Maxfield

(from Forest and District Centennial 1888–1988 and Pioneers)

William Maxfield (1826–1899) was born in England to Thomas and Mary Maxfield. He married Rhoda Smith (1831–1925) in London, Canada West in 1859. Rhoda was born in England and came to Canada with her family in 1832 where they settled on Lot 18, Con. 3 NER, Warwick Twp. William and Rhoda lived in Warwick, where he worked as a labourer and farmer and probably as a miller. They had six children: Mary (1860–1938), Charles Wesley (1862–1928), William John (1864–1939), Frederick Thomas (1866–1926), George Francis (1867–1900), and Eliza Ann (1869–1943).

In 1888, George went west to Fort MacLeod, Alberta. Mary, her husband J. W. Smith, and her sister Eliza followed him there. Then Fred and his bride Ellen Eliza Harper followed them there as well. With most of the family in Fort McLeod, William and Rhoda moved there as well, when William was 73 years old. William developed pneumonia on the train trip out and died two weeks later.

Frederick (1866–) married Ellen Harper (Ella, 1874–) in 1895. Her father, George Harper, lived at Lot 12, Con. 5 NER. Fred and Ella homesteaded in Alberta, where two children were born. But the pioneer life was not to Ella’s liking and they returned to Lambton County in 1900. Their third child was born at her father’s farm. Five more were born after that. They moved to Forest where Fred was the Chief of Police from 1906 to 1914.

William (1864–1939) married Alice A. Rosenberry in 1888. They had eleven children. He learned the miller trade in Warwick Village. They moved to the United States in 1886.

Chapter 24 of 25 - Maxfied Family

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