Butte County
Biographies
LEVI H. MAXWELL
LEVI H. MAXWELL.--A man of education, refinement and culture, and a successful horticulturist of Chico, Butte County, Levi H. Maxwell is enjoying life in the open after some years spent in practicing law. He was born at St. George, W. Va., March 9, 1869, a son of Rufus Maxwell, who was also a native of that state, and was a farmer by occupation. Rufus Maxwell married Sarah J. Bonnifield; and they had twelve children, of whom eight grew to maturity. Both parents died at St. George. Grandfather Levi Maxwell lived to a ripe age, dying some thirty years ago, at the age of ninety-six years.
Levi H. Maxwell was one of the youngest children in his parents’ family; he was reared on a farm and attended the public schools and St. George Academy. In 1887 he went to Indiana and entered the Northern Indiana Normal School and Business Institute (now Valparaiso University), from which he was graduated two years later. He came to California, and for one year taught school in Monterey County, after which he spent two years in educational work in Fresno. With the money he had earned, Mr. Maxwell entered Stanford University and spent two years, after which he returned to West Virginia and entered the law office of his brother, W. B. Maxwell, at Parsons, and studied law for two years. In 1894 he was admitted to the bar, and practiced for a time. Soon after, however, he came back to California and entered the law department of Stanford, continuing his studies for eighteen months. He was admitted to practice in the courts of California in 1897. Going to Fresno once more, he taught school until the fall of 1899, when he located in San Francisco and secured a position as a law clerk in an attorney’s office. In 1901, on account of failing health, Mr. Maxwell had to leave the Bay City. He then spent a few months in the valley, recuperating, and was benefited greatly.
In 1902, Mr. Maxwell went East, traveling over eastern Canada and into parts of the United States in the interests of a patent boot calk for lumbermen’s shoes. He spent five years in this business, on the road most of the time, and the balance of the time in the factory, where he superintended the manufacture of the article, he being financially interested in the patent. He sold out in 1907 and came to Butte County, and bargained for the land he now owns. The following year he took up his residence here. The ranch contains one hundred ten acres, and was purchased by Mr. Maxwell and four associates. It was set to prunes, peaches and pears under the direction of Mr. Maxwell, who also looked to the care of the trees. The property was later divided, Mr. Maxwell receiving forty acres as his portion; he looks after the balance of the property for his friends. To improve the place for a home, he erected a comfortable residence and ample barns and sheds, and fenced the land to suit his requirements; and here he lives in comfort with his family. The ranch is located on the state highway, seven miles north of Chico.
Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage at Hamilton, Canada, with Miss Naomi Saunders, a native of that dominion. They have three children: Ken, Nao and Don. In the interest of his fruit industry, Mr. Maxwell is a member of the California Prune and Apricot Growers’ Association.
Transcribed
by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 1266, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Joyce Rugeroni.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County
Biographies