CHARLES THOMAS MAXWELL.
Charles Thomas Maxwell is one of the pioneer photographers of western Washington, conducting a gallery at Walla Walla. He arrived in this state in April, 1883, and through all the intervening period, covering more than a third of a century, he has been closely associated with the photographic art and has maintained the highest standards in his work. He has been identified with the business in several of the leading cities of the state but has long maintained a studio in Walla Walla, where he makes his home.
Thomas Maxwell, as he is called, was born at Piney, Monroe county, Tennessee, May 20, 1865, a son of Samuel G. and Martha E. (Allison) Maxwell. He is connected in the paternal line with the Greer family. His great-grandfather, Samuel Greer, was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, serving as a private in Captain Asa Hill's company of the Second Battalion of the Cumberland County (Pa.) Militia. In the maternal line Mr. Maxwell is connected with the Allison family, his great-grandfather, John Allison, serving as a captain under Colonel Isaac of Sullivan county, Tennessee, in the battle of Kings Mountain in October, 1780, and otherwise actively sharing in all the experiences which went to make up the record of the Continental soldier in the Revolutionary war. His great-great-grandfather, John Allison, emigrating from Ireland, became a resident of Pennsylvania and was one of the Allison family from whom have descended the well known Allisons of Pennsylvania, also W. B. Allison of Iowa and Nancy (Allison) McKinley, the mother of President William McKinley. Samuel G. Maxwell, father of C. Thomas Maxwell, was born about a mile from Jonesboro, Tennessee, in 1820 and there passed away in 1867. He had attained the thirty-second degree in Masonry at the age of twenty-four years. His wife was born in Jonesboro, Tennessee, in 1826 and died in Walla Walla in 1901. Both were educated in Jonesboro and they had a family of ten children, of whom Thomas was the youngest. His eldest brother was killed in the Civil war before the birth of Thomas.
CHARLES T. MAXWELL
The latter acquired a district school education at Piney and Sweetwater, Tennessee, and was a youth of eighteen years when in April, 1883, he came to Washington, making his way to Dayton, where he entered into business with his brother, Joseph D. Maxwell, who was a photographer and had made photographs in Walla Walla in 1878. He had reached Washington territory in 1877 and continued in the photographic business until his death, which occurred in 1915. Thomas Maxwell and his brother Joseph were the first photographers in Spokane, opening a permanent studio there in 1884. They were later joined by two other brothers, Grayson Y. and W. W. Maxwell, and they conducted three studios for many years—one in Spokane, one in Dayton and one in Walla Walla. Thomas Maxwell took charge of the Walla Walla establishment and is still conducting business in this city. He has at all times kept in close touch the most advanced and progressive methods and employs the latest scientific processes in photographic production.
On the 3d of July, 1911, in Walla Walla, Washington, Mr. Maxwell was united in marriage to Miss May Bradlee, who was born at San Francisco, California, December 12, 1882. The birth of her father, Frank Kimball Bradlee, occurred in California in 1849. Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell have one son, Charles Thomas (called Thomas), who was born on the 16th of July, 1913.