #16 and undivided two-thirds of lot #2, part of the estate of Madam Ann Martin deceased.^[13]
• 15 January 1839, Currier Maxfield of Goshen sold to Russell T. Maxfield of Goshen for $200, a parcel in Goshen, 32 acres deeded to them by Page Maxfield 19 Dec 1836, except 1/2 acre "where my house stands." Hepsibeth Maxfield relinquished her right of dower. Signed by Currier Maxfield (his mark) and Hepsibeth Maxfield. Russel had married and started a family within two years prior to this purchase.^[14]
• 14 July 1841, Samuel C. Burnham of Nashua, Hillsborough County, sold to Currier Maxfield of Goshen, for $150, a parcel of land in Newport, Sullivan County.^[15]
• 30 August 1841, Jonathan C. Maxfield of Goshen sold to Currier Maxfield and David C. Maxfield of Goshen for $600, a parcel in Goshen, 75 acres of lot #7 of 1st division, 1st range, except 25 acres previously sold, also including 1 ½ acres lot adjoining.^[16]
• 20 July 1844, David C. Maxfield and Currier Maxfield, both of Goshen, sold to Imry Purrington of Goshen, for $500, the parcel in Goshen in #7, 1st division, 1st range, described in the previous sale.^[17]
• 2 October 1845, Currier Maxfield of Goshen sold to Joseph Wilcox of Newport for $110 the parcel in Newport described above. Hepsibeth relinquished her right of dower. Currier Maxfield signed with his mark.^[18]
• 20 February 1847, Russel T. Maxfield of Goshen sold to Currier Maxfield of Goshen for $215 a parcel in Goshen of 32 acres which Currier had previously sold to Russel.^[19]
• 1 May 1847, Andrew Seavey of Newbury, sold to Currier Maxfield of Goshen for $50 a parcel in Goshen part of lot #10 in 2d range, adjoining lot of Currier Maxfield and Russel Maxfield, 7 acres.^[20]

Currier and Mary Maxfield had nine children in eighteen years. Six years after the birth of their last child, the older children started getting married: David in 1827, Dorothy and Page in 1828, and Jonathan in 1829. This smaller family, as reported in the 1830 census, continued farming at Goshen, with the grown children and their families living nearby.

Mary (Carr) Maxfield died at Goshen on 15 November 1837, age 59 years and 7 months.^[21] This initiated a period of much change in the family. Russel married about this time. Widower Currier Maxfield and his son Nathan Maxfield both married in 1838. Currier and Hepsibeth's child, Sarah Jane, was born in 1839, a full seventeen years younger than her youngest half-sibling, and with at least twelve nieces and nephews older than her. Currier, Junior, had married by 1840, and Mary married in 1840.

The children of this family became even more closely, and complexly, related through marriage. David, Page and Nathan married sisters, Thankful, Abigail and Lemira, daughters of Charles Cutts and his wife Abigail Hurd.^[22] Russel married Mary E. Adams, whose mother, Belinda Cutts, was a cousin to Thankful, Abigail, and Lemira.^[23] Mary Maxfield married Daniel Brown, and after her death he married her sister Mehitable. And Currier Maxfield, Junior, married Lydia Maxfield, both of whom were great-grandchildren of Joseph Maxfield and Joanna Richardson.

Some of the family moved west, while most of the family stayed in Goshen. Jonathan moved to Wisconsin by 1844. Mary died in 1845; within a year widower Daniel Brown had married Mary's older sister, Mehitable, and they also soon moved to Wisconsin. After Currier's death in 1857, the 1860 census reported David Maxfield in Minnesota and Dorothy in Missouri.

Census records before 1850 only listed the heads of families, and the number of persons in a household in various age and sex categories. The family of Currier Maxfield was reported as follows,^[24] with a possible explanation of who the persons could have been:

Other than getting Curier's age totally wrong in 1810, and mistaking Mary's gender in 1840, these possible identifications fit perfectly. Mehitable, age 25 in 1840, has not been located. The 1850 census reported the family at Goshen as follows:^[25]

The nuclear family in the above record is Currier, his wife Hepsibeth, and their daughter Sarah. Currier's son, also named Currier, and his youngest child Day, are also in the family. Currier's wife, Lydia, who at the time of the census was about seven months pregnant, cannot be located in the census. Their other children, Lenora, Ellen and Woodbury, were living with other families. John and Adelaide have not been identified; based on the wills of Currier and Hepsibeth, they either were not children of Currier or died before ther parents wrote their wills.

Currier Maxfield died at Goshen on 12 September 1857, from gangreen.^[26] His will, written eight years earlier, on 17 January 1849,^[27] clearly identified his children. For the text of Currier's will see below. John Gunnison, who was designated executor in the will, had moved to Illinois, so the court appointed another executor. The remainder of the estate was divided to the eight surviving children of Currier. The sum of $120.52 was given to each: David Maxfield, Page Maxfield, Jonathan Maxfield, Nathan Maxfield, Hitty Brown, Russel Maxfield, Currier Maxfield, and Sarah Jane (Maxfield) Hussey. ^[28]

Ten citizens of Goshen, including Nathan, Page, and Currier Maxfield, petitioned the court on 16 January 1860 that "a Suitable person" be appointed guardian over Hepsibeth Maxfield.^[29] No reason was given in the record. The request was granted on 25 January 1860.

Hepsibeth Maxfield wrote her will on 4 April 1870,^[30] and died at Goshen four days later from pulmonary consumption.^[31] For the full text of Hepsibeth's will see below. The will was proved in Probate Court on 27 April 1870.^[32]

Currier Maxfield and his first wife Mary Carr had the following children:

1. DAVID CARR⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Bradford on 14 November 1803.
2. DOROTHY⁵ MAXFIELD "Dolly" b. at Bradford on 14 October 1806;^[33] d. at Saint Louis, Missouri on 20 November 1880;^[34] m. on 1828 NELSON H. CARPENTER, b. at Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England on 28 April 1808, d. at Saint Louis on 16 April 1896.^[35]
3. ONESIPHORUS PAGE⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Bradford on 18 May 1808.
4. JONATHAN CARR⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Bradford on 17 February 1809.
5. NATHAN HURD⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Fishersfield on 5 August 1812.
6. MEHITABLE⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Fishersfield on 22 December 1814;^[36] d. at Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin on 28 May 1890; m. (1) on 21 May 1846 DANIEL GRINDELL BROWN, (see below). m. (2) abt. 1868-9 ERASTUS J. JONES b. abt. 1798-9 d. at Janesville on 1874.^[37]
7. RUSSEL TUBBS⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Fishersfield on 10 April 1816.
8. CURRIER⁵ MAXFIELD Jr. b. at Fishersfield on 23 August 1818.
9. MARY ELVIRA⁵ MAXFIELD b. at Goshen on 29 September 1821;^[38] d. at Nashua on 28 January 1845;^[39] m. at Goshen on 24 September 1840 DANIEL GRINDELL BROWN,^[40] b. on 27 September 1819, d. at Janesville on 10 October 1856.^[41]

I Hepsibeth Maxfield of Goshen in the county of Sullivan and State of New Hampshire being weak in body but of a sound and perfect mind and memory, do make publish and declare this my last will and testament in manner and form following viz.
First, I give and bequeath unto Emma G. Hussey one bed and bedding.
Secondly, I give and bequeath unto Hettie M. Hussey one bed and bedding.
Thirdly, I give and bequeath unto all my nieces and nephews the sum of one dollar each.
Lastly, as to all the residue and remainder of my personal estate of every description whatsoever, after the payment of all my just debts, I give and bequeath the same to my daughter Sarah J. Hussey whom I do hereby appoint sole executor of this my last will and testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this fourth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Hepsibeth Maxfield
withesses: Nathaniel C. Savory, Tryphenia B. Towle, William Beck

¹place from French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass., New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, New Hampshire, about 1952. Date from age in 1850 Census.
²New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6144, Death, Currier Maxfield, 1857; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 25 January 2017).
³French refers to Boston Evening Transcript Dec. 1927-Jul 1928, query # 7215: Mary "Polly" Carr m. abt 1800-2.
⁴Edson Irving Carr, The Carr Family Records (Rockton, Illinois: Herald Printing House, 1894), 517; digital images, Google Books (play.google.com : accessed 2014).
⁵North Goshen Cemetery, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 1 December 2017), Polly Maxfield; Created and photo by: Cheshire.
⁶New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9839, Marriage, Maxfield-Borden, 1865.
⁷1800-1 in 1850 Census, 1799-1800 on age at death on Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, mortality schedule, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, p. 7:1:7, Hepsibeth Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 1 February 2013).
⁸1870 Census, Mortality Schedule, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, p. 7:1:7, Hepsibeth Maxfield.
⁹Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds, : 99:58-59; FHL microfilm .
¹⁰Deeds, 2:537; digital images, Sullivan County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds.com/sullivan : accessed 2012).
¹¹Ibid., 2:544.
¹²Ibid., 31:27.
¹³Ibid., 29:441.
¹⁴Ibid., 31:28.
¹⁵Ibid., 37:488-89.
¹⁶Ibid., 30:327.
¹⁷Ibid., 38:470.
¹⁸Ibid., 39:416.
¹⁹Ibid., 44:328.
²⁰Ibid., 44:329.
²¹North Goshen Cemetery, Goshen, Polly Maxfield; Created and photo by: Cheshire.
²²Cecil Hampden Cutts Howard, ed., Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America (Albany, New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1892), 95.
²³Ibid., 315.
²⁴Third Census of the United States: 1810, population, Bradford, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, roll 24, p. 522; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population, Fishersfield, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, roll 61, p. 580; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, roll 74, p. 348; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012); Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, roll 244, p. 23; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2012).
²⁵Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, roll 441, p. 68A, household 22, Currier Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
²⁶New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6144, Death, Currier Maxfield, 1857.
²⁷Sullivan County, New Hampshire, Probate Records, 19:288/9; "New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973," digital images, Family search (familysearch.org: accessed 2014).
²⁸Ibid., 23:72; 22:171; 30:355.
²⁹Ibid., 25:106.
³⁰Ibid., 39:262.
³¹1870 Census mortality schedule, p. 7:1:7.
³²Sullivan County, New Hampshire, Probate Records, 37:39.
³³New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Dorothy Maxfield, 1806.
³⁴Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : database 9 April 2019), Dorethy Maxfield Carpenter; Originally Created by: Auto Graver, Maintained by: Find A Grave.
³⁵Wright, "John Maxfield of Salisbury," 8:17.
³⁶New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Mehitable Maxfield, 1814.
³⁷Wright, "John Maxfield of Salisbury," 7:42.
³⁸Ibid.
³⁹Ibid., 8:18.
⁴⁰"Marriages: Town of Goshen, New Hampshire," New England Historic Genealogical Register, 124 (1970): 62.
⁴¹Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 18 April 2023), Daniel G. Brown; Created and photo by: Suzen Sez.
⁴²1850 Census, Goshen, Sullivan County., New Hampshire, roll 441, p. 68A, household 22, Currier Maxfield family.
⁴³North Goshen Cemetery, Goshen, Sarah-Albert Hussey; Created and photo by: Cheshire.

Carr, Edson Irving. The Carr Family Records. Rockton, Illinois: Herald Printing House, 1894. Digital images. Google Books. play.google.com : 2014.

French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass. New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, New Hampshire, about 1952.

Hillsborough County Registry of Deeds. Land Records. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Howard, Cecil Hampden Cutts, ed. Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America. Albany, New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1892.

"Marriages: Town of Goshen, New Hampshire." New England Historic Genealogical Register 124 (1970): 60-63.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Janesville, Rock County, Wisconsin. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2023.

New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire. New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages. Digital images. New England Historical and Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2017.

North Goshen Cemetery, Goshen, Sullivan County, New Hampshire. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2017.

Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2019.

Sullivan County Registry of Deeds. "Land Records." Digital images. Sullivan County Registry of Deeds. nhdeeds.com/sullivan : 2012.

________. Probate Records. "New Hampshire, County Probate Records, 1660-1973." Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org: 2014.

United States Department of the Census. Third Census of the United States: 1810, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. 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.

________. Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, mortality schedule. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

Wright, Elizabeth. "John Maxfield of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 1652, and Some of His Descendants." The Nebraska and Midwest Genealogical Record (1928–1930): 6:52-56; 7:20-24, 42-47, 61-71, 87-96; 8:15-22.