Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Sixth Generation

JAMES⁶ MAXFIELD (Zadock⁵, Edmund⁴, Timothy^3-2, John¹) was born at Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, on 3 March 1804^[1], son of Zadock Maxfield (son of Edmund) and his wife Susanna Soule. He died some time before the 1850 Census. He married at New Bedford, Bristol County, on 3 December 1826 MARY ANN SAWYER,^[2] who was born at Tiverton, Newport County, Rhode Island, on 9 January 1809 and died at New Bedford on 22 September 1900, a daughter of William and Judith (Taber) Sawyer.^[3] Mary Ann and her sister Hannah married brothers, Russell and James Maxfield. James was the seventh of eleven children and was about seventeen years old when his father died.

James Maxfield was a master mariner involved in the whaling enterprise that gave New Bedford its fame. He was Captain of the Quito on a whaling cruise from 5 February to 5 July 1833.^[4]

The 1830 Census reported a James Maxfield household in New Bedford, with a male and a female between the ages of 20 and 29, a female ages 10-14, and 2 females ages 0-4.^[5] The information we have on the family below accounts for only the two adults and one of the small children.

The first two children of this family, Ann Maria and Eliza, were baptized at North Congregational Church, New Bedford, on 14 August 1831.^[6] We have no further record of Eliza.

The 1840 Census reported a James Maxfield family in New Bedford including a couple in their 30s, a female 10-15, male 5-9, and female 0-4.^[7] This corresponds to the information available on this family, except for daughter Eliza, who perhaps had died.

Ann Maria married in 1848. The 1850 Census reported Mary Maxfield and her children at New Bedford in a household headed by her son-in-law:^[8]

Mary Maxfield was reported in the 1880 Census, a 68 year old widow born at Rhode Island, living at New Bedford as a housekeeper, in the household of Benjamin Wilcox, age 75.^[9]

Mary (Sawyer) Maxfield died at 48 North St., New Bedford, on 22 September 1900, age 91 years, 8 months, and 13 days.^[10]

Son James R. Maxfield died at sea. He was a boy on the whaler Congeree, paid in food and clothing, on a tour to the Pacific Ocean, 5 July, 1851, to 6 May 1855. Word of his death reached New Bedford in December 1853.^[11] He would have been seventeen.

Gideon Maxfield was reported in the 1855 state census at New Bedford, in what would appear to be a boarding house. He was described as a tin plate worker in his 20s.^[12] In 1860 he was reported at New Bedford in the household of Stephen Dexter, 38, housewright, his wife Martha Dexter, 37, and their children Mary, 16, Albertina, 9, Eunice, 6, and Gideon, 2. Gideon Maxfield was described as a tin plate worker.^[13] Gideon later married widow Martha Dexter in 1875 at Manhattan, New York City, New York. The 1880 Census reported the family of Gideon and Martha Maxfield at 78 Java Street, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York:^[14]

This large household includes two of Martha's married children: Marie, married to Eunice Ralston, and William, married to Minnie. Tinsmithing appears to be a family business. In 1900 Gideon Maxfield 65, widower and tinsmith, was boarding in a home in Brooklyn.^[15]

Captain James Maxfield and his wife Mary had the following children:

1. ANN MARIA⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Massachusetts about 1827-8;^[16] m. at New Bedford on 31 January 1848 JOHN H. YOUNG b . at Massachusetts about 1825-6, child of Ephraim and Rebecca Young.^[17] Child of Ann and John:
   1. Mary L. Young b. at Massachusetts about 1848-9.^[18]
2. ELIZA⁷ MAXFIELD bp. at North Congregational Church, New Bedford on 14 August 1831.^[19]
3. GIDEON R.⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Massachusetts on October 1834;^[20] m. at Manhattan, New York on 24 January 1875 MARTHA (ROBBINS) DEXTER b. at Massachusetts about 1822-3, daughter of Lemuel and Rachel (Bailey) Robbins.^[21] Martha had m(1). STEPHEN DEXTER. Martha and Stephen Dexter had the following children:^[22]
   1. Mary E. Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1843-4.
   2. Albertine E. Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1850-1.
   3. Eunice B. Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1853-4.
   4. Maria Dexter b. at New York about 1854-5; m. Eustace Ralston b. at Massachusetts about 1848-9. Child of Maria and Eustace:
      1. Frank Ralston b. at New York about 1876-7.
   5. Gideon Lewis Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1857-8.
   6. William Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1860-1; m. Minnie ________ b. at New York about 1861-2.
   7. Charles Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1862-3.
   8. Albian Dexter b. at Massachusetts about 1864-5.
4. JAMES R.⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Massachusetts about 1836-7,^[23] d. at sea before December 1853.^[24]

¹Vital Records of Dartmouth, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1929,1929,1930), v. 1, p. 158.
²Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1932. 1932, 1941), v. 2, p. 365.
³Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 12 September 2017), vol. 504, p. 362, e. 1057, New Bedford Deaths, 1900, Mary A. Maxfield.
⁴"Whaling Archives," database, New Bedford Free Public Library, City of New Bedford, Massachusetts (https://www.newbedford-ma.gov/Library/Whaling/Whaling.html : accessed 20 January 2014)
⁵Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 59, p. 297, James Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 21 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M19, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁶Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 323; North Congregational Church.
⁷Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 178, p. 424, James 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, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 299B, household 1475, John H. Young family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
⁹Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 117, p. 272A, household 49, Benjamin Wilcox household; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 March 2013); NARA microfilm publication T9, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹⁰"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 504, p. 362, e. 1057, New Bedford Deaths, 1900, Mary A. Maxfield.
¹¹"Whaling Archives; " "Death Records in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874," 564, New Bedford Free Public Library, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
¹²Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, v. 6, p. 147, household 143, Lewis Dexter family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 16 August 2022); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹³Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 490, p. 517, household 1343, Stephen Dexter family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁴1880 Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, ED 165, p. 653C, household 127, Gideon Maxfield family.
¹⁵Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, enumeration district (ED) 261, p. 20A, household 427, Isaac Lunegan family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 7 October 2013); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁶1850 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 299B, household 1475, John H. Young family.
¹⁷Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts, v. 2, p. 365.
¹⁸1850 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 299B, household 1475, John H. Young family.
¹⁹Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts, v. 1, p. 323; North Congregational Church.
²⁰1900 Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, ED 261, p. 20A, household 427, Isaac Lunegan family.
²¹Genealogical Society of Utah, "New York, Marriages, 1686-1980," index, Family Search (familysearch.org : accessed 19 December 2013).
²²Information on Stephen Dexter and offsprings is from: 1860 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 490, p. 517, household 1343, Stephen Dexter family; 1880 Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, ED 165, p. 653C, household 127, Gideon Maxfield family.
²³1850 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 299B, household 1475, John H. Young family.
²⁴"Death Records in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874,"564.