Maxwell, Hugh A.

MAXWELL, WATSON

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, Plym. CC (email)
Date: 3/19/2005 at 11:58:06

Hugh A. Maxwell

Hugh A. Maxwell, sheriff of Plymouth county, is a native of the Emerald Isle, but has been a resident of this country since he was two years of age. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, February 7, 1863, son of William and Mary Ann (Maxwell) Maxwell, both natives of Ireland, of Scottish parentage, whose last days were spent in this county. It was in 1865 that William Maxwell and his family came to the United States. They settled on Staten Island, where they made their home for five years, at the end of which time they came to Iowa and settled on a farm in the vicinity of Denison, in Crawford county, where they lived from 1869 to 1880, in which latter year they moved over to Plymouth county and established their home on a farm on section 10 of Elkhorn township. Both William Maxwell and his wife spent the remainder of their lives in this county, his death occurring in 1906 in Garfield township, and hers in March, 1915. They were the parents of twelve children, those still living, besides the subject of this sketch, being John, David and William, who live near Kingsley, this county, and James who lives in North Dakota.

As noted above, Hugh A. Maxwell was but two years of age when he came to this country and he was but six years of age when the family moved from New York to this state. He grew to manhood on the home farm in Crawford county, receiving his schooling in the public schools of that neighborhood, and when the family came over to Plymouth county he continued as an assistant to his father in the labors of the home farm in Elkhorn township until he began farming on his own account, his operations along the latter line being carried on in Elkhorn and Union townships, in which later township he is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres in section 6. For twenty years during the period of his activities as a farmer, Sheriff Maxwell operated a threshing rig during the seasons and gained a wide acquaintance throughout the county. He ever has been an ardent Republican and in 1912 was made the nominee of his party for the office of sheriff of Plymouth county, and was elected to that office by a majority of 1,201. His course in that office proved so highly acceptable to the people of the county that he was re-elected in 1914 by a majority of 2,090, the largest majority ever given a candidate for public office in Plymouth county up to that time, and in 1916 was again made his party's nominee for the office and was elected by a majority of 2,558.

On March 10, 1896, Hugh A. Maxwell was united in marriage to Isabel Watson, of Union township, this county, and to this union four children have been born, namely: William, born on January 4, 1898; Fern, January 5, 1903; Anna, February 21, 1906, and Clara, January 1, 1908. The Maxwells are attendants on the services of the Presbyterian church and Sheriff Maxwell, in his faternal relations, is a member of the Masonic lodge at LeMars and of the Modern Woodmen.

BOOK SOURCE:
History of Plymouth County, Iowa
Indianapolis, Ind.: B. F. Bowen, 1917