Maxwells in Minnesota

In April of 1855, John McDowell Maxwell, his wife Rachel Mahala Slane Maxwell, sons Robert, George with wife, Delilah Slane, James, Frank, and daughter Emily with husband Edwin Turnham, boarded the steamboat Galena in Illinois and traveled to Minnesota and then on to Lake Minnetonka where they settled on Maxwell Bay. 151 years later, the John Maxwell clan will return to Lake Minnetonka for a joint reunion with another area pioneer family, descendants of Henry Stubbs. Many Stubbs descendants also share Maxwell ancestry. John McDowell Maxwell homesteaded land between Stubbs Bay and Maxwell Bay on the northern end of Lake Minnetonka. He was 67 years old and his wife Rachel was 59. Rachel passed away the next year, and John died in 4 years later in 1859. John’s homestead was purchased by Joel Stubbs, a son of Henry Stubbs and the northern bay was named Stubbs Bay while the southern bay was named Maxwell Bay. In January of 1856, George and Delilah Maxwell’s daughter Emma Ellen was born, the first pioneer settler child born in the area. 

by Dan Stubbs