Orrin T. Maxson

Orrin Teall Maxson (March 17, 1823 – May 12, 1895) was an American physician, politician, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was an important early settler of Prescott, Wisconsin, and represented northwestern Wisconsin in the Wisconsin State Assembly during the 1853 and 1857 legislative sessions. His name was often abbreviated ; his last name was sometimes spelled Maxon.

Early life Orrin T. Maxson was born March 17, 1823, in Centerville, New York, where his father was a pioneer settler. He was raised and educated in Centerville. During these formative years, his father and older brother, Arthur, went to the Wisconsin Territory in 1837 and became some of the first settlers at what is now Darien, Wisconsin. They also established the first sawmill there in 1841.

Orrin attended Rush Medical College in Chicago and graduated in the class of 1849. After his time in medical school he went west for a year and helped establish a hospital in Colorado. They had the site platted and surveyed and actively promoted the growth of the settlement, and Maxson operated a medical practice there for the next fifteen years. The first school district in the area was also organized in 1852, and Maxson was elected the first clerk of the school district in the fall of 1852.

That same fall, Maxson was elected to the Wisconsin State Assembly, running on the Democratic Party ticket. He represented the vast northwest district, stretching along the border and coast from what is now Pierce County in the south to what is now Ashland County in the north.

Pierce County was first organized in 1853, and that fall Maxson was selected as the first justice of the peace.

He next ran for state office in 1856 and was elected to another term in the Wisconsin State Assembly. His district this time stretched from Pierce County into the core of the northwest quadrant of Wisconsin, including the areas that are now Clark, Chippewa, Eau Claire, Dunn, Pepin, Rusk, and Price counties.

Following the 1857 legislative session, Maxson was appointed to the first board of regents of the Wisconsin Normal School, serving until 1861. During these years, he also became involved in the movement establishing agricultural societies, becoming one of the founders of the Pierce County Agricultural Society and an officer in the state Agricultural Society.

Civil War service At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Maxson assisted in raising a company of volunteers for the Union Army and was chosen as first lieutenant of that company. His company was enrolled as Company A in the 12th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. They mustered into federal service in January 1862 and went south for service in the western theater of the war. They had a difficult time moving through Illinois due to problems with the railroad and insufficient winter lodgings, but eventually arrived at Weston, Missouri. There, Maxson's company's captain, Norman McLeod, resigned, and Maxson was promoted to captain of the company. He would lead the company for the next two years of the war.

After several months in Kansas, they were moved to Kentucky and Tennessee, where they repaired and secured railroads and hunted guerillas. They arrived at Corinth after the Second Battle of Corinth, and then joined Grant's Vicksburg Campaign, and were invested in the siege of Vicksburg up to its surrender in July 1863.

In early July, Maxson again played a leading role in skirmishing around the Nickajack Creek. Maxson led a rapid advancing skirmishing line which forced Confederates to abandon trenches and flee to the other side of the river.

In the 1890s, Maxson's health began to decline and he was forced to give up his medical practice. He moved west to Pasadena, California, hoping the climate would improve his health. He often took morphine to address pain, and on May 12, 1895, he overdosed on morphine and died at his home in Pasadena.

Personal life and family

Orrin Maxson was the sixth of seven children born to and his wife Amelia ( Ward). Joseph Maxson was born in Rhode Island but left home at age 17. With just two cents to his name, he bartered his shoes in exchange for an axe and used the axe to clear a farm for himself in Allegany County, New York. His farm would become the first settlement in what is now Centerville, New York. In 1837, he became a pioneer again, when he was one of the first settlers at what is now Darien, Wisconsin. Orrin's younger sister, Caroline, married Joseph W. Beardsley, another pioneer of Prescott, Wisconsin.