Samuel Maxwell

Reports of Samuel Maxwell’s birth year varied from 1829 to 1845 in the U.S. federal census records for 1870-1910. He himself reported his age as 46 in the 1877 testimony, so 1831 is likely closest to correct. In the 1900 census, it was reported that he had been married to wife Betsy for 37 years, or since 1863.

In the 1870 census, he and his wife had two children in the household: Sarah (4) and William (7 months). By 1880, they had added Dianah (8), and they were living near Joseph James, who according to Special Agent Avery’s report was Betsy’s father.

On September 23, 1887, Betsey Maxwell bought a 55-acre tract of land from Mrs. J.S. Fleming. The land was known as “a part of the Oakland Plantation,” bounded north by Mr. J.B. Fraser, east by same, south by the Midway and Walthourville road, and west by Dick Maxwell and Mrs. J.S. Fleming. [NOTE: At that time, Liberty County records referred to white people with “Mr” and “Mrs” and did not use that for Black people; that usage is only included here because it helps with identifying the people involved, and thus with where this land might have been. Mrs. J.S. Fleming was probably Mary Jane Way Fleming (1835-1918), wife of John S. Fleming (1837-1915). John S. Fleming was alive at the time of the sale, so this was likely land she had inherited from one of her parents or grandparents.]

On June 24, 1890, Sam Maxwell bought 10 acres from Prince LeConte for $30. The tract was known as “the pine land tract” in Liberty County, bounded north by F.R. Lyons and south by Samuel Varnadoe.

In the 1900 census, William and Dianah were still in the Maxwell family household. By the 1910 census, Samuel was a widower, and living with daughter Dianna and her husband, Isaac Jones. Later that year, in November, he sold a 30-acre tract of land in Liberty County to Robert H. Knox of Chatham County for $50. It had been surveyed in 1882, and was said to have been bordered at that time by land belonging to W.A. (or O) Walthour, R.F. Walthour, G.W. Walthour and Margaret Walthour.

No records were found for Samuel Maxwell after 1910, when he would have been about 80, and no record was found of his death or the probate process when the Liberty County probate records online were checked.

Slavery

George W. Walthour, who had been identified by Samuel Maxwell as his slaveowner at the time of the 1864 raid, died in 1859 with minor children. It was usual for estates, especially large ones like Walthour’s, not to be finalized until the minor children came of age, so it is likely that Maxwell belonged to the estate. Walthour’s estate inventory identified a total of seven enslaved men with names that were some variant of Samuel (Samuel, Sam, Sammy, Sambo) on his three plantations: Westfield, Homestead, and Richland. On Westfield, where Samuel Maxwell said he was living at the time of the raid, were Sambo, 35 years old; Sambo, 16 years old; and Sam, 20 years old. There was also Betsy, 40 years old, and an Elizabeth, also 40 years old, one of whom may have been Betsy Maxwell, his wife, since they were said to have been on the same plantation.

Samuel took Maxwell as his surname after Emancipation. Why? There were other formerly enslaved people who also took that surname, most notably Syphax Maxwell, who had belonged jointly to Charles Colcock Jones and his sister Susan Mary Maxwell Cummings until their property was divided in 1839. The Maxwell family was close to the Jones family, and it is likely that either Samuel or one of his parents or grandparents had been owned by them at some time. Unfortunately, Samuel or some version of it was a fairly common name, which makes it difficult to follow the trail back to that point.