Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 08.djvu/72

 NEWBERRY

NEWCOMB

private in the 81st New York volunteers; was piouiuteel lieutenunt in 1801; captain in ISfii; major of the 24th New York cavahy in 1803; lieutenant-colonel and colonel in 1804, and was brevetted brigadier-general, March 31, 180.1, for gallant and meritorious service at Dinwiddle Court House, where lie was severely wounded. He removed to Petersburg, Va., in September, 1865; was elected mayor of that city in 1809, and subsequently superintendent of public prop- erty for the state for four years. He removed to Cliicago. 111., in 1876 and engaged in business as a merchant; was postmaster of Chicago, 1S88-89, and a Democratic representative in the 52d con- gress, 1891-93. He became a trustee of the New- berry library, founded by his uncle, Walter Loomis Newberry, and trustee, executor and agent of tho family estate in Cliicago.

NEWBERRY, Walter Looniis, philanthropist, wiis bjrn in East Windsor, Conn., Sept. 18, 1804; son of Amasa and Ruth (Warner) Newberry; grandson of Benjamin and Jerusha (Stoughton) Newberry, and a descendant of Thomas and Hannah Newberry, who came from Devonshire, England, to the Dorcliester, Massachusetts colony in 1630. He attended school at Clinton, N.Y., and failing to pass the i)hysical examination for the U.S. Military academy, engaged in the shipping business with his brother Oliver, at Buffalo, N.Y., and in 1828 removed to Detroit, Mich., and successfully carried on the drygoods busi- ness. In 1803 he removed to Chicago, where he had previously purchased land and subsequently became a banker under the name of Newberry & Burch. He was a founder and director of the Merchants' Loan and Trust Co.; a director and president of the Chicago and Galena, after- ward the Great Northwestern railroad; chairman of the school board, and president of the Chicago Historical society for four years. He was in- strumental in founding the Young Men's Librarj' association of Cliicago; was its first president in 1831, and made the first contribution of books to its collection. He bequeatiied half of his estate, the endowment amounting to upwards of $4,1)00,000, to found a library in the north division of Chicago, which resulted in the establishment of the Newberry Library, of which William F. Poole was the first and John "Vance Cheney the second librarian. Mr. Newberry died at sea, while returning from a trip to Europe, in 1868. His widow died in Paris in December, 1885, and the incorporation and forma- tion of the library began at once, and in lt)02 contained about 240.000 volumes, including the famous Bonaparte collection. The library build- ing and site on Washington Park costing SToO,- 000 is magnificent in proportions and beantiful in desi"-n. Mr. Newbe-rv di^ 1 at SPa, Nov. 0. 1808,

NEWCOMB, Harvey, editor and author, was born in Thetford, Vt., Sept. 2, 1803. His parents removed in 1818 to western New York, where he worked on the farm and taught school in winter. In 1826 he entered journalism, and in 1831 was editing the Christian Herald, Pittsburg, Pa. He wrote and edited over 150 books for the American Sunday School Union, 1831-40. He was licensed to preach in 1840, and held pastorates in West Roxbury, Mass., and elsewliere in New England. He was an editor of the Traveler, Boston, 1849, and assistant editor of the Observer, New York city, 1850-51. In 1850 he took charge of the Park Street mission church, Brooklyn, N.Y. He is the author of: Manners and Cicstoms of North American Indians (2 vols., 1835); Young Lady's Guide (1839); Hoiv to be a Man (1846); How to be a Ladij (1847); Cijelopedia of Missions (1854). He died in Brooidyn, N.Y.. Aug. 30, 1803.

NEWCOMB, Simon, astronomer, was born in Wallace, N.S., Marcli 12, 1835; son of John Bur- ton and Emily (Prince) Newcomb, and a descen- dant of Elder Brewster of the Mayflower. He attended the school kept by his father, came to the United States iu 1853, and taught scliool in Maryland, 1854-56. He attracted the attention of Pro- fessor Heni-y, secre- tary of the Smith- sonian Institution, and was appointed a computer on the Nautical Almanac at Cambridge, in 1857. He was graduated from the Laurence Scientific school,

Harvard, B.S., in 1858; was a graduate student there, 1858-61, and was appointed profes- sor of mathematics in the U.S. navj^ and as- signed to duty at the U.S. naval observatory in 1801. He was married, Aug. 4, 1863, to Mary Caroline, daughter of Dr. Charles A. Hassler, U.S.A. At the close of the Franco-Prussian war, 1870-71, he went to Paris during the time of the Commune, examined the records of the observa- tions and brought to light many astronomical observations back through a period of 200 years. He supervised the construction of the 26-inch eijuatorial telescope at the U.S. naval observatory and planned the dome in which it was mounted. He was secretary of the U.S. transit of Venus commission, 1871-74: organized astronomical ex- peditions for the U.S. government, and visited the Saskatchewan region in 1860, and Gibraltar in 1870, for the purpose of observing eclipses of