Marmaduke Maxwell or Great Uncle Duke as he was known within the family was my great great grandfather's younger brother, one of the nine sons of John Goodman Maxwell. He was trained for the law and was a barrister in the Middle Temple in his late twenties when he suddenly left it all to emigrate to America. He travelled with his friend, Thomas Dakyns another Middle Temple barrister and Dakyns wife, first to Indiana where Thomas had family but they then pushed on westward, settling in Oregon where they became substantial sheep farmers. In the 1881 US census Marmaduke is described as a labourer in the household of Dakyns but one suspects this is a tax rues as Marmaduke had over 9000 acres of land around Deer Creek in Douglas County. Marmaduke (Uncle Duke as he was known in the family) sold up his holdings in two parts in 1911 and 1915. He moved to the Oregon coast at the Arch Cape which was a deserted stretch of forested coastline in 1911 when he arrived there. The only building was a log hotel giving shelter to travellers coming north from California. Duke bought the hotel and built himself a house alongside. And there he lived until his death in 1931. During that twenty years, a town grew up around him and in 1931 a road was being driven through from the south heading up to Portland. Access prior to the road had been only by the Pacific coastline beach available only at low tide. The Cape Arch was initially a summer holiday retreat for hardy campers and Duke wintered there almost alone. However as the years went by more folk became permanent residents. Duke was clearly well beloved in the community and is remember even today 77 years after his death. A Mr English published a book some fifteen years ago recording the early history of the Arch Cape in which Marmaduke features prominently. His wooden house still stands on what is now Maxwell Street, my brother Paul  having visited it in the last year. Mr English's book contains a number of photographs  of Duke the originals of which are now in my possession along with some letters to written to Duke which were seemingly delivered after he died. The letters are very revealing as they are principally from relations in England. Duke had clearly prospered in the States and he was lending substancial sums to friends and neighbors in the form of mortgages as well as sending money to relations in England towards the end of his life. The bulk of his estate of some £9000 was finally devolved upon his niece Kitty Burd in Devon. Duke wrote poetry and appears to have been a rather better poet than his father but then his father was essentially a civil engineer.