The Maxey Family of Buckingham County, Part II
Aspen Grove. Courtesy Historic Buckingham.
Need to catch up? Click here: The Maxey Family of Buckingham County, Part I
In 1937, Elizabeth McCraw surveyed a Maxey home known as “Aspen Grove” for the Virginia Historical Inventory, locating the house at 1 mile east of Ranson on Highway 20, “thence north (left) 1.3 miles on route #651, thence west (left) about 200 yards on private road leading to the house. She dated the construction at 1790 and listed the owners as follows:
Edward Maxey about 1790
Abram Maxey about 1825
R. M. Bransford about 1840
John A. Maxey 1853-1918
Lois and Mollie V. Maxey 1919, present owners to date, Deed Book 27, page 463
Mrs. McCraw described the house as follows:
This very plain house is very substantially built and has the ear marks of being very old. The house has open fields surrounding it and is located on a hill above “Muddy Creek”. Most of the old shade trees, aspens, are gone and the yard is neglected.
The original small front porch has been removed in recent years. The front side of the house has also been newly weatherboarded, but the original beaded weatherboarding is on the ends and the rear of the house. A plain door opens into the “front room”. A winding, cased-in, one flight stairway leads from this room to the half story room above. There is a large fireplace in this room over which is a very high, narrow mantle. The old batten doors, with the shop-made H L hinges, are noticeable in this room as elsewhere in the house. The room to the left of the front room is very similar to the one described. In this room the hand hewed “joists” are noticeable. On one side of the fireplace is a small press about three feet high and about ten inches deep. There is a large closet on the other side of the fireplace. The side walls of the room are “planked up” with wide planks. (The old way of ceiling a room). The wooden pins and square headed shop-made nails are noticeable in the construction of the house. There were only four rooms in the original house, but two were added about 75 years [ago]. “The new part of the house”, as it is called.
Coming next: The Maxey Family of Buckingham County, Part III
slate river ramblings . . . . 
Les,
According to Jeremy Winfrey, “the dwelling is gone… only the cemetery survives.”
I am heartily sorry to hear that. I located Edward Maxey’s survey in the plat book this afternoon. I will try to get a map to you soon if I can find some landmarks. I’m assuming it’s the same plat of 400 acres he had surveyed on 24 Mar 1764.
Thanks, Les.
I now have images of the survey map from the plat books as well as the Google Earth location with the approximate locations of the survey boundaries drawn in if anyone wants them.
Les,
I don’t know if the house is stil standing. Perhaps a Slate River Rambling follower will see your comment.
Joanne
Very interesting. I have been trying to locate on modern maps one of the grants of Powhatan Bolling and it is listed along the waters of Muddy Creek, which I’m not thoroughly convinced actually exists as a geographic entity anymore.
I spend lots of time in the survey books and in DeedMapper, and there are a bunch of Maxey survey maps. Articles like this provide positive placement for some of those old deeds and can be used as benchmarks for locating additional parcels.
Many members of my extended Buckingham County family lived near Muddy Creek.
Joanne
I haven’t gotten a chance to play with the map programs yet, but does this house still exist?
I did manage to zoom in close enough on Google Earth to see Muddy Creek.