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From: Randi Richardson <>
Subject: [INMONROE] David H. Maxwell Biosketch--Part III
Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 09:47:49 -0500


SKETCH OF DR. DAVID H. MAXWELL

Louise Maxwell

Typed from a microfilm copy located on Reel 18, Local History Microfilm
Collection, Monroe County Public Library, Bloomington, Indiana. Document
consisted of 12 typed, double-spaced pages with a cover sheet. The
original is available at the Lilly Library, Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana. Punctuation has been added where needed and minor
spelling errors corrected. Read before the Monroe County Historical
Society, Bloomington, Indiana, January 1910.

In September 1819 the First Presbyterian Church was established in
Bloomington with nine charter members. The preliminary meeting was held in
Dr. Maxwell's log cabin, and the church was formally organized the
following Sunday in the log courthouse. Dr. Maxwell and his wife were
charter members of this church, and three of their children, Martha A.,
James Darwin, and Samuel Franklin, were baptized at this time.

Later, Dr. Maxell built a two-story house, the first brick in Bloomington,
on what is now North College Avenue. This was known, in after years, as
the Dr. Lucas property. Here his young children were born, and later
several of his daughters were married.

The winter of 1819-20 arrived, and the 4th session of the General Assembly
convened on December 6th. Dr. Maxwell, ever alert and filled with zeal and
energy for the cause of education, did not lose sight of the township of
land designated for the use of a Seminary of Learning which lay one quarter
of a mile south of the village of Bloomington; nor did he forget this
further fact that the four years had expired which the constitution
required that the land set apart for educational purposes should be
withheld from sale. He at once set out on horseback, in mid winter, for
Corydon to procure, if possible, the location of the State Seminary at
Bloomington. He was a personal friend of Governor Jennings and had many
acquaintances among the members of the legislature who had sat with him in
the Constitutional Convention.

History says Dr. Maxwell composed the "Third House of the Assembly." That
he was a successful lobbyist was shown by an act passed on January 20,
1820, establishing the State Seminary at a point in what is now Perry Township.

As one looks back upon that primitive day at the physical condition of the
country, the social environment of the people, the illiteracy and poverty
of the masses, one wonders that even courage, perserverance and steadfast
purpose of the few made an actuality of his law of establishment.

Six men were named as members of the Board of Trustees of the State
Seminary, of which Dr. Maxwell was one. He was made its presiding officer
and occupied this position almost without intermission throughout his life.
Dr. Maxwell sought election to the legislature solely that he might advance
the interests of the State Seminary.

Let us glance for a moment at this pioneer as he again rode yonder to
Corydon, this time an accredited member of the House of Representatives
from Monroe County to the 6th General Assembly.

Dr. Maxwell was now 35 years of age, of slight build, fair, straight, and
stood six feet in his stockings. He was described by his friends as
dignified in bearing, easy in conversation, courteous and kindly in manner
and liberal and judicial in his views, but by his adversaries in
Bloomington who did not believe in "schoolin," he was dubbed that _____
aristocrat.

One finds Dr. Maxwell at this 6th session of the legislature, serving on
the Ways and Means Committee and on that of education.

His constituents returned him as a member of the House of Representatives
to the 8th and 9th General Assemblies. At the 8th session he was elected
Speaker. On being conducted to the chair he thanked the members for the
honor conferred upon him and enjoined the observance of good order and
decorum. At the close of the session a resolution was unanimously passed
that the unqualified approbation and thanks of the House are due the Hon.
David H. Maxwell on account of (for the) intelligence, assiduity and
impartiality displayed by him in the chair.

To be continued...

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