My Genealogy Hound

DAVID S. NEWBOLD, one of the first settlers in his immediate vicinity in Liberty township, Kearney county, was born in Rush county Ind., near the city of Rushville, in May, 1847. He was reared on a farm, received a good common-school education, and learned carpentering for a trade in Illinois, to which state, at the age of eight years, he was taken by his parents. In this state he grew to manhood, and here, also, he married, in 1870, and followed his trade, as well as farming on rented land for about six years, and then ran a saw-mill until 1878, when he came to Nebraska. In this state he settled on section 7, township 7, range 14, in the northeast quarter. He, as was the habit of all settlers in the early days, built a sod house, which lasted him for eight years. His fuel consisted of hay from the prairie and the stalks of the corn which he subsequently raised on his ploughed land, coal being unknown in his section at that time. Going manfully to work, he has developed from the raw prairie a splendid farm, improved now with groves of timber, with bearing fruit trees, and with a first-class frame dwelling-house, and commodious barns and other outbuildings. He has been untiring in his industry, but the result is wealth and a most comfortable home, with trading point and post office within convenient distance. This is another example of success with which an energetic young man can meet by exercising his ability to labor and by energy and industry in a newly developed country.

The father of David S. Newbold was William E. Newbold, a native of Delaware, who, when a mere lad, being an orphan, went alone to Kentucky, in which state he learned blacksmithing. After his marriage in Kentucky, he migrated to Indiana, and afterward to Illinois, and in Crawford county of the last named state died, in 1866. His wife was named, in her maiden days, Susannah Hufford, a daughter of Daniel Hufford, a very prominent Kentuckian. This union was blessed by the birth of eight children, and, of these, three sons reside in Nebraska, David S. being the youngest child.

David S. Newbold married Miss Frances Ream, daughter of Solomon Ream, formerly of Zanesville, Ohio. Seven children were born to this marriage, of whom three have died. The living are named — William G., Lillian B., Louis F., and Warren D. Alluding again to William R. Newbold, the father of David S., it may be well to add that he was a descendant of a signer of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America — Ceasar Rodney, who was an ancestor of Wm. R. Newbold’s mother, her maiden name being Comfort Rodney. The descendants of Caesar Rodney have never failed to keep up the dignity pertaining to so illustrious a family through all generations to the present time, and among them the subject of this sketch commands the highest respect of his fellow-citizens. Since his residence in Nebraska, Mr. Newbold has never made a failure in securing a good crop, and the dangers he encountered traveling through ice and snow in his early days to gather willow brush for fuel from the islands of the Platte river, some eight miles away from his homestead, have all passed away, and he is enjoying peace and comfort im his pleasant homestead. In religion Mr. Newbold is a free-thinker; in politics he is a democrat.