It wasn’t an unusual day for me at all, but it was the day that everything changed.  My husband, the man who worked this farm, and the man I loved, just up and walked away.

I thought life had been fairly easy for my family.  I had birthed all of my children in this little part of the world and I had expected life to keep being good to us.  Every day of my life I had helped with the yard work on the farm.  First, for my daddy, and now, here on our farm where I slopped the pigs and tried to keep the chickens out of the garden.  The boys and I gathered about 2 dozen eggs on most days. I was glad to have those eggs to feed my kids but I was really tired of those chickens scratching around so much.  They just made more dirt.  And, that made for dirty boys.

Louisa Jane Fletcher

was her name and she had become a Maxwell when she married Silas Layfette 10 years ago.  Her father hadn’t even tried to stop her as this would be one less mouth he would have to feed.  She had birthed her first baby soon after she was 16 years old and her husband had built her a little house that looked out over the rolling hills of this spot in Western North Carolina.  The mountains loomed high above her and her family as they settled into that little cottage every night. They would raise their boys here and their family would become part of these mountain people.  These people were loyal to their heritage as most of the families in these parts had ancestors from somewhere across the ocean. And the Maxwell’s were no different.  They were a clannish people that originated from the House of Maxwell, all the way from Scotland.

Silas got up early one morning and pulled his overalls on just like he did every other morning.  He cinched up his britches and said his goodbyes.  He put his head down and turned his feet towards Couch Mountain.  It was the mountain that looked over him every day of his life. He stopped by the barn and got his ole mule, Jennie, ready to go.  It didn’t take long since he never bothered to put a halter on her.  The mountains around the field were way too steep for her to climb so she just mostly stayed right with him.  Silas and Jennie finally made it to the field on the side of the mountain that his people called Rocky and he started working the ground just like he did every year.

This year his heart seemed to be yearning for a life different than he was living here.  This yearning was weighing on his heart a little heavier today than it had been in years past.  He’d always been able to shake it off, that wandering feeling he kept having.  Instead of going home for lunch, he turned Jennie towards the foot of the holler with her nose pointed towards the barn and then he walked to the west end of the field by himself.  With home to the back of him, he came to the edge of forest, lifted his head and kept right on walking.  He knew he was walking away from this life of his and he knew he would never be back.  He would never been seen here again.  He was

Silas Layfette Maxwell.

As dusk began to settle over the mountains, and in the valley’s, Jennie started towards home to see if she could find a little grain.  Louisa would move to the home of her husband’s sister, Malinda Maxwell McMinn who lived on a farm on the backside of Huckleberry Mountain just east of what is now the Maxwell holler.  Her sister in law and her husband, James Newton “Newt” McMinn, would rise to the occasion and raise her 3 boys who were quickly becoming men.  She would live on McMinn land for now.  But, when John, Will, and Sam, were grown they would work the land that had belonged to their dad.

When she moved to Huckleberry Mountain, Louisa Jane would take Jennie with her.  Ole Jennie would listen and that’s what Louisa needed right now.  Someone to listen.  Jennie would sometimes cock her head sideways and turn her ears in so she could hear Louisa better and Louisa would keep right on talking.  And, Louisa rested a little better each night knowing Jennie was just outside her window standing in the barn right next to the house.

As best as our family can tell, Silas Layfette Maxwell, walked off the Maxwell property and journeyed to upper South Carolina.  There he found a lady friend and took her to Missouri and started another family.  We don’t really know if this was someone he just met and took across the country with him or was this someone he already knew?  Whatever the case, Silas was able to keep his whereabouts a secret and it was four generations later before someone found the Maxwell’s in Missouri.  With a little research and a lot of questions, it was determined that these people were cousins who belonged to the same Silas Layfette Maxwell that had walked away from the upper field four generations ago.

These cousins have met, traveled, and visited together.  The Missouri Maxwell’s were invited to attend family reunions and come together as one family of Maxwell’s.  It didn’t matter if you were part of the family that Silas left in North Carolina or were part of the family he raised in Missouri.  You were kin and you were invited to join in as these two families shared their lives together during reunion time.

We still have family gatherings where we hope unity continues to be built.  If you happen to be here when a gathering is happening, then you’re invited to attend and we’d love to have you join in.  You’re considered family if you’ve stayed in one of the homes on this farm that Maxwell families have lived in.  We may not be kin by blood but we can be kin by the same sense of community that has held these mountain people together for the last 6 or more generations.

Welcome to the House of Maxwell.