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Facts and Events
Template:Kentucky Tapestry
Sources
- Source:Houston, et al. 1916:95 et seq
Overview
Dr. David Maxwell was born in Garrard County, KY in 1786, to Person:Bazaleel Maxwell (1) and Margaret Anderson.[1]
Biography
The following is from Source:Houston, et al. 1916. Note that the extraction was taken from the Internet Archives version, and includes typographical errors created during the OCR scanning process
On September 17, 1786, in Garrard County, Kentucky, there was
born to Bazaleel Maxwell and his wife, Margaret Anderson, a son who
was destined to become a factor in the formation and early development
of one of the great States which was carved from the Northwest Territory.
Bazaleel Maxwell, with wife and small family, crossed the great
"blue western wall," suffered the hardships of cold and encountered the
dangers of the wilderness road, but finally leached that "fairest of promised lands, the delectable country Kaintuckee." It was under these skies,
among rude surroundings and primitive conditions, that the child David
saw the light of day. His boyhood was that of the pioneer of the period.
He helped his father to clear the forests, till the ground, hunt game and
watch for the redskins. Though opportunities were few, his early education was not neglected. It was such as the schools of the time afforded, supplemented by instruction at home. At the age of eighteen he was
sent to school at Danville, which even at that early day was noted for
the superior educational advantages it offered over other localities in
Kentucky. While here it is said of him that "he became well versed in
mathematics, and was an excellent well-read English, though not a classical, scholar."
Later at Danville he studied medicine and surgery under Dr. Ephraim McDowell, one of the most noted surgeons of that or of any time.
Dr. McDowell's name is so eminent in medical annals that to relate an
incident of him in passing may not be out of place. It was he who, in
1809 at Danville, first in the history of surgery performed the operation
ovariotomy. Himself a deeply religious man, it is related of him that
he offered up a prayer when all things were in readiness. Then without
the aid of an anesthetic to relieve his heroic patient, but with the courage
of his convictions and profound faith in his diagnosis, he skillfully removed a great tumor from a Mrs. Crawford. On the outside an angry
mob awaited to kill "the butcher" should the woman die. It was many
years before surgeons at home or abroad conceded the honor of this to
Dr. McDowell. The medical world was chagrined that this operation
had been so daringly and successfully performed in a back settlement of
America, instead of in one of the scientific centers of Europe. It is believed that David H. Maxwell witnessed this operation.
We now find him a young physician entering on the practice of his
profession and ready to take unto himself a wife. He was married on
September 21, 1809, to Mary E. Dunn, of Danville, a daughter of Samuel
Dunn, originally from County Down, Ireland. That the young couple at once set up a home for themselves is evidenced from a bill of sale
(now one hundred years old) found among some family archives
four days after their wedding. Strange reading this yellow bit of paper
in the light of today:
"Know all men by these presents that I, Bazaleel Maxwell, Garrard
County and State of Kentucky, do sell and by these presents have bar
gained and sold to David H. Maxwell, of the county and State afore
said, one negro woman named Sal, of 18 years of age, for the sum .
$350.00 current money of Kentucky, the receipt whereof I acknowledge
myself fully satisfied. Which negro I do warrant and defend to him. the
said David H. Maxwell, his heirs and assigns forever, and from me and
my heirs and assigns forever and further from all manner of personwhatever. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this
25th day of September. 1809.
- Test. Bazaleel Maxwell
- Jno. A. Swinnev
- William Ragston. ( Seal ) "
In 1810 Dr. Maxwell moved to Indiana Territory near the presenl
site of Hanover. He practiced medicine here and at Madison until the
spring of 1819. Twice during these years he was called to public service
He was a surgeon in the war of 1812 in the company of his brother
in-law, Captain Williamson Dunn. In the ranging service he traversed
the Wabash country from Vincennes to Fort Harrison, and on to the
Mississinewa towns. At a time of high water he had the misfortune to
lose his surgical instruments.
In 1816 Congress passed an enabling act authorizing an election ol
delegates who were to determine whether or not a State government
should be formed in the Territory. Dr. Maxwell was elected a delegate
from Jefferson County to this convention. One finds him next an active
participant in the framing of a constitution at Corydon. Vision had conn
to this man, of whom his contemporaries said he was profoundly read
in his favorite study, politics. He had been a slaveholder in an environ
ment friendly to the institution. He was now the friend of freedom.
and drafted that clause of the constitution which prohibited slaver]
ever from the State.
Dr. Maxwell was interested in all the provisions of the constitutor
but it is known from his subsequent life that Article IX lav nearest his
heart. That article made it the duty of the General Assembly "as soon
circumstances will permit to provide by law for a general system of i
cation, ascending in a regular gradation from township schools
State universitv wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all
The fulfillment of this provision dominated the rest of this man's life. An
item of interest in connection with Dr. Maxwell as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1816 is that the manuscript copy of the constitution is in his handwriting. This copy is in the State Library at
Indianapolis.
From the time that President Madison designated a township in the
county of Monroe for the use of a seminary of learning. Dr. .Maxwell's
attention was turned toward this place. He bought a lot in Bloomington in 1818 and moved from Madison in May ????.
Bloomington has been described as a town in name only at this time. A wagon road ran
east and west on what is now Kirkwood avenue. The public square was
an unbroken forest, while the public spring was down the hill, through
the woods to a place which is now Eighth and Morton streets. The Tew
inhabitants faced the hardships of living in the wilderness. Indians were
all around them. They were dependent for meat upon deer and bear,
which were killed in the hills of Salt Creek and Bean Blossom.
Dr. Maxwell established his household, took up the practice of his
profession and became active in the promotion of the little community's
interests. His young wife, brought up in a Kentucky home surrounded
by slaves, knew nothing of the hardships of life until she came to this
outpost of civilization. True, she brought with her a colored man and
woman, but they could not relieve her of the care of her children, nor
of the responsibilities of the home.
In September, 1819. the First Presbyterian Church was established
in Bloomington. with nine charter members, and the church was formally
organized the following Sunday in the log courthouse. Dr. Maxwell
and his wife were charter members of this church.
The winter of 1819-20 arrived, and the fourth session of the General
Assembly convened on December 6. Dr. Maxwell, ever alert and filled
with zeal and energy for the cause of education, did not lose sight of
the township of land designated for the use of a seminary of learning,
which lay one quarter of a mile south of the village of Bloomington ;
nor did he forget this further fact that the four years had expired which
the constitution required that the lands set apart for educational purposes should be withheld from sale. He at once set out on horseback, in
midwinter, for Corydon, to procure if possible the location of the State
Seminary at Bloomington. He was a personal friend of Governor Jennings, and had many acquaintances among the members of the Legislature who had sat with him in the Constitutional Convention. Kistory
says that Dr. Maxwell composed the "third house of the Assembly."
That he was a successful lobbyist was shown by an act passed on January
20, 1820, establishing the State Seminary at a point in what is now
Perry township. As one looks back upon that primitive day at the
physical condition of the country, the social environment of the people
the illiteracy and poverty of the masses, one wonders that even courage
perseverance and steadfast purpose of the few, made an actuality of
this law of establishment.
Six men, of whom Dr. Maxwell was one, were named as members of
the board of trustees of the State Seminary. He was made its presiding
officer and occupied this position almost without intermission throughoul
his life. Dr. Maxwell sought election to the Legislature solely that he
might advance the interests of the State Seminary.
Let us glance for a moment at this pioneer as he again rode yonde
to Cory don, this time an accredited member of the House of Represent;
tives from Monroe county to the sixth General Assembly. He was now
thirty-five years of age, of slight build, fair, straight, and stood s
feet in his stockings. He was described by his friends as dignified in
bearing, easy in conversation, courteous and kindly in manner and
liberal and judicial in his vews, but by his adversaries in Bloomington
who did not believe in "schoolin' " he was dubbed "that aristocrat."
???? finds Dr. Maxwell at this sixth session of the Legislature serving
on the ways and means committee and on that of education. His constituents
returned him as a member of the House of Representatives to
the eighth and ninth General Assemblies. At the eighth session he was
elected Speaker. On being conducted to the chair he thanked the members
for the honor conferred upon him, and enjoined the observance of
good order and decorum. At the close of the session a resolution was
unanimously passed that the unqualified approbation and thanks of the
House are due the Hon. David H. Maxwell on account of [for the]
intelligence, assiduity and impartiality displayed by him in the chair.
During the years 1826-29 he represented the counties of Monroe,
Greene and Owen in the State Senate, where as a member of the ways
and means committee, and as chairman of the committee on education he
guarded jealously, at all times, the affairs of the new seminary. It was
during the latter part of his senatorial service, January 24, 1828, tha\
"Indiana College" was established. Dr. Woodburn, in his monograph
on "Higher Education in Indiana," has said: "In the establishment of
institutions it seems that the life and services of some one man are
paramount and essential. In the establishment of the Indiana Seminary,
Dr. David H. Maxwell was the essential man."
The success with which internal improvement schemes were being
prosecuted at this period in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, gave a
strong impetus to the feeling that something must be done in Indiana.
The Internal Improvement System, therefore, was adopted without
objection at the session of the Legislature of 1835-36. Governor Noble
nominated Dr. Maxwell to the Senate, without any knowledge or solicitation on his part,
as a member of the State Board of Internal Improvements.
Upon the meeting and organization of the board he was unanimously elected its president.
Heavy care and responsibility devolved upon
him in this capacity. Could the success of the undertaking only have
been commensurate with the amount of labor involved, it would indeed
have been great.
After the campaign of 1840, Dr. Maxwell, a Whig in politics, was
appointed postmaster at Bloomington by President Tyler, and served
from May 31, 1841, until December 30, 1845. With the return of the
Whigs to power, Dr. Maxwell was again made postmaster. This time
the appointment came from Zachary Taylor. The term of office lasted
from 1849 to 1852.
Recollections of Dr. Maxwell in his home are very precious to his
children, two of whom are living. They recall the book shelves in the
corner where the Bible, Burns, Shakespeare, Children of the Abbey, books
of Erasmus, Darwin and works on government stood side by side. Also
they recall the winter evenings around the fire, when their mother knitted
and their father read aloud to them his favorite poems or plays. Nor
do they forget his gun and his love for hunting. They remember the
firm but kind discipline of his Scotch-Irish training; the spirit with
which he instilled in them the love of learning ; his errands of mercy to
the sick, for he knew no rich nor poor; and his fidelity to the church
and its institutions.
One gathers from the writings of that day that Dr. Maxwell, a
citizen and public servant, commanded the respect of his compeers; that
his wise sympathy and medical skill made him a beloved physician, and
that he defended loyally and disinterestedly the cause of Indiana University
from 1820 to 1854. He was a friend of Indiana University
from its inception. It was through his initiative, influence and efforts
that the law of establishment was passed. For this reason he has been
designated as its founder, and in recognition of the joint services of himself
and son, the late Dr. James Darwin Maxwell, one of the university
buildings bears their name. "Maxwell Hall."
Such is the chronicle of Dr. Maxwell's life, whose years did not reach
three score and ten. With the words on his lips, "Lord, now lettest thou
thv servant depart in peace," he died May 24, 1854.
Louise Maxwell, Granddaughter.
References
- ↑ The identification of David Maxwell's parents is by David's granddaughter, Louise Maxwell. Louise could reasonably be expected to know the identitify of her great grandparents, but this might be questioned, and confirming evidence is needed.
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