Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Seventh Generation

JOHN BROWNELL⁷ MAXFIELD (John⁶, Henry⁵, David⁴, Eliphalet³, Nathaniel², John¹) was born at Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, on 2 April 1861,^[1] a son of John H. Maxfield and his wife Mary Wood Stearns. He died at Fairfax on 18 November 1907.^[2] He married at Fairfax on 6 January 1886 CARRIE E. BEVENS.^[3] She was born at Fairfax on 1 November 1862, a daughter of Thomas W. Bevens and Martha Coon. She died at Fairfax on 27 January 1901.^[4]

John B. Maxfield grew up on a farm in Fairfax, the third of four children. When John and Carrie were married by Methodist pastor Elisha Folsom, John and Carrie were aged 24 and 23 respectively.^[5] They also farmed in Fairfax. over the next fourteen years they had eight children, six of whom survived childhood.

The 1900 census reported the almost completed family at Fairfax as follows:^[6]

This record also reported That John owned his farm, but with a mortgage, John and Carrie had been married fifteen years; Carrie hd given birth to seven children, five of whom were living; and the "dairy woman" also had a child, who was living.

Carrie (Bevins) Maxfield died of heart disease at the age of thirty-eight,^[7] leaving her husband with children ages 10, 7, 6, 5, almost 3, and six months. He died six years later, from sclerosis, at the age of forty-six.^[8]

The children were scattered. The 1910 census reported them as follows:

• Don Maxfield, 20, had moved to Virgil Township, Kane County, Illinois, where he worked as a "helper" in the household of Walter and Edith Burbank on their rented farm.^[9]

• Grace, 18, and Hazel, 12, were living with their aunt Edna and her husband Robert Corrigan, farmers in Fairfax.^[10]

• Helena, more commonly called "Lena," 16, was listed as a boarder in the home of Willis and Julia Farnsworth of Fairfax,^[11] next door (or at least listed in the census next) to her uncle Edward Maxfield.

• Cora, 14, was listed as a servant doing general housework in the household of William H. and Lucilla H. Durkee, ages 65 and 55 respectively, of Westford, Chittenden County, Vermont.^[12]

• Walter, 9, lived with his uncle Edward Maxfield at Fairfax. Edward, 60, was a widower and a farmer who also had in his home his sons, Wayne, 15, Page, 13, and Haydon, 12. The home was maintained by Anna Colby, a housekeeper, 37.^[13]

As the children moved into young adulthood, many changes occurred:

• Donald moved to Canada, enlisted in the Canadian Army in World War I, then returned to Fairfax, Vermont, where he married in 1920.

• Grace and Hazel were still living with the Corrigans as reprorted in the census on 1 January 1920.^[14] However Grace died on 17 February 1920 at the age of 26, from influenza and pneumonia.^[15]

• Helena in 1923 was reported alive, still single, in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York.^[16]

• Cora had married Charles Edward Golden in 1915. She had two children by 1920; they lived at Burlington, Chittenden County.^[17]

• In 1920 Walter Maxfield, age 20, was reported living in the household of George and Florence Allen, of Milton, where he worked as a hired man on their farm.^[18] Walter married in 1922 at Milton, Chittenden County, and he and his bride moved to Schenectady, Schenectady County, New York. He died there in 1923, after only fifteen months of marriage.

The family continued to decline. In 1923 Cora (Maxfield) Golden left her husband, taking her two children with her.^[19] The husband was never able to locate her, and he died in 1937. Hazel, who never married, continued in the home of her uncle Robert Corrigan in the 1930 census.^[20] She died in 1932 in a diabetic coma.^[21] Only Donald remained alive and well and living in Vermont.

The case of Cora (Maxfield) Golden remained a mystery for a long time. In 1935 the remains of three bodies were found decaying in the woods of East Middlebury, Addison County, Vermont.^[22] They remained unidentified. Cora and her two children were considered possible candidates. One reason, as reported by the investigator in 1938, was, "In checking the records of missing persons all through the country, these are the only persons I have found who might have been the victims."^[23] Nothing was ever resolved.

Lenora "Lennie" Collins, a grandchild of Donald H. Maxfield, wrote to me in 2006,

Cora Maxfield (m. Charles Golden) b. 1/28/1895 her body and the bodies of her two children were found apparently murdered (shot) in the woods of East Middlebury, VT as forencics were not as advanced at the time the bodies were never absolutely identified. Though from what my mother tells me they found a purse next to the woman’s body with a slip of paper that had my grandmother’s name on it in approximately 1934/35.^[24]

In 2015, as plans proceeded to re-inter the remains, the search for their identity was renewed. Middlebury police officer Kris Bowdish reported on 27 October 2016 (the video clip is on the internet), that DNA research had proven the remains were not of Cora and her children.^[25] Officer Bowdish reported to me:

I was able to confirm that the bodies found in Middlebury were not Cora Golden and her children by DNA. I located a relative of Beulah who was willing to submit DNA to make that confirmation.
Additionally, with the help of the Vermont State Archives, we were able to determine that Cora had changed her name and lived for many years, remarrying and having another son. I believe she passed away and was buried in Troy, NY (I will have to re-check my records to be sure).^[26]

Cora's daughter, Beulah Golden, was reported in the 1930 census, age 10, living at the Saint Francis Orphan Asylum, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut.^[27] In 1940 she was reported in the household of Joseph and Kathryn MacFarland, of Hamden, New Haven County, where she worked as a maid. A note from the census taker on the margin of the census report reads, "this girl knows nothing about her parents."^[28]

John Brownell Maxfield and his wife Carrie Bevins had the following children:

1. EDITH BLANCH⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 28 March 1887;^[29] d. at Fairfax on 2 March 1896.^[30]
2. DONALD HARRISON⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 18 February 1890.
3. GRACE E.⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Vermont on 14 March 1893;^[31] d. at Fairfax on 17 February 1920.^[32]
4. HELENA MAY⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 4 March 1894;^[33] liv. at Troy on 1923.
5. CORA ELIZABETH⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 28 June 1895;^[34] m(1). at Milton on 15 November 1915 CHARLES EDWARD GOLDEN, b. at Westford abt 1872,^[35] d. at Burlington on March 1937,^[36] child of John and Sophie (Daniels) Golden; m(2) ________ ________. Children of Charles nd Cora:
   1. Charles Edward⁹ Golden, Jr. b. at Colchester, Chittenden County, on 31 March 1916.^[37]
   2. Beulah⁹ Golden b. at Burlington on 4 July 1919;^[38] liv. at Hamden on 1940.
6. DORA JANE⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 28 June 1895;^[39] d. at Fairfax on 3 October 1895.^[40]
7. HAZEL MARIE⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 23 January 1898;^[41] d. at Saint Albans, Fairfax County, on 29 February 1932.^[42]
8. WALTER JOHN⁸ MAXFIELD b. at Fairfax on 16 June 1900;^[43] d. at Schenectady on 26 September 1923;^[44] m. at Milton on 7 June 1922 ALICE MARY SMITH,^[45] b. at London, England, abt 1902-3, child of Arthur W. Smith and Phoebe Copping.

¹Vermont State Archives and Records Administration "Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008," digital images, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 6 December 2016), Birth, John B. Maxfield.
²Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, John B. Maxfield, 18 November 1907.
³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Marriage, Maxfield-Bevens, 6 January 1886.
⁴Fairfax Plains Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 22 December 2012).
⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Marriage, Maxfield-Bevens, 6 January 1886.
unty ⁶United States Department of the Census, Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, enumeration district (ED) 107, roll 1691, p. 1B, household 17; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 3 September 2013); NARA microfilm group T623.
⁷Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, Carrie Maxfield, 27 January 1901.
⁸Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, John B. Maxfield, 18 November 1907.
⁹United States Department of the Census. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, , population, Virgil, Kane County, Illinois, enumeration district (ED) 91, roll 297, p. 17A, household 163, Walter Burbank family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 3 February 2014); NARA group T624.
¹⁰1910 Census, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, ED 104, roll 1614, p. 9A, household 158, Robert Corrigan family.
¹¹1910 Census, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, ED 104, roll 1614, p. 11B, household 200, Leana Maxfield.
¹²1910 census, Westford, Chittenden County, Vermont, ED 90, roll 1613, p. 4B, household 86, William Durkee household.
¹³1910 Census, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, ED 104, roll 1614, p. 11B, household 201, Edward maxfield family.
¹⁴United States Department of the Census, Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, enumeration district (ED) 76, roll 1872, p. 9B, household 220, Robert Corrigin family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 26 January 2014); NARA microfilm record group T625.
¹⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, Grace Maxfield, 17 February 1920.
¹⁶"Fairfax," Saint Albans Daily Messenger, 28 September 1923; Genealogy Bank (genealogybank.com : accessed 16 November 2016), Newspaper Archives. p. 4. Short Footnote: ""Fairfax"."
¹⁷1920 Census, Burlington, Chittenden County, Vermont, ED 42, roll 1871, p. 5A, dwelling 73, household 79, Edward Golden family.
¹⁸1920 Census, Milton, Chittenden County, Vermont, ED 64, roll 1872, p. 4B, household 79, George Allen family. Also "World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," digital image, United States, Selective Service System, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2014).
¹⁹"Rutland Murder Mystery Hinted near a Solution," Springfield Republican, 3 January 1938; Genealogy Bank (genealogybank.com : accessed 16 November 2016), Newspaper Archives. p. 5.
²⁰United States Department of the Census, Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population, Fairfax, Franklin County, Vermont, enumeration district (ED) 6, roll 2428, p. 1B, household 13, Robert Corrigan family; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 10 March 2014); NARA record Group T626.
²¹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Hazel Maxfield, 29 February 1932.
²²"3 Foud Slain In Middlebury, Vt," Boston Herald, 16 May 1935; Genealogy Bank (genealogybank.com : accessed 17 November 2016), Newspaper Archives. p. 1.
²³Springfield Republican. 3 January 1938.
²⁴Lenora Collins, to Charles A. Maxfield, e-mail, 13 March 2006, "Maxfield Genealogy,"; privately held.
²⁵"Vt. State Archivist Teams Up With Middlebury Police on 80+ Year Cold Case," My Champlain Valley, 27 October 2016 (My Champlain Valley http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/ accessed 16 November 2016).
²⁶Kris Bowdish to Charles A. Maxfield, "Regarding Bodies found in 1935," Electronic mail, 16 November 2016, privately held.
²⁷1930 Census, New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut, ED 62, Roll: 276; Page: 2B, , Beulah Golden.
²⁸United States Department of the Census, Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population, Hamden, New Haven County, Connecticut, enumeration district (ED) 5-61, roll 516, p. 6B, household 135, Beulah Golden; digital images, Ancestry (ancestry.com : accessed 16 Novrember 2016); microfilm record group T627.
²⁹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Edith Blanch Maxfield, 28 March 1887.
³⁰Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, Edith B. Maxfield, 2 March 1896.
³¹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, Grace Maxfield, 17 February 1920.
³²Ibid.
³³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Lena May Maxfield, 4 March 1894.
³⁴Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Cora A. Maxfield, 11 October 1888.
³⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Marriage, Golden-Maxfield, 15 November 1915.
³⁶"Rutland Murder Mystery Hinted near a Solution."
³⁷Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Charles Edward Golden, Jr., 31 March 1916.
³⁸Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Beulah Elizabth Golden, 4 July 1919.
³⁹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth,Dora J. Maxfield, 28 June 1895.
⁴⁰Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Death, Dora J. Maxfield, 3 October 1895.
⁴¹Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Hazel Maxfield, 23 January 1898.
⁴²Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Hazel Maxfield, 29 February 1932.
⁴³Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Birth, Walter J. Maxfield, 16 June 1900.
⁴⁴"Fairfax," Saint Albans Daily Messenger, 28 September 1923
⁴⁵Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008, index card, Marriage, Maxfield-Smith, 7 June 1922.

Boston Herald.. Boston, suffolk County, Massachusetts. 16 May 1935.

Bowdish, Kris. "Regarding Bodies found in 1935." Electronic mail to Charles A. Maxfield. 16 November 2016. Privately held.

Collins, Lenora. "Maxfield Genealogy." E-mail to Charles A. Maxfield. 13 March 2006. Privately held.

Fairfax Plains Cemetery, Fairfax, Franklin Co., VT. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2012.

Saint Albans Daily Messenger, Saint Albans, Franklin County, Vermont. 28 September 1923.

Springfield Republican. Springfield, Hampden County, Massachusetts. 3 January 1938.

United States Department of the Census. Twelth Census of the United States: 1900, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2013.

________. Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

________. Sixteenth Census of the United States: 1940, population. Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : .

United States, Selective Service System, "World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918." Digital images. Ancestry. ancestry.com : 2014.

Vermont State Archives and Records Administration. "Vermont Births, Marriages and Deaths to 2008." Digital images. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2016.

"Vt. State Archivist Teams Up With Middlebury Police on 80+ Year Cold Case," My Champlain Valley, 27 October 2016 (My Champlain Valley http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/ accessed 16 November 2016).