Dr. Thompson Maxwell, Naples' First Physician

by Kenton Poole

Naples Town Historian

November 2025

From 1790 to 1810 Naples, NY went through a period of rapid exploration, settlement and growth. There was the initial settlement of the twelve Parishes who arrived in February of 1790 to be followed in the spring by the extended families of the Watkins, Clarks, and Clevelands.* And then there were outliers - and at first it might have seemed that Dr. Thompson Maxwell was one, but his situation was much different. His uncle, Colonel Hugh Maxwell, a highly decorated Revolutionary War patriot, had been hired by Phelps and Gorham as the chief surveyor of their newly purchased land, to establish town boundaries and to mark the Pre-emption line between New York and Massachusetts going north from Pennsylvania. The Maxwells had made their official presence known in the area and Dr. Thompson Maxwell was well aware of the situation.

Born in 1771 in Amherst, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, to Thompson Maxwell (Sr.) of Revolutionary War and Boston Tea Party fame and Sybil Wyman, Dr. Maxwell grew up in Amherst and apprenticed as a physician. He had three surviving brothers and one sister. Descriptions about the land in the Naples area got back to his father. Father and son, Thompson Maxwell Sr. and Dr. Thompson Maxwell Jr., came looking for land in this area based on Hugh Maxwell’s reports. Historic records show there are land purchases and sales in the Middlesex Valley just north of Naples made by a Thompson Maxwell.

In 1793 & 1794 in a large log cabin that sat on the former village square of Watkinstown (the original name of the white settlement later called Naples), Dr. Maxwell also served as Naples’ second school teacher and taught children from the local Seneca whose settlement was not far away. He continued to serve Naples as its only physician until the late 1790s. His name appears infrequently in local historical articles but always with respect for his profession as both a physician and a school teacher.

As a doctor he had limited medical tools at his disposal. Germs and viruses were unknown and cemeteries in Naples are filled with children who died of what we today think of as common childhood diseases. Small pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, cholera and typhoid fever would rip through small unprotected communities. Sadly, young mothers without protection from infection often didn’t make it through the child birthing process. Doctors’ diagnoses were based on pulse, skin color and odors. They relied on natural remedies such as herbs, roots, and plant based remedies to treat illnesses. Pioneer life was difficult and dangerous and settlers who felt unwell were treated with rough treatments such as bleeding, blistering and purging. Cash flow was intermittent, so doctors payment was often delayed until the crops were in or bartered on the spot. Almost all doctors of the time had a store or farm to underwrite the practice. Naples back in the 1790s was a small settlement and probably too small to underwrite a doctor full time, and perhaps that is why Dr. Thompson left for Ballston Spa, NY. by 1796.

By 1808, a Dr. Silas Newcomb (born in 1776 in New Lebanon, Connecticut) had moved to Naples with his wife Betsey Lee. Their first son, Paul, was born in 1808. Paul would later become the first doctor born in Naples, although he never practiced here and sadly it would be after his parents had passed. Dr. Silas Sr. died in 1810, and Betsey died that same year, one month after the birth of their second son, Silas Jr., probably from childbirth complications. Both are interred in Fairview Cemetery, where their headstones remain somewhat legible. 

After Dr. Silas Newcomb Sr.’s death, his two children, Paul and Silas Jr., were removed to Michigan, perhaps to live with Silas’s family, and they are buried there. There is no indication of who the mother of Silas was.

Meanwhile, in Ballston Spa, NY, Dr. Thompson Maxwell had family and it was a much more populated area. It was there he may have met Mary (last name?) who became the mother of their four children, Joshua (b. 1796), Wyman (b.1801), daughter Armenia (b. 1804) and lastly, Thompson Charles (b. 1811). Joshua and Wyman remained in Ballston Spa, while Thompson Charles moved to Wisconsin and Armenia to Michigan.

Using the federal censuses, we can track the family’s journey around New York State, ending with their return to Naples! In 1810 the family is found in Brunswick, Rensselaer County; in 1820, they are in back in Ballston Spa, NY; in 1830, Herkimer, NY; data is missing for 1840; and in 1849, he and Mary’s arrival was mentioned in a local newspaper article that he had returned to Naples at the age of 80 still mentally sharp. 

By then Naples was a completely different village, and had moved south from its former location at the corner of Rushville Rd (Route 245) and Main Street to what we think of as Naples today. I’m sure he barely recognized the Naples he returned to. He and Mary are listed in Naples on the 1850 Federal census with no children. After extensive research, I have not found Thompson or Mary Maxwell on census records after that.

It’s believed that Dr. Thompson Maxwell died in 1851. No location is given except perhaps New York State. It’s thought that Mary lived on and it is possible she went to live with one of her children and died before the 1860 federal census.

*For a deep dive I urge you to read Bruce Maxfield Gelser's “The Settlers of Naples 1790.”

For researchers, further family information can be found through findagrave.com’s page for Fairview Cemetery in Naples, NY.

If you have further information about Dr. Thompson Maxwell, Naples’ first physician, please contact me at kentonpoole@gmail.com if you would like the information to be added to our records about him and the history of Naples.