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FREDERICK CLAYTON MAXWELL
Vol. 3, p. 1045

The student of human mature is always deeply interested in tracing
the career of one who has fought his way up to a position of
prominence and financial success by dint of pluck, push and energy,
and who has, notwithstanding the struggles of his youth, maintained a
well earned reputation for uprightness and consideration for the
rights of others. Such has been the career of Frederick Clayton
Maxwell, proprietor of the Cotton County Democrat, of Walters,
Oklahoma, and one of his town's most enterprising and progressive
citizens. He has been the architect of his own fortunes in the
fullest sense, and the success that has some come to him has been won
with honor and without animosity.

Mr. Maxwell was born August 31, 1878, in Fairfield, Iowa, and is a
son of H. C. and Christina (KAUFFMAN) Maxwell, natives of Ohio. The
family originated in Scotland and were pioneers of Ohio, where H. C.
Maxwell was born in 1837. As a young man he went to Fairfield, Iowa,
in the vicinity of which city he engaged in farming and stockraising.
When the Civil war came on, he enlisted in the Thirtieth Regiment,
Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and six months in the
Union army, during which time he was wounded in battle. He proved
himself a valiant and faithful soldier, and when he received his
honorable discharge returned to the duties of peace, resuming the
pursuits of the soil, in which he has continued to be engaged to the
present time. He is a republican and a member of the Presbyterian
Church. Seven children have been born to H. C. and Christina Maxwell,
namely: Robert Sherman, who died in infancy; Arthur Walter, state
representative for the Culvert Manufacturing Company, at Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma; Hugh Raymond, who is a merchant at Fairfield, Iowa;
Nellie B., who married Frank LOVING, engaged in the real estate
business at Huber Springs, Arkansas; Frederick Clayton, of this
notice; Harley, a resident of What Cheer, Iowa; and Earl.

Frederick Maxwell received his education in the public schools of
Iowa, which he attended until reaching the age of fourteen years. In
the meantime, when but twelve years of age he had started to work in
a confectionery store, learning the candymakers' trade. He thus
continued at Fairfield, Iowa, until he was seventeen, when he went to
Seymour, Iowa, to become an apprentice to the printer's trade for
four years. In 1899 Mr. Maxwell returned to the candymakers trade in
Davenport, and later to Moline, Illinois, until 1905, when he came to
Oklahoma, located at Enid, and secured a position in an ice cream
factory. After a short time spent there, Mr. Maxwell became connected
with the Enid Events, under Everett PURCELL, and subsequently took
charge of the Hunter Enterprise, a newspaper with which he was
connected until 1907, when he came to Walters, Oklahoma. On August
25th of that year he became editor of the Cotton County Democrat,
which was established at that time by the Lawton Publishing Company,
as a republican sheet. Mr. Maxwell purchased the paper in 1909 and in
1912 made its policy independent, but in the following year made it a
democratic paper. This paper circulates in Cotton and the surrounding
counties and has a large foreign list. The plant and offices are
located on Broadway Avenue, and are equipped with the latest improved
printing machinery, with facilities for handling first-class job work
of all kinds. The paper is clean, bright and newsy, and the people of
Cotton County may be congratulated that it is in such clean and
capable hands. Its columns have always been open to matter pertaining
to the securing of advantages and improvements for the community and
its owner has ever been one of the first to promote and support
progressive enterprises. He is a democrat, but his only public office
has been as a member of the school board, on which he served one
term. His religious connection is with the Christian Church.
Fraternally he is well known and popular, being a member of Lodge No.
266, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Walters; secretary of the
Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 74, at Walters; president of the
American Horse Thief Association No. 920, at Walters; council
commander of the Modern Woodmen of America; and a member of the Royal
Neighbors and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, both at Walters.

Mr. Maxwell was married August 31, 1899, to Miss Margaret Baines
WILSON, who was born in England, daughter of George L. Wilson, now a
mining engineer of Albia, Iowa. She died December 23, 1911, the
mother of four children, all of whom are attending school; Frederick
Clayton, Jr., born July 12, 1901; Leo Harvey, born December 29, 1903;
Phyllis, born March 17, 1905; and Margaret, born October 22, 1907.
Mr. Maxwell was again married September 5, 1913, when united with
Mrs. Nannie B. (GRAY) ELLISON, daughter of Harvey Gray, a farmer of
Stephens County, Oklahoma. They have had no children, but Mrs.
Maxwell had one child by her former husband: Mahota, who is attending
the public school at Walters.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Charmaine Keith, December 15, 1998.