Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Sixth Generation

WILLIAM⁶ MAXFIELD (William⁵, David⁴, Eliphalet³, Nathaniel², John¹) was born at New Hampshire on 10 March 1787, a child of William Maxfield and his wife Abigail Belcher.^[1] He died at Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, on 13 September 1860.^[2] William Maxfield first married SOPHIA ________ probably some time before 1812. Sophia was born on 8 March 1794, and died at Fairfax on 13 September 1840.^[3] William second married at Fairfield, Franklin County, on 11 January 1841 MERCY (PRINDLE) WHITTEMORE,^[4] who was born about 1801-2 and died at Fairfax on 7 September 1863.^[5] Mercy had previously married at Fairfield on 4 March 1822 RICHARD M. WHITTEMORE, who was born about 1789 and died at Fairfield on 1840.^[6]

William was the third of ten children, the second of nine to live to adulthood. When he was two years old his family became settlers in Fairfax, only two years after the first settler in that town.

William served in the Army during the War of 1812. William Maxfield served as a Private in the company of Asa Williams, 2d regiment of infantry under Col. Luther Dixon, volunteered at Burlington on or about 25 September 1813 for an indefinite period of time and continued in active service one month and 19 days, honorably discharged at Plattsburg, Clinton County, New York, on or about 13 November 1813. This record was sworn on 5 August 1851, which indicated he received a grant of 120 acres.^[7]

William Maxfield was involved in numerous land transactions in Fairfax throughout his life:

• 8 October 1810. Warrin Barlow of Fairfax for $450 sold to William Maxfield, Jun. of same, the farm on which he lived.^[8]
• 20 Octber 1815. William Maxfield, Jr., of Fairfax, for $250 sold land to John O. Hunt of Fairfax, and for $350 sold 30 acres to Joseph Hunt.^[9]
• 30 August 1723. In settling the estate of William Maxfield, Sr., William Maxfield [Jr.] paid $100 to his siblings, Gilbert B. Maxfield, John Maxfield, Thomas Maxfield, Susan Winters, Fanny Maxfield, Harry Maxfield, Abigail Maxfield and Eliza Maxfield, for land in Fairfax.^[10]
• 5 January 1824. Evidently a mortgage, Isaac Tichinor of Bennington, Bennington County, Vermont, for $225 to William Maxfield of Fairfax, 12 May 1823; William Maxfield for $300 to Isaac Tichenor of Bennington, 5 Jan 1824.^[11]
• 15 March 1830. Zerah Lamb of Fletcher sold for $184 land to William Maxfield of Fairfax.^[12]
• 29 June 1830. William Maxfield of Fairfax sold for $100 land to [brother] Harry Maxfield of Fairfax.^[13]
• 13 July 1832.William Maxfield of Fairfax sold for $200 to Jacob Maxfield of Milton land in Fairfax, which Jacob Maxfield of Milton then mortgaged for $200 to William Maxfield of Fairfax^[14] [I cannot identify Jacob, could it be a cousin, son of Isaac?].
• 14 September 1842. William Maxfield of Fairfax sold to [son] Samuel Maxfield of Fairfax 6 acres.^[15]

William and Sophia were affiliated with the Baptist Church in Fairfax, Vermont. William was excluded from membership on 8 December 1810, and restored on 14 March 1817. Sophia was later excluded from membership on 24 June 1832.^[16]

Sophia Maxfield died in 1840, leaving unmarried children ages 18, 9 and 6. Four months later William married widow Mercy (Prindle) Whittemore, who had been widowed less than a year.

William Maxfield was reported in every federal census from 1820 to 1850 as resident in Fairfax.^[17] The reporting of persons by sex and age group generally coincides with the information on children below, except that the 1820 census reported an additional male ages 10-15, and the 1840 census reported a female in her 70s, but did not include child Emily. William Maxfield was a farmer.

The 1850 Census, reported the William Maxfield family at Fairfax as follows:^[18]

William Maxfield died in 1860 from typhoid fever.^[19]

Mercy Maxfield appeared in the 1860 census at Fairfax, age 57, a household of one, followed immediately by her step-grandson Gilbert B. Maxfield and his wife Elizabeth.^[20]

According to probate records, William Maxfield's property was appraised on 9 May 1860. It included Real Estate:

His personal estate of $577.50 included one horse and one cow.^[21]

Son William Maxfield could be the William Mansfield, 21, born at Vermont, living at Placerville, El Dorado County, California, in the 1850 Census;^[22] also the William Maxfield, 36, born Vermont, who registered to vote at Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, on 30 September 1868;^[23] also the William Matfield, 40, born Vermont, teamster, living at Los Angeles in the 1870 Census.^[24]

William Maxfield and his first wife Sophia had the following children:

1. PASCAL⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 3 July 1812
2. SAMUEL⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 16 September 1816
3. ELVIRA⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 27 May 1817,^[25] d. there on 18 May 1883;^[26] m. there on 22 February 1842 DANIEL HOWARD^[27] b. about 1807-8. d. on 10 June 1880.^[28]
4. MALONA⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 25 March 1822,^[29] d. on 23 November 1886;^[30] m. at Stowe, Lamoille County, Vermont, on 8 February 1844 DANIEL G. BAILEY^[31] b. on 31 October 1823, d. on 20 November 1905.^[32]
5. WILLIAM⁷ MAXFIELD, Jr. b. at Fairfax on 19 April 1831.^[33]
6. EMILY⁷ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont about 1833-4.^[34]

¹Harry A. Raymond, Fairfax Genealogy Listing (accessed at Fairfax, Vermont, Town Clerk's Office: n.p., n.d.).
²Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4413, Death, William Maxfield, 18 March 1860; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 6 December 2016).
³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4409, Death, Sophia Maxfield, 1840.
⁴Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4310, Marriage, Maxfield-Whittemore, 1841.
⁵Sanderson Corners Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 22 December 2012), Mercy Maxfield; Created and photo by: Barb Destromp; Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4406, Death, Mercy Maxfield, 7 September 1863.
⁶Bradford Adams Whittemore, "The Whittemore Family in America," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 106-108 (1952–54): v. 108, p. 84.
⁷United States Department of Veterans Affairs, Pension and Bounty Land Application Files Based on Service between 1812 and 1855, microfilm publication Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington D. C., Photocopies provided by John Bilow (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration), War of 1812: William Maxfield.
⁸Fairfax Town, Franklin County, Vermont, Deeds, v. 6, p. 19; Fairfax Town Clerk, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont.
⁹Ibid., v. 6, pp. 452,454.
¹⁰Ibid., v. 8, p. 196.
¹¹Ibid., v. 7, p. 340.
¹²Ibid., v. 8, p. 197.
¹³Ibid., v. 8, pp. 238-39.
¹⁴Ibid., v. 8, p. 319.
¹⁵Ibid., v. 10, p. 512.
¹⁶"Membership Records of the Baptist Church, Fairfax, Vermont," Vermont Genealogy, 4: p. 33.
¹⁷Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 82, William Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 19 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M33, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 7, William Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 22 September 2011); NARA microfilm publication M19, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Sixth Census of the United States: 1840, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 221, William Maxfield; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 27 September 2012); NARA microfilm publication M704, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Seventh Census of the United States: 1850, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 122B, household 170, William Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 16 October 2012); NARA microfilm record group M432, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
¹⁸1850 Census, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 122B, household 170, William Maxfield family.
¹⁹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4413, Death, William Maxfield, 18 March 1860.
²⁰Eighth Census of the United States: 1860, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, roll 1321, p. 182, household 333, Mercy Maxfield family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 16 November 2012); NARA microfilm record group M653; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
²¹Franklin County, Vermont, Probate Records, v. 20 pp. 135-139; William Maxfield; digital images, Family Search (familysearch.org: accessed 23 August 2013).
²²1850 Census, Placerville and vicinity, El Dorado County, California, p. 323B, household 3, William Maxfield.
²³"California, Voter Registers, 1866-1898," digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 23 August 2011), William Maxfield; California State Library, Sacramento, California.
²⁴Ninth Census of the United States: 1870, population, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, p. 535A, household 652, William Matfield household; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 17 February 2013); NARA microfilm record group M593; Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.
²⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4392, Birth: Elvira Maxfield, 1817.
²⁶Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 12805, Death, Alvina Howard, 1883.
²⁷Raymond, Fairfax Genealogy Listing
²⁸Sanderson Corners Cemetery, Fairfax, Daniel Howard; Created by: Barb Destromp.
²⁹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4403, Birth, Malona Maxfield, 1822.
³⁰Lura Cemetery, Easton, Faribault County, Minnesota, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 9 June 2023), Maloney Bailey; Originally Created and photo by: cw, Maintained by: Miss BeeHaven.
³¹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4301, Marriage, Baley-Maxfield, 1844.
³²Lura Cemetery, Easton, Daniel G. Bailey; Originally Created and photo by: cw, Maintained by: Julie Miller Curry.
³³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card 4414, Birth, William Maxfield, 1831.
³⁴1850 Census, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, p. 122B, household 170, William Maxfield family.

"California, Voter Registers, 1866-1898." Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011.

Fairfax Town, Franklin County, Vermont. Deeds. Fairfax Town Clerk, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont.

Franklin County, Vermont. Probate Records. Digital images. Family Search. familysearch.org: 2013.

Lura Cemetery, Easton, Faribault County, Minnesota. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2023.

"Membership Records of the Baptist Church, Fairfax, Vermont." Vermont Genealogy 4: 32-37, 83, 127.

Raymond, Harry A. Fairfax Genealogy Listing. accessed at Fairfax, Vermont, Town Clerk's Office: n.p., n.d.

Sanderson Corners Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2012.

United States Department of the Census. Fourth Census of the United States: 1820, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2012.

________. Fifth Census of the United States: 1830, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2011.

________. 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.

United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Pension and Bounty Land Application Files Based on Service between 1812 and 1855. Microfilm publication Record Group 15: Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Archives, Washington D. C., Photocopies provided by John Bilow. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration.

Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008. Digital images. New England Historical and Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2016.

Whittemore, Bradford Adams. "The Whittemore Family in America." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 106-108 (1952–54): v. 106:31-38,89-99,191-202,262-273; v. 107: 27-37,93-106,179-188,252-263; v. 108: 18-31,82-93,162-172,243-251.