Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

ENOCH⁵ MAXFIELD (John⁴, Michael³, John^2-1) was born at Chichester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on 22 September 1794^[1] a son of John N. Maxfield and his wife Rhoda French. He died at Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, on 25 April 1882.^[2] He married at Upper Gilmanton Parish, Gilmanton, on 31 March 1825 SARAH THOMPSON.^[3] Often called "Sally," Sarah was born at Gilmanton about 1801-2, and died on 25 October 1865.^[4]

On 18 October 1817 Enoch Maxfield of Chichester, yeoman, purchased from James Sanborn of Chichester, cordwainer, for $75, 9 acres and 40 rods of land in Chichester, part of lot #61 in 9th range, 4th division.^[5] The marriage of Enoch Maxfield of Chichester to Sally Thompson of Gilmanton took place at Upper Gilmanton Parish, New Hampshire, which place later became the town of Belmont. The Enoch Maxfield family was reported at Gilmanton in the 1830 census, and every census thereafter. In every census that reported occupation, he was described as a farmer.

Censuses before 1850 only reported the numbers in a household in various age and sex categories. However, the information from other sources can account for all of the numbers reported for the Enoch Maxfield household:^[6]

"Cleansy" is mentioned only on the list of children in the notes of Henry Dana French, in the second place on the list, with the notation she died unmarried. If she is correctly placed on the 1830 list here, she probably died before 1840. The list above is correct if we assume the census taker slightly over-estimated Betsey's age.

The 1850 census demonstrated that the family kept growing, even as the older children left home:^[7]

By 1850 son Oliver had married and was farming in Chichester. Benjamin was farming, living in the household of Mary French of Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Laura was living alone in the city of Manchester, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, and Charles was a farmer, living in the farm home of Jonathan and Olive Clough at Loudon.

The 1860 census reported the Enoch Maxfield household of Gilmanton consisting of Enoch, 65, farmer, Sally, 58, Charles, 28, Rachel, 23, John, 20, farmer, Enoch E., 16, and Abigail, 13. Enoch and Abigail were still in school. Charles had his own personal estate of $800.^[8]

The decade of the 1860s was one of great change for this family. While the country was going through Civil War, the children of Enoch and Sally were marrying and setting up their own households. Betsey married in 1861; Laura and John married in 1862; Benjamin and Rachel married in 1863; Charles and Edwin married in 1865, and mother Sarah died later that year; daughter Sarah Abigail died in 1867.

The 1870 census reported Enoch Maxfield, farmer, 76, at Gilmanton, with his son, Edwin E., 26, working on the farm, and his daughter Laura, 28, keeping house.^[9] Laura was also reported as Laura Jones with her husband Cyrus Jones at their home in Gilmanton.

The 1880 census reported widower Enoch Maxfield, 85, farmer, at Gilmanton, listed on the census immediately after his son Hiram Maxfield. His household included his son Charles, farmer, Charles' wife Mariah, and their four children.^[10]

Enoch Maxfield died at Gilmanton on 25 April, 1882, age 87 years, from old age.^[11]

Enoch Maxfield and his wife Sarah Thompson had the following children:

1. OLIVER⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 3 June 1824.
2. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 21 March 1828.
3. CLARISY⁶ MAXFIELD b. about 1827-8, d. on 2 August 1831^[12]
4. CHARLES H.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 5 December 1830.
5. LAURA A.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at New Hampshire about 1830-1;^[13] d. on 7 November 1877;^[14] m. at Concord, Merrimack County, on 5 November 1862 CYRUS JONES,^[15] b. at Gilmanton about 1819-20,^[16] d. at Gilmanton on 26 April 1892,^[17] child of David and Abigail Jones. Laura Maxfield was reported in the 1850 census age 20 living alone at Manchester.^[18] The 1860 census reported her in the household of Mrs. Mary A. Lasher, at Pittsfield, Merrimack County Laura was age 28 years, working as a domestic, with a personl estate of $25.^[19]
6. HIRAM B.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 1833;^[20] d. at Gilmanton on 1 June 1894;^[21] m, (1) at Upper Gilmanton Parish on 10 November 1857 ELIZABETH B. FLANDERS,^[22] b. at New Hampshire about 1841-2,^[23] d. on 22 August 1871;^[24] m. (2) at Gilmanton on 25 May 1878 MARY J. PAGE,^[25] b. at Gilmanton about 1844-5,^[26] d. between 27 May, 1892 (will) and 18 October 1892 (probate),^[27] child of Jesse L. and Betsey F. Page. For further information on Mary J. Page see explanation below. The 1860 census reported Hiram B. Maxfield, 26, farmer, with real estate of $1300 and a personal estate of $300, living at Gilmanton with his wife Elizabeth S., age 18.^[28] The 1870 census reported Hiram Maxfield, 36, farmer, with his wife Lizzie, 28, also Mary A. Gilman, 27, and Mary Gilman, four months.^[29] The 1880 census reported Hiram B. Maxfield, 45, farmer, at Gilmanton, with his second wife Mary J. Maxfield, 35.^[30]
7. BETSEY⁶ JENNIE MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton about 1835-8;^[31] living at time of husband's death, 1913; m. at Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, on 24 August 1861 THOMAS TAIT,^[32] b. at Wallace, Nova Scotia, on 26 May 1833, d. at Rockport, Essex County, on 23 June 1913, child of Robert Tait and Mary Cairnes.^[33]
8. RACHEL CARTER⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 25 June 1837;^[34] d. on 21 March 1922;^[35] m. at Rockport on 21 January 1863 ANDREW BURNHAM,^[36] b. at Essex, Essex County, on 27 December 1820,^[37] d. at Essex on 21 August 1882,^[38] child of Michael and Patience Burnham. He had previously m. at Ipswich, Essex County, on 24 November 1844 CHARLOTTE AUGUSTA KINSMAN^[39] b. at Ipswich on April 1824, d. at Essex on 10 February 1861, child of William Kinsman and Sarah Beason.^[40]
   
9. JOHN A.⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 14 January 1840.
10. EDWIN ENOCH⁶ MAXFIELD^[41] b. at Gilmanton on 16 July 1843;^[42] d. at Gilmanton on 12 August 1898;^[43] m. at Loudon on 15 March 1865 LAURA E, SANBORN,^[44] b. at Loudon on 19 August 1846,^[45] d. at Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on 11 February 1842,^[46] child of Jeremiah Sanborn and Nancy Ann Sinclair Pickering. Edwin E. Maxfield was a soldier in the Civil War. At age 21 he enlisted in Company H, New Hampshire 18th Infantry Regiment on 22 February 1865. He was mustered out on 1 July 1865.^[47] This regiment fought in the Appomatox campaign of 28 March to 5 April, and from 20-26 April had guard duty in Washington, D.C. during the trial of President Lincoln's assasins.^[48] How he got back to New Hampshire in that time to get married, I cannot explain. The 1880 census reported Edwin E. Maxfield, 36, farmer, and his wife Laura E., 37, living at Gilmanton.^[49] The 1890 veteran's census also reported him at Gilmanton.^[50] The 1900 census reported widow Laura G. Maxfield, 58, farming at Gilmanton. Her household included her grand-nephew Harry W. Maxfield, 12^[51] (grandson of Enoch's brother Charles, son of Walter). In 1910 Laura E. Maxfield, 65, was a servant in the household of Samuel and Ann Carter of Loudon.^[52] The 1920 census found widow Laura A. Maxfield, 74, boarding in the home of Lewis Morrill and his mother, at Loudon. ^[53] In 1930, at age 83, she was boarding with Alden and Emily Green at Loudon.^[54] In 1935 she was at Pittsfield. The 1940 census reported her at 21 Centre Street, Watertown, Middlesex County, living with her single neice, Alice M. Sanborn. Alice was 56, Laura 98.^[55] Laura died at the age of 100 years.
11. SARAH ABIGAIL⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Gilmanton on 3 January 1848;^[56] d. at Rockport on 25 February 1867.^[57]

There is some confusion around the maiden name of Hiram Maxfield's wife, Mary, and the identity of her daughter Elvira.

Lucy L. Page, 19, and Mary J. Page, 15, were listed among eight children of Jesse L. and Betsey F. Page at Gilmanton Iron Works on the 1860 census.^[58] The 1870 census contained the following entry:^[59]

Lucy Page had married Moses Price, but her sister had a child, and was living with Moses and Lucy as a domestic servant.

The 1880 census reported Mary Paige as Mary Maxfield, with her husband Hiram Maxfield, but it reported her sister's family as follows:^[60]

Elvira Page in 1870 had become Elvira Price in 1880, and was being treated a a daughter of Moses and Lucy.

Elvira Price of Hooksett, Merrimack County, 22, married John W. Prescott of Hooksett, 65, on 29 September 1891 at Chichester. On the marriage record, Elvira indicated that her parents were Moses Price and Mary Maxfield,^[61] using her mother's married name at the time of Elvira's marriage. So Moses Price had a child by his wife's sister, and all four were living together in 1870. When Mary married, and left that home, Elvira remained with her father and had taken her father's surname.

Mary (Page) Maxfield wrote her will on 27 May 1892 and it was proved in Belknap County on 18 October 1892. In the will, she left one dollar "to my daughter Alvina Prescott, wife of John W. Prescott," and the remainder to her husband Hiram B. Maxfield.^[62]

¹New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Enoch Maxfield, 1794; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 30 December 2016).
²New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6154, Death, Enoch Maxfield, 1882.
³New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9855, Marriage, Maxfield-Thompson, 1825.
⁴Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 16 November 2017), Enoch-Sally Maxfield; Created and photo by: C. P.
⁵Deeds, 215:438; digital images, Rockingham County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds/rockingham : accessed 2012).
⁶Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Gilmanton, Strafford County, New Hampshire, roll 78, p. 268, Enoch Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 21 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M19, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Gilmanton, Strafford County, New Hampshire, roll 246, p. 415, Enoch Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁷Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 425, p. 115A, household 216, Enoch Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 February 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁸Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 666, p. 266, household 475, Enoch Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 9 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
⁹Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 836, p. 111B, household 53, Enoch Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 February 2013); NARA microfilm record group M593; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁰Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 7, roll 760, p. 89B, household 216, Enoch Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 13 March 2013); NARA microfilm publication T9, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C..
¹¹New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6154, Death, Enoch Maxfield, 1882.
¹²Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Clarisy Maxfield; Created and photo by: C. P.
¹³about 1829-30 from age in 1850 Census and grave marker, about 1831-2 from 1860 Census, about 1841-2 in 1870 Census.
¹⁴Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Laura A. Jones; Created by: Scott B.; Photo added by Amy Levesque.
¹⁵New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 8855, Marriage: Jones-Maxfield, 1862.
¹⁶Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Cyrus Jones; Created by: Scott B.; Photo added by Amy Levesque.
¹⁷New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 5380, Death: Cyrus Jones, 1892.
¹⁸1850 Census, Manchester, Hillsboro County, New Hampshire, roll 432, p. 134B, household 886, Enos Collins boarding house.
¹⁹1860 Census, Pittsfield, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, roll 677, p. 556, household 259, Mary Lasker family.
²⁰French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass.; 1832-3 in 1850 Census; 1833-4 in 1860 and 1870 censuses; 1834-5 in 1880 Census.
²¹New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6160, Death, Hiram B. Maxfield, 1894.
²²New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9871, Marriage, Maxfield-Flanders, 1857.
²³1860, 1870 censuses and grave marker
²⁴Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Lizzie S. Maxfield; Created by: Scott B., Photo added by C. P.
²⁵New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9869, Marriage, Maxfield-Page, 1878.
²⁶1870, 1880 censuses; place from marriage record.
²⁷Belknap County, New Hampshire, Wills: 22:190 ; New England Historic Genealogical Society (microfilm), Boston, Massachusetts.
²⁸1860 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 666, p. 265, household 470, Hiram B. Maxfield family.
²⁹1870 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 836, p. 111A, household 49, Hiram Maxfield family.
³⁰1880 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, ED 7, roll 760, p. 89B, household 215, Hiram B. Maxfield family.
³¹1835-6 on 1850 census; 1837-8 on marriage record.
³²Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 22 August 2017), vol. 144, p. 218, e. 143; Salem Marriages, 1861; Tait-Maxfield.
³³Massachusetts, Commonwealth of, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915," American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 20 January 2023), Deaths 1913; v. 86, p. 107; Thomas C. Tait.
³⁴Spring Street Cemetery, Essex, Essex County, Massachusetts, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 31 August 2012), Rachel Maxfield Burnham; Created by: Kate.
³⁵Ibid.
³⁶"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors, vol. 162, p. 198, e. 1; Rockport Marriages, 1863; Burnham-Maxfield.
³⁷Spring Street Cemetery, Essex, Andrew Burnham; Created by: Kate.
³⁸Ibid.
³⁹Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts: to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910), v. 2, p. 72.
⁴⁰"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," Ipswich Deaths 1888, v. 391, p. 249, e. 27; Charlotte Burnham.
⁴¹picture from Historical Data Systems, comp., "U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2013).
⁴²Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Edwin-Laura Maxfield; Created by: Scott B., Photo added by Amy Maker Levesque.
⁴³New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 6151, Death, Edwin E. Maxfield, 1898.
⁴⁴New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card 9849, Marriage, Maxfield-Sanborn, 1865.
⁴⁵Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Edwin-Laura Maxfield; Created by: Scott B., Photo added by Amy Maker Levesque.
⁴⁶Ibid.
⁴⁷Historical Data Systems, comp., "U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865," database, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 July 2013), Edwin E. Maxfield.
⁴⁸Mike Northway, The Civil War Archive (civilwararchive.com : accessed 2014).
⁴⁹1880 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, ED 7, roll 760, p. 89C, household 228, Edwin E. Maxfield family.
⁵⁰Eleventh Census of the United States: 1890, union veterans and widows, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 7, p. 1, household 17, Edwin E. Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 17 July 2013).
⁵¹Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 6, roll 944, p. 9A, household 111, Laura Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 28 July 2013); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
⁵²Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population, Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 220, roll 865, p. 6A, household 117, Samuel C. Carter family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 August 2013); NARA group T624, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C..
⁵³Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population, Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 96, p. 3A, household 52, Lewis F. Merrill family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 10 August 2013); NARA microfilm record group T625, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁵⁴Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population, Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, enumeration district (ED) 44, roll 1304, p. 5B, household 134, Alden Green family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 August 2013); NARA record Group T626.
⁵⁵Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population, Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 9-586, p. 9A, household 158, Alice M. Sanborn family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 24 May 2013); microfilm record group T627.
⁵⁶1850, 1860 censuses; place from death record.
⁵⁷"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 202, p. 212, e. 11, Rockport Deaths 1867, Sarah A. Maxfield.
⁵⁸1860 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 666, p. 236, household 189, Jesse Page family.
⁵⁹1870 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 836, p. 116B, household 157, Moses Price family.
⁶⁰1880 Census, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire, ED 7, p. 82D, household 41, Moses Price family.
⁶¹New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, Prescott-Price, 1891.
⁶²Belknap County, New Hampshire, Wills: 22:190.

Belknap County, New Hampshire. Wills. New England Historic Genealogical Society (microfilm), Boston, Massachusetts.

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

Historical Data Systems, comp. "U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865." Database. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

Massachusetts Archives. "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2017.

Massachusetts, Commonwealth of, Registry of Vital Records and Statistics. "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915." American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 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 : 2016.

Rockingham County Registry of Deeds. "Land Records." Digital images. Rockingham County Registry of Deeds. nhdeeds/rockingham : 2012.

Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, Belknap County, New Hampshire. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2017.

Spring Street Cemetery, Essex, Essex County, Massachusetts. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2012.

United States Department of the Census. 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.

________. Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

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

________. Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Eleventh Census of the United States: 1890, union veterans and widows. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts: to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1910.

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.