Maxwell, Ferdinand

Born: 1811-XX-XX Randolph County, Illinois

Died: 1879-09-XX Taos, New Mexico

Flourished: 1812-1859 Kaskaskia, Illinois

A grandson of Pierre Menard, Maxwell served as county clerk of Randolph County in 1839 and was re-elected in 1841. In May, 1850, he was appointed register of the General Land Office at Kaskaskia, serving in that position until 1853. In 1859, Maxwell joined his brother, Lucien B. Maxwell, in Taos, New Mexico Territory, where Ferdinand soon opened a mercantile store. He also went into business with his brother and Kit Carson raising livestock. In 1862, Lincoln appointed Maxwell Indian Agent for New Mexico Territory.

Gravestone, Kit Carson Memorial Cemetery, Taos County, NM; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Randolph County, IL, 128; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Taos County, NM Terr., 13; United States Postal Guide (Washington, DC), July 1850, 102; Marc Simmons, Kit Carson and His Three Wives: A Family History (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003), 167; History of New Mexico: Its Resources and People (Los Angeles: Pacific States, 1907), 2:660; Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: J. L. McDonough, 1883), 121, 126; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 139; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), 138; Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States of America (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1887), 8:178; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1863 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1864), 111; Richard B. Servant to Abraham Lincoln; Peter Menard to Abraham Lincoln; Ferdinand Maxwell to Abraham Lincoln; Appointment of Ferdinand Maxwell as Indian Agent for New Mexico Territory.