Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

JOHN⁵ MAXFIELD (John⁴, Michael³, John^2-1) was born at Chichester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on 12 October 1788^[1] a son of John N. Maxfield and his wife Rhoda French. He died at Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, on 19 March 1862.^[2] He married at Pittsfield, Rockingham County, on 1815 BETSEY GILMAN.^[3] She was born at Gilmanton, Strafford County, New Hampshire, on 21 July 1786 and died at Monkton, Addison County, on 2 October 1869.^[4]

John grew up on a farm in Chichester, the fifth of seven children. Shortly after his marriage in 1815, John and Betsey went west, to Starksboro, where his brother Ezra had moved about five years before.

John Maxfield and family were "warned out" of Starksboro on 15 April 1816.^[5] New England Towns would "warn out" a person or family, that is, tell them to leave town, if the person or family did not have any property or visible means of support and could potentially be in need of welfare from the town.

John and Betsey returned to Chichester, where their children were born in 1818, 1819, and 1824. I have not found this family in the 1820 census.

John and Betsey Maxfield returned to Starksboro by the time of the 1830 census. John's brother Ezra soon returned to Chichester, but John remained in Starksboro with his family, and was reported there in the 1830, 1840 and 1850 censuses. The first two of those censuses only reported the numbers in the household in various age and sex categories. Some of these could possibly be explained as follows:^[6]

I can't explain why only one daughter was reported in 1830.

Daughter Betsey died in 1842, and Olive married in 1844, leaving son Benson on the farm with his parents. The 1850 census reported this smaller family in Starksboro:^[7]

The 1860 census reported Benson Maxfield as head of household, with Betsey, his mother, in the household; John was not recorded.

John Maxfield died at Starksboro on 19 March 1862, age 73 years, 5 months and 7 days. Cause of death was "gravil."^[8] The death of widow Betsey (Gilman) Maxfield was recorded in the 1870 census mortality schedule at both Starksboro and nearby Monkton, Vermont. The Monkton record stated she died from "albuminuria"; The Starksboro record described her as insane.^[9]

John and Betsey Maxfield are buried at Brown Hill Cemetery, Starksboro. Their daughter Betsey is buried at Village Cemetery, Starksboro.

John Maxfield and his wife Betsey Gilman had the following children:

1. OLIVE LEIGHT⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 17 January 1818;^[10] d. at Bristol, Addison County, on 10 September 1887;^[11] m. at Starksboro on 23 January 1844 JOHN HILL 2d,^[12] b. about 1798-9, d. at Starksboro on 9 November 1848.^[13]
2. BETSEY F.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 19 December 1819;^[14] d. at Starksboro on 13 March 1842.^[15]
3. (daughter)⁶ MAXFIELD d. on 16 June 1822.^[16]
4. BENSON GILMAN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Chichester on 18 October 1824.

¹New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, John Maxfield, 1788; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 30 December 2016).
²Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4399, Death, John Maxfield, 1862; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 28 June 2013).
³New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9903, Marriage, Maxfield-Gilman, 1815.
⁴Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4385-6, Death, Betsey Maxfield, 1869.
⁵Aldin M. Rollins, Vermont Warnings Out: Vol. 1: Northern Vermont (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1995), 75.
⁶Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, roll 184, p. 184, John Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 22 September 2011); NARA microfilm publication M19, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, p. 46, John Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁷Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, roll 920, p. 250A, household 135, family of John Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 17 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁸Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4399, Death, John Maxfield, 1862.
⁹Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, mortality schedule, Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, p. 1:18:2, Betsey Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 1 February 2013). Also, 1870 Census Mortality Schedule, Monkton, Addison County, Vermont, p. 1:12:11, Betsey Maxfield. See also: Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4385-6, Death, Betsey Maxfield, 1869.
¹⁰New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Olive L. Maxfield, 1818.
¹¹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 9037, Death, Olive L. Hill, 1887.
¹²Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4306, Marriage, Hill-Maxfield, 1844.
¹³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 11775, Death, John Hill 2d, 1848.
¹⁴New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Betsey F. Maxfield, 1819.
¹⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4387-8, Death, Betsey F. Maxfield, 1842.
¹⁶Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery, Chichester, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 21 November 2017), (infant daughter). Maxfield; Created and photo by: Amy Levesque.

Brown Hill Cemetery, Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont. Find a Grave. Digital images. Findagrave.Com : 2012.

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

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 : 2016.

Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery, Chichester, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2017. Also known as Pleasant Street Cemetery

Rollins, Aldin M. Vermont Warnings Out: Vol. 1: Northern Vermont. Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1995.

United States Department of the Census. Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011

________. 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.

Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008. Digital images. New England Historical and Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 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.