Conecuh County AlArchives Biographies.....Newton, Charles A. January 27 1836 - living in 1893 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/al/alfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ann Anderson alabammygrammy@aol.com May 17, 2004, 10:24 am Author: Brant & Fuller (1893) PROF. CHARLES A. NEWTON is a New Englander, born in the town of Swanton, Vt., on the 27th day of January, 1836. His parents, S. W. and Charlotte A. (Smith) Newton, were also natives of Vermont, the father born in the year 1805. S. W. Newton was by occupation a mechanic and followed the trade of millwright for a number of years in his native state. He was a man of much more than ordinary powers of mind, liberally educated, and well informed upon all questions of the day. S. W., and Charlotte Newton were married about the year 1832, in Swanton, Vt., where they passed their lives and where their respective deaths occurred in the years 1888 and 1864. They reared a family of ten children: Arethusa, widow of Henry W. Stoudemyer, now of Oregon; Charles A.; George W., attorney-at-law, Bismarck, S. D.; Benjamin F., an Episcopal clergyman of St. Louis, Mo.; Jaspar P., physician at Ben-son, Vt.; Emily, wife of James O. Tebow, Elizabethtown, O.; Sanford H., druggist at Rouse's Point, N. Y.; Sarah, widow of Nelson Hungerford, Franklin county, Vt.; Cyrus G., an officer of the Vermont Central railroad, St. Alubans, Vt., and Walter, professor in an educational institution in New Jersey. Charles A. Newton, received a liberal education in his youth, and was educated in Vermont and New Hampshire. At the age of twenty-one, at the instance of an uncle, Rev. H. A. Smth, he came to Alabama and engaged in teaching in Monroe county, and for one year had charge of the school near Monroeville. He next taught in Montgomery county, thence returned to Monroe county, where he was actively engaged in educational work until the breaking out of the war. In 1861, he embarked in merchandising at Pensacola, Fla., but disposed of this business in a short time and entered the Confederate army, enlisting in the First Florida regiment, in which he served twelve months on the coast. At the expiration of his year's service, he engaged in school work at Belleville, where he taught three years, and at the end of that time, in 1863, again entered the service as member of the Fifteenth Confederate regiment, Alabama and Florida troops, with which he served until made a prisoner at Pine Barren creek, Fla., November 17, 1864. After his capture he was carried to Ship island, where he remained a prisoner until the cessation of hostilities. Returning home at the close of the war, he accepted a position in the Pineville school, Monroe county, where he was employed for three and a half years, and then became principal of the academy in Belleville, where he taught for a period of seventeen years. In 1874, in partnership with Sherman G. Forbes, under the firm name of Forbes & Newton, he engaged in mercantile business at Belleville, which he carried on in connection with his profession for some years. His partner dying in 1876, Mr. Newton became associated in the business with a son of Mr. Forbes, and the firm, thus constituted, continued until February, 1883, at which time it was dissolved and the present firm of C. A. Newton & Son formed. This is one of the well known firms of Belleville and its trade is large, the stock representing a capital of $4,000, and the annual sales amounting to from $10,000 to $12,000. Mr. Newton and son, in addition to their mercantile interests, own a tract of 1,500 acres of land, over 600 of which are under a successful state of cultivation, constituting one of the finest and best improved plantations of Conecuh county. Owing to the stringency of the cotton market, Mr. Newton in the last few years has dealt extensively in live stock, and upon his farm are to be seen some of the finest blooded horses and cattle in this part of the state. In 1874, Mr. Newton was elected superintendent of schools of Conecuh county, and still holds the position, the duties of which he has discharged in a manner highly creditable to himself and to the satisfaction of the general public. He was married in July, 1863, near Belleville, to Lucy C., daughter of Theophilus Ballard, and has a family of five children. The eldest, William H., is a partner with his father in the mercanitle business, farming, and stock raising. The second son, Earnest E., is a sub-professor in the university of Alabama, from which institution he graduated with the class of 1891. He is preparing for the law and expects to make that the profession his life work. The next child in order of birth is Nettie, wife of W.M. Carter, of Vincent, Ala. The two youngest children are Claude C., and Guy G., both of whom reside under the parental roof. Politically Mr. Newton is a democrat, and the Presbyterian church embodies his religious creed. In his professional career Mr. Newton has made a creditable record and his interest in behalf of education has been the means of lifting the schools of his adopted county to a very high plane of usefulness. He is a popular citizen, and his long connection with educational work has gained much more than a local reputation as a teacher. Additional Comments: from "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 717-719 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb