Margaret (Anderson) Maxwell (1755 - abt. 1834)

Born 8 Jan 1755 in Augusta, Virginia [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of Bezaleel Maxwell — married 6 Feb 1775 in Albemarle, Virginia

Descendants

Died about 16 Mar 1834 at about age 79 in Jefferson County, Indiana, United States

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Biography

Margaret Anderson was born September 4, 1755. It is not possible to give her record in three dates. She was too pronounced a character to have left a vague impression. In her slight person she carried the spirit of her Scotch ancestors, that was the spirit of the martyrs. It was one that looked beyond the confines of the present time and space, and by faith had gleams of the eternal life beyond, of which this was but a foreshadowing. Quiet, austere, forceful and consecrated to what she felt to be duty, she was an embodiment of the spirit that has lighted up the high places in history. Difficulties were not to be counted nor considered; she looked only to the achievement. The influence of modern unrest had not touched her to suggest doubt nor diversity. She looked with clear, untroubled vision to the accomplishing of a record that should receive "Well done." Self was forgotten, and almost the tenderness of domestic ties in the strict adherence to what she believed t0 be duty. That was the keynote to her life. Three grandchildren living today (1914), all past ninety years of age, remember their grandmother. and recall with tender smiles her rigid discipline where she was in authority. Tender interpretation was not this Spartan's reading of actions. One of the granddaughters narrated her grandmother's horror when she found her—a very small child—sitting in her swing on Sabbath morning, and her memory is clear as to the threats of dire punishment. That a child should seek pleasure on a Sabbath day was mortal sin, not to be condoned. She was pre-eminently consistent. Even in the matter of dress there could be found a spiritual significance. A granddaughter—Margaret Anderson Dunn—tells of her grandmother's always wearing on the Sabbath, when the communion service was observed, a heavy black silk dress. It was in the nature of a sacrifice—an offering of the best she had. With all her earnestness and single-mindedness she was essentiallv feminine, having the finest regard for a beautiful appearance. The story is still told of a habit of hers. When going out into the sunshine, if she had not gloves conveniently near, she would wrap her hands in her apron. She lectured the girls on their "duty" in caring for their hair. "A woman's hair was her glory." Also on their moral obligation to guard their complexions by wearing sunbonnets. "A beautiful skin was the gift of the Lord, and it was wrong not to take care of it Her character was a perfectly rounded out one. Strong in its Foundation, symmetrical in its proportions, and complete in its finer detail.

Margaret Anderson married Bezaleel Maxwell 6 Feb 1775 in Albemarle, VA.

They had eleven children; John William Maxwell, Samuel Campbell Maxwell, James Anderson Maxwell, Anna Maxwell, Elizabeth Maxwell, David Hervey Maxwell, Wiliam Maxwell, Fannie Maxwell, Edward Russell Maxwell, Margaret Maxwell, Matilda Maxwell.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ Brief Historical Account https://archive.org/details/maxwellhistoryge00hous/page/56/mode/1up?view=theater Maxwell History and Gennealogy p 56

• FLORENCE WILSON HOUSTON. LAURA COWAN BLAINE, and ELLA DUNN MELLETTE, Maxwell History and Genealogy, Press of C. E. Pauley & Co., Indianapolis Engraving Co. (Indianapolis IN) 1916: page 43.

Acknowledgements

• Anderson-2080 was created through the import of LaBach Family TreeApril28_2011.ged on 05 May 2011.