Yolo-San Francisco-San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Biographies.....Maxwell, James O. 1838 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 23, 2006, 9:09 pm

Author: Tom Gregory (1913)

JAMES O. MAXWELL

    Few names have been associated more intimately and none more prominently
than that of James O. Maxwell, who as property owner, editor, councilman, mayor,
chairman of the Democratic county central committee and in other capacities has
proved the loyalty of his citizenship and the sincerity of his devotion to city
and county. Numerous enterprises for the progress of the community owe their
inception to his business acumen and far-seeing-vision. The present modern water
system was established during the period of his service as councilman and he was
foremost in furthering the project. For six years he has filled the mayor's
chair and is the present incumbent of the office, to which he was elected in May
of 1911. As the presiding civic official he has proved not only energetic but
also reliable, not only resourceful but also judicious, and the best interests
of the city have been conserved under his executive supervision, besides which
he also has evinced a commendable public spirit through his able service of
fourteen years as a member of the board of trustees.

    Early in life Mr. Maxwell became identified with newspaper work and Ms
association with the same has continued up to the present, being now, however,
limited to articles published in various newspapers and magazines of the coast.
A Missourian by birth, he was born in Cooper county May 26, 1838, and was one of
three children, his sister and brother being Susan, wife of M. E. York, who died
at Madison, Yolo county, Cal., and Thomas J., a miner in Mexico. The
genealogical records show that the Maxwells came to America during the colonial
period of our country's history and established the name in Virginia. John
Maxwell, a Virginian by birth, served as a commissioned officer during the
Revolutionary struggle, but died before the expiration of the war. Inheriting
his patriotic ardor his son, Thomas, left his native Virginia to do service
during the war of 1812. Later he crossed the mountains into the frontier regions
of Kentucky and settled in Madison county, where he became the owner of a
plantation and a large number of slaves.

    Following the westward tide of emigration the Maxwell family, transplanted
to Kentucky grounds from Virginia, next became pioneers of Missouri, the first
of the name in that state having been Thomas J., son of Thomas, and a native of
Madison county, Ky. For some years he earned a livelihood as a farmer in Cooper
county, Mo. During 1856 he brought his wife and three children across the plains
to California in a train consisting of twelve wagons and thirty-five men. Six
months were spent on the road and during the time Indians were so troublesome
that the emigrants stationed men around their camp each night to guard them as
they slept. Upon their arrival in Yolo county Mr. Maxwell bought out a squatter
on the old Taylor place, two miles northwest of what is now Woodland. Three
years were spent on that ranch and then he removed to an unimproved tract near
Winters. Building a store at Buckeye, he engaged in mercantile pursuits besides
managing his farm. Eventually he became the owner of large tracts of land and
engaged extensively in the sheep business. Later he turned his attention to the
raising of fruit. When death ended his labors in 1903 he had reached the age of
eighty-nine years, and for sixty years he had been an earnest member of the
Baptist Church. In politics he was a Douglas Democrat. Being of a southern
family he had inherited a number of slaves, but these he refused to receive,
preferring that they be given their freedom in accordance with his views upon
the slavery question. In young manhood he had married Rhoda, daughter of James
D. and Ellen (Stephens) Campbell, natives of Virginia, but for years residents
of Marion county, Ky., and later farmers of Missouri, where Mr. Campbell, a
veteran of the war of 1812, died in 1839. Eventually his widow came to the west,
where she died at the home of her daughter near Winters at the age of more than
ninety years. Mrs. Maxwell was eighty-two years of age at the time of her death
in 1902.

    When fifteen years of age James O. Maxwell entered the printing office of
the Boonville Observer, where he remained for two years. In 1856 he accompanied
his parents to California and later had charge of the store at Buckeye, also
served as deputy postmaster until 1860. He set the first type in the county on
the old Yolo Democrat, published at Cacheville, and afterward assisted in the
publication of the Cacheville Spectator, which succeeded the old Democrat.
During 1860 he returned via the Isthmus of Panama to the east and entered the
University of Kentucky at Lexington, where he remained a student for two years.
On his return to the coast by way of the isthmus, he entered the printing office
of the California Alta Publishing Company in San Francisco as a compositor and
afterward worked in the commercial and advertising departments. On coming again
to Yolo county, he began to raise grain on a ranch and at the same time acted as
editor of the San Luis Obispo Mirror. Later he became manager and editor of the
Woodland Democrat and afterward published the Woodland Reporter, which he
managed for eighteen months with Robert Lee and then sold out to his partner.
Besides his attractive residence on Main street, he owns other property in
Woodland and for years also owned a ranch comprising four hundred and twenty
acres fifteen miles southwest of Woodland and five miles northeast of Winters,
but this tract he recently sold and now owns a small farm containing forty
well-improved acres two miles southwest of Woodland devoted to alfalfa and grapes.

    Fraternally Mr. Maxwell was made a Mason in Buckeye Lodge No. 195, F. & A.
M., at Winters, and he also belongs to the Sons of the Revolution. In Yolo,
Cal., January 12, 1870, he married Anna Gaddis, who was born in Waukegan, Ill.,
and attended the California State Normal School, afterward engaging successfully
in educational work. Her father, the late Henry Gaddis, is represented elsewhere
in this volume, and her brother, Hon. E. E. Gaddis, is one of the leading
jurists of the state. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell consists of three
children. The older son, William C., is an attorney-at-law in San Francisco. The
only daughter, Rhoda, a graduate of the California State Normal School, is
principal of the Oak Street school in Woodland. The younger son, George L., also
resides in Woodland and is engaged in the dairy business.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
TOM GREGORY
AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS
ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913]


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/maxwell880nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/

File size: 7.5 Kb