Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Sixth Generation

Caleb was about eight years old when his father died. The court appointed Seth Russell to be the guardian of the minor children of Zadock Maxfield, including Caleb Maxfield.^[9]

Caleb Maxfield was called a cabinet maker on the birth records of his children in 1843 and 1846, and a merchant in 1849. "Furniture warehouse" was given as his occupation in the 1850 Census. He was called a cabinet maker again in the 1855 and 1860 censuses, and a furniture dealer again in the 1865 census and at the time of his second marriage in 1869. On all these occasions he was in New Bedford. By 1878 he was in Springfield, Massachusetts, when his son Frank's marriage record indicated he was a foreman for Caleb Maxfield. Caleb was reported as a furniture dealer in New Bedford in the 1870 and 1880 censuses. Caleb's death record called him a furniture dealer in Springfield in 1890. The Caleb Maxfield family lived at 81 Maxfield Street, New Bedford (birth records of last three children). It would appear that Caleb Maxfield was a furniture dealer in New Bedford, and that either he or his son Charles established a similar concern in Springfield. These businesses provided employment for other members of the family.

The 1840 Census reported the Caleb Maxfield family of New Bedford as follows:^[10]

I cannot account for the two teenagers, the female 5-9, the woman in her sixties, or the absence of the child Ellen.

The 1850 Census reported Caleb Maxfield's family in New Bedford as follows:^[11]

The presence of two apparent daughters named Anna is a puzzle. The first corresponded in age to Ellen in the 1855 and 1860 censuses.

The 1855 Massachusetts State Census (MA Cen 1855) reported the family at New Bedford, consisting of Caleb Maxfield, 41, cabinet maker, Anna Maxfield, 40, Charles E Maxfield, 19, clerk, Ellen A. Maxfield, 16, Ann L Maxfield, 14, Dana B Maxfield, 11, Cornelia F Maxfield, 9, Caleb Maxfield, Jr., 4, Frank H Maxfield, 1, and two Irish servants.^[12]

Eldest son Charles married in 1859. Three months later, his mother, Ann (Briggs) Maxfield died from consumption.^[13] This left Caleb with children at home ages 20, about 15, 12, 10, and 5.

The 1860 Census reported the Caleb Maxfield family of New Bedford as follows:^[14]

Perhaps "Huntress Maxfield" is a reference to Caleb's recently widower sister Hepsibah Maxfield Robbins.

The 1865 state census reported Caleb Maxfield, 50, furniture dealer, in New Bedford, with his daughter, Louisa A. Morse, 24. and her husband, John O. Morse, 25, mariner. and Caleb's four youngest children, David B., 21, clerk, Cornelia F., 19, Caleb, 16, and Frank. 11.^[15] Son Charles, 28, bookkeeper, also lived at New Bedford with his wife Eliza, 26, and their children, Frank, 2, and Nellie, eight months. Caleb's daughters, Ellen and Ann Louisa, both married in 1864.

In 1869 widower Caleb Strong, 57, married probable widow Caroline (Russell) Slocum, 34. Caroline brought into the family her eight-year-old son Francis.

The blended family of Caleb and Caroline Maxfield was reported in the 1870 Census:^[16]

Son Charles, furniture dealer, continued to live at Springfield with his wife and two children. I have not found daughter Ellen in this census, but her husband, Timothy Gammons, was reported at Hamilton, White Pine County, Nevada, as a clerk in an office. He was in the residence of William R. Scribner, oculist.^[17] Cornelia had married in 1866. Son Caleb Maxfield, 20, insane, was in the household of David G. and Lovice Wilson, of New Bedford.^[18]

The 1880 Census (525:153A) reported a much smaller household at New Bedford, consisting of Caleb Maxfield, 66, furniture dealer, Caroline C. Maxfield, wife, 45, Francis R. Slocum, step-son, 18, two boarders and one servant.^[19] Son Charles, dealer in furniture, continued to reside at Springfield with his wife and two children. Daughter Ellen and her husband Timothy Gammons had moved to Springfield, where he worked as a bookkeeper; they had three children.^[20] Son David, who had married in 1871, lived at New Bedford with his wife; his occupstion was listed as "furniture." Son Caleb Maxfield, Jr., insane, was boarded in the home of John and Cornelia Peck of Dartmouth, Bristol County.^[21] Franklin, who had married in 1878, lived at New Bedford with his wife; he was a furniture clerk.

Caroline (Russell) (Slocum) Maxfield died at New Bedford in 1881 from a tumor.^[22] Caleb Maxfield died at Springfield in 1894, from arterio sclerosis and exhaustion.^[23]

Son Caleb Maxfield, Jr. was an inmate at the Taunton Insane Hospital, Taunton, Bristol County, in 1900.^[24] He died there in 1907 from organic heart disease. The death record also indicated that he had dementia praecox for thirty-seven years.^[25] Dementia praecox (meaning a "premature dementia" or "precocious madness") is a disused psychiatric diagnosis that originally designated a chronic, deteriorating psychotic disorder characterized by rapid cognitive disintegration, usually beginning in the late teens or early adulthood. He had this disorder since the age of twenty.

Caleb Maxfield and his first wife Ann had the following children:

1. CHARLES E.⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford in June 1836
2. ELLEN⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Massachusetts about 1838-9,^[26] d. at Springfield on 6 February 1892;^[27] m. at San Francisco, California, on 30 June 1864 TIMOTHY G. GAMMONS (she of New Bedford, he of Virginia City, Nevada) b. at Massachusetts abt 1838-9.^[28] Children of Ellen and Timothy:^[29]
   1. Willie L. Gammons b. at Massachusetts about 1867-8.
   2. Fred G. Gammons b. at Massachusetts about 1869-70.
   3. Carrie L. Gammons b. at Massachusetts about 1871-2.
3. ANN LOUISA⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford about 1840; m. at New Bedford on 15 December 1864 JOHN O. MORSE b. about 1838-9, mariner, of Edgartown, Dukes County, Massachusetts.^[30]
4. DAVID BRIGGS⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford on 3 October 1843
5. CORNELIA⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford on 22 February 1846;^[31] m. at New Bedford on 22 November 1866 EDWARD E. HITCH, sailmaker, b. at New Bedford about 1840-1.^[32]
6. CALEB⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford on 13 January 1849,^[33] d. at Taunton on 18 Apr 1907.^[34]
7. FRANKLIN HERBERT⁷ MAXFIELD b. at New Bedford on 14 February 1854

1. FRANCIS R. SLOCUM b. at New Bedford on 5 July 1861.^[35]

¹born 1812-3 on second marriage record, death record, 1850, 1860 census records, 1813-4 on 1855, 1870, 1880 census records, 1814-5 on 1865 census record; his birth place from birth record of son Caleb.
²Massachusetts Archives, "Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 12 September 2017), vol. 445, p. 748, e. 546, Springfield Deaths 1894, Caleb Maxfield.
³Vital Records of New Bedford, Massachusetts: to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1932. 1932, 1941), v. 2, p. 365.
⁴Vital Records of Rochester, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1914), v. 1, p. 53.
⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 129, p. 84, e. 242, New Bedford Deaths, 1859, Anna Maxfield.
⁶"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 217, p. 117, e. 231, New Bedford Marriages, 1869; Maxfield-Slocum.
⁷"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 328, p. 134, e. 211, New Bedford Deaths, 1881, Caroline C. Maxfield.
⁸"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 99, p. 101, e. 164; New Bedford Marriages, 1856: Slocum-Russell.
⁹Bristol County, Massachusetts, Probate Records, 59:243-44, Court House, Taunton, Massachusetts.
¹⁰Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 178, p. 432, Caleb Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 25 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹¹Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 332A, household 1943, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹²Massachusetts, Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1855 Massachusetts State Census, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, v. 6, p. 105, household 153, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 5 April 2018); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹³"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 129, p. 84, e. 242, New Bedford Deaths, 1859, Anna Maxfield.
¹⁴Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 490, p. 506, household 456, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 2 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁵Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, 1865 Massachusetts State Census, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, v. 6, p. 106, household 645, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 16 August 2013); Massachusetts State Archives, Boston, Massachusetts.
¹⁶Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 605, p. 83B, household 506, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 4 February 2013); NARA microfilm record group M593; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
¹⁷1870 Census, Hamilton, White Pine County, Nevada, p. 518B, household 234, William R. Scribner household.
¹⁸1870 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 605, p. 4B, household 76, David Wilson family.
¹⁹Tenth Census of the United States: 1880, population, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 111, roll 525, p. 153A, household 791, Caleb Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 8 March 2013); NARA microfilm publication T9, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
²⁰1880 Census, Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, ED 313, p. 126D, household 38, Timothy Gammons family.
²¹1880 Census, Dartmouth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, ED 80, roll 523, p. 400A, household 49, John E. Peck family.
²²"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 328, p. 134, e. 394, New Bedford Deaths, 1881, Caroline C. Maxfield.
²³"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 445, p. 748, e. 546, Springfield Deaths 1894, Caleb Maxfield.
²⁴Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Taunton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, enumeration district (ED) 1829, roll 639, p. 3, household 1, Taunton Insane Hospital; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 13 April 2013); NARA microfilm group T623; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
²⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 96, certificate no. 500, Taunton Deaths 1907, Caleb Maxfield, Jr.
²⁶1850 Census, New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts, roll 309, p. 332A, household 1943, Caleb Maxfield family.
²⁷"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 427, p. 662, e. 132; Springfield Deaths, 1892: Ellen Gammons.
²⁸"Marriage Records in the New Bedford Mercury, 1845-1874," 787, New Bedford Free Public Library, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
²⁹1880 Census, Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts, ED 313, p. 126D, household 38, Timothy Gammons family.
³⁰"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 171, p. 113, e. 281; New Bedford Marriages, 1864; Morse-Maxfield.
³¹"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 16, p. 87, New Bedford Births, 1845-6, Cornelia Maxfield.
³²"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 189, p. 127, e. 261, New Bedford Marriages, 1866; Hitch-Maxfield.
³³"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," vol. 34, p. 152, e. 264, New Bedford Births, 1848-9, Caleb Maxfield.
³⁴"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," digital images, American Ancestors, vol. 96, certificate no. 500, Taunton Deaths 1907, Caleb Maxfield, Jr.
³⁵"Vital Records of Massachusetts, 1841-1910," v. 141, p. 144, e. 332; Births 1861 New Bedford: Francis R. Slocum.