28 April 2010

Dan Newcomb (b. 1829)

J. B. Newcomb wrote:

Studied medicine, graduated in 1852 at Berkshire Medical College at Pittsfield, Mass., as physician and surgeon. He settled in Bangor NY, 1852; removed to Cabot, Vt., 1855; Atchison, Kan., 1857; Palatine, Ill. 1860, and in 1868 to Park Ridge (formerly Brockton), near Chicago. He was register of deeds at Atchison. He was the author of several medical works; was director in University Publishing Co., Chicago.

21 April 2010

William Kendall Newcomb

B.M. Newcomb wrote:

Mr. Newcomb was a physician and surgeon. His early education was received in the public schools of McLean Co., Ill., after which he taught school in the same county. he then completed a course in the Gem City Business College in Quincy, Ill. In 1882, he completed a course in Rush Medical College in Chicago and soon after commenced practice at Fisher. In 1896, he sold his practice at Fisher and spent a year abroad, studying in Vienna, Berlin, Paris and London. He returned in 1897, and in July of that year opened an office in Champaign.

While at Fisher, Mr. Newcomb was surgeon for the Illinois Central Railway, and a member of the National Association of Railway Surgeons.

In 1899, he was chosen counselor or executive member of the State Medical Society of Illinois, a position which he held for twelve years, and in 1911 was made president of that organization. On the day he was stricken with his last illness, he was received into the American College of Surgeons, an honorary organization whose members are selected from among the foremost physicians and surgeons of the country, and which corresponds to the Royal Society of England.

Dr. Newcomb was also prominently identified with local charities and public movements; was one of the founders of the school of nurses at the Burnham hospital; was also one of the founders and a director in the Anti-Tuberculosis Health League; was trustee of the Garwood Old Ladies' Home, and executive committee member and one of the organizers of the United Charities, and was a prominent member of the Chamber of Commerce; served as master of Fisher Lodge A.F. and A.M.; was a member of Champaign Commandery Knights Templar and the Modern Woodmen. He was an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years.

14 April 2010

Zilpha Fletcher

Zilpha Fletcher (ca 1848) was the daughter of John Fletcher (1805-1861) and Emeline Newcomb (1815-1895). Zilpha married Gideon Gerow (or Gero) 3 Oct 1872 in Seneca Co. OH. B.M. Newcomb said that Zilpha's second husband was Herman Fletcher and that she died 27 Mar, 1914, in San Diego. However, in the 1880 census, her first husband, Gideon is listed as a widower, living with the family of her brother Myron.

07 April 2010

Abner B. Woodworth

Abner Woodworth (b. 10 Mar 1879) was the son of  Phebe Newcomb (b. 27 Aug 1833) and Buell Woodworth (b. 29 Jan 1831). He married Hazel Beers (ca 1822) in 1909. B.M. Newcomb said that they had no children, but they had two children, Doris and Buell, in the 1920 and 1930 censuses.

02 April 2010

James Pearson Newcomb

B.M. Newcomb wrote:

Mr. Newcomb emigrated with his parents to Texas when two years of age, settling at Victoria. Before he was twelve, he had already acquired a fair English education, and had some acquaintance with the classics. After his father's death he served four years in a printing office. In 1854, when seventeen years of age, he started a newspaper at San Antonio, Texas, and made it a success; he sold out in 1856.

He went to Vermont University at Burlington to acquire a collegiate education; he entered college, but remained only part of a term, being called home to attend to his father's estate. He again began the newspaper business, and published, at San Antonio, the Alamo Express, which rapidly rose to be one of the principal papers in the city, where it combated secession with undying vigor in the midst of enemies. On 13 May 1861, four days after the surrender of Col. Reeve's command of United States troops to Van Dorn's force, Mr. Newcomb issued an "extra", giving an account of the surrender and some strictures on the perfidy of the transaction. At midnight the same day a mob of "Knights of the Golden Circle" and Rangers broke open his office, destroyed his press and material, and set fire to the building. The alarm of fire was given; the city engines and people turned out, but to no purpose. The morning light displayed the charred ruins of the Alamo Express, the last Union paper in Texas. This caused great excitement, and for fear of retaliation the secession offices were guarded. Immediately after, a plot for the hanging and banishment of 150 of the most prominent Union men was discovered.

The day after the destruction of his office, Mr. Newcomb became a refugee. He left the city for the Rio Grande and passed into Mexico, then organized a party at Monterey to cross the country to the Pacific, thence to California. The journey was successfully performed amidst many dangers and hardships, the party arriving at San Francisco in February 1862.

He volunteered to accompany the Union forces then organizing for a campaign across Arizona to Texas, and served as a scout for the army in its march from San Pedro, California. He was discharged at his request after the army went into permanent quarters, and returned to San Francisco, where he printed, in 1862, a "History of Secession Times in Texas, and Journal of Travel from Texas through Mexico to California", an octavo pamphlet of thirty-three pages. He was also editor of the San Jose Tribune.

He was mining in Arizona during 1864, making and losing a fortune. In the spring of 1867 he returned to San Antonio, again engaging in the editorial profession. He served with honor as a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1868-69, which gave the state its reconstructed government, being elected by the people by a large majority. He was nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the State Senate as Secretary of State under Governor Davis, serving from 1870 to 1874. In 1874, he was editor and proprietor of the State Journal, the central organ of the Republican party in the state. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar, but never practiced law to any extent. In 1897 he began the publication of the Texas Sun, a newspaper devoted to the subject of immigration, and later edited the Evening Light, which is still published as the San Antonio Daily Light.

In later years, Mr. Newcomb held various public positions, among which was that of postmaster during President Arthur's administration. He was considered one of the most active politicians and one of the best newspaper writers in Texas, continuing his editorial work up until the time of his death. He was man of untiring energy and varied accomplishments, ardent and warm-hearted, whose will and pen were always enlisted in the cause of truth and right. He had hosts of warm friends, both personal and political, and many political enemies. His engagement in politics did not arise from a love of political life, but from a desire to see good government firmly planted in his state. His prominence came to him without his seeking. He passed through many trials and emergencies, and was thoroughly acquainted with the history and men of his time. Having a deep love for nature, he moved with his family, in 1904, to his farm, Great Oaks, ten miles from San Antonio, where he continued his writing.

In July 1906, he received an injury in a runaway accident, which resulted in a cerebral hemorrhage and caused his death more than a year later. He was possessed of such a wonderful constitution and such marvelous vitality of mind and body that, even after the second serious attack of hemorrhage, he drove back and forth to town attending to business and getting the cotton crop to market. At this time he also wrote a sketch of the Republican Governor of Texas, E.J. Davis, for a book on the Presidents and Governors of Texas. His body rests in the Masonic Cemetery, San Antonio.