Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Third Generation

MICHAEL³ MAXFIELD (John ^2-1) was born probably at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts about 1715-6, a son of John Maxfield and his wife Sarah Ordaway. He died at Chichester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on July 1800^[1]. He married at Salisbury on 8 April 1752 SUSANNAH CARR^[2]. She was born at Salisbury on 25 October 1731^[3], a daughter of Robert and Hannah (Eliot) Carr. She died at Salisbury on February 1776^[4].

No record of Michael's birth has been found, however his father's will clearly stated that Michael was the son of John. Michael's gravestone states that he died in July 1800, at the age of eighty years. This would place his birth between July 1715 and July 1716. As his sister, Elizabeth, was born in that time period, 30 April 1716, Elizabeth Wright speculated thet he was "possibly a twin of Elizabeth."^[5] Other researchers have followed that speculation.

At the time of their marriage, Michael was 36, Susannah 20. They lived at Salisbury. They had at least nine children, of whom four sons and two daughters are known to have survived to adulthood. Susannah died at the age of 44, probably related to childbirth; the Revolutionary War had begun in New England, although independence had not yet been declared. Three of the four sons fought in the Revolution, for extended terms of service.

Michael Maxfield owned property at Salisbury, in addition to what he inherited from his father in 1752:

• 27 November 1745, Jorsley Grealy, yeoman, and Benjamin Currier, cordwainer, for £ 50 sold to Michael Maxfield of Salisbury, husbandman, a half part of 8 acres of salt marsh in Salisbury in Higgledepigle^[6].
• 8 June 1749, Stephen Webster of Salisbury, gentleman, for £ 48, sold to twelve men of Salisbury, of whom Michael Maxfield was one, a parcel on the Merrimack River to build a wharf. Michael Maxfield had a 1/24 interest in the project^[7].
• 10 April 1760, Abel Davis of Hampton Falls, Rockingham County, taylor, for £ 120 sold to Michael Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman, a tenament in Salisbury^[8].
• 25 June 1762, Michael Maxfield for £ 1, 16 s sold to Samuel Smith of Salisbury one acre and a half of marsh in the Heckkletepeckety, in Salisbury^[9].
• 22 September 1769, Michael Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman, for £ 1, 16 s sold to Samuel Webster, his interest in the long wharf^[10].

Susannah Maxfield was received into the membership of Second Church (Congregational), Salisbury, in 1754^[11]. Husband Michael, daughter Sarah, and son John were baptized there on 19 January 1756^[12].

Following the close of the Revolution, the four sons of Michael Maxfield moved to Chichester. Michael, now a widower, soon joined them. In a deed of 25 December 1783, Michael Maxfield of Salisbury, yeoman for £ 100 sold to John Maxfield of Chichester, husbandman, "all my homestead land with my house and barns containing about 16 acres, in Salisbury . . . also a parcel in Cains Brook Division, partly in Salisbury and partly in that district which was formerly South Hampton, New Hampshire, about 15 acres, also a piece of saltmarsh in the lower Higgletypiglety, so called, in Salisbury, containing 2 acres."^[13] This deed of 1783 was recorded at Rockingham County, New Hampshire, on 26 January 1804, several years after Michael's death, and recorded at Salisbury on 20 February 1811.

Michael Maxfield was buried at Maxfield-Perkins Cemetery, Chichester, also called Pleasant Street Cemetery^[14].

Michael Maxfield and his wife Susannah Carr had the following children:

1. SARAH⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 27 April 1753^[15]; bp. at Second Church, Salisbury, on 19 January 1756^[16].
2. JOHN N.⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 25 March 1755.
3. ROBERT CARR⁴ MAXFIELD bp. at Second Church, Salisbury on 3 April 1757^[17]; d. before birth of another child given same name in 1771.
4. BETTY⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 8 August 1759^[18]; bp. at Second Church, Salisbury on 30 November 1760^[19]; m. at Upper Gilmanton Parish, Gilmanton, Strafford County, New Hampshire on 22 January 1784 SAMUEL DOW^[20] (she of Chichester, he of Bow, Rockingham County).
5. ROBERT CARR⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 20 October 1761.
6. RICHARD⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 20 September 1763.
7. SAMUEL⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 20 May 1767.
8. SUSANNAH⁴ MAXFIELD b. at Salisbury on 27 May 1769^[21]; m. at Amesbury, Essex County, on 17 January 1792 WILLIAN WALTON Jr.^[22], b. at Salisbury on 23 May 1767^[23].
9. (infant child)⁴ MAXFIELD d. at Salisbury on February 1776^[24].

¹Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery [a.k.a. Pleasant Street Cemetety], Chichester, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Find a Grave, digital images (findagrave.com : accessed 21 November 2017), Mikel Maxfield; Created by: Linda Mac, Photo added by Amy Levesque.
²Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1915), 416.
³Ibid., 44.
⁴Ibid., 586.
⁵Elizabeth Wright, "John Maxfield of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 1652, and Some of His Descendants," The Nebraska and Midwest Genealogical Record (1928–1930): 8:21.
⁶Essex County, Massachusetts, Land Records, 88:272, accessed 3 July 2013; Essex County Courthouse, Salem, Massachusetts (familysearch.org).
⁷Ibid., 95:131-32.
⁸Ibid., 128:5.
⁹Ibid., 212:85.
¹⁰Ibid., 128:49.
¹¹Hoyt David W., The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1982), 424.
¹²Ibid., 445-46.
¹³Deeds, 166:287; digital images, Rockingham County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds/rockingham : accessed 2012); Essex County, Massachusetts, Land Records, 191:233.
¹⁴See Note #1.
¹⁵Vital Records of Salisbury, 152.
¹⁶The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, 445.
¹⁷Ibid., 446.
¹⁸Vital Records of Salisbury, 151.
¹⁹The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, 447.
²⁰New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, Dow-Maxfield, 1784; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 29 January 2023).
²¹Vital Records of Salisbury, 152.
²²Vital Records of Amesbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1913), 418.
²³Vital Records of Salisbury, 247.
²⁴Ibid., 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).

New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire. New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages. Digital images. New England Historical and Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2023.

Perkins-Maxfield Cemetery [a.k.a. Pleasant Street Cemetery], Chichester, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. Find a Grave. Digital images. findagrave.com : 2017.

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