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HANCOCK COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA - BIOS: NEWELL, John E.
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Valerie Crook
vfcrook@trellis.net
September 19, 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. 245
Hancock County
JOHN E. NEWELL. It would be impossible to deal prop-
erly with the men of Hancock County whose names stand
out conspicuously in the banking interests of the county,
ami who through inherent characteristics and achievements
have contributed to the upbuilding and development of
the community of Chester without paying special attention
to John E. Newell, president of the First National Bank
of Chester and of the Hancock County Building and Loan
Company, for it is one that compels more than passing
mention. For a number of years he has been prominently
identified with financial, industrial and agricultural mat-
ters, and such has been his force of character and natural
inclinations that he has attained prominence, not only as a
thorough business man, but as manager of large affairs,
in which he has displayed marked executive ability.
Mr. Newell was born in Tomlinson's Run, near Pugh-
town, Hancock County, where his grandfather, John Newell,
ran a mill, December 22, 1861, and is a son of Hugh
Newell. John Newell, the grandfather, was a son of Hugh
Newell, who built the old fort on his farm, and was him-
self the original settler of this section, from Cross Creek,
Washington County, Pennsylvania. John Newell was a
tanner by trade, and at the age of twenty-one years came
to Pughtown, where he operated a tannery in the village,
his son Hugh being born here in 1827. Hugh as a lad
assisted his father in operating a grist mill, which was
later sold, John Newell then building a mill further down,
known later as the Baxter or Hartford mill. This he also
sold to settle on a farm at Newell, a nice level property
on the "hill," a part of which is now owned by the Vil-
lage of Newell. There he resided from about 1837 until
his death, at the age of eighty-six years, in 1884, being
laid to rest at Fairview Plats, Pughtown. His first wife
was a Miss Elder, who died without issue. His second wife
was Lydia Edie, of Hancock County, who was the mother
of Hugh Newell. His third wife was a widow, Mrs. Jo-
hanna (Hastings) Frazier, who survived him. They had
no children, but Mrs. Frazier had two sons who served
in the Confederate army during the war between the states,
while Mr. Newell had two sons serving in the Union army
at the same time. The children born to John and Lydia
(Edie) Newell were as follows: Hugh, the father of John
E.; Elizabeth, who married Alfred Marks and died in Han-
cock County; William, who was in the United States army
and later went to California as a freighter on the plains,
and died in the West; Rachael, who married George S.
Harker, a pioneer pottery man, and died at East Liver-
pool, Ohio; George, who went to Colorado after his parents'
death and died there; Benjamin, who lived on the old
home farm and for whom the Village of Newell was named;
and Rev. James, who served as a lieutenant in the Union
army during the Civil war, after which he became a minis-
ter of the Presbyterian Church, preached locally for a
time, then served in California, where he became pastor
emeritus of Bethesda Church at Los Angeles, Washington
and Jefferson College and Allegheny Seminary.
Hugh Newell, the father of John E. Newell, conducted
a mill until coming to Chester with his wife's brother,
Alfred Marks, with whom he was in partnership for several
years. Later he bought land on Marks' Run, a property
of about 500 acres, on which he lived from 1871 until his
death in 1903, breeding sheep and clearing up a good deal
of land. This old farm, the present residence of his son
John E., whose home is but a short distance from that of
his brother Samuel, at the old residence, lies about one-
half mile back from the Ohio River, up Marks' Run.
Hugh's residence was about one mile from the bank at
Chester. Hugh Newell was active in securing the building
of a bridge across the Ohio River to East Liverpool,
served as school trustee, acted as roadmaster and was one
of the organizers and the first president of the Hancock
County Building and Loan Company. His wife was Alizan
Marks, daughter of Samuel and Mary (Ferree) Marks.
Her maternal grandfather Ferree, of French origin, was a
manufacturer of guns at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and on
moving to Coryopolis, then old Middletown, Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania, was said to have manufactured the
first rifles to be made west of the mountains, these being
tested by his daughter Mary, according to her personal
statement some years ago to her grandson, John E. Newell.
Samuel and Mary (Ferree) Marks came to Hancock County
about 1818, and their old stone house is still standing, it
having been built when their daughter Alizan was about
thirteen years of age. Samuel Marks had a 100-acre tract
of land, patented by President Washington, including what
is now the upper end of Chester. A son, Alfred, suc-
ceeded to the ownership, and his old farm is now covered
by the Potteries Park, etc., including the old stone house.
Alizan Newell, who was born on this farm, in the same
year as her husband, died five years later. Her brothel-
Alfred, who passed almost his entire life in the old stone
house referred to, died as the result of an accident. Mr.
and Mrs. Newell were faithful members of the Presby-
terian Church. He was a Union man, an honorable citizen,
and a man who was greatly respected in his community.
He and his wife had five children: Mary, the widow of
Dr. Hamlin Barnes, of Cleveland, Ohio; John E.; Anna,
the wife of S. W. Root, of Los Angeles, California; Frank,
the owner of a fruit ranch at Bakersfield, California; and
Samuel, residing on the old home place as a partner of his
brother John E.
John E. Newell received a public school education and
as a youth adopted the vocation of farmer, one which he
has never relinquished, although numerous other interests
have also attracted his attention. In partnership with his
brother Samuel he is the owner of 450 acres of land, on
which he is carrying on dairying with a herd of Holstein
cattle, supplying milk by wholesale. He has also met with
success as a fruit grower, raising apples and peaches, with
twenty-five acres in fruit, mostly set on the higher land.
A few miles inside the "horseshoe," partly surrounded by
the Ohio River, constitutes what is recognized as one of
the best fruit-growing sections in this part of the United
States. The hills are some 500 feet above the river and
are comparatively free from frost injury, and even in 1921,
a notoriously bad year for fruit, a good apple crop was
harvested here.
Mr. Newell is president of the National Bank of Chester,
having succeeded the first president, Judge Campbell. He
is also president of the Hancock County Building and Loan
Company. As a public-spirited citizen he has accepted the
responsibilities of public life, and as the regular party
nominee was sent to the State Legislature for the session
of 1902-1903, during Governor White's term of office. He
has since served as county commissioner, the county jail
and residence of the sheriff being erected during his term
of office, and during the World war he was chairman of
the Hancock County Draft Board. With his family he
belongs to the Presbyterian Church at Chester, in which
he is president of the board of trustees.
Mr. Newell married Miss Minnie Rose, of Chester, daugh-
ter of Samuel F. and Martha (Pugh) Rose, Mr. Rose hav-
ing been an early merchant of Chester, now deceased. Mrs.
Rose was a daughter of John Pugh, of the family who
settled Pughtown, the old county seat of Hancock County.
The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Newell all reside with
their parents, being: Helen R., a teacher at Chester;
Martha M., a teacher at Newell; Frances E., a teacher in
the high school at Newell; Rachael E., a student in the
West Virginia University, from which she will graduate as
a member of the class of 1924; and John Roscoe, who
is attending the high school at Chester.
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