Is this a wrap on my Maxwell's? I hope that there is more. It is interesting to really dig in and put the information that I've gathered in my blog/diary. I try to do the explaining necessary to inform people of who I am speaking of.
I've re-read Alice V. Maxwell Knutty's notes. She is funny because at one point she said that every generation from Ireland to the U.S. has a Dennis and a James Maxwell. This can cause confusion, especially since so many of them lived in close vicinity to one another.
My Maxwell's who came west to Austin, Nevada and then onto Napa, California, did work at keeping certain names "alive". I notice that predominately they worked at keeping the Maxwell name alive. Ellen Maxwell Flanagan and John Maxwell Flanagan were my grandfather's siblings given names. Their grandparents were Thomas Michael McLaughlin and Ellen Maxwell. I've seen the Maxwell name crop up elsewhere as a middle name. It is wonderful that they kept the name going. It gives a clue to the family line.
So how far back am I with the Maxwell's? I have information that James Maxwell was Joseph Patrick's father. He was born in Scotland in 1786 and probably immigrated to County Meath, Ireland. I don't know the Maxwell origins back further than this. I can speculate but that's about it.
Attached to my Maxwell tree, I see a strong connection to the McLaughlin's of Newport, New York and the Irish Settlement. I also find other families connected to the Maxwell's in this location. As I move west, I find my great-great grandmother, Ellen Maxwell, and her sister, Catherine Maxwell. There are more McLaughlin's but there are also Flanagan's, Duffy's, Malloy's, and more. Napa, California was a small place around 1900. While it still is not very big now, many of the old time residents aren't around any longer. I do have more research to do in that location for sure.
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