Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Second Generation

JOSEPH² MAXFIELD (John¹) was born at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, on 4 March 1691/2 a son of John Maxfield and his wife Elizabeth Hammond^[1]. He died at Salisbury on 19 November 1758^[2]. He married at Newbury, Essex County, on 17 December 1717 JOANNA RICHARDSON.^[3] She was born at Newbury on 6 March 1696/7, a daughter of Joshua Richardson and his wife Jane Ordway^[4]. She died sometime after 3 January 1770, when she acknowledged a sale of property.

When Joseph was eleven years old his father died; five years leter his mother remarried. At age 21, in 1713, Joseph was eligible to receive his inheritance from his late father. Joseph Maxfield was most often called a "yeoman," although a document in 1722 called him a "laborer," and one in 1753 called him a "husbandman." Joseph Maxfield and family lived in Salisbury, although, with the establishment of the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1741, he became a land holder in two states.

Joanna (Richardson) Maxfield was baptized as an adult and owned the covenant at Second [Congregational] Church, Salisbury, on 3 February 1723. She was received into the membership of that congregation on 5 December 1736.^[5] Five of the seven children were baptized at Second Church, either as teen agers or as adults. There is no record of Joseph Maxfield, the father, ever affiliating with a church, although in his will he offers the usual testimony, "I commend my soul to God in Christ my Saviour."

Joseph Maxfield participated in the following property transfers:

• 2 November 1713. Timothy Maxfield surrendered any rights to land in Salisbury through inheritance from his honored father to Nathaniel Maxfield and Joseph Maxfield.^[6]
• 10 Mar 1715/6. John Maxfield, Nathaniel Maxfield and Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, yeomen, for £ 16, sold to Joseph Dow of Salisbury (alias Hampton in Province of New Hampshire), weaver; lot in Salisbury (alias Hampton in Province of New Hampshire) in Graveley Ridge Division in the Cow Common, original right of John Cole, lot # 43 of that division, together with a little lot of about ¾ acre of upland meadow.^[7]
• 6 January 1720/1. John Maxfield, Joseph Maxfield, and Nathaniel Maxfield, all of Salisbury, for £ 16, sold to Edward French of Salisbury, a lot of upland in Salisbury, in Good-Ales-Swamp division, in the original right of John Cole, lot #55, 1st Division, about 8 acres.^[8]
• 26 January 1721/2. Nathaniel Maxfield of Salisbury, laborer, for an undisclosed amount, to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, laborer; a parcel of upland in Salisbury, 4 acres, being his full share of the homestead on the hill left to them by their honored father John Maxfield, deceased, and come to him by purchase from his brother Timothy Maxfield.^[9]
• 31 March 1725. Johanna Maxfield of Salisbury, daughter of Joshua Richardson late of Newbury, deceased, and Joseph Maxfield her husband, for £ 140, sold to Benjamin Norton of Newbury, all their right to the estate of her honored father Joshua Richardson and her brother Joshua Richardson, both late of Newbury, deceased, in the town of Newbury or elsewhere. Johanna Maxfield signed with her mark.^[10]
• 31 March 1725. Benjamin Norton of Newbury, cordwainer, for £ 47 sold to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, a parcel of upland in Newbury, ¼ acre.^[11]
• 21 December 1731. Joseph Greeley of Kingston, Province of New Hampshire, yeoman, for £ 17 sold to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury; half part of his flats and thatch banks which he bought of Isaac Grover, excepting that which he had already sold to Abraham Brown, in Salisbury, in Cow Common Division.^[12]
• 19 November 1746. Joshua Purington of South Hampton, (alias Hampton Falls, New Hampshire), yeoman, in consideration of the half part of a certain parcel of salt marsh in Salisbury, which was conveyed to him by John Maxfield and Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury as by deed bearing even date with the present, conveys to John Maxfield and Joseph Maxfield, one half part of salt marsh or meadow ground, the Higgelty Pigelty, whole piece containing 16 acres, divided equally in quality and quantity.^[13]
• 8 June 1749. Stephen Webster of Salisbury, gentleman, for £ 48, sold to thirteen persons, including Joseph Maxfield, yeoman, of Salisbury; a parcel on the Merrimack River, Joseph Maxfield has 1/24 interest in property.^[14]
• 4 June 1753. John Hoyt of Hampton Falls, Province of New Hampshire, husbandman, for 90 £ sold to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, husbandman, a full half of a whole right or Proprietor's share in a tract of land granted by the Purchasers of the right of John Tufton Mason, Esq., to Ichabod Robie, Esq., and others, in the Province of New Hampshire, originally granted to Timothy Blake, Jr., containing two lots both numbered 70.^[15]
• 4 Feb 1754. Jacob Stanyan of Hampton Falls, yeoman, for £ 40, sold to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman, a lot in New Hampshire, tract granted to Ichabod Robie and others by the Purchasers, of the right of John Tufton Mason, Esq., 25th lot of the 124 lots (so called).^[16]
• 21 August 1756. John Hoyt of Hampton Falls parish, New Hampshire, joyner for £ 34 sold to Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman, one whole right or share in the township of New Britain, originally granted to John Hoyt, being laid out 3 lots #77.^[17]
• 12 June 1758. Joseph Macksfield of Salisbury sold to Timothy Davis of South Hampton, one acre 33 1/3 rods of land in South Hampton (Rockingham Co. Deeds 62-530).^[18]

The 1742 Census of Estates reported Joseph Maxfield owning land in South Hampton, New Hampshire, but without a dwelling there. He had 2 acres planted, 4 acres meadow and 3 acres pasture, no livestock.^[19]

Joseph Maxfield wrote his will on 17 November, 1758 at Salisbury, two days before his death, and it was proved in Essex County on 7 May, 1759.^[20] For the full text of Joseph Maxfield's will, see below. It would appear that son Humphrey was an invalid, either in body or in mind, as Joseph's will provided for his care, and assumed that the other children would survive Humphrey.

Widow Joanna Maxfield, with the help of her son Joseph, disposed of property as follows:

• 9 February 1762. Joanna Maxfield of Salisbury, widow of Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury, deceased, for £ 40 sold to Nathaniel Dow of Salisbury, yeoman; a parcel in Newbury, ¼ acre, land formerly of Benjamin Norton, given to her by her husband Joseph Maxfield in his will.^[21]
• [3] January 1770. Joseph Maxfield and Joanna Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman and spinster, for £ 1, 16s, sold to Samuel Webster of Salisbury, all their right to the long wharf in Salisbury at Webster's Point, 1/24 part.^[22]

In the name of God. Amen. I Joseph Maxfield of Salisbury in the County of Essex in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, yeoman, being weak of body but of a disposing mind and memory, thanks be to God for the same, and calling to mind the mortality of my body, and not knowing how soon or suddenly my change may come, do make this my last will and testament.
First of all, I commend my soul to God in Christ my Saviour, and my body to the dust to be decently buried in hope of Eternal Life; and as to my temporal estate I do hereby dispose of the same as followeth--viz:
Imprimis: My will is that all my just debts and funeral expenses by duly paid by my executors hereafter named.
Item: I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Joanna Maxfield, my land in Newbury about one quarter of one acre; also all my household stuff of all sorts and by what name soever called, said land and household stuff to be at her disposal forever; Also her right of dowry and power of thirds in the whole of my real estate whatsoever and wheresoever it may be.
Item: I give and bequeath unto my son Humphrey Maxfield the use and income of the whole of my real estate whatsoever and wheresoever it may be, for his support during the term of his natural life (excepting what I have given to my wife). Said estate to be improved by my executors for ye support of my said son Humphrey--and in case the yearly income of my estate will not support my said son, my will is that my executors hereafter named, may, and hereby have free liberty from me to sell the whole of my real estate or any part thereof for the comfortable support and maintenance of my said son Humphrey Maxfield during the term of his natural life.
Item: I give unto my daughter Abigail the wife of Samuel Huntington, five pounds besides what she has already received of my estate, to be paid by my executors two years after my son Humphrey's decease.
Item: I give unto my daughter Judith the wife of Jospeh Morrill five pounds besides what I have already given her to be paid by my executors two years after the decease of my son Humphrey.
Item: I give to my daughter Elizabeth the wife of Nathaniel Carr, five pounds besides what she has already had, to be paid by my executors two years after my son Humphrey's decease.
Item: I give and bequeath to my two sons Joseph Maxfield and Joshua Maxfield, all my real estate in Salisbury, South Hampton and elsewhere, to be by them possessed at the decease of my wife and my son Humphrey, and to be equally divided between them in two parts, to have and to hold, to them my sons Joseph and Joshua their heirs and assigns forever.
Finally I do constitute and appoint my two sons Joseph and Joshua Maxfield to be sole executors of this my last will and testament. To whom I give all the rest of my estate both real and personal, whether in land, money, stock, bonds, debts due to me, and moveable effects whatsoever and wheresoever they may be, not before disposed of in this will or otherways by me, They paying all my just debts, mine, my wife's and my son Humphrey's funeral expenses. And the before mentioned legacies to be paid by my executors in manners as is before expressed.
I do confirm this and no other to be my last will and testament. Witness my hand and seal this seventeenth day of November in the thirty-second year of His Majesty's Reign King George the Second, Anno Domini 1758.
... Joseph Maxfield

¹Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1915), 151.
²Ibid., 586
³Vital Records of Newbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1911), 2:319.
⁴Ibid., 1:437
⁵Hoyt David W., The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982), 422, 429.
⁶Essex County, Massachusetts, Land Records, 32:170, accessed 2013; Essex County Courthouse, Salem, Massachusetts (familysearch.org).
⁷Ibid., 58:163-64
⁸Ibid., 58:91-92
⁹Ibid., 91:254-55
¹⁰Ibid., 95:244-45
¹¹Ibid., 56:78-79
¹²Ibid., 90:109
¹³Ibid., 89:238
¹⁴Ibid., 95:131-32
¹⁵Deeds, 42:233; digital images, Rockingham County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds/rockingham : accessed 2012).
¹⁶Ibid., 54:113-14
¹⁷Ibid., 54:111
¹⁸McTeer Frances (Davis), "Davis Migration from Amesbury, Mass., to Athens County, Ohio," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 116 (1962): 262.
¹⁹Pauline Johnson Oesterlin ed., New Hampshire 1742 Estate List (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1994), 348-49.
²⁰Essex County, Massachusetts, Probate Records, 336, 207-08.
²¹Essex County, Massachusetts, Land Records, 113:67.
²²Ibid., 128:48-49.
²³Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 151.
²⁴Ibid., 416.
²⁵Vital Records of Amesbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1913), 141.
²⁶The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, 434.
²⁷Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 152.
²⁸Ibid., 586.
²⁹Ibid., 152.
³⁰Ibid., 416.
³¹Ibid., 170.
³²The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, 423, 435.
³³Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 151.
³⁴Ibid., p. 416.
³⁵Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 42.
³⁶The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, 424.
³⁷Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 152.
³⁸Ibid., 586.

French, Harry Dana. Descendants of John Maxfield of Salisbury, Mass. New Hampshire Historical Society Library, Concord, New Hampshire, about 1952.

Hoyt David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982.

Massachusetts. Essex County. Land Records. Essex County Courthouse, Salem, Massachusetts (familysearch.org).

Massachusetts. Essex County. Probate Records. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

"Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850." Database. New England Historic Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org: 2012.

McTeer Frances (Davis). "Davis Migration from Amesbury, Mass., to Athens County, Ohio." New England Historical and Genealogical Register 116 (1962): 260-78.

Oesterlin, Pauline Johnson ed. New Hampshire 1742 Estate List. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1994.

Rockingham County Registry of Deeds. "Land Records." Digital images. Rockingham County Registry of Deeds. nhdeeds/rockingham : 2012.

Vital Records of Amesbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1913.

Vital Records of Newbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1911.

Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1915.

Wright, Elizabeth. "John Maxfield of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 1652, and Some of His Descendants." The Nebraska and Midwest Genealogical Record (1928–1930): 6:52-56; 7:20-24, 42-47, 61-71, 87-96; 8:15-22.