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DANIEL NEWTON (1816 - AFT 1873) By Myron L. Newton, Jr (ver 2007
Daniel Newton was the seventh child born to Reuben Newton and Eunice Manley. He was born May 13, 1816 while his parents and siblings resided in the Town of Marcellus, Onondaga County, New York. Daniel was accounted for in the 1820 U.S. Census for that Town. Around 1823 he moved with his family to the Town of Mansfield, Cattaraugus County, New York where they were enumerated in the 1830 U.S. Census. Daniel married Lavina Brown, the daughter of Ephraim and Phoebe Soper Brown. Later documents show that she was often called Lovina. She was born in 1818 and was the first white child born in the Town of Otto, Cattaraugus County, New York. Her parents moved from Cortland County, New York and settled on lot five in the Town of Otto in 1818. The Ephraim Brown family was enumerated in the Town of Perrysburg per the 1820 U.S. New York Census. The Town of Otto was formed from Perrysburg in 1823. The 1830 U.S. New York Census for Cattaraugus County, Town of Otto recorded a female who fit Lovina’s age in the household of her widowed mother, Phoebe. Daniel and Lovina were probably married in the mid to late 1830’s. The 1840 U.S. New York Census, which recorded only names for the head-of-households, found Daniel still in the Town of Mansfield. The only female in the household was tabulated in the age 30 to 40 column which is incorrect for Lovina. One male child under the age of five was included in the census and Daniel’s occupation was listed as being in manufacturing or the trades. The young child was George, who was born in late 1839 or early 1840. Sometime after the birth of their second child in 1842 the family left New York and traveled westward. The Newton family was found in the 1850 U.S. Illinois Census for DeKalb County, Pampas Township. Daniel, age 34, was a carpenter and Lovina was age 30. They had three children. George, age 10, and Ellen, age eight, were both born in New York. Philo, age two, was born in Illinois, suggesting that Daniel and Lovina arrived in Illinois prior to 1848. The 1860 U.S. Illinois Census found the Daniel Newton family still in DeKalb County, but now living in Sycamore Township. Daniel was age 43 and Lovina was enumerated at a generous 37 years-of-age. They had three children in their household. Ellen was eighteen years of age, Philo was age 11, and Marvin was one month old. Daniel’s oldest son, George, who would have been around age 20, was no longer part of the household. He may have been the 21 year-old farm laborer who resided with the Miles Reed family in Lee County, Illinois. A researcher of Lovina’s Newton’s (Brown) family indicated that eight children were born to Daniel and Lovina Newton. Four of the children; George, Ellen, Marvin and Philo have been found in U.S. Census records. Delina Newton, although never found in any censuses, wrote letters from Erie County, Ohio to Lovina’s nephew Ephraim E. Brown in Michigan. A “Loisa” was mentioned in an undated letter written by Daniel while living in Grandville, Michigan but no last name was indicated. The Ephraim E. Brown in Michigan was the grandson of Ephraim E. Brown of New York, Lovina’s father.
The children of Daniel and Lovina Brown Newton:
Further information on these children are provided later in this document.
Daniel and Lovina Newton, along with their son, Marvin, were found in the 1870 U.S. Michigan Census for Kent County, Wyoming Township. Daniel was working as a “cooper” and he was 54 years old. Lovina was age 50 and Marvin was 10 years old. Daniel probably lived in a number of places in the Kent County area of Michigan. For a time he was engaged in a logging operation near the Rouge River in northern Kent County. Ephraim Brown, Lovina Newton’s nephew, indicated in a letter that he lived with Daniel in Englishville after the Civil War. Englishville was a small village a few miles due east of present day Rockford. It is possible that Lovina remained in the Grand Rapids area when Daniel was logging, a job that predominantly took place during the winter months since snow was needed to sled the downed trees out of the woods. Lovina Brown Newton died of consumption in the City of Grandville, Kent County, Michigan on December 17, 1873. Her death certificate, with her name spelled Lavina, listed her age at 55 years, 7 months and 6 days. This would make her birth date May 11, 1818. Her death certificate confirmed that her parents were Ephraim and Phebe (sic) Brown and that she had been born in New York State. Ephraim Brown, Lovina’s nephew, wrote a letter to his mother, dated January 5, 1874, that mentioned Lovina’s death occurring near the end of November. He also said that because of Lovina’s death, her son Philo had to go home and live with “Uncle Daniel” (Daniel Newton) and “Aunt Louisa”. It is unknown who Aunt Louisa was. It is unknown if Lovina was buried in Michigan or New York. To date, no burial or cemetery record has been found for her. Lovina’s parents, Ephraim and Pheobe Brown, are buried in the Barber Cemetery in the Town of Otto, Cattaraugus County, New York. Inscribed below their names on the tombstone is “LOVINA, THEIR DAUGHTER, FIRST BORN WHITE GIRL IN TOWN OF OTTO”. No dates are listed with Lovina’s inscription. The 1876 Plat Map for Algoma Township, Kent County indicated that a “D. Newton” owned land in Section 31. His land was near the southwest corner of the Township and extended northward from present day 10 Mile Road to the Rouge River. The 1894 Plat Map for the same area no longer contained Daniel’s name. Further research of Kent County land records may define the exact dates when Daniel owned land in that area. Ephraim E. Brown owned land in northern Plainfield Township per the 1876 map and was a landowner in Plainfield and Algoma Townships according to the in the 1894 maps. Ephraim E. Brown and his wife, Matilda, appeared in the 1880 U.S. Michigan Census for Plainfield Township, Kent County where he was farming. Plainfield Township is directly south of Algoma Township. Ephraim is buried in Plainfield Township’s Englishville Cemetery which is just south of the Plainfield – Algoma Township line. Neither Daniel nor any of his children were found living in the area per the 1880 U.S. Census, but Ephraim and Matilda Brown were found in the 1870 and 1900 U.S. Censuses for the Englishville location. No information has been found about Daniel since 1876 when his name appeared in the 1876 Plainfield Township Plat Map and it is unknown how long he lived after that date. He would have been about 60 at that time so it is possible he did not live much longer. It is questionable if he died in Michigan since Daniel did not appear in the online GENDIS Michigan death index (1867 – 1897), but that index is not a complete listing of all deaths. Daniel may have left Michigan with his son, George, who moved to Kansas between 1875 and 1880, or he possibly could have returned to Illinois where his daughter, Ellen, resided. It is also believed that Daniel had a daughter, Delina, who lived in northwestern Pennsylvania so it is possible that more information may be found on him in that area.
The children of Daniel and Lovina Newton
George Newton
George Newton and Martha A. Buxton Bement were both residents of Wyoming Township when they married in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 10, 1865. This was the second marriage for Martha and she had one child at the time. She was age 22 and George was age 26. Martha’s son became part of the Newton household and the couple had two children of their own while still residents of Michigan. Sometime between 1875 and 1880 the family of five moved to Kansas. George and his descendants are covered in more depth in a separate biography.
Ellen Newton Minium
Ellen Newton married George Henry Minium in Illinois. Ellen and her descendants are covered in a separate biography.
Philo Newton
Philo Newton, at age 11, lived with his parents in the 1860 U.S. Illinois Census for DeKalb County, Sycamore Township. A letter by Ephraim Brown written in February 1868 noted that Philo was working at the “finery”. This finery, or factory, was probably in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area. Philo’s parents, where mentioned in the letter and referred to as “Uncle Daniel and Aunt Lovina”. A best guess is that Daniel, Lovina and Philo were all living the Kent County, Michigan area in 1868. This letter was written when Ephraim was in Blendon, Ottawa County, Michigan. Blendon Township is about 10 miles west of Grand Rapids. Ephraim Brown mentioned Philo in another letter which was dated January 5, 1874 and was written in Kent (probably meaning Kent County), Michigan. Ephraim noted that Philo was going to go home and live with Uncle Daniel (Philo’s father) and Aunt Louisa since Aunt Lovina (Philo’s mother) died. It is suspected that Philo was living near Ephraim’s farm in northern Kent County at this time. Where his father, Daniel, lived at this time is unknown but Daniel’s wife, Lovina, died in Grandville, Michigan in 1873. No conclusive information has been found concerning Philo since the above mentioned letters that placed him in Kent County, Michigan as late as 1874. A person named P.L Newton is buried in Section 1A – 106 of the Grandville Cemetery in Wyoming Township, Kent County, Michigan. Also buried with him are C.W. Newton and Harry Newton. They are buried in graves 1NE, 2NE and 3NE but their stones are covered with grass. No original cemetery records exist on these burials and the records on file at the cemetery office were taken from the grave stones. P.L. Newton died on December 23, 1882 (or possibly 1889) and was born August 14, 1850. This date of birth is about two years different from Philo’s birth year using census information. C. W. Newton died in 1879 and Harry died in 1900. The cemetery records have “(19)” prior to Harry’s year of death and this may have been his age. It is only speculation but C.W. may have been the wife of P.L. Newton and Harry may have been a son. A search of death and marriage records at both the Kent County Courthouse and the Ottawa County Courthouse failed to produce any information on the above persons. Even with the above information, it is still unclear whether P.L. Newton is actually Philo Newton, the son of Daniel, but the lack of finding any other Newton that could be Philo suggests that P.L. and Philo may have been the same person.
Marvin Newton
Marvin Newton, age 21, was found in the 1880 U.S. Michigan Census for Kent County, Grand Rapids City. He was living as a boarder at 27 Tolford Street and was employed as a cooper. He has not been found in later censuses. Tolford Street no longer exists but was in the general area of the present day intersection of Butterworth Street and Front Street.
Delina Newton
Delina Newton was the author of at least two letters written to her cousin, Ephraim Brown, of Kent County, Michigan. One was probably written around 1865 and the other dated October 1868. Both were sent from North East (Erie County), Pennsylvania.
Lucinda Newton Pamelia Newton
The 1860 U.S. New York Census for Cattaraugus County, Town New Albion enumerated a Lucinda Newton, age 11, and a Delina Newton, age 9, living in the household of Eunice Wood. Unfortunately, it would seem that these two girls are probably not the daughters of Daniel since four other younger Newton children are enumerated with the two girls and not of them have given names that would tie into the Daniel Newton family. A Pamelia Newton appears in an online index to the “History of Grand Rapids” (page 623, published 1891) but this document has not been viewed. No firm information has been found on either of these two persons.
Louisa Newton
No information has been found on this person.
References:
Correspondence, photographs and Newton letters from P. Hudek, January 2004
Potes Family Tree at Rootsweb.com: http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=potesmich&id=I2871
Lavina Newton Death Certificate. Kent County (Michigan) Records. Book 1, p. 135 Lovina Newton, online GENDIS Michigan Death Records at: http://www.mdch.state.mi.us/gendisx/
Kent County Marriages. George Newton and Martha A. Bement; married 10 Sep 1865. Book 1, pg 133.
Search of Kent County and Ottawa County Deaths and Marriages for P.L, C.W. and Harry Newton; May 2007.
Grandville Cemetery, Grandville, Michigan. Graves of P.L., C.W. and Harry Newton. N42 54.337, W085 45.181.
Kent County Township Plat Maps online at: https://sites.rootsweb.com/~mikent/platmaps/
1820 U.S. New York Census, Onondaga County, Town of Marcellus 1820 U.S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Mansfield 1830 U.S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Mansfield 1840 U.S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Mansfield 1850 U.S. Illinois Census, DeKalb County, Pampas Township 1860 U.S. Illinois Census, DeKalb County, Sycamore Township, p. 33 1870 U.S. Michigan Census, Kent County, Wyoming Township 1880 U.S. Michigan Census, Kent County, Grand Rapids, Dist 151, p. 22 1880 U.S. Michigan Census, Kent County, Plainfield Township, p. 27
Myron L. Newton, Jr June 2007
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