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| Welcome
to the Maxson Family Association Web Site |
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| The 2007 Maxson
Family Association National
Reunion, Bloomington, Illinois |
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Your Maxson Family Association
officers are:
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The 2009 Maxson Family
Association National Reunion will be held in Rhode Island in
September. Specific dates not set yet but let one of the
above officers know if you can attend.
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The Research Center. This includes the Association's
data base, numerous documents received from members and
non-members and a section for emailing queries and other
exchanges of information. You can send email
inquiries to the Web Coordinator for posting. Your
email address will be posted so replies can be
made. Updated
Wednesday August 13, 2008.
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MAXSON
FAMILY DNA PROJECT
Jane Hoxie Maxson
All men and only men have a Y-chromosome. This fact
allows us to trace back a largely unchanged line of
inheritance from father to son. The information
on the Y-chromosome is inherited largely intact over
time. It is not mixed with each generation.
Occasionally, small changes or mutations occur
and it is these mutational differences that allow
us to distinguish the individual’s
Y-chromosome from his ancestor’s. Thus an actual
genetic record of the male line exists—as clear a
marker of paternal heritage as the father’s
family name.
It would be helpful to have DNA from descendants
of the male line of all three of John’s sons,
John, Joseph and Jonathan, so that families who can’t trace their
ancestors all the way back to Richard can have some
help filling in the blanks. That way
mutations could be accounted for. Once we’ve established
the line, we’d like to try a British lab to see if
we can locate the clan the Maxson/Maxon/Magson
line descended from, supposedly in the British
Isles.
Ray Maxson wrote in the February Maxson Newsletter,
“Any male Maxson can check his own Y-DNA to
establish our Maxson-Family DNA Genetic Project
and help refine it. …” Ray’s Y-DNA Project
is with Ancestry.com, and it seems sensible that we
continue with them. It’s a matter of using a
swab provided by Ancestry.com and returning it to
them. Ray reports the price for a 33-marker test by
Ancestry is $150.00. They send you a swab to use
on the inside of your cheek, you put the results
in the container they provide and send it off. In a
few weeks, you’ll receive the results. The
more samples we have, the better. It will also solve
those questions some lines have about a missing connection.
For more information regarding testing, go to the Ancestry.com
DNA site. Click the select test button and a
screen comes up for 3 appropriate tests. Chose Male,
Paternal Lineage Test (Y-Chromosome 33).
It would be helpful if those who are sure of
their direct lines could provide samples.
Sometime, there’s a glitch in the line, an
adoption, for example, so a solid base line would help
those who are searching for their missing link.
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Our
Newsletter |
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the inception of the Maxson
Family Association in 2000, we
have been blessed with having
an outstanding newsletter
editor. Vicki Maxson
toiled endless hours for
almost 5 years putting the
newsletter together, printing
and mailing it. Vicki
retired at the 2005 reunion
and the duties have now fallen
on Susan Maxson. Susan
has continued with the
excellence that we have grown
to expect and has added some
new features. We have a
sample of the
newsletter (in Adobe PDF
format) which you may peruse
by clicking
here. This newsletter is
more than worth the price of
membership, so if you haven't
paid your dues, please do so
now and if you've been on the
fence about joining, now's the
time to do so! |
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2007 National Maxson Family
Association Reunion
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Our fourth national reunion was held June 16-17, 2007 in
Bloomington, Illinois and was hosted by Susan Maxson and Michael Fuller.
Friday evening, June 15, most participants gathered at Susan and
Michael's house for dinner, refreshments and getting re-acquainted.
Saturday and Sunday, the events were held at Tri-Lakes State Park Club
House. The food served was outstanding and Delores Maxson's pies
were a hit. At the business meeting, all board members were
re-elected and Jane Hoxie Maxson was appointed Historian for the
Association. The membership voted to hold the 2009 reunion in Rhode
Island, dates to be announced.
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Our thanks to Susan, Michael and Susan's parents Millard
and Delores Maxson for making this an outstanding reunion.
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Photo gallery of the 2007 reunion may
be seen by clicking
here
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2005 National
Maxson Family Association Reunion
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The 2005 reunion held June 25 and 26, 2005 in the Kansas
City area was a complete success. Saturday, June 25 we met at
Weston Bend State Park near Weston, Missouri. A picnic lunch was
served and officers elected. Sunday, June 26 we met at Heritage
Park in Olathe, Kansas for a catered meal. The following was
written by Marsha Maxson Donarum, your Vice President, regarding the reunion:
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Reflections from
the Maxson Reunion of 2005
Many of the folks
we met at this 3rd reunion of the Maxson Family
Association discovered our organization by keying in “Maxson” and
tapping “search”. What an amazing world opened up for them…the
first revelation for some of us of how far-flung, numerous, and
varied the Maxson family has become through the eleven or twelve
generations of a rapidly changing America.
As I sit here
with my wireless laptop on the last night of my trip to Olathe,
Kansas, I can hear the train whistles blowing on their way to and
from Kansas City. I wonder how many adventurous Maxson's traveled
by train to or through the Great Plains and what challenges they
encountered.
This year we
reluctantly accepted the retirement of three of our founding
members who have served in the most important formative years of
the organization.
**********Without
them there would be no Maxson Family Association*********
Jane and Jonathan
Maxson
Vickie Maxson
Jane has agreed
to continue to contribute articles to the newsletter and act as a
resource for fact and legend. We have been fortunate to have
Jane’s knowledge of early New England history and the benefit of her research. As her quest to separate fact
from fiction continues, we look forward to many more years of
submissions. Thank you for serving as secretary for our first
five years.
Vickie has
formatted, produced, and distributed our wonderful newsletter for
five years almost single-handedly. Thank you for all
of your hard work.
Jonathan has
served as treasurer of our “vast fortunes” and did all of the “leg
work” to set us up as a non-profit organization. Well done!
We are also
losing our most recent Chaplain, Judy Maxson, and we thank both
Judy and our first Chaplain, Henry Maxson for their thoughtful and
inspirational messages.
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Pictures taken at the 2005 reunion can
be seen by clicking
here |
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2003 National
Maxson Family Association Reunion
Our second national family reunion
was held Jun 28 and 29, 2003 in Rhode Island. All those that
arrived Friday, dined together at Duffy's Tavern Friday evening.
Saturday, June 28, we met at the Hopkinton Seventh
Day Baptist Church Parish House at 10:00.
Church service was at 11:00 for those wishing to attend the church of
the first Maxson pastors. A lunch was provided by the ladies of the
church then a meeting of the Association was conducted.
Marsha Maxson Donarum was elected to the vacant Vice-Presidency and
Judith Maxson was appointed to the Chaplain vacancy created by the
retirement of the Rev. Henry Maxson. Thanks were given to Rev.
Henry for the spiritual guidance provided the Association for the past
three years. A extremely interesting slide lecture was given by
Dwight Brown, archivist of the Westerly Historical Society regarding old
Westerly. After the meeting, some went grave yard tromping at the
Old Hopkinton and Oak Grove Cemeteries.
Sunday we met at Chuck and Paula
Pescatello's for some of Paula's outstanding Chowdah, food catered by
Yawgoog Bakes and someone even brought several slabs of genuine Kansas
City Ribs.
Pat and Gary Portsche were assigned
the task of hosting the 2005 Maxson National Reunion and will be held
at a time to be announced in good old South Johnson County, Kansas, part
of the Kansas City Metropolitan area, Midway USA.
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Pictures taken at
the 2003 reunion can be seen by clicking here |
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2000
National Maxson Family Association Reunion
At the Maxson
national reunion held August 5 and 6, 2000 in Rhode Island and
Connecticut, initial steps were taken to form an organization of the
descendants of Richard Maxson. Now that the organization is in
place, the purposes are set forth as follows:
To
promote and facilitate the research, collection and sharing of
genealogical material of the descendants of Richard and Rebecca Maxson.
To provide a web site on the WWW and a Newsletter as focal
points for Maxson research and news. To plan, organize and execute, from time to time, national
reunions of Maxson descendants. To conduct other business that may come before the
organization. It is not the purpose of the Maxson Family
Association to take the place of any present organizations but
to work with and supplement any present organizations and/or ad
hoc Maxson/Maxon groups.
Here's the
Maxson 2000 Reunion Newsletter generated by Ray Maxson Sunday, August 13 with notes on the reunion
and other pertinent information. Ray and his wife Helen were
instrumental in the organization of this reunion and the Maxson
Family Association thanks Ray and Helen for all of their hard
work.
Herewith is an
approximation of the prayer offered at the Maxson Family gathering
on August 6, 2000 at Mystic, Connecticut by Rev. Henry Maxson, our
Maxson Family Association Chaplain.
Pictures
taken during the 2000 Reunion can be seen
here. These pictures were
taken with a first generation digital
camera at 640X480 and are not all that
great but it's what we have.
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Those wishing to apply for
membership in the Maxson Family Association may click
here for an
application form which you can print out and remit along with
your US$10 per family to Pat Maxon Larson, our Secretary/Treasurer, whose
mailing information is on the form. The purpose of the
organization is to provide a focal point for research, information
and activities of the descendants of Richard Maxson. The Newsletter,
published quarterly contains family information such as, an update
column, membership information, spiritual guidance from Rev. Henry
Maxson, happenings such as births, deaths, obituaries, accomplishments, a President's column, Association business and
other items worthy of note to the membership.
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Descendants of Richard Maxson
Who Have Served Our Country
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These Maxson descendants gave their
lives during the Vietnam War.
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SAR Dedication of the grave of
Patriot Lt. Col. Jonathan Maxson, Revolutionary War |
| In August of 2000, after the
first Maxson Family Association reunion, Ray and Helen Maxson
tromped the woods at Richmond, RI seeking the grave of Lt.
Col. Jonathan Maxson. They were successful and found the
grave site in a general state of neglect. The site, Rhode Island State
Cemetery #38, was cleaned up and on August 29, 2004 a ceremony
was held in which a SAR plaque was placed at the
grave reading, "Commemorated, August 29, 2004, Lt. Col.
Jonathan Maxson by Ray Melvin Maxson." A SAR
Color Guard and well as other Maxson family members were
present at the dedication. |
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Input from family members is actively
solicited. If you have comments or suggestions regarding the website, please drop me an email. This is your site, so input of ideas and/or materials
would be appreciated. If you want your personal website listed below, please send me
the URL. |
Below are some Web Sites for research
or general interest. More will be added as time permits. If you have links that you
think would be of interest, please let me know.
Note: See the new "Burdick
Family" website. Howard Burdick has done a superlative
job with it. In most cases, "if you're a Maxson, you're
also a Burdick", so take a squint. |
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The book, Maxson Family Records, written
by Walter LeRoy Brown, Albion, NY, 1954 has been the main
reference available to Maxsons searching for their
ancestors. Paula Pescatello donated her book to be copied
by Higginson Book Co. and copies are now available from them,
either in paperback or hardcover
for a reasonable price. Write to: Higginson Book Co., 148
Washington Street, PO Box 778, Salem, MA 01970 Phone: (978)
745-7170. Higginson Book Co. has a web site at http://www.higginsonbooks.com
and is now set up to take orders online.
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All information
contained in this website is copyrighted under
the laws of the United States of America and is provided to family members
and interested genealogist free of charge. It is not to be used by
those wishing to derive pecuniary gain. Violators will be
prosecuted.
©
2008, the Maxson Family
Association
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Last updated August 13, 2008
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