I am Ed McCarthy, of Buxton ME and the Washington DC area, from time to time. I was born in Newark, New Jersey, and on my mother's side there were a good many Maxwells, including Clara, my grandmother who married John Mulvey. She and the other Maxwell kin in Newark and New York were descended from John Maxwell (c. 1804-1851), born in or around Clones, County Monaghan, Ireland. He and his descendants were Roman Catholic, which distinguishes them from the few Maxwells in that area of Ireland that I have been able to research. There was also in Newark at about the same time a Bernard Maxwell, also a Roman Catholic. As many mid-19th century migrants to Newark were from the Irish midlands, it seems likely that Bernard came from approximately the same part of Ireland as my known ancestor. John enlisted in the British Army in 1822 or 23, and remained a soldier until July 1833. The official records say that he then deserted, but there is some evidence that his discharge was honorable. He and his wife, Rosa Callaghan, and their 6-year-old son, William, then migrated to New York City. They and their additional children later moved to Newark about 1848. Though most of the Maxwells stayed in New Jersey, William moved back to Manhattan and thence to Brooklyn, the latter after serving 4 years in the Union Army during the Civil War. The Maxwell name, in both New Jersey and New York, died out with several female relatives in the 1940s. I am thus interested in Irish Maxwells, Catholic at least by 1800 or so. It may be that John converted to the Catholic religion on his marriage to Rosa Callaghan, but there is no direct evidence of that. I would also like to know if anyone has information on how the Scots name Maxwell might have come to Ireland. I am aware that at least some Maxwells remained Catholic after the Reformation, and that there were officers in King James's Army at the time of the Boyne who were Catholic Maxwells. Is it conceivable to think that my ancestor could have been descended from a Maxwell clan member who "went to ground" after the Boyne defeat and stayed in Ireland? On this, I would like to have anyone's speculation, as well as any information relevant to "my" Maxwells generally. Regards--Ed McCarthy