Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia pages 491-3

aunt minerva collection

THE MAXWELL FAMILY

On account of the prominent part the Maxwells performed during the pioneer settlement of Tazewell County, as well as the positions of honr later occupied by their descendants, our space here is too limited to undertake a history of the family. The reader is referred to Pendleton's History of Tazewell County, published in 1920, for many statements therein concerning various members of the family, and especially reference is here made to pages 342-343 for a condensed statement. In Volume I, Annals of Tazewell County the readers will find frequent references to members of this family. Therefore, only a brief outline of the genealogy of the family will be herein noted. (See also pp. 374-379 of this volume.)

James Maxwell, of Scotch Irish descent, came from Ulster, Ireland, to Pennsylvania, and settled there in the early part of the eighteenth century. He married a Miss Roberts, and moved to Augusta County, Virginia, (now Rockbridge Co.). He had three sons: Thomas, James, and Robert. Thomas and James settled on Bluestone, and Robert on Plum Creek in Tazewell County about 1771 or 1772. Thomas was a noted Indian fighter and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was in the battle of King's Mountain. Was made Captain of Militia of Washington County, and was killed by the Indians at Maxwell's Gap while taking part in the rescue of the wife and children of Thomas Ingles, who had been made captives in Burke's Garden by a band of Shawnee Indians. James Maxwell was a soldier and Indian scout in 1774, and was later a soldier in the Revolutionary War. He was the first Sheriff of Tazewell County, which was formed in 1800.

Robert Maxwell, who settled on Plum Creek and had eight children, namely: Robert, Mary, John, Margaret, James, Jennie, Mattie, and Elizabeth. Jennie and Mattie were killed by Indians in 1781. Margaret married David Whitley.

James Maxwell, son of Robert, married Mary Witten. Their children were: 1. Robert, 2. Witten, 3. James, and there were two daughters.

1. Robert Maxwell (son of James) married Margaret Bates. Their children: (a) Thomas , (b) James W.

(a.) Thomas Maxwell (of Robert, of James) married Martha Gillespie, daughter of William B. Gillespie. He died during the second year of the War between the States. Thomas and Martha Maxwell were the parents of two children: Robert, dec'd., and Mary, who married Cum Taylor. The children of Cum Taylor and Mary Maxwell Taylor are: Mattie who lives in Washington, D.C.; Bess, who married John McFarland; Nell, who married John McCauley; Margaret, who married Albert Peery, son of J.E. Peery; Kate, who married Ward Peery, son of J.E. Peery; Robert, who married Margaret Todd; Frank; and Hugh, who married Evangeline Albert.

(b) James W. Maxwell (of Robert, of James) was born May 3, 1840, and married Parmelia Ann Deskins, daughter of of George W. Deskins, August 27, 1872. He died October 21, 1924. They had the following children: Wyrene Parmelia; Margaret Joanna; John Radar, who married Minnie Cecil; James Sidney; Clara Cecil; Robert L., who married Leola Daily: George Bates, who married Margaret Mahood; adn Virginia, who married T.W. Gillespie.

2. Witten Maxwell (son of James), married Alsie Quicksall. Their children: Frank and Jane, dec'd. Frank married Evaline Leedy and they had the following children: Martha, who married Robert M. Sparks; Mary, who married John Maxwell; Albert, who married KAte Bolling; John Henry, who m arried Mary Umbarger; George, who married Susie Bush; and Sallie, who married Raymond Ellis.

3. James Maxwell (son of James) married Nancy Lawson. Their children: Myrtle, who married Tuck Cooley; Georgia, who married Thomas Long; Nannie, who married Isaac Taylor; and Tiny, who married Clay Trivett. James Worth married Ruth Patrick, second wife. Their children: Drayton, who married Josie Cole; Harry, who married Willetta Beavers; and Ivory. (See also pp. 374-380.)