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NEWBERRY'S English ancestry had their home in
Devonshire, and the founder of the
American branch of this family came to this country on the good ship Mary and John, and
settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630. The branch of the family from which our
classmate, Frank, descended, moved westward by stages, tarrying for a while near East
Windsor, Connecticut, where Frank's father, Romeo Dyer Newberry, was born in 1794.
On
the 17th of June, 1818, Romeo found his Juliet in the person of Sarah Beckwith, of
Hartford, Connecticut, married her, and soon after the young couple removed to Oneida
County, New York State, and engaged in farming. In 1836, Newberry, Sr., with his wife and
five children, made a second migration westward, and settled on a farm in the town of Avon,
Oakland County, Michigan. Here, on the 23d of June, 1840, our classmate was born, and
here he passed his early boyhood. In 1848, the family removed to the village of Rochester,
in the same county where Newberry began his preparation for college in the village
academy. A serious accident kept him idle for a year, and when he renewed his studies he
entered Dickinson Institute at Romeo, Michigan, the principal of which was Hon. Daniel
B. Briggs, nephew of the late Governor Briggs, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and at a later
date he was State superintendent of the public schools of Michigan. After one year at this
school, Newberry went to Philadelphia, where he made his home with an older brother, in
the hope of gaining admission to the Free School of that city; but this institution being
overcrowded, he taught school three terms, in 1858 and 1859, in the public schools of Mount
Holly, New Jersey, and Hempstead, Long Island, and entered our Class at its formation in
September, 1859. In college, Newberry was a member of Mills Society; also on the
committee of arrangements for our Biennial Celebration, August, 1861, though he left
college for the war before the celebration came off. On the 8th of May, 1861, with his
chum, Buxton, he left Williams, went to New York and enlisted in the Fifth New York
Volunteer Infantry - Colonel Duryee's Zouaves - and was sent to the front immediately. He
was in all the battles of eastern Virginia from Big Bethel to Chancellorsville, and came back
to New York with the survivors of his regiment and was mustered out, May 14, 1863. His
army chum as well as college classmate and roommate Buxton, died of wounds received
August 30, 1862, in the second battle of Manassas. Newberry writes of this comrade, "No
braver son of Old Williams ever laid down life for his country." Another classmate, Myron
Winslow, serving in the same company, was disabled by wounds received at the battle of
Gaines's Mill, June 27, 1862, and was honorably discharged from the service. Of the three
members of our Class who served in Duryee's Zouaves, Newberry alone came out uninjured.
Though he escaped wounds, he did not escape capture. This happened at Manassas while
he was trying to help a wounded comrade from the field. After capture he remained on the
battlefield eight days assisting the surgeons in caring for the wounded, when he was paroled
by Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, who was in command of a brigade of Confederate cavalry; shortly
after, he was exchanged and rejoined his company in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Thirty-six years after this parole by General Lee, Newberry was a captain of volunteers and
served in a corps commanded by General Lee in the Spanish-American War.
After his discharge, in 1863, Newberry took up the study of medicine, and was
graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Michigan in March, 1865. But
he does not appear to have spent much time in the practice of medicine, for in 1867 I find
he has taken up the business of school teaching. For two years he was principal of the
public schools at Rochester, Michigan; he then removed into Branch County, and for four
years was principal of the schools of Union City. For one year he was traveling agent of the
firm of Cowperthwaite and Company, of Philadelphia, publishers of school books.
Immediately following this service our classmate was elected clerk of Branch County,
and he held this office for six years, meanwhile removing his residence to Coldwater, the
county seat. During the period of his clerkship, he took up the study of the law and was
admitted to the bar. In 1881, he began the practice of the law and has made that his
business for the greater part of the time since that date. He has held the offices of circuit
court commissioner, member of city school board, city attorney and prosecuting attorney,
and was elected to represent his county in the Legislature at the fall election of 1902.
In 1876, Newberry joined the Michigan National Guard as a private; was captain from
1878 to 1886; lieutenant-colonel, 1886-87, and inspector-general, 1887-91. Five years later
he again took command of his old company, and at the outbreak of the Spanish-American
War took it to the front as Company A of the Thirty-second Michigan Volunteer Infantry.
He was mustered out of the United States service, November 5, 1898, and three days later
was elected prosecuting attorney for Branch County. On the 27th of July, 1899, he resigned
this office and accepted a captaincy in the Thirtieth United States Volunteer Infantry for
service in the Philippines. He reached Manila on the 23d of October following, and spent
the next sixteen months in "hiking" through the jungles and over mountain trails of
Southern Luzon; was with General Schwan's expeditionary brigade in its campaign through
the provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Laguna and Tayabas; took part in nearly all the
skirmishes and engagements of that command, and "hiked" more than two hundred and
sixty miles on this expedition. Later he did garrison duty at Tayabas, a city of about eight
thousand population and capital of the province of that name, and later removed to
Lucena, near the coast. In addition to garrison duty he made frequent excursions in search of
ladrones, or armed bands of natives who infest the mountains and jungles, and live by
plundering the people. He traveled over a good portion of the province during the year he
was stationed there, and became well acquainted with the climate, resources, and people.
In his sixteen months of service on the island of Luzon, Newberry did not lose a day from
his command by reason of sickness, and in all that time did not administer the "water cure,"
did not see it administered, in fact never heard of it until after his return home. Newberry
confesses that he is an ardent expansionist, and believes that this new territory has been put
under American control to be elevated, civilized, and Christianized, and that the authorities
over there, civil and military, are using their best efforts to accomplish these results. On the
3d of April, 1901, Newberry was mustered out of the United States service at Presidio, San
Francisco, California, returned to his home in Coldwater, and resumed the practice of law.
In August, 1867, Newberry married Miss Fannie E. Stone, of Monroe, Michigan,
daughter of Hon. Hiram and Sophia Harmon Stone. Her father was a prominent attorney
in his county, and at one time State senator.
They have four children, who have grown to mature years and are widely scattered:
1. Max W. Newberry, born July 14, 1868, at Rochester, Michigan. He is a newspaper
artist, now engaged on the Examiner at San Francisco, California, and makes his home in
that city. He has made two trips to the Klondike, Alaska, first as an artist on the New York
Herald, and a year later on the San Francisco Chronicle. "A good workman, and commands
high wages."
2. Perry Harmon, born in Union City October 13, 1870, and was educated in the
public schools of Coldwater. He is also an artist, and resides in San Francisco.
3. Roy, born in Union City February 18, 1873; received his education at Coldwater,
and is in the newspaper business in San Jose, California.
4. Grace, born at Coldwater February 9, 1875; is a graduate of the high school of
Coldwater; has been a clerk in the Insurance Bureau at Lansing, Michigan, for a term of
three years. She was married on the 7th of August, 1901, to Horace Kitchel, son of the
publisher and proprietor of Coldwater Daily Reporter, and a member of its staff. They have
one child, Kenneth, born July 7, 1902, Newberry's first and only grandchild.
Mrs. Newberry, it should be noted, is the writer of a long list of books for children
and adults that have had a large sale. Perhaps the most widely known is "The Wrestler of
Philippi," of which more than a million copies have been sold; and others, such as "The
House of Hollister," "Bryen's Home," and "Not for Profit," have had a wide circulation.
Source:
Class of Sixty-Three Williams College Fortieth Year Report, by
the Class Historian, Thomas Todd Printer, Boston, 1903
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