Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Fifth Generation

LEVI WORTHEN⁵ MAXFIELD (Joseph^4-3-2, John¹) was born at Warner, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, on 2 September 1800^[1] a son of Joseph Maxfield and his wife Dorothy Worthen. He died at Winchester, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, on 22 April 1879.^[2] He first married at Woburn, Middlesex County, on 14 October 1827 REBECCA R. MUNROE, of Woburn.^[3] He second married after publishing intentions to marry at Woburn on 4 April 1830 MARY (LOVERING) HALL.^[4] She was born perhaps at Woburn on 26 November 1796, a daughter of David and Abigail (Flagg) Lovering. She died at Chelsea, Suffolk County, Massachusetts on 11 March 1886.^[5]

Levi Maxfield grew up at Warner, but lived almost all his adult life at Woburn. Almost all records call him a laborer, the only exceptions being the census of 1830, which called him an agriculturalist, and his enlistment in the Civil War, which called him a stonecutter.

Levi's second marriage record named the spouse "Mrs. Mary Hall." B. A. G. Fuller placed a note in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1876, describing the one hundredth birthday of Abigail (Flagg) Lovering. He listed her ten children, the first of whom was Mary, born 1798, who married Levi Maxfield of Woburn.^[6] It would appear that she had a first marriage to a man surnamed Hall but I have found no record of this person. Several unsourced genealogies at ancestry.com give Mary a birth date of 26 November 1796. However her birth date remains a mystery to me. Her age given on her death record points to November 1794. Mary's family came from Woburn, but lived several years at Poland, Androscoggin County, Maine, before returning to Woburn. She is often called "Maria."

Levi and Mary Maxfield had creative imaginations when reporting their age to census takers. Their reported ages were as follows:

These census records would appear to be useless in estimating their birth years.

The Levi Maxfield family was reported at Woburn in the 1830 and 1840 censuses, which listed only numbers in various age and sex categories. Those reports and possible explanation follow:^[7]

The only incongruence with birth records is the absence of Abigail in 1830, and slight under-estimation of her age in 1840. It is possible that the birth record was off by a year.

The 1850 census reported Levi and Mary Maxfield at Woburn with John M., 19, Samuel E., 16, and Mary E., 15. Also in the household was Walter Richardson, 38, perhaps a relative of some kind of Abigail's husband Jacob Richardson.^[8]

The 1855 Massachusetts state census reported Levi and Mary at Woburn with their family as follows:^[9]

Mary Towner was their daughter. Sarah J. Maxfield is more of a puzzle. The 1860 census listed with Levi and Mary a Sarah J. Towner, age 15, seamstress.^[10] It is probable that the Sarah J. Maxfield in 1855 is a mistake for Sarah J. Towner, who was probably a relative of some kind, sister or cousin, to Mary's husband Walter Russell Towner. Also in the 1855 census, at the same residence, but composing a separate household, were the following:^[11]

Abigail Richardson and Samuel Maxfield were children of Levi and Mary. Walter Richardson is the same person who appeared in the 1850 census.

Levi and Mary were a family of two persons in the state 1865 census,^[12] and had a young servant with them in 1870.^[13]

Levi Maxfield served in the 22d Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, Company F, in the Civil War, from 10 August 1861 to 4 August 1862. He was described as a 44 year old stone cutter at enlistment. He was discharged at Harrison's Landing, Virginia.^[14] This regiment participated in the Peninsula campaign under General George McClellan

According to their death records, Levi Maxfield died from enteritis, and Mary from old age.^[15]

Levi Worthen Maxfield and his second wife Mary (Lovering) (Hall) Maxfield had the following children:

1. ABIGAIL THOMPSON⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Woburn on 29 January 1830;^[16] d. at Woburn on 20 April 1865;^[17] m. at Woburn on 9 September 1847 JACOB B. RICHARDSON,^[18] b. at New Hampshire about 1827-8. Children of Abigail and Jacob (according to 1855 Census):
   1. Abby M. Richardson b. at Massachusetts about 1849-50
   2. Effie M. Richardson b. at Massachusetts about 1852-3.
2. JOHN MARSHALL⁶ MAXFIELD b. a Woburnt on 15 February 1832.
3. SAMUEL ERASTUS⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Woburn on 2 September 1833;^[19] I have no further record beyond the 1855 census.
4. MARY ANN BLANCHARD⁶ MAXFIELD b. at Woburn on 18 July 1835;^[20] m. at Woburn on 29 January 1851 WALTER RUSSELL TOWNER, b. at Derry, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, about 1829-30.^[21]. Children of Mary Ann and Walter (according to 1855 Census):
   1. Sarah Towner at Massachusetts about 1844-5
   2. William F. Towner b. at Massachusetts about February 1855.

¹French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass., New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, New Hampshire, about 1952.
²Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 13 September 2017), vol. 311, p. 196, e. 16, Winchester Deaths, 1879, Levi W. Maxfield.
³Edward F. Johnson, ed., Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages from 1640 to 1873 (Woburn, Massachusetts: Cutler & Co., 1890), v. 3, p. 181.
⁴Edward F. Johnson, "Marriage Intentions of Woburn, Massachusetts," database, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 1 September 2013).
⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 375, p. 361, e. 118, Chelsea Deaths, 1886, Mary M. Maxfield.
⁶B. A. G. Fuller, "Notes and Queries: Mrs. Abigail Lovering," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 30 (1876): 112.
⁷Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, roll 66, p. 89, Levi 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, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, roll 189, p. 141, Levi Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁸Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, roll 325, p. 246B, household 257, Levi Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 3 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁹Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, , population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, v.25, p. 282, household 686, Levi W. Maxfield family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 15 August 2022); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹⁰Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, , population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, roll 509, p. 336, household 2957, Levi W. Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 3 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹¹Massachusetts State Census, 1855 , Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, v.25, p. 282, household 687, Jacob B. Richardson family.
¹²Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1865 Massachusetts State Census, population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, v. 23, p. 284, household 329, Levi Maxfield family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 16 August 2013); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹³Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Woburn, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, roll 633, p. 558B, household 1166, Levi Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 4 February 2013); NARA microfilm record group M593; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁴Commonwealth of Massachusetts Adjutant General, ed., Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War, 8 volumes (Boston, MA: The Adjutant General, 1931), 2:683.
¹⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 311, p. 196, e. 16, Winchester Deaths, 1879, Levi W. Maxfield.
¹⁶Johnson, Woburn Records, v. 1, p. 172.
¹⁷Ibid., 2:166
¹⁸"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 31, p. 128, e. 13; Woburn Marriages 1846-7; Richardson-Maxfield.
¹⁹Johnson, Woburn Records,, v. 1, p. 172.
²⁰Ibid.
²¹"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 55, p. 160, e. 7; Woburn Marriages 1851; Towner-Maxfield.

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

Fuller, B. A. G. "Notes and Queries: Mrs. Abigail Lovering." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 30 (1876): 111-12.

Edward F. Johnson. "Marriage Intentions of Woburn, Massachusetts." Database. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2013.

________, ed.. Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages from 1640 to 1873. Woburn, Massachusetts: Cutler & Co., 1890.

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

Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, population. Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2022.

________, 1865 Massachusetts State Census, population. Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2013.

Massachusetts, Commonwealth of, Adjutant General, ed. Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War. 8 volumes. Boston, MA: The Adjutant General, 1931.

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.