John Bentley Newell Bio. Hancock County, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ********************************************************************** Submitted by Valerie Crook The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 225-226 Hancock County JOHN BENTLEY NEWELL. The influence exerted by the deeds of those who never seek publicity, but who are ever ready to do their part in the world's work for civili- zation and progress, is a very potent one. Transitory success comes to some who disregard the principles of honor and morality, but once they are removed from their scene of action the lack of merit in their work is soon realized, and their names are used but to illus- trate the uselessness of their manner of living. The man who is remembered is the one who puts self last; who endeavors to give to others a little more than the treat- ment he wants for himself, and who is willing to make some sacrifice for the good of his fellow-men. Such a man can be depended upon and his life is a benefit to the community. Judged by these standards, the late John Bentley Newell, of Newell, West Virginia, measured up to the highest ideals of good citizenship, and although a num- ber of years have passed since he was called to his final rest, he lives in the memory of his friends as the highest type of manhood. John Bentley Newell was born April 12, 1839, at the old mill on Tomlinson's Run, in Hancock County, West Virginia, a son of John and Lydia Ann (Edie) Newell. John Newell, father of John B. Newell, was born near Burgettstown, Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1796, a son of Hugh Newell who with his brother had removed to Vance's Fort soon after the close of the Revolutionary war. Hugh Newell built one of the first brick houses in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and John Newell built the first house of brick at Pughtown in Hancock County, an old residence that is still standing. He also owned a tannery, which he operated for some years, even after he had secured what later became known as the Hart- ford Flour Mill, on Tomlinson's Run, about four miles from the Ohio. He built flatboats, which he ran down the Ohio River to New Orleans, carrying flour and leather, and would then walk back to his home. About 1850 he sold the mill to a man named Hartford and located on the present Newell farm, to which he brought his wife, who had been Lydia Ann Edie, of Fairview. This farm was a part of the Greathouse tract or grant, and the old deed to Greathouse is still held by the Newell family. The original settler, named Greathouse, whose cabin was on the left bank of Tub Mill Run; at the entrance to the Ohio (the cellar being still visible), was killed by an Indian floating down the river in a canoe. The place is now included in the village of Newell. W. F. Lloyd, a steel manufacturer of Pittsburgh, bought parts of four farms, that of Newell, Wells, McDonald and Moore, but sold out some twenty years later to the North American Manufacturing Company, who really started the town, the first step being to erect a bridge from East Liver- pool. The farm extended to the Ohio and reached back as far as the hill, which is some 500 feet above the river level. The pottery, of course, was down by the flat on the river. The farm had formerly been occupied and rented by Alexander Edie, the brother of Lydia Ann (Edie) Newell, and was purchased by John Newell from a Mr. Glass and others. It contained 320 acres, on which Mr. Newell made many improvements, including a brick residence. He built his pottery on the site of the present station at Newell, on the right bank of Tub Mill Run, the first pottery on the West Virginia side of the river, and in his two-kiln plant, with its thirty or forty em- ployes, manufactured a creditable article of yellow-ware. John Newell died in 1884, when eighty-eight years of age. He married Lydia Ann Edie in 1826, and she died in 1844, the mother of seven children: Hugh, a sketch of whose career will be found elsewhere in this work, in the record of John F. Newell; William, of Berthoud, Colo- rado; Rev. James, of Los Angeles, California; George, of Delta County, Colorado; John Bentley; Lizzie, who mar- ried Alfred Marks, owner of the old Marks farm at Chester; and Rachel, who married George Harker, a pot- ter at East Liverpool. Mr. and Mrs. Harker had a son, William Harker, president of the Potters National Bank of East Liverpool, whose son, Robert, still resides at Newell, and is one of the owners of the Harker Pottery, founded by his grandfather. John Bentley Newell was ten years of age when brought by his parents to the home farm and his education was acquired in the public schools. During the Civil war he served as a lieutenant in the Home Guards, and was twice called into active service, once during the time of Morgan's Raid. With this exception his life was a quiet one, and he was content to remain on his farm, where his industry and good management, together with his intelligent application of modern methods, won him success. His integrity and probity were universally recognized, while he was also a strong temperance man, and in this connection it may be noted that Hancock County had never had a licensed saloon within its borders. He never cared for public life. He and his worthy wife were members of the First Presbyterian Church of Newell, West Virginia, in the faith of which Mr. Newell died October 21, 1914, and Mrs. Newell, October 19, 1910. At the age of twenty- six years Mr. Newell married the twenty-one-year-old daughter of Dr. Robert A. Johnston, a physician of Wells- ville, Miss Margaret Jane Johnston, who was born at Noblestown, Pennsylvania, and to this union there were born the following children: Carrie, a teacher in the public schools of East Liverpool, who died unmarried December 20, 1919; James, residing at home, who has been active in promoting the Newell bridge and other enterprises, married Maud Croxall, of East Liverpool; and Charles B., Ada and Robert C. (Bert), all unmarried and at home. Robert C. Newell attended George Washington University in, 1905, following which he pursued his law course at the West Virginia University as a student in jurisprudence and diplomacy. An amusing incident of his college days, which he vividly recalls, is the following: On the day succeeding the historic victory of West Virginia Univer- sity over Washington and Jefferson College the students desired to celebrate, and President Purington, seeing little chance of keeping them from their desires, gave his con- sent. The law students, raising a great yell on the campus, succeeded in bringing out several classes from recitations and the crowd became greatly augmented. Finally the disturbance reached the class taught by Miss Johnson, whose determined stand and uncompromising demeanor abashed and bluffed the entire crowd of law students. Mr. Newell was admitted to the bar in 1908, and immediately engaged in a general practice of his pro- fession, to which, however, he does not devote his entire attention, being also a farmer and fruit grower. The Newell Fruit Farm now consists of 254 acres, with some five acres in small fruits and thirty-five acres in apples and peaches. John Bentley Newell, who conducted this farm as a sheep breeding property for a number of years, later in life became interested in fruit and was the originator of the Red Willow apple, which has become one of the leading varieties and which is produced on this farm, as well as Grimes Golden and Elberta peaches. The old residence stands well up on the bluff, one-half mile back from the river, but not with a view. It was the center of the social life of the community for more than a half a century, and its doors have always been kept hospitably open. The Newells have ever stood for high standards of citizenship, their influence always for progress, advancement and betterment of conditions in the community which honored John Bentley Newell by the adoption of his name.