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The Maxey family comes next in historical importance in the early settlement of the county. Edward Maxey, the first of the name of whom we have any account, was a native of Wales. He emigrated to America long prior to the Revolutionary war, and settled in Virginia. Of him or his family but little is known, except that a son, Walter Maxey, was the father of Jesse, who was born and reared in Virginia, where he married, and afterward removed to Sumner County, Tenn. He was once attacked by the Indians, who tomahawked and scalped him and left him for dead. He recovered, however, and lived twenty years after the event. His children were (note from Sandy these are Jesse's children):
1. William Maxey, the eldest son was born in Virginia in 1770, and married Mary Emily Allen, a daughter of Rhoda Allen. In 1818, they removed to Illinois, and Maxey built a horse-mill in the fall of 1820, which proved a great blessing to the people of the county. He was one of the early Justices of the Peace, having been appointed in 1821, and filled that office for a number of years. Many jokes and anecdotes were told of his official life, of which the following will serve as a sample: Being naturally diffident, the marriage ceremony was a cause of great embarrassment, and its performance among the most difficult acts he was called on to execute. Cases of debt or assault and battery he could dispose of in short order, but when it came to tying the nuptial knot, he was, to quote a slang phrase of modern invention, "all broke up." His first attempt was in uniting in marriage Ransom Moss and Anna Johnson. Their marriage took place on the 6th of July, 1821, and he had carefully prepared for it. He thought he "knew his piece," but when the couple came before him he lost his cue and broke down completely. Some say he commenced to recite the Declaration of Independence, instead of the marriage ceremony, and discovering his mistake, went back and started over again, and this time drifted into the constitution of the United States. Gov. Casey used to accuse him of informing the happy couple by way of prelude that the Lord instituted matrimony in the days of man's ignorance instead of "innocence." Finally, with the aid of a Methodist book of discipline and Clark's Commentaries, he succeeded in getting through the ceremony and concluded with an invocation to the "Lord to have mercy on their souls." Mr. Maxey has now been dead for many years, but his influence for good was long felt in the community. His wife died in 1837 and he in 1838. They are described as an honest, industrious, pious old couple, full of kindness and simplicity of heart, and great lovers of children. Their whole lives were but the teaching of the sublime lesson about the cup of cold water to the little one, and their influence upon their immediate circle is not yet obliterated. They had eleven children
Henry B., or Burchett Maxey, was born in 1795, in an old block-house erected during the Indian troubles, soon after the Revolution. He came to Illinois and settled on what was called Maxey's Prairie. At the sale of lots in Mount Vernon in September, 1819, he bought one, on which he erected the first house built in the town. He was a man of considerable prominence, and hold numerous offices; also built several houses at ditferent times. Additional to his other accomplishments, he was a great hunter, and once killed eight bears in half a mile of his own house. He was shrewd, active, alert and rich in animal life and vigor, with many of his natural faculties cultivated almost to the perfection of the Siberian bloodhound. He once walked from Brownsville, a distance of seventy or eighty miles, through an unbroken wilderness full of wild animals. He slept at night in the woods, and when the sun was clouded he had only the moss on the trees to guide him in his course. He married Peggy Taylor, and their children were
Bennett N. Maxey was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was with Gen. Jackson at New Orleans. He was one of Col. Coffee's mounted men, and when those troops mistook an order and retreated, he alone of the entire command stood his ground until the men rallied and returned to their position. His comrades called him "Broadhorns," on account of his broad shoulders and prodigious strength. His wife, like many of the pioneer women, was about as "good a man" as he was himself, and did her full part in the battle of life. Their children were
William and James were preachers; Charles was a Captain in the One Hundred and Tenth Regiment during the late war, and came home in 1863-64 and died; Joshua died of a wound in Louisville; Eliza married John N. White; Thomas served through the late war, and now lives near Ashley. Elihu, the fourth son of William Maxey, married Eveline Taylor in 1819. He owned one of the early mills of the county, and hence was a benefactor of the early settlers. His first wife died, and he married Sarah Guthrie. He met with death accidentally in October, 1853. He rode out into the woods one morning to "hunt the cows," but was absent so long his family became uneasy, and, his horse coming home without a rider, excited their serious apprehensions. The neighbors were noticed and search made. His body was found two or three miles from home, cold in death. It was supposed he had been kicked by his horse. He had ten children, five sons and five daughters:
Charles H. Maxey married Sallie Bruce in 1824 He was the fifth son of William Maxey, and was a man of great physical power. The first married S. F. Parker; Mary married Joseph Burke; Martha married C. Frost; Susan married George A. Collins and Drucilla married James Swift.
Joshua C. Maxey, the sixth son of William, was born in 1807, married Susan Criswell in 1881, and at present lives on the old Maxey homestead. He is a Methodist preacher, and several times has had charge of circuits by special appointment. He is a truly Christian man and an enthusiastic Sunday school worker. He raised but two children, two dying in childhood.
Dr. William M. A. Maxey, the youngest son but one of William Maxey, married Edda Owens in 1830. He is a practicing physician and a local preacher. His children are
Jehu G. D. Maxey is the youngest son of William Maxey. He married Mary A. Bruce, and their only child, James H. , died when he was but two years old. Mr. Maxey is an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and an earnest worker in the Sunday
school.
2. Edward Maxey, a brother to William Maxey, and the second son of Jesse Maxey, moved to Allen County, Ky., and from thence to Jefferson County, I11. He married Elizabeth Pitner in Tennessee, but they never had any children. They raised several adopted children, among them Judge Satterfield. He was a man of high honor and integrity; was Justice of the Peace for twenty years. County Commissioner, a pioneer school teacher, a preacher and a man in whom there was no guile. He died about
1850, and his wife soon after.
4. John Maxey, the youngest son of Jesse Maxey, came to Illinois in 1823, in company with William and Jonathan Wells. He, too, was a Methodist preacher, and after living eight or ten years in the county, removed to Wayne County, where he died. He raised but one son, Stephen, who died many years ago, and three daughters. Such, in brief, is the record of the pioneer Maxeys, who were among the early settlers of Jefferson
County, and who contributed largely to its development and improvement. In other chapters will be found sketches of the younger generations of the name. Source: Submitted by Sandy (Whalen) Bauer |
For corrections or additions, please contact me: Sandy Bauer