Free Welcome to Newtonberg by David Emprimo

 
     
FOUNDER'S DAY

    On February 20th, Newtonberg celebrated its
150th anniversary. We had our usual Founder's Day picnic on the
square, but the sesquicentennial celebration added a bit of
excitement to the festivities, and for some of the older families,
a bit of poignancy as they remembered their ancestors.
    The history of the people who founded our
little town is almost as fascinating as some of the people who
still live here. General James M. Newton, while serving in the
Republic of Texas Army, was sent once from Washington-on-the-Brazos
to Natchitoches, Louisiana on an errand. While passing through East
Texas, he spotted a lovely piece of land just east of the Neches
River and decided that once the war was over, he was going to come
back and claim it for his own.
    So, once the war was over and Texas had won
its independence from Mexico, he returned to East Texas to get his
land. Unfortunately, time does a lot to wild countryside, and he
couldn't find the right spot. He fought his way through the Piney
Woods looking for it for almost eight months. Finally, in
desperation, he gave up and just claimed the land where he was.
That was the beginning of Newtonberg.
    Of course, it wasn't called Newtonberg then.
It wasn't even a town. He cleared out the land around him --
probably about eighty acres in all. He built a large barn, a
two-story house for himself and his wife, a bunkhouse for hired
workers, tilled about five acres of land for a garden, and fenced
in an area for cattle.
    He kissed his wife goodbye and said he was
going to go west, back toward Washington-on-the Brazos, and see if
he couldn't find some men in need of work. He hadn't gotten ten
miles down the road (such as it was) when he hit upon a group of
wagons, men and women who looked travel-weary and in dire need of a
place to stay. He told them about his land and his need for
workers. The men agreed to work on the farm, but being that some of
them had families of their own, they asked if those men might each
have some land of their own on which to build a home. Newton
agreed. The single men moved into the bunkhouse, and the men with
families each took an acre or two of land surrounding Newton's.
Within six or eight months, a thriving little community had risen
up in those woods. One of the men was a preacher, and they built a
little chapel for church services.
    The following spring, Newton sent a young man
by the name of John Garrison west with a few other men to buy seeds
for planting. Garrison made it as far as the Neches River, found a
lovely little spot, claimed it for his own and built a lumber mill
on the river, sending word to Newton that he wasn't coming
back.
    Newton just about kicked himself, assuming
that Garrison had found his spot, and then sent
Henry Albert Johnson (forefather-in-law of our own Widow Missus
Harriet Johnson) east to Louisiana, lest Johnson lose his way as
well. He did make it back with the seeds, and the harvest that fall
was fruitful. The families all gathered at Newton's house for a
feast to rival the Pilgrim's original Thanksgiving dinner.
    It went on that way for many years. Newton,
who had been in his mid- to late-thirties when he had claimed the
land and established his homestead, got older and grayer.
Eventually, he took ill with a bout of influenza and died. The
other families, to honor his memory, petitioned to have the town
incorporated and called it Newtonberg.
    At this year's Founder's Day, Mayor Al
Thompson arranged to have local historian and city librarian
Michael C. Baldridge give a short history of the town and share a
few anecdotes about the colorful characters from the past. Everyone
agreed this was an excellent idea, except Mike, for two
reasons.
    First of all, Mike’s not actually from
Newtonberg originally. He moved here about ten years ago after
college. His mother and father had both passed on, and he had no
brothers or sisters. He started out helping in the library, doing
research on local history, and