Henry Boyd Newell, M.D. Biography

As published in the "Commemorative Biographical Record of Prominent and Representative Men of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin containing Biographical Sketches of Business and Professional Men and Many of the Early Settled Families", The J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, 1906.

Transcribed by Michelle Laycock

Henry Boyd Newell, M.D., one of Racine county's leading physicians and surgeons, who has chosen for his field of practice the enterprising town of Waterford, was born there Feb. 16, 1845, son of Dr. George Fordyce and Delia (Sproat) Newell, natives of Vermont.

Dr. Oliver Newell, grandfather of Dr. Henry B., was a native of Vermont, but in middle life removed to Canada, locating near Nelsonville, where he practiced his profession for many years. He died in 1866, when about eighty years of age. Dr. Oliver Newell married Eliza Cowie, and they had a family of eight children: George F.; Seymour; Herbert; Charles; Levi; Warren; Lucy, who died unmarried; and Cynthia, who was the wife of Herbert Shufeldt. The maternal grandfather of our subject was David C. Sproat, a native of Vermont, where he operated a paper-mill. He came West in 1842 and located in the town of Waterford, engaging in farming for a number of years, and then located in the village of Waterford, where he died in 1869, aged about seventy-five years. He married Sarah Kittridge, and they had eight children: Delia, the mother of our subject; Mary Ann, who was the wife of William Powell; George; William; Sarah Jane, who was the wife of Augustus Sicard; Elizabeth, living at North Cape, widow of Alonzo Pierce; Edward, who died in young manhood; and a daughter who died in Vermont when three years old.

Dr. George Fordyce Newell was a school teacher in young manhood, later becoming a physician and surgeon. He was a graduate of Castleton Medical College, of Castleton, Vt., and practiced medicine for a short time in Vermont before coming to Wisconsin, in 1842. After living in Waterford for two years he went to Racine, where he was located for a short time, coming back to Waterford, where he spent most of his life. He died, however, in Rochester, in March, 1898, aged eighty-two years. His wife died in March, 1877, when fifty-three years old, in the faith of the Congregational Church, which he attended with her, though he was an Episcopalian. He was assistant surgeon of the 15th Wisconsin Regiment during the Civil War, under Colonel Heg. Active and interested in public affairs, he served at one time in the Territorial Legislature, and was superintendent of schools under the old system. After the war he continued the practice of medicine until a few years prior to his death. Two of his brothers, Seymour and Charles, were also physicians, and studied under him. Dr. Newell and his wife had a family of five children, three now living: Dr. Henry Boyd, our subject; Ellen Blanche, wife of Charles Clench, of Burlington; and Dr. George E., of Burlington.

Dr. Henry Boyd Newell grew to manhood in the village of Waterford, and there attended the public schools, the academy at Rochester, and the high school at Mygatt's Corners. He then took up the study of medicine, and graduted from Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1867, and has practiced continually ever since. On Nov. 26, 1867, the Doctor married Miss Mary Jane Gipson, daughter of James H. and Theodosia (Little) Gipson, and three children were born to this union, Brainard, Lulu and Florence. Brainard operates a fruit farm at Fennville, Allegan Co., Mich.; he married Lucinda Foat, and has one son, Fordyce. Lulu died when thirteen months old. Florence married Charles Thompson, a sawyer and lumberman of Waterford, and they have three children, Newell, Clifford and Frank. Mrs. Newell is a member of the Episcopal Church.

Politically the Doctor is a good old-fashioned Democrat. Professionally he is connected with the Racine County Medical Society, and fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason.

The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Newell was James C. Gipson, a native of Vermont, his home being at Salisbury; he died aged ninety-five years. His wife, Abigail (Gibson) Gipson, lived to the age of ninety-three years and they had children as follows: James H.; Hiram Ceylon; Abigail; Mary, the wife of L. Daniels; Esther, who married Mosely Beach; Sarah, who married Charles Walker; Jonas, and Carlos. Mrs. Mary Jane Newell's maternal grandfather Little was a native of Vermont and a farmer by occupation. He died at Ripton, that state, in middle life. He and his wife had children as follows: Byron; Joseph; Betsy, who was the first wife of James H. Gipson, father of Mrs. Dr. Henry B. Newell; Sophronia; Theodosia, the mother of Mrs. Newell; Adelaide, who was the wife of Alanson Moore; Hiram and Willard.

James Herrick Gipson and his wife, the parents of Mrs. Mary Jane Newell, were natives of Vermont, the former born while his father was serving in the war of 1812. They came to Wisconsin in 1838, locating on a farm in the town of Waterford, which was then known as Rochester. In 1861 they removed to the village of Rochester, where Mr. Gipson kept a hotel and meat market, and operated a farm near the village. Mrs. Gipson died in 1876, aged fifty-five years, Mr. Gipson surviving until December, 1897, when he passed away aged nearly eighty-three years. They had eight children, five sons and three daughters: James C., of Caldwell, Idaho; Charles B., deceased; Adelaide, wife of William Carpenter, of Waterford; Mary Jane, Mrs. Newell; Oscar, who died in Andersonville Prison during the Civil War; Albert, an attorney, of Caldwell, Idaho; Emma, deceased, who was the wife of Henry Cheeseman, of Clinton, Wis.; and Arthur, who died in Sioux Falls, S. Dak., in 1903, while serving as a United States deputy marshal. By his first wife, Betsy, Mr. Gipson had a son Theodore. Three of the sons of this family were soldiers in the Civil War: James C. (who was in the navy), Oscar and Theodore, the two last named serving throughout the war. James C. was a sailor on the high seas when a young man, and during the Civil War to keep from being forced into the ranks of the Confederate Army, he secreted himself in a steamboat and came North, joining the one-hundred-day men in the Union army. He was afterward given a commission in the United States navy, and was captain of the gunboat "Carondolet" one of the boats to run the blockade at Island No. 10. He served all through the Rebellion and was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He was wounded seventeen times. Another son, Albert, now a prominent attorney of Caldwell, Idaho, is a graduate of the Wisconsin State University at Madison. He was one of the founders of Greeley City, Colo. He is influential in the affairs of the commuity with which he is now identified, taking an active part in all educational matters, serving as president of the State Horticultural Society, and acting as editor of the Gem State Rural, an agricultural paper.