N. S. NEWTON

NEWTON, SCRANTON

Posted By: Norma Nielson (email)
Date: 5/16/2004 at 20:06:35

"N. S. Newton is a representative citizen and prosperous agriculturist of Adair county, with holdings on sections 15 and 20, Washington township. His birth occurred in Bureau county, Illinois, on the 2d of December, 1861, his parents being S. S. and Eliza (Scranton) Newton, both of whom were natives of New York. They removed to Illinois in the ‘30s, taking up their abode on a farm in Bureau county, but subsequently established their home in Wyoming, where the father passed away. The mother is still living and has now attained the age of eighty-three years. They became the parents of ten children, nine of whom yet survive.

N. S. Newton acquired a common-school education in his youth and remained under the parental roof until he had attained his majority. Then he made his way to Cass county, Iowa, and was there employed as a farm hand for four years. On the expiration of that period he bought three hundred and twenty acres of land in Cass county and was actively engaged in its cultivation for thirteen years, at the end of which time he leased the property and came to Adair county, here purchsing his present home farm of two hundred and forty acres in Washington township. Subsequently he bought a tract of eighty acres in Adams county, Iowa, so that his landed holdings now embrace six hundred and forty acres of rich and productive land. The well tilled fields annually yield golden harvests in return for the care and labor which he bestows upon them, and he also devotes considerable attention to the raising of high-grade stock, this branch of his business adding materially to his income. He owns two handsome residences in Massena, Iowa, and is widely recognized as one of the successful and enterprising citizens of the community. Since coming to Iowa he has won a gratifying competence that has accrued as the result of his untiring industry, energy and capable management.

Mr. Newton is a republican in his political views but has never sought nor desired the honors and emoluments of office as a reward for his party fealty. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving as a steward and also as Sunday-school teacher. He has now lived in this part of the state for about a third of a century and enjoys an extensive and favorable acquaintance here."

Source: The "History of Adair County Iowa and its People," Volume II. (Chicago, The Pioneer Publishing Company) 1915.