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, mkrueger@iw.net.

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				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, G. 
A. Newby, arrived in Lee county, Iowa, in 1835, removing to that state 
from Indiana. He was of English lineage, while his wife was of Scotch 
descent, representing a family that removed from Ohio to 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 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 twenty-seven 
years he has engaged in the live-stock business, buying and shipping 
stock and also feeding to some extent. For the past sixteen years he 
has shipped over one hundred carloads of stock annually and he pays out 
more than ten thousand dollars per month for stock. In 1912 he shipped 
seventy-seven carloads of hogs and enough cattle and sheep to make more 
than one hundred 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 1857 
and 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 
interne 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.