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Isom H. Newby Biography

This biography appears on pages 788-791 in "History of Dakota Territory" by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, [email protected].

HON. ISOM H. NEWBY.

Activity along public lines has won for Hon. Isom H. Newby the high reputation which he bears as a public-spirited citizen and one whose efforts have been of far reaching effect and benefit. Moreover, in business circles he has achieved success, accomplishing what he has undertaken by reason of his well formulated plans and his force of character.

He was born at Fort Madison, Lee county, Iowa, June 10, 1853, and is a son of I. H. and Catharine (Hoskins) Newby, the former a native of Indiana and the latter of Ohio.

The paternal grandfather, Gabriel Newby, arrived in Lee county, Iowa, in 1842, removing to that state from Indiana. He was of English lineage, while his wife, Rebecca (Harvey) Newby was of Scotch descent, representing a family that removed from Ohio to Indiana then Iowa in pioneer times.

I H. Newby, Sr., engaged in general merchandising in Iowa and both he and his wife spent their remaining days in Lee county, with the interests of which he was closely identified from pioneer times, contributing much to the work of general development and progress as the years passed. In the family were three children: Rebecca J., the deceased wife of Luther McNeil; Albert G., who removed to Finley, Turner County, South Dakota, a year prior to his brother, Isom and passed away here; and youngest son, Isom, of this review.

In taking up the personal history of our subject we present to our readers one who is widely and favorably known. His boyhood and youth were spent in Iowa unmarked by any event of special importance but after he attained his majority he started out in the world on his own account, making his way to Turner county, South Dakota, in March, 1874.

He has since resided in this part of the state. He first homesteaded land near Parker, his place being about four miles southeast of the town and there he tilled and developed the soil until he took up his abode in Parker in February, 1882.

For 27 years he has engaged in the live-stock business, buying and shipping stock and also feeding to some extent. For the past 16 years he has shipped over 100 carloads of stock annually and he pays out more than $ 10,000 per month for stock. In 1912 he shipped 77 carloads of hogs and enough cattle and sheep to make more than 100 carloads. His business has thus been conducted on an extensive scale and he has reaped the rich results of his labor. In business affairs his judgment is sound, his industry unfaltering and his enterprise is of an aggressive character productive of good results.

In politics Mr. Newby is widely known. He was active in Democratic circles until 1896 and since that time has been a progressive Republican. It is well known that he stands fearlessly by his honest convictions and never deviates from a course which he believes to be right.

He was elected sheriff of Turner County in November, 1882, on the Democratic ticket, although there was a normal Republican majority in the county of fourteen hundred. He was re-elected in 1885 and again in 1887, serving in all for six years. He was elected county commissioner on the republican ticket, filling the office for one term of three years and was chairman of the board for two years.

In 1891 he was elected to the state senate and while serving in the general assembly gave careful consideration to each question which came up for settlement. He has been for four terms, or eight years, Mayor of Parker and has given to the city a businesslike and progressive administration, characterized by many needed reforms and improvements. He has also been a member of the school board for eleven years and the cause of education has found in him a stalwart champion. In 1914 he was elected treasurer of Turner county, in which office he is now serving. Thus along many lines of public service his loyalty has been demonstrated and his ability proven.

On the 27th of December, 1877, Mr. Newby was united in marriage to Miss Libbie A. Harrington, who was born in Lee County, Iowa, in 1857and attended the same district school with her husband. She is a daughter of John and Elizabeth (McNeill) Harrington, early settlers of Iowa, to which state they removed from Ohio. The father was a native of New York. Both the parents spent their last days in Lee county, Iowa, and it was to that county that Mr. Newby returned for his bride. To them has been born one son, Harley D., whose birth occurred November 12, 1885. He is a graduate of the high school of Parker, won the Bachelor of Arts degree upon graduation from the State University of
South Dakota and afterward entered Rush Medical College of Chicago, from which he was graduated in June, 1911. He spent eighteen months as intern in the Cook County Hospital and has since practiced in Parker. He stood first in a competitive class of seventy, in the medical college, who took the examination for interne in the Cook County Hospital and he was number three in the entire competing class of one hundred and forty, representing the different medical schools of the state.

Mr. and Mrs. Newby hold membership in the Baptist church in the work of which they take an active and helpful part. He is chairman of the board of trustees, has assisted largely in all departments of church work and was superintendent of the Sunday-school curing six years of his service as county sheriff, during which period he was absent only three times. He served altogether as Sunday-school superintendent for many years and has been a most active factor in promoting the religious education of the young. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and he is connected with various fraternal insurance orders. His has indeed been a busy and useful life and he is a prominent factor in business circles, in political activity and moral progress in his community.

Isom is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Parker.

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