BIOGRAPHIES

Source:
Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio
including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton.
Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899.

* NELSON, Hugh * NEWBEGIN, Henry * NEWTON, Townsend * NEWTON, Charles H.   HUGH NELSON.  Doubtless many of our readers in tracing their ancestral lines to the point where uncertain tradition brings their researches to an early and unsatisfactory close, have realized the value to future generations of this attempt to preserve in substantial form the information yet obtainable concerning the genealogies of our citizens, together with such accounts of the men and women of to-day as will serve to continue the record for posterity's use.      The subject of this sketch, a well-known resident of Hicksville, Defiance county, is a descendant of an old Irish family, and his grandfather, John Nelson, came to this country from Ireland between the years 1780 and 1790, locating in Harrison county, Ohio, where he was one of the earliest pioneers. He died in Guernsey county, Ohio; his wife, Martha (Harper), died in Tuscarawas county, Ohio; leaving a family of seven children—six sons and one daughter.  Hugh Nelson, Sr., the father of our subject, was born in 1791 at the old homestead in Pennsylvania, and was married in Harrison county, Ohio, in 1817 to Mary Wilson, a native of Virginia. About the time of his marriage he bought a tract of government land in Rush township, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, consisting of two hundred and eighty acres covered with heavy timber and surrounded by almost unbroken wilderness. His first cabin was built upon an Indian trail, and the Redmen were his principal neighbors. He maintained friendly relations with them, and found them well-disposed toward him, although at times when he was away from home they amused themselves by frightening his wife and family, laughing heartily at the dismay their appearance caused. With the help of his sons he cleared two hundred acres of his land, making a fine homestead. In politics he was a Whig during the greater portion of his life, but he became identified with the Republican party at its organization. He was one of the leading men of his locality in his day, and held various township offices, including those of trustee and justice of the peace.      In his later years he did effective work as a local preacher in the Methodist Church, and from the first his home was open for the use of itinerant ministers for their services. In this connection an amusing story has been handed down. He was a very industrious man, finding time in the intervals of his farm labor to do considerable work as a blacksmith and shoemaker, and as there were no calendars in those days he made a mistake one Sunday and, thinking it Saturday, began to work upon a pair of shoes. Soon a company of neighbors arrived, all ready for the religious services appointed for the day, and he then discovered to his surprise and chagrin that he had been breaking the Sabbath. The implements of labor were laid aside amid painful embarrassment, and the services were held as usual.      His first wife died January 3, 1853, aged fifty-seven years, six months, and twenty-six days, and he afterward married Anna Vasbinder, who survived him, his death occurring February 25, 1861, at the homestead. His remains were interred beside those of his first wife in the burial ground at "Kennedy's meeting house." He had eleven children, all by his first marriage, and of these one died in infancy, unnamed. The others were Thomas (deceased), John, Jane, Samuel (deceased), William, Lavina (deceased). Hugh and Mary (twins), Eliza (deceased), and Elizabeth.      Our subject's birth occurred on May 8, 1831, and his youth was spent at the old home in Tuscarawas county. On September 5, 1850, he was married there to his first wife, Miss Lucinda Davis, and for two years he resided at the homestead, which he managed for his father. He then purchased eighty acres of the old farm, and remained there until September, 1861, when he removed to Newville township, De Kalb county, Indiana, and bought one hundred acres of unimproved land. This he brought under cultivation and, having erected a log house and frame barn, he made his home there until 1879. During this time he took an active part in local affairs, and was a leading spirit in the Republican organization, being chosen to various important offices in the township. For four years he served as justice of the peace, declining a re-nomination at the end of his term, and he also held the office of township trustee, and as such was given, by the laws of Indiana, full charge of all the finances and business affairs of the township, including the expenditures for educational purposes. In 1879 he removed to Hicksville, and after conducting a dry-goods and grocery business for some time he sold out and established a bakery, grocery, and restaurant, which he carried on successfully for seven years. In 1888 he retired from business.      Ever since his removal to Hicksville he has continued his effective work for the Republican party, and he has also been prominent in municipal affairs, being twice elected to the city council, in which at this writing (1897) he is a leading member. He is deeply interested in religious work, having been a member of the Methodist Church for forty-five years, and for three years past he has been a member of the official board of the Church at Hicksville, while for some time he held the office of steward in the Church in De Kalb county, Indiana. His sympathies are always on the side of progress, and he is an ardent friend to all undertakings which tend to the elevation of society. Since 1872 he has been an active worker in the Masonic fraternity, having been initiated at Newville, Indiana, and he now belongs to Hicksville Lodge, No. 478, at Hicksville, in which he has held nearly every official position.      Mr. Nelson has had six children, all by his first marriage, and his descendants now include three generations, as he has ten grandchildren and a great-grandchild, a boy named in his honor, Walter Hugh. Of his children, Ann married Walter M. Abel, of Concord township, De Kalb county, Indiana; Elizabeth is the wife of J. W. Wright, of Hicksville; John Fremont, a resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, married (first) Lavona Culler, and after her death wedded Nanny Eddy; Ella married W. C. Patterson, of St. Joseph, Indiana; Esther is the wife of S. A. Karn, of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Emma married Alton Otis, of Davisburg, Michigan, and died March 11, 1898. The mother of this family died August 10, 1887, her remains being interred in the cemetery at Hicksville. In November, 1888, Mr. Nelson married Mrs. Mary Budd, nee Murray, who died in October, 1889, leaving no children.      On November 4, 1891, he married Mrs. Lucina Lybarger, nee Wolfe, who was born near Mt. Vernon, Knox county, Ohio, the daughter of Isaac and Harriet (McVey) Wolfe. Her family has been identified with that locality for many years, and her grandfather, Peter Wolfe, a soldier of the war of 1812, settled there at an early day. He was of German descent, and was born in Pennsylvania, where he married Miss Nancy Richmond, who was of English ancestry. Mrs. Nelson now cherishes as an heirloom a tall, old-fashioned cabinet clock which once belonged to her grandfather, and has been in the family for more than eighty years. Her father was a prominent citizen of Knox county in his day, being extensively engaged in farming and banking interests, and at the time of his death he was president of the bank at Danville. Politically he was an old-line Democrat, and for many years he was active in religious work, being a member of the Disciple Church.      Mrs. Nelson was married in September, 1866, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, to her first husband, Martin H. Lybarger, and soon afterward they located in Carryall township, Paulding county, Ohio, where Mr. Lybarger engaged in farming and became prominent as a citizen, being an influential member of the local Democratic organization. He was identified with the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Lodge No. 478 at Hicksville. As a business man he displayed much ability and at his death, which occurred February 18, 1884, he left a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres. Of the two children of this marriage the elder, Guilford D. Lybarger, married Elizabeth Wentworth, and died at the age of twenty-three; his wife still survives him. He was a most promising young man, an agriculturist by occupation, and was an active member of the Masonic fraternity, Hicksville Lodge. His child, Luree, is also deceased. The younger son, Orley Lybarger, born in 1880, now resides in Hicksville with Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, in their pleasant home on High street, but conducts a photograph gallery in Auburn, Indiana. Mrs. Nelson, like her husband, belongs to the Methodist Church, and she takes an active interest in its work. Source:  Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton. - Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899 - Page 286   HENRY NEWBEGIN.  The legal profession in this section boasts many names made honor­able by long and brilliant service at the Bar, and the subject of this sketch, a well-known attorney of Defiance, is deserving of special mention in a volume which aims to preserve for future generations a record of the leading men of today.      On the paternal side our subject is descended from an old English family, and the first to settle in America was his great-grandfather, who crossed the Atlantic at an early day and located at Parsonsfield, York county, Maine, where his remaining years were spent. He died at a good old age, leaving two sons, George and Jonathan.      Jonathan Newbegin, our subject's grandfather, became a blacksmith by occupation, and in early manhood he settled at Pownal, Cumberland county, Maine. He married Polly Fickett, and had five children: John, George, William, Betsey, and Almira.      John Newbegin, the eldest son, made his home at Pownal, and became a prosperous farmer and blacksmith. During the war of 1812 he served as a soldier, and was stationed for three months at Portland, Maine, when that city was threatened by a British fleet. After his death, which occurred in  1848, at the age of fifty-six, his widow was granted 160 acres of government land in recognition of his services. Mrs. Newbegin, whose maiden name was Asenath Knight, survived her husband many years, and died in 1873 in her eighty-third year, at the home of her son, John, at Gray Corner, Cumberland county, Maine. There were six children, whose names are as follows: John, David, Jeremiah, Charles, Henry (our subject), and Josebph. As both parents were devout members of the Methodist Church, the family was reared in that faith.      The subject of our sketch was born May 2, 1833, at Pownal, Maine, and grew to manhood on the old farm. After attending the local schools for a time he entered North Yarmouth Academy, and later he prepared for college at Yarmouth Institute. In 1853, at the age of twenty, he entered Bowdoin College, where he took a full course, graduating in 1857. The College gave him the degree of A. M. in i860. In 1858 he came to Ohio, and for four years he was superintendent and principal of the public schools of Bryan, where he organized the union or graded-school system, now in operation. In the meantime he read law, and in the fall of 1862 he spent three months in the law school at Albany, New York. On December 2, 1862, he passed the examination before the Ohio Supreme Court, at Columbus, and was admitted to the Bar. He immediately opened an office at Defiance, and has ever since been engaged in general practice, meeting with marked success. For some time he has given especial attention to railroad and corporation law, having been special attorney for the Wabash road since 1868, and general counsel for the Baltimore and Ohio road from 1877 to 1889, his duties at first covering the interests of that line in northern Ohio, but were extended later to all parts of Indiana, as well. In 1889 he resigned his position with the Baltimore and Ohio road; but at times he has done special work for the company. Since 1868 he has been commissioner for the United States court for the Northern District of Ohio, but he has never sought or held any office which was not connected with his profession. Having been reared under Democratic influences, he was naturally inclined to that party in his early years; but at the time of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise he began to favor the movement which resulted in the organization of the Republican party, and from 1858 to 1870 he acted with that party. In 1872 he was a member of the National Liberal Republican Convention at Cincinnati, but since that time he has given his support to the Democratic party on all national issues, although he votes independently on questions relating to State and local affairs. He takes keen interest in all progressive movements, educational, social, and political, and since 1886 he has been a member of the board of overseers of Bowdoin College.      On February 18, 1858, Mr. Newbegin was married to Mrs. Priscilla Alexander, of Richmond, Maine, who died at Defiance, in November, 1864; they had no children. On October 23, 1867, he was married (a second time) at Cumberland, Maine, to Miss Ellen T. Sturdivant, daughter of Captain Ephraim Sturdivant, a prominent resident of that place, who was for many years actively identified with shipping interests. Of the three children of this union, the eldest, Parker Cleaveland, born May 19, 1869, was graduated in 1891 from Bowdoin College, and now resides at Patten, Maine, where he is superintendent of a small railroad and engineer in charge of its extension.  Edward Henry, born November 25, 1870, also graduated from Bowdoin College in 1891, and is now an Episcopal minister at Ayer. Massachusetts. Robert, born August 5, 1874, completed his course at Bowdoin in 1896, and after studying law with his father graduated at Boston University Law School, with the degree of LL. B., in 1898.      The family is prominent socially, and Mr. Newbegin has kept up his acquaintance with his old associates in the East, as he has made his home at Cumberland, Maine, nearly every summer since 1878. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, having taken all the degrees in regular course up to and including that of Knight Templar; and for many years he attended the sessions of the Grand Masonic bodies of Ohio, taking an active part in the work of each. Source:  Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton. - Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899 - Page 178 Minnie Newton C. H. Newton CHARLES H. NEWTON.  This prominent dairyman and farmer of Defiance township, Defiance county, was born Aug. 20, 1856, in Potsdam, New York, a son of Townsend and Caroline (Brown) Newton.  In their family were six children, as follows:  Ella and Mary, both deceased; William; Charles H.; Helen; and Hattie, also deceased.  The mother was called to her final rest in March 1872, while living in Paulding county, Ohio.      When about six years old Charles H. Newton was brought by his parents to Ohio, and after living for a year in Defiance township, Defiance county, he removed to Paulding county, where the following twelve years were passed.  He then returned to Defiance township, and here has since made his home.  He acquired a good, practical education in the public schools of this State, and was reared to habits of thrift and industry, early becoming familiar with the duties which fall to the lot of the agriculturist.  Since starting out in life for himself he has successfully engaged in farming, and is now the owner of Riverside Dairy Farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty-two acres of rich and arable land, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation.  The well-tilled fields and neat and thrifty appearance of the place, plainly indicate the progressive spirit of the owner.      In Paulding county, Mr. Newton was married Mar. 13, 1879, to Miss Minnie McCaskey, and they have two children:  Lloyd and Rudy.  Mr. Newton has ever taken an active part in all matters of interest to his community, and is a stanch supporter of such measures as he believes will prove of public benefit.  In politics he is a Democrat.  In the Methodist Episcopal Church he and his wife hold membership, and in its work they take an active and prominent part.      MRS. NEWTON was born Dec. 8, 1852, in Fulton county, Ohio, where she was educated.  She is a daughter of M. O. and Jane (Martin) McCaskey, the former of whom was born in Wooster, Ohio, in 1827, the latter in England in 1830, whence she came to this country when fourteen years of age.  Matthew McCaskey, grandfather of Mrs. Newton, was born in 1804, near Cincinnati, Ohio, married Lucina Nixson, and by her had a family of seven children, four of whom are yet living.  Robert Martin, maternal grandfather of Mrs. Newton, was born in Leamington, England, in 1801, was married in that country to Susan Hoodless, and all their children three in number, were born there, Mrs. Newton's mother being now the only survivor. Source:  Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton. - Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899 - Page 550   TOWNSEND NEWTON.  This highly esteemed resident of Defiance, has been for many years identified prominently with the agricultural interests of that locality, but has now retired from active business in order to enjoy the competence acquired by his past years of toil.      Mr. Newton was born August 9, 1826, at Willsboro, Essex county, New York, a son of William and Laura (Moore) Newton. His father, who was a native of Coldstream, Scotland, died in 1849, in Ellenburg, Clinton county. New York, and his mother, who was born in Essex county. New York, died in 1871, in Defiance, Ohio. Our subject was the third in a family of seven children—four sons and three daughters—and was reared to farm life in his native county. By the time he reached the age of seven­teen he was familiar with the details of the "bloomer" trade, and this he followed for some time in Essex and Clinton counties, removing to the latter locality at the age of nineteen. Later he purchased a farm in St. Lawrence county, New York, and after residing there twelve years he sold out and bought a farm at Fort Ann, Washington county, in the same State. Two years later, in October, 1862, he came to Defiance to spend the winter, and in the following spring he purchased his former homestead in the southwestern part of Defiance township, where the greater portion of his time has since been passed. In 1863, he removed temporarily to Paulding county, Ohio, and was employed as foreman for twelve years by Evans & Rodgers, but on returning to his farm he devoted his attention to agricultural pur­suits exclusively. Since September, 1892, he made his home in Defiance, having disposed of all his land with the exception of eighty acres, and he now occupies a pleasant residence in the village.      Socially he and his family are prominent, and he is an active member of the F. and A. M. at Defiance. He also takes much interest in religious work as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he has never failed to show sympathy with all forms of progress in his community. As a good citizen he is interested in the political questions of the day, but he is not active as a politician, and when elected county commissioner he resigned the office at the end of two years of service.      On September 26, 1849, Mr. Newton was married at Fort Ann, New York, to his first wife, Miss Caroline E. Brown, a native of that town, who died March 25, 1871, in Crane township, Paulding county, Ohio. On April 2, 1872, he formed a second matrimonial union, this time with Mrs. Jane (Winters) Dickey, widow of James Dickey, and daughter of Isaiah Winters, a native of Jefferson county, Ohio, who died in Hardin county, this State, in 1856. The Winters family settled in Jefferson county at an early day, being identified with the locality for many years, and Mrs. Newton's birth occurred there July 24, 1831. Mr. Newton has had six children, all by the first marriage: Ella, formerly the wife of William Freese, died in Paulding county; Mary, who married George Freese, also died in Paulding county; William E. and Charles H. are well-known agriculturists of Defiance township, Defiance county; Helen married George Cromley; and Har­riet, formerly the wife of Houston Hanna, died in Mark township, Defiance county. Source:  Commemorative Biographical Records of Northwestern Ohio including the counties of Defiance, Henry, Williams & Fulton. - Published at Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co. 1899 - Page 556

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