Clark, Robert Carlton, Ph.D. "History of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Vol. 3.
Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1927. p. 310.

EMERY J. NEWTON

     Emery J. Newton, Benton county's efficient sheriff, has acceptably filled
other public offices of trust and responsibility and was formerly an influential
figure in mercantile and financial circles of Corvallis. He is a loyal Oregonian
and a member of honored pioneer families of this locality. He was born February
18, 1877, about four miles west of Corvallis. His father, G. G. Newton, a native
of Ohio, was born in 1839 and was a son of Abiathar and Rachel (Garlinghouse)
Newton, the former a native of Massachusetts. They made the overland trip to
Oregon in 1847 with an ox team and covered wagon and were six months en route.
They were among the earliest settlers in Benton county and Abiathar Newton
acquired a donation land claim just south of the present site of the city
reservoir of Corvallis. He served on the school board and was a prime factor in
every project for the advancement of the county and state of his adoption. His
family numbered seven children: Norris P., G. G., Isaac and Jasper Newton, all
of whom are deceased; Mrs. Keziah Bethers, who has also passed away; Cynthia,
deceased, who first married John Fiechter and later became the wife of Archibald
Johnson; and Mahala, who is Mrs. William Bohannon and lives near Corvallis.

     G. G. Newton was a boy of eight years when his parents migrated to the
Willamette Valley and his education was acquired in Benton county. He also made
agricultural pursuits his life work and he served for one term as county
commissioner. In 1862 he married Miss Susan Wood, who was born in Iowa in 1840,
a daughter of Jesse and Margaret (Henkle) Wood, who started for Oregon in 1853,
when she was thirteen years old. They made the journey in one of the old-time
"prairie schooners" and established their home on a donation land claim four
miles west of Philomath. Mrs. Newton's father was a man of prominence in that
district and Wood's creek was named in his honor. In Iowa he was well known as a
surveyor and when he left that state was chosen captain of his train. He
followed the occupation of farming in Oregon and brought his land to a high
state of development. He had a family of eleven children, all of whom are
deceased except Abraham, who lives in Philomath. The others were Joseph,
William, Jesse F., Charles and Amos Wood, Mrs. Elizabeth Henkle, Mrs. Mary
Henkle, Mrs. Susan Newton, Mrs. Mahala Kisor and Ellen Wood. Mrs. Newton passed
away in 1923 and her husband's demise occurred January 2, 1918. They were the
parents of ten children, all of whom were born on the homestead near Corvallis,
and three daughters died in infancy. The eldest, Diana C., is a graduate of the
Oregon Agricultural College and the wife of S. J. McCoy, of Oakesdale,
Washington. Her sister, Margaret, attended the same institution of learning and
is the wife of G. W. Cooper, a retired farmer of Corvallis. Mary Ellen completed
a course in the State Agricultural College and is Mrs. G. W. Slayton, of
Prineville, Oregon. Jane J. was also graduated from the Oregon Agricultural
College and is deceased.  Emery J. and Alva A. are twins. The latter received a
diploma from the Armstrong Business College at Portland and is sole owner of the
College Crest Store at Corvallis. Cora L. attended the State Agricultural
College and her husband, R. C. Herron, is engaged in farming near Monroe,
Oregon.

      Emery J. Newton received his early instruction in school district No. 13
and continued his studies in the Oregon Agricultural College, from which he was
graduated in 1896. He specialized in agriculture and passed the state teachers'
examination. For two years he devoted his attention to educational work,
teaching for one year near Brownsville in Linn county, for one term north of
Corvallis, and for a term had charge of a school near Col fax, Washington. He
then returned to the occupation to which he had been reared and followed
diversified farming until 1906, when he was elected recorder of conveyances for
Benton county. Mr. Newton acted in that capacity for five years and in January,
1911, was elected county clerk. He served for five terms in succession and in
January, 1920, resigned because of failing health due to over-exertion while
engaged in patriotic work during the war period. From 1920 until 1923 he was
connected with mercantile affairs, owning stock in the business of M. M. Long &
Company, and after severing his relations with the firm he entered the Benton
County State Bank. Mr. Newton was a teller of the institution until January,
1925, when he was appointed sheriff to fill out the unexpired term of S. N.
Warfield, deceased, and in January, 1926, was elected to the office, in which he
has made a highly creditable record, discharging his duties with customary
thoroughness and fidelity.

     In 1900 Mr. Newton married Miss Minnie E. Cooper, who was born January 1,
1878, near the Newton homestead. She attended the public schools of Corvallis
and was a student at the Oregon Agricultural College for a year. Her father,
Thomas H. Cooper, was born in Missouri and was but a year old when his parents,
James and Sena Aime (Evans) Cooper, came to Oregon, settling on a donation land
claim near Corvallis in 1852. Thomas H. Cooper was a member of the Oregon
legislature from 1895 until 1897 and still makes his home in the vicinity of
Corvallis. He married Mary Louise Scott, a native of Benton county, Oregon, and
a daughter of Prior Scott, also one of the pioneers of this locality.  Mr. and
Mrs. Newton became the parents of four children: Gladys, who was born March 16,
1903, and died March 4, 1910; Mildred, who was born April 21, 1905, and was
graduated from the State Agricultural College in 1927; Elsie May, who was born
December 18, 1907, and died April 1, 1908; and Glenville H., who was born
December 24, 1910, and is a high school pupil.

     Mr. and Mrs. Newton and their daughters are affiliated with the First
Congregational church and the mother is a zealous worker in its behalf. Mr.
Newton belongs to the Knights of Pythias and is a charter member of the Chamber
of Commerce. His activities have touched life at many points and his honesty,
ability and public spirit are well known to the residents of Benton county, who
speak of him in terms of high regard.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2016 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.