FRANKLIN NEWHALL
Source: Album of Genealogy and Biography, Cook County, Illinois with Portraits 3rd ed. revised and extended (Chicago: Calumet Book & Engraving Co., 1895), pp. 653-654.
FRANKLIN NEWHALL was born
September 28, 1823, in Conway, Franklin County, Massachusetts. The genealogy of his family
goes back to Birmingham, England. His ancestors came to New England about 1660, and
located on the Massachusetts shore, south of Plymouth. They were tillers of the soil, and
their descendants are scattered throughout the States. Many of them settled in Conway,
where, at one time, a considerable proportion of the in�habitants were named Newhall.
Grandfather Daniel Newhall resided in the western part of Massachusetts, where he was well
known as a prosperous farmer and exemplary citizen. He died in Conway, aged over seventy
years. He married Mary Baker, also a native of New Eng�land, who likewise attained the
venerable age of seventy years. She was a devoted Christian, and the mother of seven
children, namely: Orrin, Daniel, Sarah, Elisheba, Polly, Lorinda and Lovina. Of these,
Orrin and Lorinda went West at an early day. The other five children settled in and near
Conway. Polly married Hosmer Bement; Sarah married Frank Stowe; Lovina married Joseph
Hendrick; Elisheba married Parson Hendrick; and Lorinda married David Grover. Daniel was
born July 26, 1791, in Conway, Massachusetts, and died at Lockport, New York. He was
married, June 16, 1816, to Harriet Whitney, who was born at Conway, January 20, 1794, and
also died at Lockport.
The last-named couple were the
parents of nine children, as follows: Harrison, Harriet, Daniel, Franklin, Frederick W.,
Elbridge G., Lucy E., Sarah L. and Edward E. Of this family, Elbridge G. and Edward
E. are now deceased.
Franklin Newhall received his
education in Conway, Massachusetts, and Lockport, New York. Up to the age of twenty-one
years he worked faithfully on his father's farm, beginning at about the age of five years
among the hills of Conway, afterwards at Lockport, New York. Being fond of outdoor work,
while tilling the soil he no doubt laid the foundation of his remarkable vitality.
In November, 1844, he came to
Chicago, whith�er his brother Harrison had preceded him. The latter was the pioneer fruit
merchant of the city, and Franklin joined him in this enterprise. He has conducted the
same line of business ever since, becoming eminently successful therein. In 1894 he
celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a Chicago business man, and is now practically
re�tired, leaving the management of the enterprise to his sons Benjamin and Sylvan, who
are still guided and influenced by their father's advice and counsel. Their present place
of business is No. 101 South Water Street, and is one of the leading establishments in the
West.
A few years after coming to
Chicago Mr. Newhall began business for himself, and has always been a well-known figure on
the streets of this city, and a landmark, so to speak, among its pio�neers. He is now the
oldest fruit dealer in the city. He began business on a small scale, but Chicago at that
time was the place for small be�ginnings, which grew to gigantic proportions. At first he
was the proprietor, bookkeeper and salesman, keeping only a man to watch the store in his
absence; but such was his devotion to business, that the dinner hour was often forgotten
and not thought of till evening.
Harrison Newhall brought the
first cargo of winter apples from Lockport, by way of Buffalo, to Chicago in 1842.
Previously apples had been brought to Chicago in immense wagons, called "prairie
schooners," most of them coming from Indiana and southern Illinois. The Great Fire
found Mr. Newhall's warehouses with a greater stock of fruits and broom corn than he had
ever carried before, and swept up all, leaving only the small sum which he realized from
insurance with which to con�tinue the business. He opened a store on West Randolph
Street, while the ruins of his former store were still smoking. His energy and
deter�mination were approved by his friends and cred�itors, and success was his from
this time onward. He has accumulated a competency, which now, in his ripe age, he fully
enjoys. His life and health are no doubt preserved by his outdoor exercise, which he
continues without intermission.
In his political affiliations Mr.
Newhall is a Republican. He was an active participant in the stirring scenes during the
Abolition days, and assisted in the freeing of many a slave, some of them being actually
under the jurisdiction and protection of the court. Allan Pinkerton was an active operator
of the "underground railroad," also the elder Blodgett family, including Judge
Henry W. Blodgett, and other noted families of the vicinity. The work of liberation was
always laborious, and often perilous, but its results are an everlasting monument to
freedom and America.
Mr. Newhall was married, November
12, 1850, to Miss Emma L., a daughter of William L. Whiting, a well-known character on the
Chicago Board of Trade. Mrs. Newhall was liberally educated at Montreal and in northern
New York. She was a remarkable conversationalist, and was admired by the best men and
women of her day. Horace Greeley was often a guest in her father's and her own family, and
very much enjoyed her society. She died March 24, 1861, aged thirty-nine years. She was a
member of the Sweden-borgian Church, in whose labors she was active. She was full of that
beautiful sympathy which manifested itself in a desire to be of use to all around her. Her
four children were named, re�spectively, Simeon Frank, Emma Beata, Benjamin and Sylvan.
Mr. Newhall has retired with his
daughter to the beautiful suburb of Glencoe, on the North Shore, where also his three sons
have beautiful homes on or near the famed Sheridan Road. He has been an active promoter of
this drive from its incipiency, and, in connection with Melville E. Stone, on the north
built on that drive the first fine macadam and gravel road within the village, a mile in
extent, including two bridges over the ravine. His ardent love of nature is especially
manifest in his marking the line of this drive through his property in North Glencoebending
around the hills and meandering through the valleys and ravines. This is his special
pride, but he finds it a warfare to prevent village governments and straight-line
engineers from spoiling it.
Submitted by Sherri Hessick on January 27, 2002
DISCLAIMER: The submitter is not related to the subject of this biography nor is she related to anyone mentioned in the biography.