Clay Co., KS AHGP-Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties-William B. Driscoll
Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington, Clay and Riley Counties Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1890
JOHN NEWTON. Those who can boast of
a pioneership on the Kansas frontier, have
had an experience which their descendants
will never realize, at least in this State, and
the fact that it has grown to be one of the most
prosperous commonwealths west of the Mississippi
is due to the character of the men who first settled
within its borders. Among them the subject of
this sketch stands prominently as having possessed
those qualities most needed in the development of
the new country to which he came in his prime,
and whose prosperity he has watched with the interest
only felt by the most worthy of her adopted
sons.
The career of Mr. Newton may be briefly sketched
as follows: He was born in Morgan County, Ohio,
Jan. 8, 1817, and spent his early years upon a farm.
His father, Nathan Newton, was a native of New
York State, and during his early manhood emigrated
to the wilds of Ohio, settling in the forest
from which he hewed out a farm. He married
Miss Catherine Keith, a native of Pennsylvania,
who proved a most faithful and efficient helpmate,
assisting her husband during his toils and struggles,
and upholding him in his worthy ambitions. By
their united efforts, they constructed a comfortable
home, and reared a family of eight sons and one
daughter. They spent their last days there, dying
in the faith of the Presbyterian Church, of which
they had been devoted members for many years.
There are only four survivors of the children
above-mentioned, of whom John Newton was the
second in order of birth. He studied his first lessons
in a log schoolhouse, in the Buckeye State,
this building being finished with a puncheon floor
and window panes of greased paper. A large fireplace
extended nearly across one end of the building,
and a chimney was built outside of earth and
sticks. The seats were likewise made of puncheon,
supported by rude wooden pegs. The system of
instruction corresponded with the style of the temple
of learning, but amid those scenes and surroundings
young Newton developed into a vigorous and
healthful manhood, trained to habits of industry
and imbued with sentiments of honor.
In Ohio, Feb. 2, 1852, John Newton was united
in marriage with Miss Esther, daughter of Phillip
and Susannah Kepple, and who was a native of
Pennsylvania. Soon afterward Mr. Newton purchased
forty acres of timber land, to which he later
added forty more, and cleared the whole, making a
good farm. Here his eight children were born,
being named respectively : Mary A., Julia A.. Margaret
J., Benjamin F; John C. and Catherine (both
deceased); Oreal W. and Henry O.
Continuing to live in Ohio until 1862, Mr. Newton
then decided upon a change of location, and
set out with his family overland by wagon to De
Kalb County, III. He purchased a farm, and lived
there until 1870, then selling out, he came to Clay
County, Kan., and homesteaded 160 acres of land
in Goshen Township, this now being occupied by
his sons�Benjamin F. and Henry O. He sojourned
there until the spring of 1886, then retiring from
active labor, removed to Washington County.
There Mrs. Newton departed this life, May 21,
1888, at the age of seventy-three years. She was a
lady of many excellent qualities, and a member in
good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Mr. Newton now makes his home with his son Benjamin
on the old farm.
Benjamin F. Newton was born Dec. 7, 1846, and
was married, in Boone County, Ill., to Miss Sarah
J., daughter of Henry and Esther (Carpenter) Rote,
and a native of Pennsylvania, as were also her parents.
The latter removed to Illinois in 1856,
where the mother died, in October 1886, after a
residence of thirty years in Boone and DeKalb
counties. Mr. Rote still resides in Boone County.
In 1880, Benjamin Newton entered the ministry of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, with which he
has since been connected, and still preaches occasionally.
He preached one year for the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, of the General Synod at Barnes,
in Washington County. He was principally instrumental
in the organization of the Fact Circuit,
which now embraces a membership of over 200.
He has been a zealous worker in the Master's vineyard,
and he also took part in the organization of
the order of Good Templars having their lodge at
Dimond.
When John Newton came to Kansas, Goshen
Township was largely a wild prairie, with animals
in abundance, including deer, wolves and a large
number of antelopes, besides jack rabbits and prairie
chickens. The wolves frequently made night
hideous with their howling, coming close to the
dwelling. The family first lived in a dugout with a
hay roof, and the nearest market was at the infant
towns of Clay Centre and Waterville.