June 16, 2022 / Joanne Yeck

The Maxey Family of Buckingham County, Part I

Minnie Garland Harris

While I do not descend from a member of the Maxey family, I have many Maxey cousins as a result of shared maternal lines. Additionally, my great grandfather’s first marriage was to Mary Ellen Maxey of Well Water, Buckingham County.

On December 1, 1875, Clayton Eugene “Clay” Harris married Mary Ellen in Buckingham County, uniting two core families of Sharon Baptist Church. Mary Ellen died of a fever on October 17, 1885. They had one daughter, Mary “Lula,” who was born profoundly deaf in 1876. She was being educated in Staunton, Virginia, at the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind, when she died of pneumonia on December 22, 1891.

After Mary Ellen’s death, Clay married my ancestor Mary Elizabeth Woodson. She died of tuberculosis on September 15, 1891, leaving him alone to care for my infant grandmother, Minnie Garland Harris. Soon they would leave Buckingham to settle in a small town in southern Iowa, where Clay joined his brothers and extended family.

Many years ago, on my first visit to Buckingham County, I met Bill Maxey who lived near Muddy Creek. He showed me Mary Ellen (Maxey) Harris’s unmarked grave and the site of the cabin where the Harrises lived. It was a wonderful introduction to exploring my grandmother’s heritage in Buckingham County.

As a result, my curiosity about the Maxey family grew and I was eager to learn more about their significant contribution to the county’s history and connections to my Buckingham County ancestors.

Coming Next: The Maxey Family of Buckingham County, Part II