Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

stands for a family the members of which
have maintained throughout the entire
period of its history a standard of distinguished
service to their respective com-
munities that may well be envied by all.
It is represented in the town of Plainville,
Connecticut, to-day, by Charles Hollister
Newton, the worthy scion of a long line
of notable forbears.
The family, which is a very numerous
one to-day, with branches that extend far
beyond the boundaries of New England,
traces its descent from Samuel Newton,
of England, who flourished about the
opening of the seventeenth century and
lived to see that great wave of adventure
and enterprise which swept over the coun-
try and which was responsible for the
colonization of what afterwards became
the United States.
His son, the Rev. Roger Newton, was
born in the "Mother Country" in the year
1620, and was the first of the name to
come to America, which he did as a very
young man, although the exact date of
his emigration remains a matter of conjecture.
He settled in the newly founded
colony of Hartford and there studied
divinity under the redoubtable Thomas
Plooker, whose daughter, Mary, he afterward
married. He was installed about
1645 as the fi rst minister in Farmington,
Connecticut. Later he was the second pas-
tor of the church at Milford and served in
these two charges for many years, until
his death in 1683. A most humorous
tale is told of the attempt made by this
worthy gentleman to return to England
for a visit after twelve years of faithful
ministry to his flock in Farmington. He
repaired to Boston, from which port he
was to take ship, but there arose such a
storm and such continued stress of bad
weather that the captain of the vessel,
being of a pious and superstitious nature,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
218
made up his mind that it was a sign of
Heavenly displeasure with one who was
seeking to escape from the hardships of
preaching the gospel in the wilderness,
hoisted his sails and sailed away leaving
his reverend passenger stranded in Boston.
His marriage to Mary Hooker
occurred at Hartford in 1644, an d of their
union was born eight children, as follows :
Samuel, Roger, Susanna, John, Ezekiel,
Sarah, Mary and Alice. It is from John
Newton, the fourth of these, that Mr.
Newton traces his descent.
John Newton was born in Farmington,
in June, 1656. He married Lydia Ford,
in 1680, and died in 1699. The line from
him down to the present is as follows
Ezekiel Newton, born 1687, married Abi-
gail Briscoe, in 171 1, and died 1728; Dr.
Ezekiel Newton, born 1716, married
Mary Collins ; Ezekiel Newton, born in
1741, married Ann Smith, and died September
3, 181 1 ; Nathan Newton, born
1776, married Laura Hollister, in 1803,
and died June 28, 1854; Ezekiel Newton,
born November 14, 1803, died February
22, 1880; married Caroline Northrop,
July 7, 1830; and Franklin Newton,
father of Charles H. Newton, of this
review.
The Newtons have always been highly
honored in the community from the time
of the Rev. Roger Newton, whose name
appears upon a plate on the memorial
bridge erected by the town of Milford to
honor the memory of her most prominent
citizens. Many members of the family
took part in the Revolution, a long list of
their names appearing in the various rec-
ords, among which is that of Ezekiel
Newton, the direct ancestor of Charles
Hollister Newton. The family has also
intermarried with many of the most
prominent of the old New England fami-
lies as a comparison of the names already
: