THOS. W. NEWBY FAMILY GROUP

        Thomas W. Newby is one of the most prosperous and influential agriculturists of Grant county, Indiana, and resides in Fairmount township, which has been his home for more than sixty years. He is one of the pioneers of the county and a man whose sterling worth has given him a high standing. He is of English ancestry but knows little of his antecedents, as his father died when the subject was a child of two years. The father was a farmer of Randolph county, North Carolina, where Thomas W. Newby was born May 7, 1824. There were but two children, the younger being Eleanor, widow of Daniel Thomas and a resident of this township. The mother, Mary (Winslow) Newby, was also a native of Randolph county, North Carolina, her family being prominent people of the south. She was a member of the Friends' church in her younger years and died in her eightieth year.

        Thomas W. Newby received his education in the log school-house about eighteen feet square, heated by the fireplace and lighted by means of greased paper placed in the opening made by leaving a log out of the side of the building. The seats were of puncheons, with wooden legs and no backs, the desk of the same material, being supported by pins driven into the wall, and the pens were made of goose-quills.

        Mr. Newby came to this state when about twelve years of age, the journey being made by wagon and a stop made each night to camp out. The first location was in Henry county, where he remained two years and in 1839 he came to Grant county, where he settled on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Liberty township, consisting of timber land. His first home was a log house with the regulation mud and clay chimney and fireplace, with Indians for neighbors. He spent the years of youth in clearing forest land and the prosperity that has attended him is entirely due to his own efforts and industrious habits. On May 21, 1846, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah Hill according to the services of the Friends' church. Three sons and three daughters were the fruit of this union and five of these are still living, namely: Mary, wife of William P. Newson a prosperous agriculturist of Rush county; Eleazar, a farmer of Mills township; Aaron, who farms the first land settled by his parents; Joseph, a well-to-do resident of this township; and Nancy, wife of James P. Cox, a farmer of Mills township. All of the children have received good educations and are in good circumstances.

        Mrs. Sarah Newby was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, December 7, 1824, and is a daughter of Aaron and Nancy (Winslow) Hill. Six of the twelve children which composed the family are yet living and all are residents of this state except Benona, whose home is in Kansas. Aaron Hill was of English ancestry but was born in Randolph county, North Carolina, and was a strict Quaker in religion. Mrs. Newby was a chill of three years when her parents brought her to this state, the journey consuming seven weeks, and she will never forget crossing the Blue Ridge mountains as she made the trip, lying meanwhile in the horses' feed trough. They lived in Randolph county, Indiana, for two years and then came to Grant county, settling in Mills township on land which had been previously entered by her grandfather. She was educated in the log school-house similar to that attended by her husband.

        When they began their wedded life it was as renters the first year, and the following spring they purchased eighty acres of land, going in debt for it. Their surroundings were the crudest, a log house with puncheon floor and stick and clay chimney was home, although it was in the forest, the only clearing being where the house stood. Hard and ceaseless work was required to develop this ground and get it in a suitable shape for cultivation, but all this and much more has been accomplished by the subject of this sketch and his worthy wife. Wild turkey and wolves infested the timber, but have gone the way of many other signs of those early times. The country was sparsely populated and but three public roads were laid out in this vicinity, all of the many improvements which may bee seen to-day having been brought to their present state of perfection under the eyes of Mr. Newby and his wife. They have kept pace with the advancement going on around them and have kept their property in the most approved condition, putting up modern buildings and other improvements on all their farms, those occupied by their children as well as the homestead. They have accumulated over eight hundred and eighty acres of land in this and Mill townhip, the homestead having excellent barns and outbuildings and a fine brick residence with well-fenced fields. In addition to the farms they own sixty-six lots in Fairmount, ten acres near and nine acres in Jonesboro. This is the most creditable showing in the township and one of which they may well be proud.

        Mr. Newby is a stanch Republican and cast his first vote for General John C. Fremont, supporting each presidential candidate on the Republican ticket since. He was an ardent admirer of Abraham Lincoln and is a firm advocate of the present policy of the United States government as demonstrated by McKinley. Mr. and Mrs. Newby are steadfast in the Quaker faith, and like all true followers of that doctrine are honest, peace-loving people who do a great amount of good in a quiet, unostentatious manner. They have contributed towards the building fund of several church edifices in their vicinity, as well as other objects of benevolence. They have been residents of Grant county for sixty-one years and are among the most reliable and honorable of its settlers. About four years ago they reached the golden milestone in their journey together and celebrated the happy event with suitable ceremony, receiving the felicitations of their many frienrs (sic), old friends mingled with new ones, who felt that the sunshine and the rain of years had but mellowed and softened the lives of this most estimable couple, who had

        Sown love, and tasted its fruitage pure;
           Sown peace, and reap its harvest bright;
        Sown sunbeams on the rock and moor,
           And find a harvest-home of light.

        Mr. Newby has now an interest of about one thousand dollars in the Jonesboro and Fairmount banks and he feels proud that he has accumulated as much and more property than any other person in this township.