Garfield-Eagle County CO Archives Biographies.....Maxfield, Abram W February 8, 1842 - June 28, 1897
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Pat McArthur http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006091 February 12, 2009, 7:11 pm

Author: Chapman Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899

ABRAM W. MAXFIELD.  For a period of nearly fifteen years, from the time of his 
settlement here until his death, Mr.
Maxfield held a place among the prominent men of Garfield County.  Especially 
was he intimately
associated with the founding and growth of the village of Rifle, on the Denver 
& Rio Grande and
colorado Midland Railroads.  When he came to this county, in 1882, for miles 
around nothing was
visible to the eye save vast stretches of sage brush.  Indians still lingered 
in the valleys.  No
attempt had been made at improvement.  Where now stand the flourishing towns 
of Glenwood Springs,
Carbondale, Newcastle and Rifle, etc., were then a few tents, or perhaps 
nothing but the lonely
clump of brush.  He secured a tract of land, built a small cabin and at once 
began the work of
clearing and cultivating.  In later years the town of Rifle was platted on his 
ranch, and he was
foremost in its organization and upbuilding.  Every enterprise for its 
development found in him a
friend.  He built the Winchester hotel, and carried it on for two years.  
Other local improvements
received his active assistance.  In 1892 he built a handsome brick residence 
for his family.
Here, among the friends whom his upright life had won, and in the active 
disscharge of the
business duties he has assumed, he spent years of busy labor.  While still in 
the prime of his
usefulness and vigor he passed from earth, June 28, 1897, mourned not only by 
his family, but by
every one to whom he was known.  In his death the village lost its most able 
promoter, and each
citizen felt that he had been bereaved of a personal friend.

The parents of Mr. Maxfield were born in England, from there emigrated to 
Prince Edward Island,
where he was born February 8, 1842.  The first nine years of his life were 
spent on that island,
whence he accompanied his father, Richard Maxfield, to the western part of 
Missouri.  Two years
later his father died, and from that time on he was self-supporting.  With his 
mother he moved to
Council Bluffs, Iowa, and there he made his home for twenty-five years, 
meantime engaging in
farming and also in the manufacture of bricks.  In 1880 he came to Colorado in 
the interest of a
mining company, whose members were residents of Council Bluffs.  For two years 
he had charge of
their mining business at Battle Mountain, Eagle County.  Finding, however, 
that mining was then
not profitable, he decided to embark in agricultural pursuits, and with thie 
object in view he
pre-empted the land in Garfield County upon which he afterward made his home.

Just before coming to Colorado, January 1, 1880, Mr. Maxfield married Miss 
Flora A. Ramsey, a lady who was unusually fitted to be his helpmate and 
companion.  She was born in Prince Edward Island, of which her father, James, 
son of Malcolm Ramsey, was also a native, and her mother, Ann (Maxfield) 
Ramsey, was born in Hull, England.  The records of the Ramsey family show that 
they were of Scotch origin.  The great-grandfather of Mrs. Maxfield had his 
home on the banks of the Clyde in Scotland and was well-to-do.  In his family 
there were eight sons.  Deciding to emigrate to America, h e sold his property 
and put his possessions into gold.  He then started with his family for the 
new world.  However, the agent of Prince Charles proved treacherous and 
through his instrumentality the shipload of emigrants were robbed and put 
ashore to shift for themselves.  Cast upon an unfriendly shore, among a 
strange people, in an inhospitable climate, they had a severe struggle to 
maintain life, but after years of ceaseless labor they gained a foothold and 
later generations became well-to-do.

The girlhood days of Mrs. Maxwell were spent in her native province.  It was 
from childhood her ambition to become a physician, but this desire was sternly 
checked and repressed by her relatives, who, in common with the usual belief 
of their day, considered that a woman's sphere should be limited to the narrow 
round of domestic duties.  She came to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where she met and 
married Mr. Maxfield.  They became the parents of nine children, six of whom 
are living, namely:  Roy Douglas, a talented youth of fifteen y ears; Merritt 
Ramsey, Junius, Bennett, Clara Louise and Gail Hamilton, who are bright and 
talented children, and will undoubtedly be successful in their chosen 
vocations.  The three deceased boys died in childhood.

A Democrat in politics, Mr. Maxfield was for years a justice of the peace, and 
at the same time his wife was appointed notary public, which office she has 
since filled.  Fraternally he was connected with the Knights of Pythias.  
Personally he was a genial, companionable man, one who believed that good 
existed in every heart and truth in every soul.  He might truly be called one 
of nature's noblemen.  During the nineteen years of his married life he was 
never known to speak an unkind word to his family, but was ever kind, tender 
and affectionate.  Since his death his real-estate and business interests have 
been in charge of his wife, whose business ability fits her for the 
responsibility of this work.  She is interested in all public and progressive 
enterprises.  Active in local politics, she has been judge of elections and 
for a time conducted a political school in Rifle.  For three years she was 
president of the school board, and her energy and progressive spirit were of 
invaluable assistance to the educational interests of the town.


Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Record of the State of Colorado, Containing 
Portraits and Biographies of many well know Citizens of the Past and Present


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