Posted on: Yell Co. Ar Biographies Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ar/YellBios/6 Surname: MAXWELL, BYLER, LOFLAND, DAVIS, PARKER, CORNELIUS, SULLINS, KILBURN ------------------------- Isaac D. MAXWELL was born in what was then Williamson Co. TN circa 1807, but which became Bedford Co. TN once it was created. He was the son of Solomon Maxwell and grandson of Thomas Maxwell, Sr., early settlers of Bedford Co. TN. The Maxwells had come to Bedford Co. TN from Carter Co. TN along with family friend, Abraham Byler and wife Nancy Love Byler. The two men equally divided a 640 acre patent belonging to mutual friend, Gen. Nathaniel Taylor, of Carter Co. TN. The adjacent 320 acre homesteads of the two families led to the marriage of Isaac D. Maxwell to Abraham's daughter, Nancy L. Byler and Isaac D.'s brother, John H. Maxwell's marriage to Nancy's sister, Elvira Byler. Both marriages occurred prior to 1830. The two young couples chose to follow the girl's uncle, Jacob Byler, into West Tennessee, first Tipton/later Lauderdale Co. TN prior to 1830. It was here that John H., born in 1805, began raising the first 4 of his children--Abraham ABRAM B. Maxwell, Elizabeth, Bedford C., and John. However beautiful the area was along the Mississippi River, it was not a healthy environment as circa 1838, John H. found himself a widower with 4 small children as Elvira died. Before 1840, John H. had remarried, but who wife #2 was is as of yet not proven. This wife gave him several more children, all but one being born in Lauderdale Co. TN--Nathan H., William, Elvira, born TN. Jane was born in Yell Co. AR. By 1841, when Isaac D.'s wife, Nancy Byler, died, the couple had 6 children--Delcenia H., Mary B., Solomon G., James Taylor, Isaac Byler IKE, and Elvira Ella. In Feb. 1842, Isaac D. married wife #2--Mary Ann Parker in Lauderdale Co. TN. He would have 3 more children by this wife--Martha, Malcolm, and Elizabeth. In 1844 the two Maxwell families moved to Yell Co. AR, purchasing land between Bluffton, AR and Gravelly, near Gafford's Creek. John H. Maxwell had always been civic minded. Wherever he lived, he had served in various civic positions as either a justice of the peace or other county official. This was true in Lauderdale and in Yell Co. as well. Not long after moving to Yell Co., John's second wife died, and he married the widow, Pamelia Sullins Cornelius (Mrs. Wm. Cornelius). Oddly, he married her about the same time John's oldest son, Abram B. m. Pamelia's daughter, Melcinie J. Cornelius. Later, John's daughter Elvira would marry another child of Pamelia's--Wm. P. Cornelius, resulting in a double cousin connection between the two families. John's two oldest sons, Abram and Bedford C. (who never married) became involved in the early Yell Co. postal department. Years later some of their descendants would be financially compensated for back wages the two men were due but did not receive in their lifetime, as employees of the postal department. Another son of John's, Nathan H., enlisted in the Civil War in Yell Co., but he did not return from the war. He was shot while peeking out from behind a tree. Another Yell Co. buddy in his unit, James Carter Garrett, carried his body on his back until the young boy finally succombed to the fatal bullet. Another daugther of John's, Elvira, m. the Cornelius at an early age and had one son, but she died still in her teens and is listed on the 1860 Mortality Schedule fo Yell Co. Daughter, Elizabeth m. George Wm. Cassel in Yell Co. and raised a family in the county. However, it appears Elizabeth died after 1860 and that her widower remarried and took the remainder of the family to Texas by 1870. Son, John, also never married, but rather seems to have roamed the western parts of the U.S., involving himself with various mining/adventurous type activities until his late years. By 1870, John H. had taken a 4th wife--widow Catherine M. Kilburn. She outlived him as he died in the mid 1870's and is buried in the Bluffton Cemetery. She eventually sold the Maxwell land, first to some of John's niece's children in the Parks family, but it appears they did not keep the land very long. Isaac D. Maxwell did not fair as well as John. He died circa 1852 in Yell Co. AR. After he died, his personal property was inventoried, and the auctioneer made sure Isaac's oldest son, Solomon G., got his father's personal rifle for just one dollar. Isaac's daughter, Mary B., had married Edward W. NED Davis in Yell Co. prior to 1850. By early 1852, she had left with the Davis family for Texas. Then, in the summer of 1854, when Ned returned with his father to a business trip in AR, Ned stopped by Yell Co. AR to visit. Mary's younger brother, Isaac Byler IKE Maxwell, a 17 year old lad, decided to return to Texas with Ned to join his older sister in the Colorado River area of Llano Co. TX. His step mother, Mary Ann Parker Maxwell, gave Ike a mule in which to make the trip. As he started to leave, older brother, Solomon G., handed him their father's rifle to take with him on the journey. This rifle is still in the family today. Isaac D. Maxwell's oldest child, Delcenia H., married Wilburn Lofland in Yell Co. pre 1850. This family still has descendants in the area today. Except for a brief time in the Civil War, Delcenia lived most all of her adult life in Yell Co., even after her husband was killed by a bushwhacker in 1863 while home on furlough from the Civil War. She never remarried, but in her later years, she finally moved to Rockwall Co. TX to help care for her son's motherless children. Isaac D.'s youngest child, Elvira Ella Maxwell, married Jordan S. Parks, son of early Scott/Yell Co. pioneer Wm. J. Parks. She remained in the area until her husband died shortly before 1870, then she joined her brother Ike in Texas. The last descendants of Isaac D. and John H. Maxwell to leave Yell Co. did so AFTER the death of John H. and his son, Abram B. Maxwell. In the late 1870's, Isaac D.'s son, James Taylor JIM Maxwell, joined his other brothers and sisters on the Colorado River area of Texas as did all of Abram's children. With this exit, the only heirs of these families to continue to live in ARKANSAS were members of Delcenia Maxwell Lofland's family. But, the influence of their Arkansas home, continued with those that left all the rest of their lives. Isaac Byler IKE Maxwell named their new Colorado River home in Texas--BLUFFTON, TX after his home in Arkansas--BLUFFTON, ARKANSAS. Remnants of both communities still exist today.