Thomas Maxwell
The Story of an Early Black Mason
One of Kalamazoo’s earliest black residents was Thomas Maxwell. What can we find out about Maxwell with the records at our disposal? According to his obituary published in the Kalamazoo Gazette on 29 December 1899, Maxwell was born in Virginia on 9 March 1827. He came to Michigan at the age of twelve, a mere eight years after Kalamazoo was established when Titus Bronson platted the village. Maxwell was married to Anna Clark (1836—1913), and had one daughter at the time of his death named Jessica (Jessie) Porties/Lafayette (1875—1917).
Thomas Maxwell’s lot (33) and his first house on Dutton Street, 1873
Very little about Maxwell’s early years in Kalamazoo is known, but with a little bit of tenacity and some detective work, we are able to discover a few details. We don’t know how he immigrated from Virginia (a pro-slavery state) to Kalamazoo. He likely learned the construction trade from his father Foster H. Maxwell, a mason who died in Van Buren County in 1868. Thomas’ mother Polly died in 1887, and is buried in Riverside Cemetery. Thomas had several siblings.
We don’t have any photographs of him or his family. The 1850 Federal Census lists his spouse as Lavenia Maxwell, and his real estate value at $150. Lavenia was born in 1826 in North Carolina. Circumstances regarding Lavenia’s life after 1850 are unknown. According to the newspaper obituary, Thomas was married to Anna in 1855. The 1860 Federal Census lists the following about him:
Age: 31
Birth Year: About 1829
Gender: Male
Race: Mulatto
Birth Place: Virginia
Current Place: Kalamazoo
Real Estate Value: $800.00
Personal Value: $200.00
Occupation: Mason
Spouse: Anne Maxwell, age 21
Child: Phelix Maxwell, age 2
Maxwell’s child Phelix was not alive at the time of Maxwell’s death according to his death certificate. The 1870 census does not indicate that a 12 year-old child was living with the couple, and so it’s possible that Phelix passed away relatively young, a not uncommon occurrence in the middle part of the 19th century.
U.S. Civil War Draft Registration Record, 1863
In 1863, Maxwell’s name shows up on a Civil War Draft Registration log. Maxwell was not the only middle aged black resident residing in Kalamazoo County to be drafted in this Class II division. So too were Joseph McCanley and John McKay.
As for work, we know that Maxwell was a mason who likely worked on building projects. His name appears under the “Well Digger” category in the commercial listings of a city directory, and a Gazette article on 26 March 1891, mentions his working on “a drive-well at the Eagle Mill on north Burdick street.” He worked for the Tubular Well Company around 1881.
Maxwell’s Dutton Street Home
In 1975, the Gazette published a profile about the Thomas H. Norton Home at 424 W. Dutton Street, discussing its historical status, mentioning that the carpenter who built the residence lived next to the “home of Thomas Maxwell”. The article goes on to say that Maxwell’s home no longer stands. The Norton structure was built in 1855, and so we can assume that Maxwell’s was already present. So, where was Maxwell’s house exactly is a question with a few answers, and a bit of speculation about what happened to his Dutton Street lot after he passed away. The Gazette reported in 1886 that Maxwell was planning to “build a new house at the corner of Potter and Dutton”. Was this a second home on the same site as his pre-1855 home? We believe he did build a second home. The city assessor lists the built-date for the current home on that corner as 1910, but built-dates are not always accurate. Here is what the home looked like in 1908 according to a Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. It’s very plausible that this is the second home that Maxwell built in 1886.
1908 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Library of Congress
Between 1908 and 1932, several new homes were built on Maxwell’s lot. The paste-over (which includes the four new homes, 430 and 432 Dutton, 618 and 620 Potter) was added to the Local History Room’s Sanborn Map sometime before the 1932 edition was published. We know that Anna M. Maxwell passed away in 1913, with the Gazette suggesting that she had lived at the same address for 59 years (1854 fits the timeline). Through deed records, we know that Thomas transferred the property to Anna and daughter in 1877.
Why then would a new home be built on this corner in the waning years of Anna’s life? The answer to that question is that more than likely, the entire lot was transformed with four new homes after she passed away. Anna’s daughter Jessie (a resident of Columbus, Ohio at the time) likely sold the lot for redevelopment shortly after her mother died. The lot was then divided, and the four new homes built between 1914 and 1917. The evidence points to this third and current home, situated on the corner of Potter and Dutton streets, being built after 1913, making the city assessor’s information inaccurate.
Corner of Potter and W. Dutton, where Maxwell’s two homes once stood
Written by Ryan Gage, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, July 2024