Braxton County, West Virginia Biography of John NEWLON This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 287 JOHN NEWLON. It is not given to all individuals to suc- ceed along more than one line of work. Some achieve suc- cess in the learned professions, others find their life work in military or civic affairs, still others find themselves best suited to the directing of big business enterprises. In the business field alone there are comparatively few men who make an equal success out of more than one line of endeavor, but unusual as it is this has been the experience of John Newlon, of Sutton, who in addition to being general manager, secretary and treasurer of the Sutton Grocery and Milling Company, Incorporated, is an extensive trader in land in Braxton and Webster counties. His success in both lines has been all his own, for he has climbed every step up the ladder of advancement, through hard work and intelligent application of his business gifts. Mr. Newlon was born on a farm near Sutton, in Braxton County, January 13, 1877, and is a son of Camden and Dora (Sumpter) Newlon. Camden Newlon was born near Sut- ton, in July, 1850, and after receiving a common school education became an attendant at the State Hospital at Weston, West Virginia, where he met, and later married, another attendant, Dora Sumpter, who was born in July, 1852, in Gilmer County, West Virginia. After their mar- riage they settled on a farm near Flatwoods, where they spent the rest of their lives, Mr. Newlon dying in July, 1903, and Mrs. Newlon two years later. He was a democrat in politics, and she a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. They were the parents of eleven children: William, a bridge carpenter employed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railway; John, of this notice; Lulu, the wife of John Skidmore; Bertie, the wife of C. B. Eakle; Charles N. and A. C., residents of Ashtabula, Ohio; Mabel, the wife of Ward Huffman; Anna, the wife of Fred Lorentz; and G. R., Draper and Henry, all of Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The education of John Newlon was not of an extensive character, for at the age of thirteen years he left the country schoolrooms to commence to make his own way in the world. At that time he went to Weston, where he se- cured employment in the drug store of which his uncle was proprietor, and following this was variously employed, ac- cepting such honorable work as fell to his lot until he was twenty-one years of age. He was then made deputy county clerk, a capacity in which he served for four years, then joining the Sutton Bank as assistant cashier and later be- ing promoted to cashier. In 1910 he joined the wholesale grocery and milling concern operating as the Sutton Gro- cery and Milling Company, of which he is at present gen- eral manager, secretary and treasurer. His fellow officials in this enterprise are: W. F. Morrison, president; P. B. Adams, vice president; and the above gentlemen, with C. C. Hines, G. P. Gillispie and Will Fisher, directors. This is a large and successful concern, with a trade extending over a radius of many miles, and much of its success can be accredited to the efforts and ability of Mr. Newlon, who is known as an aggressive business man and who has the full confidence of his associates. As before noted, in ad- dition to his connection with this company Mr. Newlon has been for some years a heavy trader in land, and at present holds about 1,100 acres in Webster and Braxton counties. Mr. Newlon is a democrat in his political tend- encies, but save for a short time in his youth has never found time to engage actively in political affairs, his busi- ness interests taking all of his attention. He is at the pres- ent time a member of the State Committee. He belongs to Sutton Lodge No. 76, A. F. and A. M.; Sutton Chapter No. 21, R. A. M.; Sutton Commandery No. 8, K. T., and to the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is a past master, a past high priest and a past eminent commander. With his family he belongs to the Presbyterian Church. In 1903 Mr. Newlon was united in marriage with Miss Mamie Bryne, a high school graduate, and they have had five daughters: Elsie, who is deceased, Frances, a gradu- ate of the Sutton High School, and Dora, Mary B. and Margaret.