Any suggestions for how to find the parents of Elihu Maxwell?

Question

Elihu Maxwell-15561 is my second great-grandfather.  He was born in Tennessee or Kentucky in 1822 and died in Arkansas 21 May 1887.  I have been researching him for 40 years and still do not know who his parents are or if he had siblings.  Any way around this brick wall?  

I have his Union Army records; I know the names of both wives (I descend from his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Hatfield [Hatfield-5534]) and I have the names of all 18 of his known children, 10 from 1st wife and 8 from 2nd).  Some of the other descendents sometimes name parents (William, Elihu, Bazil) but there are no citations for any of the guesses which seem to originate in yet other guess. 

I THINK I have identified a brother (Elisha Maxwell) who was born about 1817 in TN.  Both Maxwell men named sons William F. (so maybe dad Was William??).  Elihu named a son Elisha, and Elisha named a son Elihu.  Both lived in the same area of KY in 1840s, and both lived in Allen, Kansas Territory in 1860s.  But, this is the only evidence--conjecture.

I have about everything on Elihu from his marriage to Alena Miller until his death. I have basic info of most of his children. (10 with Alena and 8 with my gr great grandmother Mary Elizabeth Hatfield Maxwell Hardwick)

It’s his siblings and parents where I’m stuck.

Any advice on getting around this brick wall, or am I at the point where I need to quit beating my head against it?

Answer 1

I took a look at Elihu's profile, and noticed all you have in there for sources is the Civil War records.  I assume that if you know the names of both wives and all known children, you've found other records as well - census, marriage, etc? If you don't mind a suggestion, I would recommend you add all of those sources to Elihu's profile.  When people can see all the sources you've found so far, it's easier to make suggestions on where to check next.

Comments

Thank you. I’ll work on that over the next day or so.