JUDGE JOHN NEWTON – Associate Judge
Ironton Register, Thursday, August 27, 1857 – Marriage of Daughter. Married on the 20th inst., by Rev. J. Chester, Rev. E. V. Bing, of Somerset, Ohio, to Miss Mary E. Newton, daughter of Judge Newton, of this county.
Ironton Register, Thursday, November 6, 1862 – Obituary of Judge John Newton
The subject of this sketch, Judge John Newton, died at his residence, near Coal Grove, Lawrence county, Ohio, on October 6, 1862, at 5 o’clock P.M. in his 73rd year. He was born August 12th, 1790, in the State of Vermont. Mr. Elias Newton and Alice Newton, his father and mother, and six children emigrated from that State to Ohio about 1799 and settled in Washington county, then a vast territory.
Frontier’s life suited his father’s taste since he was an old Revolutionary soldier. At the early age of eighteen, John Newton went South and remained two or three years at Natchez, returning by way of Nashville, through the wilderness, up to Kentucky, en route to his home at Marietta, Ohio.
In 1815, he married Lydia Safford, a daughter of Col. R. Safford of Gaftin county, Ohio, and settled on the Little Muskingum River and engaged in the milling business. About the year 1817, he sold out and moved to Gallia county. He purchased a farm and, with his own hands, cleared, fenced, and put it to good order. Succeeding in his calculations, he engaged largely in hand speculation and, during his residence in that county, amassed considerable wealth. He also filled the office of County Commissioner for several years and that of Colonel of the Militia.
In 1831, he was caused to mourn the loss of his first wife and be left with a family of six children. He was again married to the daughter of Hon. William Smith, of Washington, D. C., with whom he lived until his death. He was a resident of Lawrence county for about 21 years and filled many of the county offices, together with that of Associate Judge, for some years.
His life and characteristics are too well known and too numerous to mention in so short a sketch. An extended acquaintance at home and abroad made the society and advice much sought. – He was clear-headed, calm, and dignified in his deportment, yet at times indulged in jokes; fond of ________; obstinate even to stubbornness in having his own way; an advocate for improvement in public buildings, though puritanic in his own personal affairs.
He was always liberal and ready to give to the needy. A lover of the Union and the widow’s friend, his house was the home of all pious people and a hearty welcome given to the poor. By death, the public has lost one of its best citizens and his family, the kindest of fathers.
He was taken ill while on a visit to his sons, Drs. B. S. and O. E. Newton, in Cincinnati. Thinking it best, he hastened home, contrary to their wishes, and arrived but a few days before his death. Surrounded by the members of his family and a host of friends, he passed off the stage of existence. Rev. W. Griffith of the Methodist Episcopal church preached his funeral sermon. W. N. C.
Ironton Register, August 30, 1877 – Obituary of Mrs. Sarah W. Newton, his wife.
Mrs. Sarah W. Newton was born near Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio, Nov. 16, 1802, and died near Ironton, Ohio, Aug. 25, 1877. The period of her life nearly spans the settlement and development of her native state.
Her parents, Mr. William Smith, and Miss Sabra Gates, were married in the Block House at Ft. Harmar before it was considered safe for the colonists to establish homes in the surrounding forests.
Her childhood and youth were spent amid the severe toils and trials of frontier life, and she succeeded in acquiring what was for that day a very good education, and for several years she was engaged in teaching. She united with the Presbyterian Church in Belpre, Ohio, in comparatively early life. Her attachment to the church of her early choice was peculiar and enduring. – Though often in her varied life separated long seasons from its communion, she lived and died a devoted member.
In 1831 she married Col. John Newton and came to his home in Gallia Co., Ohio. Ten years later, on November 16, 1841, they settled on the farm in Lawrence Co., where the remnant of her life work was wrought. As she often expressed, they were, for a time, as isolated as if they had been in the far West.
The tract of four hundred acres of land then purchased for what now seems a nominal sum had all the requisites of pioneer life. The log cabin without a window, with a little patch of corn-field surrounding it, the few low, straggling panels of a rail fence, the unbridged streams on either side, whole acres of swamps and forests requiring years of indefatigable labor, to claim them for the valuable and beautiful home and grounds that now occupy their place.
Col. Newton soon substituted a comfortable dwelling for the rude but, had the bounds of the School District defined, put up a rustic schoolhouse and secured a teacher who drew the first money from the public school fund in the District. The itinerant preacher was invited to preach to the neighbors who congregated in the large old-fashioned sitting room and rest by the fireside. Bridges were constructed over the near streams, and a year of such energetic effort united the family to the privileges and social attractions, making the home a place to cling to and desire to develop.
Here in 1862, by the death of Judge Newton, she has left a widow; with unflagging energy, she toiled on and on, and the death messenger found her just perfecting some arrangements which she hoped were to secure her to a little rest before she departed hence. The Savior looked, pitied, touched her, bade her sorrowing be still, and took her to His rest.
0 Comments