General Notes

Per the book, The Cline's, a year or two before the close of the 18th century, Thomas Maxwell went into western Pennsylvania and never returned. The last heard of him, he was about to cross the Monongahela River in flood stage, therefore, it is supposed that he drowned. His widow and six children, accompanied by her parents, moved from Pennsylvania into Harrison County a year or two later and made their home on the farm of Col. William Lowther on Lost Creek.

Per the "Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley West Virginia", "Thomax Maxwell died in 1796 while on a preliminary trip to West Virginia, preparatory to removing h is family thither. The particulars of his death were never known. Three years later his widow and her six children removed to the present Harrison county and later to Lewis county, where she died October 20, 1835."

>From the book "Upper Monongahela Valley", pages 943-946.


MAXWELL

Few families of Scotland have won greater renown or figured more
prominently in national annals than that of Maxwell; and yet there is
every reason to believe that in its origin the race is Saxon rather than
Celtic, the ancestor being Maccus, son of Anlaf, King of Northumberland
in the middle of the tenth century. On the downfall of the Saxon
monarchy and the accession of William of Normandy, in 1066, many of the
prominent Saxons fled across the border into Scotland with Edgar
Atheling, the heir of the old Saxon royal house. In the new home they
were protected and favored, and under Wallace and the Bruces, the
Maxwells greatly distinguished themselves. The earldoms of Farnham,
Dirletoun and Nithsdale (all now dormant through attainder or failure of
issue) as well as numerous baronies and lordships have been theirs.
Loyal to the Stuart kings in prosperity or defeat, one of the family,
Thomas Maxwell, served in King James' army in the Irish revolt of 1691,
and remained in Ireland, settling in Tyrone. A descendant of his, John
Maxwell, came to New Jersey and located in Warren County,. He was the
father of Brigadier-General William Maxwell, of revolutionary fame, and
tradition further says that the West Virginia Maxwells sprang from the
same source. Documentary verification of this belief has not been
obtainable, but there is no reason to question it.
(I) The earliest direct ancestor known was Thomas Maxwell, of
Pennsylvania, who married, about 1785, Jane, born in Pennsylvania, July
17, 1767, daughter of Alexander and Mary (Smith) Lewis. Thomas Maxwell
died in 1796 while on a preliminary trip to West Virginia, preparatory
to removing his family thither. The particulars of his death were
never known. Three years later his widow with her six children removed
to the present Harrison County and later to Lewis County, where she
died, October 20, 1835. Their children were: 1. Abner, of whom
further. 2. Levi, born July 25, 1788; resided near Weston; died
November 13, 1884, leaving six children. 3. Lewis, born 1790; a
surveyor and the most extensive landholder in the region; a man of no
small prominence in his day; serving in Congress as a Whig, 1827-33;
died near Weston, 1865, having been twice married but leaving no
children. 4. Robert, born February 19, 1791; lived in Ohio and in
Harrison County, Virginia, where he died February 5, 1849; was three
times married, having ten children, all by first wife. 5. Amy, born
August 27, 1799, married John Peck, of Ohio, and died in that state, May
23, 1847. 6. Mary, married (first) John Swisher, (second) _______
Hawley.
(II) Abner, eldest child of Thomas and Jane (Lewis) Maxwell, was
born in Pennsylvania, 1785. He was captain of a Harrison County company
in the War of 1812; resided for a time in Clarksburg, but his last years
were spent near West Union, Doddridge County, West Virginia, where he
died in 1864. He married (first) Susan Davidson, and (second) Judith
Modisette. There were five children by the first wife, and seven by the
second: Marshall, born 1811; Franklin, of whom further; Mary, 1816,
wife of A. W. Flucky; Levi, 1819; William, 1821; Frances Jane, died
1904, wife of Archibald Lowther, of Goose Creek; Lewis, born 1831, a
resident of Pullman and Glenville; Charles, of Summers; Amy M., who
became Mrs. Asa Coplin; Abner M.; James; Robert, of Doddridge County.
(III) Franklin, second son of Abner and Susan (Davidson) Maxwell,
was born in 1813. His life was spent in Doddridge County, West
Virginia. Much of the landed estate of his uncle, Hon. Lewis Maxwell,
fell to his share. It is said he helped many a poor man to a home by
permitting him to live on his land and giving him almost his own time in
paying, provided he was honest and industrious. He had no patience with
dishonesty or laziness. He died at his home near West Union, July 4,
1894. He married Frances Reynolds, in 1840, and to them were born ten
children: Leman; Lewis; Porter; Rector; William Brent; Harriet P., wife
of G. W. Brown; Mary Martha, born 1855, died 1860; Franklin Post, born
1857, died 1880; Frances Jane, became Mrs. B. C. Bland; Susan Alice,
born 1861, died 1883.
(IV) William Brent, son of Franklin and Frances Jane (Runnels)
Maxwell, was born in Doddridge County, Virginia, now West Virginia,
April 27, 1850. He attended the common schools of Pruntytown.
Originally his business was stock farming, and he still owns a farm in
Harrison and Doddridge Counties. Mr. Maxwell organized the Traders' Bank
at Buchanan in 1892, but sold out the following year, organizing the
West Union Bank at West Union, Doddridge County, of which he is still
president. He has also been president of the Union National Bank of
Clarksburg since its organization. He is connected with the American
National Bank of Richmond, Virginia; is stockholder in the Exchange Bank
of Weston and the Parkersburg National Bank. In politics Mr. Maxwell is
a Democrat. He was Justice of the Peace in Doddridge County. He
married (first) in 1884, Emma B. Williams, a native of Harrison County;
(second) in 1895, Lillie Jarvis, daughter of Lemuel Davidson Jarvis, at
one time Sheriff of Harrison County. Children, first two by first wife:
Susan Alice, Claude, Ruth Frances, Franklin J., William B., Martha L.
(IV) Porter, son of Franklin (q. v.) and Frances (Reynolds)
Maxwell, was born in Doddridge County, Virginia, April 4, 1843. He now
resides on the old Maxwell homestead in Harrison County, West Virginia,
his post office being Lost Creek, his farm being on the county line. He
is an active, aggressive Democrat. He married Virginia Columbia Post,
born near Buckhannon, Upshur County, Virginia; died April 2, 1904, aged
forty-eight years. Children: 1. Franklin P., born 1869; lives at
Buckhannon, a farmer. 2. Isaac H., born 1871; lives at Lost Creek, a
farmer. 3. Lee, of whom further. 4. Hattie, born in 1876, wife of Hugh
Jarvis. 5. Carrie V., born 1878, wife of Judge Haymond Maxwell, of
Clarksburg. 6. Clay, born 1880; lives on the old Colonel A. W. Woodford
farm, near Weston, Lewis County, a farmer by occupation. 7. Emma, born
1883, unmarried, at home with her father. 8. Blanche, born 1889, at
home. The grandfather, Isaac Post, lived near Buckhannon on a farm, and
died about 1905, aged eighty-one years.
(V) Lee, son of Porter and Virginia C. (Post) Maxwell, was born
November 15, 1873, in Harrison County, West Virginia, on the old Maxwell
homestead, on Buckhannon Pike, where the father still resides, in the
evening of life. Lee received a good education at the common schools,
at Buckhannon Seminary and at the academy. He aided his father on the
farm until twenty-five years of age, when he went for himself, but still
assists his father. His own place is three and a half miles from
Clarksburg, to the southwest. He is a stockholder in the Clarksburg
Fair Association. He votes the Democratic ticket and was elected to the
office of County Commissioner, November 8, 1910, and is still in office.
The family is a member of the Methodist Protestant church, and he is an

intelligent citizen of his county.
He married, at Peel Tree, Barbour County, West Virginia, February
9, 1899, Bopeep Katherine Smith, born at Peel Tree, October 4, 1879,
daughter of Dr. Isaac Smith, now practicing at Peel Tree. Her mother
was Lucy (Keyser) Smith, born at Bridgeport. Dr. Smith was born at
Harrisonburg, Virginia. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Maxwell: Columbia May, February 8, 1901; Porter Smith, September 9,
1906.


>From the book, "Upper Monongahela Valley", pages 985-987.


MAXWELL

The earliest appearance of the Maxwell family in history was
about the middle of the tenth century, in Northumbria, England. It was
a Saxon family that had crossed into England, where the name was written
Mex. It was subsequently Latinized and became Maccus, and the last
part, "well" or "ville," was added soon after. About A.D. 1070 the
family temporarily left England and retired into Scotland rather than
become subject to William the Conqueror, whose conquest of England began
four years earlier. A portion of the family subsequently returned to
England, while a part remained in Scotland. The English branch again
settled in Northumbria and remained there, but has spread into all parts
of America, India and Australia. The records of the English branch are
well preserved in various books of genealogy in that country. The
Scotland Maxwells were never as numerous as their relatives in England,
but they early came into prominence in the border wars, which troubled
that country. They were on the side of Bruce and Wallace, and they
prospered or suffered as the fortunes of those chiefs rose and fell.
The nickname "Always Ready" was applied to them during those wars
because of their promptness in responding to every call in time of need.
Efforts to trace all members of the family in America to either
the English or the Scotch branch are not always successful. There is no
doubt that immigrants of this name include both English and Scotch, and
that they landed at various points on the Atlantic coast from
Massachusetts to Florida. There were Maxwells among the Jamestown
settlers, and some of the earliest in Connecticut were of that name.
Among the very earliest to cross the Allegheny Mountains and penetrate
the Western country were Maxwells. One of that name assisted in
equipping and steering the first fleet of canoes that passed down the
Tennessee River and carried settlers to found Nashville. Before the
Revolutionary War, members of the family were scattered from
Massachusetts to South Carolina, and as far inland as anybody lived.
The Maxwell families in West Virginia cannot be traced to a
single ancestor in this country. At least two distinct branches have
representatives here, and perhaps there are others. Robert Maxwell came
from the Shenandoah Valley, through Hampshire County, into Randolph,
more than twenty years before the coming of the branch that settled in
Harrison County, and it is not known that any relationship existed
between them. The Shenandoah Maxwells seem to have been English, the
Harrison County family were Scotch. The latter came into what is now
West Virginia from Pennsylvania, by way of the Monongahela Valley, about
the year 1800. The direct line of ancestors of this branch cannot be
traced very far in the past.
(I) Thomas Maxwell was the earliest that was recorded, but there
is reason to believe that his father was William Maxwell, an early
settler of Botetourt County, Virginia ***(NOTE: this has been proven incorrect as the will of Robert Maxwell died 1792 in East Nottingham Twp., Chester Co., Pa. lists the children as per DPMJr. June 1998)***.

Thomas Maxwell married Jane Lewis, near Germantown,
Pennsylvania; she was a daughter of Alexander
Lewis, and a second cousin of Robert Fulton, the inventor of the
steamboat. The children of Thomas and Jane (Lewis) Maxwell were Abner;
Levi, of whom further; Lewis, Robert, Mary and Amy. A year or two
before the close of the eighteenth century, Thomas Maxwell went on a
business trip into western Pennsylvania and never returned. The last
heard of him he was about to cross the Monongahela River, which was then
at flood stage, and it has always been the supposition that he was
drowned. His widow, accompanied by her six children and her father and
mother, moved from Pennsylvania into Harrison County a year or two
later, and they made their temporary home on the farm of Colonel William
Lowther, on Lost creek. Her son Lewis, who was several terms a member
of Congress, left no children. Robert moved to Cardington, Ohio, where
his descendants still live. Abner and Levi remained in West Virginia
and founded the family now living principally in Harrison, Doddridge,
Lewis, Upshur, Barbour, Monongalia, and Randolph Counties.
(II) Levi, son of Thomas Maxwell, was born in 1788, and died in
1884. By occupation he was a farmer. He voted the Whig ticket. He
married Sarah Haymond, by whom six children were born.
(III) Rufus, son of Levi Maxwell, was born at Weston, West
Virginia, October 19, 1828, died in Tucker County. He was educated at
the common schools of his day, and then spent two years in college. He
was a lawyer and practiced until the Civil War, but never practiced
after that event. He lived and died on his farm in Tucker County. He
was a Democrat, and in his religious faith was of the Methodist
Protestant church. He married Sarah J. Bonnifield, born in St. George,
daughter of Dr. Arnold Bonnifield, one of the earliest physicians west
of the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia. Children by this marriage:
Wilson Bonnifield; Anzeletta; Mary Angelina; Dorcas Angelica; Hu; Cyrus
Haymond, of whom further; Thomas Edwin; John Franklin; Levi Hendron;
Charles Joseph; Robert Rufus; Anna Katherine.
(IV) Cyrus Haymond Maxwell, M. D., of Morgantown, son of Rufus
and Sarah J. (Bonnifield) Maxwell, was born at St. George, West
Virginia, March 22, 1863. He attended school at Weston, West Virginia;
Valparaiso, Indiana; Fayetteville, Arkansas; the University of Colorado
at Boulder, and the medical department of the Rock Mountain University,
Denver, Colorado. For eleven years he taught school in various states,
and practiced medicine four years before going to Morgantown, West
Virginia, and has been there in active medical practice since 1902. He
enjoys a large and lucrative practice and has the confidence of the
better element of that city. He has been Chief of the Medical
Department of the Morgantown & Kingwood railroad since 1902, and has
maintained it in a high state of efficiency. He has been President of
the Monongalia County Medical Society. He is well known throughout the
state from the prominent part taken in the annual meetings of the West
Virginia Medical Association. He is a Democrat, and a member of the
Methodist Episcopal Church.
Dr. Cyrus H. Maxwell married, in 1887, Melvina Jane Adams, born
in Limestone, Tucker County, West Virginia, daughter of George W. Adams.
Children: Hugh Thurman, born 1889, died aged one and a half years;
Ruth, born 1891; Paul, 1894; Ralph, 1898; Cyrus, 1899; a son, born
dead, 1900. So far as known there has never been a criminal in the
family in its thousand years of history, but have always stood for the
best interests of their community and country, and been in the front
ranks of progress of all lines of advancement in which they are found.