Dr. Thompson Maxwell, Naples' First Physician

by Kenton Poole

Naples Town Historian

November 2025

This is Naples, circa 1850, when Dr. Thompson Maxwell returned to the village. It was called Watkinstown when he first arrived in the 1790s, then Naples upon his return. (Photo: Collection of the Naples Historical Society, Naples, NY)

From 1790 to 1810, Naples, New York, went through a period of rapid exploration, settlement and growth.

There was the initial settlement of the 12 Parishes who arrived in February 1790, to be followed in the spring by the extended families of the Watkins, Clark and Cleaveland clans. For a deep dive I urge you to read Bruce Maxfield Gelser's, “The Settlers of Naples 1790.” Then there were outliers, and at first, it seemed that Dr. Thompson Maxwell was one, but his situation was much different.

His uncle Col. Hugh Maxwell was a highly decorated Revolutionary War patriot hired by Phelps and Gorham as the chief surveyor of their newly purchased land. His job was to establish town boundaries and to mark the Pre-Emption line between New York and Massachusetts going north from Pennsylvania. 

Born in 1771 in Amherst, Hillsborough County, N.H. to Thompson Maxwell of Revolutionary War and Boston Tea Party fame and Sybil Wyman, Dr. Thompson Maxwell grew up in Amherst and apprenticed as a physician. He had three surviving brothers and one sister. It is likely that word got back to his father about these New York lands and based on Hugh Maxwell’s reports the family decided to relocate. There are recorded land purchases and sales in the Middlesex Valley just north of Naples by Thompson Maxwell Sr.

In 1793-94 in a large log cabin that sat on the former Watkinstown (original name) village square, Dr. Thompson Maxwell served as Naples’ second schoolteacher and taught children from the local Seneca tribe whose settlement was nearby. 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 schoolteacher.

Doctoring in tough conditions

As a doctor, Maxwell 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 consider common childhood illnesses. Smallpox, 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 the settlers' health care consisted of treatments such as bleeding, blistering and purging.

Cash flow was intermittent, so a doctor's 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 support a doctor full time. Perhaps that is why Dr. Thompson Maxwell left for Ballston Spa in Saratoga County by 1796.

By 1808, another doctor, Dr. Silas Newcomb -- born in 1776 in New Lebanon, Conn. -- moved to Naples with his wife Betsey Lee. Their first son Silas was born in 1808 and was the first doctor born in Naples, although he never practiced here. Betsey died one month after Silas’ birth, probably from childbirth complications. Dr. Silas Newcomb Sr. died two years later in 1810; he and his wife are interred in Fairview Cemetery. Their headstones still remain somewhat legible. After his death his two children -- Paul, born in 1808, and a second Silas, born in 1811, were taken to Michigan (perhaps to live with family) and are buried there. There is no indication of who the mother of the second Silas was. 

In Ballston Spa, Dr. Maxwell had family and it was a much more populated area than Naples. It was there he may have met Mary (last name unknown) who became the mother of their four children: Joshua, born in 1796; Wyman, born in 1801; daughter Armenia, born in 1804; and Thompson Charles, born in 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 back across New York ending in Naples in 1849. In 1810, the family is found in Brunswick, Rensselaer County, and by 1820 are in back in Ballston Spa. Then by 1830 they are recorded as living in Herkimer. Census data for the family is missing for 1840. In 1849, Dr. Maxwell's and his wife's arrival was mentioned in a local article about him returning to Naples at the age of 80 still mentally sharp.

By then, Naples was a completely different village, having moved south from its former location at the corner of Rushville Road and Main Street to what we think of as downtown Naples today. I’m sure Dr. Maxwell barely recognized the Naples he had returned to. In the 1850 federal census, he and Mary are listed as living in Naples with no children.

Then they go missing … and are not found in records despite extensive research.

It’s believed Dr. Maxwell died in 1851, with no location given except New York state. It’s also thought that Mary lived on and possibly went to reside with one of her children, dying before the 1860 federal census.

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.

Note: This article also appeared in "The Finger Lakes Times" March 28, 2026 edition.