D. K. MAXWELL, an enterprising citizen of Green Bay
Township, residing on section 30, is a native of Fulton County, Illinois, born
August 8, 1842, a son of Absalom and Polly Ann (Cameron) Maxwell, the father a
native of Virginia, and a pioneer of Fulton County, and the mother born in Florida.
They were married in Sangamon County, Illinois, and to them were born nine
children – William, Martin, Thomas, Tabitha, David, Martha, Albert, Daniel K.
and Emma. Daniel K. passed his early life in assisting on the farm, receiving
his education in the common schools of his neighborhood. August 5, 1861, he enlisted in Company A,
Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, in answer to the call of Abraham Lincoln for
more men. He participated in some of the most important battles of the war,
among which may be mentioned Shiloh, Siege of Corinth, Champion Hills, Raymond,
Siege of Vicksburg, and Kenesaw Mountain. At the battle of Kenesaw Mountain he
was wounded in the right leg by a minie ball and confined in the hospital for
some time, when he was granted a furlough for five months. He was in the hospital
at Quincy, Illinois, for three months, when he was discharged, March 10, 1865,
and returned to his home in Fulton County.
He came to Clarke County, Iowa, in February, 1868, and settled on his
present farm in Green Bay Township, which was at that time entirely unimproved.
He was married March 31, 1871, to Sarah Ellen Tanner, of Farmington, Fulton
county, a daughter of Daniel and Susan (Berry) Tanner, who were pioneers of
Fulton County. To Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell were born five children – Ora M., Angie
G., Florence C., Herbert D. and Bertha G.
In 1881 Mr. Maxwell removed to Weldon and purchased a hotel, which he
conducted till the winter of 1886, and from 1884 until January 1886, he filled
the position of postmaster at Weldon with credit to himself, and to the satisfaction
of his constituents. He returned to his farm in April, 1886, where he has since
been engaged in agricultural pursuits. His farm now contains 200 acres of
choice land which is well improved and under high cultivation, and is located
three miles northwest of Weldon. In politics Mr. Maxwell is a Republican. He is
a member of the Odd Fellows order, belonging to Weldon Lodge, No. 441.
SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Record of Clarke
County, Iowa, Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1886 p. 414
