Pioneer Maxwell subject of GCHS meeting

EPHRATA - Pioneer Claude Maxwell will be the subject of the history presentation at the June 14 meeting of the Grant County Historical Society.

The regular board meeting will take place at 10:30 a.m. at the Ephrata American Legion Post at 276 Eighth Ave., Ephrata. The history presentation - the heritage meeting - will follow a noon luncheon.

Jessie Overman of Quincy, Maxwell's grand-daughter, will make the presentation. She has done a genealogical study of him and has stored many of the stories he told of his days as a homesteader.

Maxwell took up his homestead in 1902 in Sagebrush Flats in Douglas County, on what's now the border with Grant County. He raised horses, cattle, sheep and mules, selling the mules to the U.S. Army.

"That was back when everything was horses and wagons," Overman said.

Overman took a great interest in Maxwell, who died in 1977, not only because he was her grandfather but also because he was a historical figure in the region. He was written about in numerous newspaper accounts. Because of his work, he had a large collection of artifacts from the homestead days.

Rita Mayrant, of the GCHS, noted one of the GCHS possessions is the suitcase Maxwell traveled with when he came to the area from Missouri.

According to Overman, Maxwell did not come to this area by design. He was headed to the Alaska gold fields when he left Missouri in 1898.

"He got sick on the boat ride from San Francisco to Seattle and had to quit," Overman said. "He got off in Seattle and eventually made it to eastern Washington."