HARVEY MAXFIELD (Ezra5, John4, Michael3, John2-1) was born at Starksboro, Addison County, Vermont, on 16 April 1830[1] a son of Ezra French Maxfield and his wife Abigail Philbrick. He died at Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, on 1 June 1868.[2] He married at Providence on 17 February 1857 LUCINDA GOODNOUGH STOWE.[3] She was born at Providence on May 1831,[4] a daughter of Samuel and Sally B. Stowe. She died at East Providence, Providence County, on 22 May 1903.[5]
Harvey was the eighth of eight children, seven of whom lived to adulthood. Soon after his birth, the family moved from Starksboro, Vermont, to Chichester, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, his father's place of origin. When Harvey was three years old his father died. Harvey's brother Daniel, nineteen years older, became head of the household. The 1840 census suggests that Harvey could have been in Daniel's household, along with other siblings and their mother.[6] Harvey's older sister, Rhoda, married John Davis in 1845, and moved to Meredith, Belknap County, New Hampshire. The 1850 census reported Harvey, three other siblings, and his mother Abigail, as a separate household at the same dwelling as the Davises.[7]
When Harvey married in 1857, at Providence, Rhode Island, the marriage record stated that he came from Schenectady, New York, where he was a teacher.[8] Harvey evidently did not get a job teaching in Providence, as his occupation was listed as "newspaper sales" in the 1860 census,[9] a "periodicals dealer" on the birth record of a child in 1862, and "accountant" on his death record in 1868.
Harvey and Lucinda lived on Atwells Avenue in Providence, with Sally Stowe, Lucinda's mother. Lucinda had two children, both of whom were stillborn. Harvey died in 1868, at the age of thirty-eight, from "disease of the spine."[10]
Lucinda's mother, Sally Stowe, was called an "apothecary" in the 1860 census, "physician" in the 1870 census,[11] and "doctress" in the 1880 census.[12] At the time of Lucinda's death the newspaper article described her as the daughter of the late "Dr. Stowe." In a day when very few women were able to enter the medical profession, Lucinda'a mother must have been one of the pioneers. Sally Stowe died at Providence on 9 January 1886.[13]
Lucinda (Stowe) Maxfield became a widow at the age of thirty-seven, and continued a widow for the remaining thirty-five years of her life. She taught school, as reported in the 1870, 1880 and 1900 censuses. She taught at schools in Pawtucket and Providence, including the Federal Street Grammar School and the Mount Pleasant High School.
After 1890, Lucinda boarded with Charles and Ella Hoxie, at 149 Atwells Avenue. Lucinda occupied two rooms on the second floor of the Hoxie's 1 ½-story home.
According to the newspaper account, early in the morning of 22 May, 1903, the Hoxies found Lucinda downstairs,
entirely enveloped in flames. Rugs and blankets werre hastily gathered and wrapped about the woman; and the fire in her night clothing was smothered. Hose Company No. 3 was called and Capt. Kelly assisted in extinguishing the fire. He summoned an ambulance from the Rhode Island Hospital, which took her to the East Side Hospital on Benefit Street where she died shortly after 3 p.m.The fire captain had been a student of Mrs Maxfield at the Federal Street School.
The cause of the fire is not definitely established and it is probable that it will never be known to a certainty. It is believed that the woman rose early and lighted a match, and that the flame came in contact with some paper in her room in attempting to extinguish which her clothing caught fire.[14]
Harvey Maxfield and his wife Lucinda Stowe had the following children:
1Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4395, Birth, Harvey Maxfield, 1830; digital images, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 29 June 2013).
2"Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950," database, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 20 August 2013), Harvey Maxfield, 1868.
3"Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916," database, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 4 February 2017), Maxfield-Stowe, 1857.
4Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Providence ward 4, Providence County Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 32, roll 1506, p. 9B, household 144, Charles Hoxie household; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 6 December 2013); NARA microfilm group T623.
5"Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950," Lucinda G. Maxfield, 1903.
6Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Loudon, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, roll 240, p. 45, Daniel Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704.
7Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Meredith, Belknap County, New Hampshire, roll 425, p. 27A, dwelling 291 households 342-343, Abigail Maxfield household; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432.
8"Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916," Maxfield-Stowe, 1857.
9Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Providence Ward 4, Providence County, Rhode Island, roll 1210, p. 63, household 20, Harvey Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 15 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653.
10"Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950," Harvey Maxfield, 1868.
11Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Providence Ward 4, Providence County, Rhode Island, roll 1478, p. 428A, household 396, Sally Stowe household; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 12 February 2013); NARA microfilm record group M593.
12Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, enumeration district (ED) 21, roll 1212, p. 346B, household 102, Sallie Stowe family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 20 March 2013); NARA microfilm publication T9.
13Providence, Rhode Island "Alphabetical Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1636 - 1930," database, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 3 February 2017), vol. 8, Deaths, Sally Stowe, 1886.
14"Aged Ex-Teacher Burned to Death," Pawtucket Times, 23 May 1903; Genealogy Bank (genealogybank.com : accessed 3 February 2017), Newspaper Archives.
15"Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950," (unnamed) Maxfield, 1859.
16"Rhode Island Births and Christenings, 1878-1914," database, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 5 February 2017), (unnamed) Maxfield, 1862. "Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950," (unnamed) Maxfield, 1862.
Pawtucket Times, Pawtucket, Providence County, Rhode Island. 23 May 1903.
Providence, Rhode Island. "Alphabetical Index of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1636 - 1930." Database. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2017.
"Rhode Island Births and Christenings, 1878-1914." Database. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2017.
"Rhode Island, Deaths and Burials, 1802-1950." Database. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2013.
"Rhode Island Marriages, 1724-1916." Database. Family Search. familysearch.org : 2017.
United States Department of the Census. 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.
Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008. Digital images. New England Historic Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2013.
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