Person:William Newton (56)

WILLIAM ALVA NEWTON (1866-1958) By C. Albro Newton (edited and updated by Myron L. Newton, Jr.)

He liked his name as William; everyone called him “Will”. His daughter insisted that he be christened “Willie”. Will was born to Myron and Martha Newton at the “Red Place” in the Town of Mansfield, Cattaraugus County, New York on June 11, 1866. He died on July 1, 1958, in North Linthicum, Maryland and is buried in the Newton plot of the Little Valley Rural Cemetery. Will was not to be a Cattaraugus farmer like his father and grandfather before him. In 1880, at age 14, he was still living on the family farm but within a few years his father opened a business in the nearby Village of Little Valley. It would seem Will took up residence there also and never returned to the farm. On October 27, 1886, Will married Kate Bushnell in Napoli, Cattaraugus County, New York. Kate, the daughter of Lyman Bushnell and Mary Peaselee. She was born on November 7, 1865 in Napoli, New York. The 1892 New York State Census placed the couple in Little Valley where 27 year-old Will worked as a bookkeeper. By then he was busy racing bicycles at county fairs. He loved to hunt foxes and catch rainbow trout. His amateur camera work was excellent and he processed his own hand-tinted, enlarged prints. A few photographs survive of Will that feature a rack of foxes or great strings of trout. One of his favorite fishing holes at Stoney Pitcher Falls, about eight miles north of Little Valley. The best of Will’s colored photos he placed in four albums, two were donated to the Cattaraugus County Historical Museum and Research Center and two remain with the Newton Genealogy collection. Although the elusive fox was usually Will’s quarry, he did become Little Valley’s hero around the mid-1890’s when he pursued and killed a 100 pound bear. The event was covered in local papers and the Buffalo Commercial newspaper. Reportedly it was the first bear seen in the Village of Little Valley in fifty years and made its daytime visit by strolling through the cemetery and fairgrounds. Later it was located in the “Otto swamp” and eventually driven into the open where Will took a well aimed shot. Today black bears are much more abundant in the area. Will was a local and regional hero when it came to bicycle racing and perhaps the finest rider to ever come out of Cattaraugus County. For a time he rode professionally for the Parkside Wheeling Club of Buffalo where he competed successfully against the best riders in Western New York State on the dirt horse tracks at local fairgrounds. Numerous newspaper articles, both local and regional, contain accounts of his expertise and knack for usually placing first. It must have been Will’s teaching and encouragement that led his brother, Hugh, to also become an avid bicyclist. A short biographical article was published in the March 20, 1896, edition of the Buffalo Courier and documented his successful 1895 season where he beat the best riders in Western New York and Western Pennsylvania. Will’s professional cycling career started quietly enough in Salamanca, New York on July 4, 1892, where he finished third in the ¼-mile open race. By 1893 he was one of the best riders on the scene and by 1895 he was the “man to beat”. From August 1895 to September 1895, he won a total of eight races with distances of ½-mile, 1-mile, 2-mile, and 5-mile. Some of these were open and some handicapped, where he usually was spotted no time. At a race in Franklinville, New York captured the Cattaraugus, Alleghany, and Wyoming County 5-mile championship. This particular race had a 13:30 time limit so there was no opportunity to hold back. Will and a handful of the better riders took turns leading the draft early on, but Will broke out at the halfway mark and led to the finish. If Will couldn’t find a short event he would try his hand at road racing. His longest recorded road race was in Olean, New York where he finished second in a 15-mile event. Being a professional rider, Will’s prizes were usually gold cups, watches or diamond rings; some valued at up to $135. Will rode professionally until around 1905 or so. It is unknown exactly why Will quit competing. It may have been his age but it probably had more to do with Kate, who at age 40, had given birth to their only child, Pauline Agnes Newton, on November 9, 1905. In 1900, when it was just he and Kate, Will worked as an invoice clerk in Little Valley, but by 1910 Will had started his long career with Cattaraugus Cutlery Company. Will never lusted after great wealth and this job gave him plenty of freedom, plus the ability to support himself, Kate and little Pauline in the their comfortable but modest home at 200 Eighth Street in Little Valley. During the warm months, he sold Cattaraugus Cutlery pocketknives in Northeast New York and Vermont. His old roadster traversed the back roads and trout streams even before New York had auto license tags. Will always had his trusty camera on these trips as witnessed by the many high quality photographs that have been preserved. He wintered back home where with snowshoes, gun and camera, he pursued the wily, red fox for its pelt and the bounty. When the cutlery business folded he was in his mid-sixties but found employment as a watchman for the Cattaraugus County Highway Department in 1934 until poor health forced his retirement in 1952. It was not an arduous job and it had wages. That was enough. Kate, Will’s patient wife, had a built in twinkle in her eyes, a perpetual smile, and a wonderful singing voice. She didn't get out much because she presided over her kitchen with great skill. Her cakes and bread sold as fast as she could bake them. Her nephew, C. Albro Newton, recalls one delightful masterpiece. It was a tall, layered, chocolate delicacy with a moist, chocolate coating at least a half-inch thick in places. Surely her bake sales helped the family finances during lean times. Together they aged gracefully and happily until Kate died at age 89 at the Salamanca District Hospital on August 2, 1955, where she had been a patient since suffering a stroke three weeks earlier. Kate was a member of the Little Valley’s Congregational Church and Ladies Aid, a charter member of the Sorosis Literary Club, and a member of the Ramona Chapter, O.E.S. In his eighties, crippled with arthritis and alone, Will tended his backyard rosebushes. They were as dear to him as a creel of trout. The old fox hunter took much comfort in the beauty of his roses and his memories. Somehow he managed things by himself until 1957. It was then that his daughter, Pauline, decided the time had come for Will to join her in suburban Baltimore, Maryland where she was a teacher. After all, who was left in Little Valley to care for him? He had outlived all but one sibling, younger brother Reuben who lived in Salamanca. The Eighth Street house was sold and Will, with only a single rose bush, was taken to Baltimore. Perhaps Pauline had no other choice. But neither Willie nor the rose bush did well in Maryland. On July 1, 1958, William Alva Newton died at age 92 in North Linthicum, Maryland. He had been gone from Little Valley for less than a year.

Obituary of William Alva Newton

   Willie Alva Newton, a resident of this area his entire 92 years except the last one, died in N. Linthicum, Md., Tuesday morning. The body arrived at the Van Rensselaer Funeral Home here Wednesday and will be buried in Rural Cemetery late Thursday afternoon. Little Valley Legion Post Chaplain Earl Sipe will read a prayer at the grave.
   Mr. Newton was born June 11, 1866, in the Town of Mansfield. During his early manhood he was employed as a salesman by the Cattaraugus Cutlery Co., and later was an employee of the County Highway Department until illness forced his retirement in 1952. He was also a professional bicyclist, at one time riding for the Park Side Wheeling Club of Buffalo.
   Mr. Newton and the former Kate Bushnell were married Oct. 27, 1886. Mrs. Newton died Aug. 2, 1955. Since last August Mr. Newton and his daughter Miss Pauline Newton, have resided in Maryland.
   Besides Miss Newton, survivors include a brother Reuben Newton of Salamanca, and a sister, Miss Fronia Newton of Buffalo, two nephews, C. Albro Newton, University of Tennessee, and Myron Newton of Benton Harbor, Mich., and two nieces, Miss Irene Newton and Mrs. William Lawson of Salamanca.

Obituary of Kate Bushnell Newton

One of Little Valley’s oldest residents, Mrs. Kate Bushnell Newton, died Aug. 2 in Salamanca District Hospital where she had been a patient since she suffered a stroke three weeks before. She was eighty-nine. Born in Napoli Nov., 1865, she was the daughter of Lyman and Mary Peasley Bushnell. She married Willie A. Newton October 27, 1885. Mrs. Newton was a long-time member of the Congregational Church and of its Ladies Aid. She was a charter member of both the Sorosis Literary Club and of Ramona Chapter, O.E.S. Survivors are her husband and a daughter, Pauline A. Newton, both of 200 Eighth St. Funeral services were held Aug. 4 from the Van Rensselaer Funeral Home with the Rev. Paul J. Belzer, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, officiating. Rites at the grave in Rural Cemetery were conducted by T. H. Banton, lay leader of the Congregational Church. Bearers for the funeral were T.H. Banton, Neal Flint, E.J. Boberg, Frank Mosher, Alan J. Campbell and Aldrich Gorsline.

References:

1892 New York State Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Little Valley 1880 U.S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Town of Mansfield 1900 U. S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Little Valley Township, ED 49, p. 4B 1910 U. S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Little Valley Township,

    Little Valley Village, ED 68, p. 3A

1920 U. S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Little Valley Town,

    Little Valley Village, ED 69, p 12A

1930 U. S. New York Census, Cattaraugus County, Little Valley Township,

    Little Valley Village, ED 12, p. 7A

Obituary of Willie Alva Newton, 3 July 1958, unknown newspaper (probably Little Valley newspaper) Obituary of Mrs. Kate M. Newton, not dated, unknown newspaper (probably Little Valley newspaper)

Personal recollections of C. Albro Newton, nephew of Reuben Myron Newton

Photos, Irene M. Newton Collection, now in possession of Myron L. Newton, Jr. Photos, Myron L. Newton, Jr. Collection.

Will Newton, bicycle riding articles, Buffalo Courier Newspaper, 1894-1895

Myron L. Newton, Jr. February 2011 www.myronnewton.com