Maxwell, Archibald

Born: 1808-07-11 Scotland, United Kingdom

Died: 1881-09-15 Springfield, Illinois

Archibald Maxwell was born in Doune, Perthshire in Scotland. He was a mason, farmer, and Presbyterian. He arrived in North America in 1830, traveling first through Canada, then to New York City. In June 1832, he fled to New Jersey during an outbreak of cholera, but soon after moved to Philadelphia, where he worked as a stone mason. In the summer of 1833, he moved to Raleigh, North Carolina to work on the construction of the state house. He relocated to Springfield, Illinois in April 1838, where he also worked on the construction of the state capitol building. In November 1840, he married Margaret Wilson, with whom he had nine children. He eventually retired from masonry and moved just outside Buffalo, Illinois to farm. He also lived and farmed in Illiopolis, Illinois for a time.

John Carroll Power and S. A. Power, History of the Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Edwin A. Wilson, 1876), 483-84; Portrait and Biographical Album of Sangamon County, Illinois (Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1891), 283; Gravestone, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, IL.