Descendants of John Maxfield
of Salisbury, Massachusetts
Third Generation

ELIPHALET³ MAXFIELD (Nathaniel², John¹) was born at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts on 20 April 1720^[1] a son of Nathaniel Maxfield and his wife Sarah Tonge . He died at South Hampton, New Hampshire before 1752. He married at Salisbury on 26 March 1741 ELIZABETH THOMPSON.^[2] She was born on 20 October 1720,^[3] a daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Qumby) Thompson. She married as her second husband at Salisbury on 22 April 1752 JOHN GRAVES,^[4] who was born on 27 March 1704,^[5] and had previously married on 26 February 1741 DEBORAH MARSTON.^[6]

In 1741 the border between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was surveyed, and the portions of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts, that fell north of the border, were organized as the Town of South Hampton. So Eliphalet Maxfield found himself living in New Hampshire, although he had not moved. Eliphalet sold land in Salisbury and South Hampton as follows:

• 29 April 1748, Eliphalet Maxfield of South Hampton, husbandman, sold to Joseph Whittier of Salisbury, husbandman, for £ 791 (Old tenor) bills of public credit, a parcel of land in South Hampton it being part of the farm of Nathaniel Maxfield, deceased, containing 21 acres. Signed by Eliphalet Maxfield and Elizabeth Maxfield (her mark).^[7]
• 5 July 1748, Eliphalet Maxfield of South Hampton, mariner, sold to Nathaniel Doel of Salisbury, yeoman, for £ 47 Old tennor, 2/7 part of one-fourth part of a certain marsh or meadow in Salisbury, about 15 acres, in the Higglety-Pigglety Marsh.^[8]

In eight years Eliphalet and Elizabeth had six children. Eliphalet died some time after the conception of his last child, who was born on 1 May 1749, and before his widow's second marriage, on 22 April 1752.

When Elizabeth (Thompson) Maxfield married John Graves, she was 31, he was 48. She brought to the marriage children aged 10, 9, 8, and 2, and perhaps a 6 year old. Elizabeth and her new husband had one child.

The Maxfield children were soon on the move to other New Hampshire communities. Nathaniel went to nearby Kensington [later Rockingham County] by 1762; David had moved to Wentworth, Grafton County, about 1770, Elizabeth was married at Kensington in 1776, and Eliphalet had moved to Sandwich, Strafford County, by that date.

Eliphalet Maxfield and his wife Elizabeth Thompson had the following children:

1. DAVID⁴ MAXFIELD b. at South Hamnpton on 20 October 1741.
2. NATHANIEL⁴ MAXFIELD b. at South Hampton on 24 May 1743.
3. ELIPHALET⁴ MAXFIELD b. at South Hampton on 4 August 1744.
4. OBADIAH⁴ MAXFIELD b. at South Hampton on 10 January 1746;^[9] no further mention and not on deed of grandmother's estate, 22 August 1769.
5. NATHANIEL⁴ MAXFIELD b. and d. at South Hampton on 10 August 1747.^[10]
6. ELIZABETH⁴ MAXFIELD b. at South Hampton on 1 May 1749;^[11] m. at Kensington, NH on 24 October 1776 JEREMIAH BURPEE,^[12] b. at Candia, NH, on 1748.

Elizabeth (Thompson) Maxfield and her second husband John Graves had the following child:

7. JACOB GRAVES b. on 17 November 1755.^[13]

¹Vital Records of Salisbury, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1915), 152.
²Ibid., 416.
³Elizabeth Wright, "John Maxfield of Salisbury, Massachusetts, 1652, and Some of His Descendants," The Nebraska and Midwest Genealogical Record (1928–1930): 6:56.
⁴Vital Records of Salisbury, 416.
⁵Joseph Dow, History of the Town of Hampton (Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Town of Hampton, 1988), 739.
⁶Ibid.
⁷Deeds, 38:544-45; digital images, Rockingham County Registry of Deeds (nhdeeds/rockingham : accessed 2012).
⁸Ibid.94:175-76
⁹Vital Records of South Hampton, New Hampshire, 1743-1886 (N.p.: The Historical Committee of the South Hampton Friends of the Library, 1970), 8.
¹⁰New Hampshire, State of, Division of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire, New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, index card, Birth, Nathaniel Maxfield, 1747; digital images, New England Historical and Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (americanancestors.org : accessed 30 December 2016).
¹¹Vital Records of South Hampton, 8.
¹²New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, Marriage: Burpee-Maxfield, 1776.
¹³Wright, "John Maxfield of Salisbury," 6:56.

Dow, Joseph. History of the Town of Hampton. Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Town of Hampton, 1988.

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.

New Hampshire. Concord. Division of Vital Records. State of. New Hampshire. New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages. Digital images. New England Historical and Genealogical Society. American Ancestors. americanancestors.org : 2016

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

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

Vital Records of South Hampton, New Hampshire, 1743-1886. N.p.: The Historical Committee of the South Hampton Friends of the Library, 1970.

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.