Biographical Details
Date of Birth: May 19, 1815
Birth Location: Hanover, IN, USA
Graduation Year(s): 1833
Degree(s) Earned: Bachelors
Date of Death: September 30, 1892
Death Location: Bloomington, IN, USA
James Darwin Maxwell
Life Experience
At age eight, James Darwin Maxwell was one of the youngest persons ever admitted to Indiana University. Born in Hanover, Indiana Territory, Maxwell came to Bloomington with his father Dr. David Hervey Maxwell, sometimes called the “father of Indiana University,” who was also Bloomington’s first physician, when he was four. He was educated in the county schools. Maxwell came to the Seminary in 1826, the youngest of the nine students, less than a month short of his ninth birthday. He spent ten years, however, getting his degree. He graduated from (what by then was called) Indiana College at age eighteen and soon afterward was made Principal of the Preparatory Department in the University. In 1836, he accompanied Professor Elliot of IU to become a teacher in Mississippi College, where Elliot had been elected President.
Returning to Bloomington, Maxwell studied medicine with his father for a short time before attending Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, where he obtained his M. D. degree. A medical practitioner by trade, James practiced medicine for more than fifty years.
His service to his alma mater was long as well. Maxwell served for many years a member of the Board of Trustees of Indiana University (until 1891); he was Secretary of the Board from 1838 to 1855, and President of the Board from 1862 to 1865. Maxwell Hall on the IU campus is said to have been named for both him and his father. According to a contemporary news article, at the time leading up to his death in 1892, Maxwell was the oldest living resident of Bloomington, Indiana.
Marriage and Family
He was the elder brother of David Howard Maxwell and Samuel Franklin Maxwell. He married Louisa Howe of Bloomington in 1839; the marriage bore ten children. His namesake son, James Darwin Maxwell, Jr., also graduated from IU and became Coroner of Monroe County. His elder son Allison Maxwell became one of the leading physicians of Indianapolis.
References
- Wylie
- Findagrave.com
- Banta (1889)
- Bloomington Telephone 10/04/1892
- McGrath (1899)
- Zerfas, L. G. (1934) “Medical education in Indiana,” Indiana Magazine of History June (Vol. 30 #2): pp. 139 - 148