SPAFFORD WOODHULL MAXWELL, a representative retired citizen of Staunton Township and a veteran of the Civil-War, resides on his valuable farm of 102 1/2 acres which lies along the Troy and Piqua Turnpike, with the Dayton Miami Railroad passing through it. He was born on his father's farm, near Franklin, Ohio, October 20, 1836, and is a son of Thomas and Susanna (Jones) Maxwell.

The paternal grandfather of Mr. Maxwell, Thomas Maxwell, was born in Scotland and came to America and settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, prior to the Revolutionary War, and died in Ohio when aged eighty-two years. His family consisted of seven sons and two daughters. Of the sons, Thomas was one of the first born, in 1880, and he was six years old when the surviving members of the family decided to migrate to Ohio. The trip on the river was made on a flat-boat and landing was effected at Cincinnati. A few years later the family settled at Franklin, in Warren County, and there Thomas followed chairmaking for some years, and then bought a farm in Warren County which he sold in 1839 and purchased the farm which his son, Spafford W., now owns in Miami County. Its former owner was Caleb Hathaway, who had entered the land from the Government and Mr. Maxwell has the old deed, which bears the signature of Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States.

Thomas Maxwell the second spent the remainder of his life on this farm, his death occurring in October, 1881. He was twice married, (first) to Susanna Jones., who died on the present farm in the fall of 1839, and (second) to Anna McCurdy, who came to Miami County from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She died in 1879, leaving no issue. The four children born to the first union were: Stephen J., who is now deceased; Martha, deceased, who married William Duncan, also deceased; Rachel, deceased, who married T. Rowlands, also deceased; and Spafford Woodhull. The name borne by Mr. Maxwell was bestowed on him by his grandmother in memory of a distinguished minister of New Jersey.

Spafford W. Maxwell was too young to remember the overland journey from Warren to Miami County, but he has very vivid recollections of his boyhood, which was spent in assisting his father to clear the farm and in attending school in the log structure provided for that purpose. He continued to live at home until 1864, when he entered the Federal army as a member of Company K, 147th Pennsylvania Infantry, under Capt. J. F. Counts. When the regiment reached Washington City he was promoted to be corporal of his company, and served in that rank until the close of the war. In the present year of universal commemoration of President Lincoln, he recalls with pleasure the time when he saw him, at Arlington Heights, in the last year of the war. Upon his return to private life, Mr. Maxwell resumed farming with his father, and in 1872 he purchased the place and for many years continued agricultural pursuits. He has done large amount of improving. His commodious nine-room house is mainly of frame, but one part of it is a hewn log structure, which was put up in 1818.

On January 8, 1868, Mr. Maxwell was married to Miss Rachel Devol, a daughter of Harrison Devol, an old pioneer, and they have had seven children, namely: Minnie, who died in 1905, was the wife of Edwin Foster; Walter, who resides at Troy, Ohio, married Carrie Millhouse; Sallie, who married Frank Kendall, resides with her parents; Anna, who resides at Troy, married James Gunder; Bertha and Merta, twins, the former of whom is the wife of Harry Morrow, of Piqua, and the latter of whom died when aged eighteen years; and Wilber D., who resides on a farm near Casstown, Miami County, and married Gertrude McDowell.

Mr. Maxwell and family belong to the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder for some forty years. In his younger days he was a great Sunday School worker and served for a long time as superintendent of the school. In politics he is a Republican and has always taken much interest in public matters and at various times has acceptably served in township offices. He is a member of Coleman Post, G.A.R., at Troy, Ohio.