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BRAXTON COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: NEWLON, John
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie & Tommy Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 26, 1999
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 287
Braxton County
JOHN NEWLON. It is not given to all individuals to suc-
ceed along more than one line of work. Some achieve suc-
cess in the learned professions, others find their life work
in military or civic affairs, still others find themselves best
suited to the directing of big business enterprises. In
the business field alone there are comparatively few men
who make an equal success out of more than one line of
endeavor, but unusual as it is this has been the experience
of John Newlon, of Sutton, who in addition to being general
manager, secretary and treasurer of the Sutton Grocery
and Milling Company, Incorporated, is an extensive trader
in land in Braxton and Webster counties. His success in
both lines has been all his own, for he has climbed every
step up the ladder of advancement, through hard work and
intelligent application of his business gifts.
Mr. Newlon was born on a farm near Sutton, in Braxton
County, January 13, 1877, and is a son of Camden and Dora
(Sumpter) Newlon. Camden Newlon was born near Sut-
ton, in July, 1850, and after receiving a common school
education became an attendant at the State Hospital at
Weston, West Virginia, where he met, and later married,
another attendant, Dora Sumpter, who was born in July,
1852, in Gilmer County, West Virginia. After their mar-
riage they settled on a farm near Flatwoods, where they
spent the rest of their lives, Mr. Newlon dying in July,
1903, and Mrs. Newlon two years later. He was a democrat
in politics, and she a member of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. They were the parents of eleven children:
William, a bridge carpenter employed by the Baltimore &
Ohio Railway; John, of this notice; Lulu, the wife of
John Skidmore; Bertie, the wife of C. B. Eakle; Charles
N. and A. C., residents of Ashtabula, Ohio; Mabel, the
wife of Ward Huffman; Anna, the wife of Fred Lorentz;
and G. R., Draper and Henry, all of Point Pleasant, West
Virginia.
The education of John Newlon was not of an extensive
character, for at the age of thirteen years he left the
country schoolrooms to commence to make his own way in
the world. At that time he went to Weston, where he se-
cured employment in the drug store of which his uncle was
proprietor, and following this was variously employed, ac-
cepting such honorable work as fell to his lot until he was
twenty-one years of age. He was then made deputy county
clerk, a capacity in which he served for four years, then
joining the Sutton Bank as assistant cashier and later be-
ing promoted to cashier. In 1910 he joined the wholesale
grocery and milling concern operating as the Sutton Gro-
cery and Milling Company, of which he is at present gen-
eral manager, secretary and treasurer. His fellow officials
in this enterprise are: W. F. Morrison, president; P. B.
Adams, vice president; and the above gentlemen, with C. C.
Hines, G. P. Gillispie and Will Fisher, directors. This is
a large and successful concern, with a trade extending over
a radius of many miles, and much of its success can be
accredited to the efforts and ability of Mr. Newlon, who
is known as an aggressive business man and who has the
full confidence of his associates. As before noted, in ad-
dition to his connection with this company Mr. Newlon
has been for some years a heavy trader in land, and at
present holds about 1,100 acres in Webster and Braxton
counties. Mr. Newlon is a democrat in his political tend-
encies, but save for a short time in his youth has never
found time to engage actively in political affairs, his busi-
ness interests taking all of his attention. He is at the pres-
ent time a member of the State Committee. He belongs
to Sutton Lodge No. 76, A. F. and A. M.; Sutton Chapter
No. 21, R. A. M.; Sutton Commandery No. 8, K. T., and
to the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling, and is a past master,
a past high priest and a past eminent commander. With
his family he belongs to the Presbyterian Church.
In 1903 Mr. Newlon was united in marriage with Miss
Mamie Bryne, a high school graduate, and they have had
five daughters: Elsie, who is deceased, Frances, a gradu-
ate of the Sutton High School, and Dora, Mary B. and
Margaret.
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