a facebook post....

Brenda: And which one would I be in this group? wink emoticon

Brenda: Guess if I have to ask, I already know I'm the crazy one. Lol.

Deb: I like to think that I'm the crazy one!

Lisa: Hey, you two can fight it out. I'll be happily sane!

This was in Grandpa Tom's book in Grandma Gilley's handwriting.

transcribed by my mom Janet Axsom.

aunt minerva collection.

3-14-1960

This 14th day of March 1960- One year since Pop passed away- has been a real snowy Lonesome day and I'm all alone. Minerva was the only one of the children that has called (this 9 oclock) nine oclock and my usual bedtime. Some way am not sleepy.

Just thinking of what the year has been Like, that I wished to think about and the decisions I wished to make. By that time I have decided to deed the property to LeLand and Minerva and shall not let them know only thru this if they should happen to see it. Should any one of the children wishes to own it, they will have to fix the value according and if it is sold to a stranger, I wish enough to be taken to put a good fence on the Cat Creek Cemetery on the park that is on the "Creswell-Maxwell" part of the farm from Dunkin to Maple Land at least.

That is why I have chosen these two-would have put John & LeLand had John been closer. I find these two can think of all concerned with the least hard feeling or hurting words.

Each child has had their share in helping with the home-Jim with Grandpa and helping Evie buy chairs, LeLand with fence and taxes, John everyway even to the allotment. Grace with taxes and a home to take them to in sickness.

1870 Census Tazewell Co Census

aunt minerva collection

Witten Maxwell birthdate 1804. 66- M. W. TN. Farmer

Alice-Alsie. 65 F. W. VA birthdate 1805.

Mary J. 30. F. W. Va. At Home. Birthdate 1840.

Death Records Tazewell County Thurman Wilson and Ruth Wilson

aunt minerva collection

James Maxwell white male.

Jane 80 yrs old, Clinch, old age. 1868

Tazewell Co VA Census

aunt Minerva collection. hand written paper.

1860 Tazewell County Va. Henry Maxwell 23. M. Carder. VA

One Maxwell married a William Marrs-they may have been living with his sister Sally. p. 142

1850 Tazewell Co VA census

James Maxwell-68 years- farmer-VA

Mary Maxwell 64 years-birth date would've been 1782-(1786 )wife

James Maxwell 32 years born 1818 son.

1850 Tazewell County VA census

Witten Maxwell 46- wagon maker

Ailsey Maxwell 45

Susana Maxwell 22

James Maxwell -20-farmer

Jane Maxwell 16

Henry Maxwell 15

Francis 13

ok. have done a massive amount of typing today. and I have noticed a few things.

The Maxwells seemed to like the names Thomas, James, John, Robert, Henry, Margaret, Sallie, Mary. When you have a bunch of Maxwells with the same first name naming their children the same first names, and then marrying several siblings into the same families....so very confusing. just exactly how many James Maxwells are there? my great grandparents honored their ancestors by giving their children family names....Minerva Alice. my grandma Grace. little Eugune's middle name of Higdon. Mildred Evie. John. it is cool.

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.)