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Connecticut, the eldest child of Duane
E. and Clarissa Barnes (Ludington)
Newton. He was educated in the public
schools of his native city, and graduated
from the Hartford public high school.
After the completion of his studies, he
secured a position in the month of November,
1876, with the Jewell Belting
Company, with which his father was
already prominently associated. He began
in the humble capacity of office boy, and
it may be said that there is no work in
connection with the entire concern which
Mr. Newton had not done, either in the
office, the factory or on the road. He
early displayed an unusual degree of
industry and aptitude for his task, and it
did not take him long to advance to much
more responsible positions. Before many
years were out, he had become a bookkeeper,
then the head of the bookkeeping
department, and from this position
stepped into that of cashier. In the meantime
his attention was becoming more
and more directed to the industrial side of
the concern, and he soon discovered that
to master this side of the work with any
degree of completeness would require
special knowledge which he did not pos-
sess. Particularly was it necessary for
him to become an expert in mathematics,
and with this end in view he took up the
study of the subject about 1882, with
the special object of mastering the prob-
lems of power transmission. This he did
to such good purpose that he was soon
regarded as an expert in his subject and
given many of the difficult problems with
which such a concern must of necessity
be constantly faced. Pie it was who
devised the first power transmission cable
ever compiled and it is his which is still
in universal use by engineers. Mr. Newton
was not merely a therotician, how-
ever, but on the contrary put on his over-
alls and jumper and entered the factory
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
to deal with the practical side of the
work. It was his idea that theory should
have a basis or practical experience in
order that it should be applied with the
greatest degree of effectiveness. He
learned in the factory how to curry
leather and learned also the trade of belt-
maker, thus gaining a direct experience
of the practical element with which his
problems were concerned. This he did
after he had risen to the position of secre-
tary of the company, and it is this spirit
which undoubtedly accounted for his
phenomenal success, nor was he less zeal-
ous in learning the purely business side
of the enterprise, and for a long time was
on the road and engaged in the actual
selling of the products of the mill. In the
month of July, 1905, he was made treas-
urer of the company, which position he
held until his death. The Jewell Belting
Company, of which Mr. Newton was so
important a figure, is the oldest business
of the kind in the United States, and one
of the largest, the product from its great
plants finding a large market throughout
the country. Besides his office of treas-
urer, Mr. Newton was a director of the
concern, nor did his business interests
stop there, for he was connected promi-
nently with several large concerns in the
capacity of director, among which should
be mentioned the Johns Pratt Company
and the Hart & Hegeman Company.
Mr. Newton did not limit his interest,
however, to the business world, and took
an active part in the social life of Hart-
ford ; he was a member of St. John's
Lodge, No. 4, Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons, the Washington Commandery,
Knights Templar, and the Sphyna Temple,
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Mr.
Newton was a member of the Asylum
Hill Congregational Church.
69
Mr. Newton married, October 25, 1882,
Alice Huntington, a daughter of Charles