The Descendants of Reuben Newton (1774 - 1833) and Eunice Manley Newton (1782 - 1836)

EUNICE MANLEY NEWTON (1782-1836)

By Myron L. Newton, Jr.

Eunice was born at Dummerston, Windam County, Vermont on June 15, 1782 and died in the Town of Mansfield, Cattaraugus County, New York on August 21, 1836. Her parents were Jesse Manley and Eunice Holmes, both of whom were born in Massachusetts. Eunice’s maternal grandfather, Nathaniel Holmes, was an American patriot in the Revolutionary War, thus giving any of his female descendants potential membership into the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R. Number 72527).

Eunice married Reuben Newton on March 11, 1804 in Vermont where their first child, Nathaniel, was born on November 1 of that year. Eventually Eunice and Reuben had eight children, with Sally being the last born in August of 1821. Eunice was 22 years of age when she bore Nathaniel and 39 when she had her last child.

The travels of Reuben and Eunice are documented and referenced in a separate biography on Reuben Newton, so it is known that Eunice arrived in the Town of Mansfield in 1824. There she assisted Reuben to eke out a farm on virgin-forested land and was a true pioneer woman in the sparsely settled area. Three other Manleys – Nathaniel, John F. and Nelson – also settled in this locale at about the same time, but it is not known if there was a family connection to Eunice.

When Reuben died in 1833, Eunice was 50 years old and still caring for 11 year-old Sally. It is uncertain who helped her run the farm for the next few years. It seems her son Nathaniel either never made the move with his parents from Onondaga County, or possibly had moved to Ohio. Lyman, the next oldest son at 25, logically should have played a major role, but for at least some of the time after his father’s death, he and his wife were in Ohio. We know that because their first child was born in that state in 1834. That would leave 23 year old Jesse and 16 year old Daniel as the principle male laborers. Eventually Lyman became the principle landowner and farmer of the Newton farm in Cattaraugus County.

The death of Eunice on August 21, 1836 at the age of 54 marked the final chapter in the life of this brave couple, who persisted in a westward migration until they found land that could support their large family. When Eunice died, three years after the death of Reuben, all her children were old enough to be on their own except for Sally, who was barely 15 years of age.

Eunice and Reuben had been married for 29 years. They had resided in four different areas – Dummerston, Vermont, and Truxton, Marcellus and Mansfield, New York. In death they were well remembered by their children, as silently witnessed by the large gravestone that can be seen at the “Jerseys” cemetery, a few miles north of their farm.

References:

Ermina Newton Leonard, Newton Genealogy – A Record of the Descendants of Richard Newton,

De Pere, Wisconsin, Bernard Ammidown Leonard, 1915. p.257-259,682.

Eunice Holmes; pedigree chart; ancestral file number 12ST-XN2 (undocumented),

Family Search™ Ancestral File v4.19.

1790 U. S. Vermont Census, Windham County, Town of Putney, Roll M637_12; p. 48,

James Manley; p. 53, James Newton

1800 U. S. Vermont Census, Windham County, Town of Dummerston; James Newton, Jesse Manley

            1810 U. S. New York Census, Onondaga County, Roll M252_34, p. 48, Reuben Newton

            1820 U. S. New York Census, Onondaga County, Roll M33-67, p.122, Reuben Newton

            1830 U. S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Cecilius, Roll M19_85, p. 197;

Reuben Newton

                Newton Family Bible, [Holy Bible], Philadelphia, John E. Potter and Company, p.Births,

Death [Names and dates transcribed at same time probably between 1889 and 1908 by

unknown person. Bible in possession of Myron L. Newton, Jr., Lilburn, Georgia].

History of Harrison County, Iowa, n.p, n.d [Copy found at State Historical Society of Iowa

in Des Moines, Des Moines, Iowa.]

Myron L. Newton, Jr.

May 2003