My Genealogy Hound

DR. DAVID A. MAXWELL was born in Caldwell County, Ky., November 30, 1825. His parents dying, he at an early age (in opposition to the wishes of his friends) for a short time worked at the cabinet trade, but soon abandoned it and entered Princeton College, after which he decided to study law and wrote for two years in the clerk’s office of Trigg County, Ky., while there pursuing his legal studies. Having attained his majority, he turned his attention to the study of medicine, doing his preparatory reading in the office of Dr. Isaac Burnett, of Trigg County. In 1847 he removed to Paducah, where he continued his studies under Dr. H. L. Jones. He entered the University of Louisville in 1849, and graduated from that institution in 1851. He immediately began practice in Paducah, where he has since been engaged in an extensive and lucrative practice with the exception of four years of the civil war. In 1861 he entered the service of the Southern Confederacy, on the staff of General Tilghman, at Hopkinsville, Ky. The general being assigned to duty at Forts Donelson and Henry, Dr. Maxwell accompanied him and became chief surgeon of these posts until their surrender, when he was assigned to temporary duty at Corinth, Miss., remaining until after the battle of Shiloh. He was then transferred to post duty at Atlanta, Ga., continuing in the service until the close of the war, when he again resumed practice in Paducah in 1866. Since that date he has been in active practice, taking rank among the eminent physicians of the State. Dr. Maxwell is a member of the State Medical Society of Kentucky, was one of the originators and the first president of the South western Medical Association and of the Paducah Medical Society.