My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES E. NEWELL, who has the reputation of being one of the most skilled machinists in the employ of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, was born in Rochester, Strafford County, N. H., in 1840. The family has long been identified with the history of the United States, and his paternal great-great-grandfather, who was a manufacturer of cotton goods, participated actively in the War of the Revolution. Grandfather Newell, whose Christian name was Daniel, was born in Massachusetts, and by occupation was a cotton manufacturer, being thus engaged both in the Bay State and in Rochester, N. H. In the War of 1812 he served as a drummer. His death occurred at the age of eighty-four years.

The father of our subject, Thompson L. Newell, was born in Oxbridge, Mass., and engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods at Rochester for some years. In 1847 he removed to Exeter, thence to Manchester, and at an advanced age died in Concord, his remains being interred in a cemetery at Manchester. During the Civil War he enlisted in the Union army, and took part in the first battle of Bull Run. On his return home he became Captain of a company of the Fourth New Hampshire Infantry, and went South with them, but the second season he was obliged to resign on account of physical disability. He was a Grand Army member, and a Republican in politics. Socially he was a Mason, and in religious belief belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church. He died at the age of eighty-five years.

Sophia Tebbetts, as the mother of our subject was known in maidenhood, was born in New Hampshire, and through her mother traced her ancestry to the Hoyts, who were numbered among the original English settlers on American soil. Her great-great-grandfather Hoyt was a manufacturer by occupation and participated in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Sophia Newell died at the age of seventy-seven years. She reared eight children, and was justly proud of the fact that four of her sons were brave defenders of the Old Flag. LaFayette was a soldier in a Massachusetts infantry company, usually known as the “ Bloody Sixth;” George belonged to the Tenth New Hampshire Infantry; Daniel was Drum-Major of the Second New Hampshire Infantry; and Samuel, who was a dragoon in the Second Cavalry, took part in thirty-eight battles. All the sons served until the expiration of their period of enlistment, and all are still living.

The subject of this notice was reared in Manchester until seventeen years of age, meantime attending the public and high schools. In 1857 he went to Dubuque, Iowa, and from there to Iowa City, where he was employed in surveying. For six months he was similarly engaged in Nebraska, and then went to Pike’s Peak, where he prospected for sixteen months. Going further South, he volunteered in New Mexico against the Navajoe Indians, whom he assisted in routing. From Santa Fe he returned to Colorado, where he resumed work in the mines. In the fall of 1862 he returned to his old home, driving back with a mule team over the prairies to Omaha, and journeying by stage from there to St. Joseph, Mo., where he took the steam cars for New Hampshire.

For three years after his return home, Mr. Newell was serving an apprenticeship to the machinist’s trade in Manchester. In 1866 he went to Chicago, and for ten years was employed in the shops of the Rock Island Road. At the request of the Master Mechanic of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Company, in 1876 he accepted a position in the Sedalia shops, and, coming to this city, has since made it his home. At the time of the consolidation, in 1881, he became an employe of the Missouri Pacific Road, and was first toolman in the shops and later foreman for a time.

The residence now occupied by Mr. Newell was erected by himself, and is situated at No. 1008 Massachusetts Street. He was married at Boonville, August 15, 1881, to Miss Christine Oman, a native of Sweden, and a daughter of Peter Oman, a farmer of this county. She was reared in Missouri, and is an amiable, refined lady, and an active member of the Baptist Church. There are two daughters, Ida and Leah, both of whom are students of the Sedalia schools.

In 1886 Mr. Newell was elected Alderman for the Third Ward on the Republican ticket, and during his two years’ service in that capacity was Chairman of the Waterworks Committee, and was also on the Fire Department and the Finance Committees. He has been officially connected with Sedalia Lodge No. 170, A. O. U. W., and is also a Master Mason. His skill as a mechanic has been the means of securing for him the confidence of the officials of the road, and he is recognized as one of the most practical and capable mechanics in the state.