William H Newell
Campbell County, Kentucky
History of
Kentucky and Kentuckians, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III,
pp. 1231-32.
William H. Newell, a member of that important concern, the Ohio Custom Garment
Company, of Cincinnati, is a Democrat who was elected in 1909 a representative
to the Kentucky legislature from a Republican district (the eighty-fourth).
He was a member of many committees of importance and the author of the bill
classifying cities and towns which became a law. He is one of the most prominent
Elks in the state, is a man of versatility
and one who has had an interesting and varied career.
Mr. Newell was born
in Newport December 19, 1871, and is of foreign extraction, his parents,
Matthew and Rosa (Cochran) Newell, having been born, the former near Manchester,
England, and the latter in Ireland. They were married in England and came
to the United States in the later '50s, locating first in Cincinnati and later
in Newport, Kentucky, where they still reside.
Young William spent his boyhood and youth in his native place, attending the
parochial schools and later the public schools and supplementing this with a
business course in in the Commercial College in Cincinnati. He early manifested
talent as an artist and for a number of years traveled over the country giving
exhibitions of rapid work in crayon and oil,
having devoted considerable attention to the cultivation of the latter branch.
For sixteen years he was engaged in newspaper and editorial work in Cincinnati
upon various of the Queen City journals, and gained that broad experience with
human nature and all sorts and conditions of men which can nowhere be acquired
with such facility as in the capacity of a servant of the Fourth Estate.
Mr. Newell's career as a public man began in 1902 when
he was elected by the Newport water works commission as its secretary and
superintendent and has served for the ensuing eight years, up to the present
time, in that responsible office. He resigned to accept his present
position with the Ohio Custom Garment Company of Cincinnati, which he had
assisted in organizing July, 1909, he being one of the partners in the concern.
They
manufacture clothing for merchant tailors, their trade taking in a majority of
the states. The plant is one of some magnitude, about one hundred persons
being employed during the busy season.
Mr. Newell has been active in Democratic politics for a
number of years and for four years served as secretary of the city and county
Democratic committee. In the fall of 1909 he was elected on the ticket of
his party as representative to the state legislature from the
Eighty-fourth district of Kentucky. He proved an able legislator and was a
member of various committees, among them those on commerce and manufacturing,
county and city courts, municipalities, geological survey, and others. His
efforts to secure beneficial legislation for this section were able and
fruitful, and the bill fathered by him to secure
classification of cities and towns became a law.
As previously stated, Mr. Newell is one of Newport's
prominent Elks. He is a member of Newport Lodge No. 273, and holds life
membership in the same having served as its secretary for ten years. He
assisted in the organization of the state association of Elks at Georgetown,
Kentucky, and was elected first vice-president. He is also an Eagle and
has the
distinction of being the first Eagle in the Blue Grass state, his number being
one. In this lodge likewise he has long held the office of secretary.
The marriage of Mr. Newell to Miss Mary E. McCarthy,
took place in November 1902. Mrs. Newell is a daughter of John McCarthy,
a well-known resident of Newport. Two daughters have been born to this
union, by name Laura Marie and Mary Elizabeth. Both Mr. Newell and his
wife are members of the Catholic church.
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Kentucky Post, Friday, 11 March 1910, page 7
FRANKFORT KY-March 11. Baly (sic) Newell, the hustling Representative from Newport wants to make the Licking a navigable stream for the distance of nine miles. Yesterday he introduced a resolution in the House providing for the dredging and blasting of the Licking River at a point near Newport.
This was adopted unanimously. If the river is made navigable it will be a great help to the coal men and to those who have factories along the Licking.
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Kentucky Post, Saturday, 12 March 1910, page 7
FRANKFORT KY-March 12. The House bill of Representative W H Newell of Newport, providing for a better system of fire hydrants and cisterns and authroizing the Newport Water Works to furnish water to neighboring towns caused a row in the Senate Saturday. Senator Nagel said in the name of 50,000 people of Newport, Bellevue and Dayton, he exercised his constitutional right to call up the bill. The bill passed 28 to 2 and will now go to the Governor for his approval.
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Kentucky Post, Monday, 14 March 1910, page 2
Rep Newell returned last night to Frankfort to be present during the closing days of the present session of the Legislature. Before leaving he ventured the opinion the bill granting the right to Highland district to incorporate as a fourth class city probably pass the Senate today.
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Kentucky Post, Thursday, 17 March 1910, page 4
After gallant fighting upon the part of Senator C W Nagel and Representatives W H Newell and E A Weber, all of Campbell co. the bill which is designed to make Dayton, Clifton and the Highlands free cities has at last been made a law, awaiting the Governor's signature. The measure gives the city of Newport the right to sell water from its Water Works plant to any outlying towns that care to buy.
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Rep.
William H Newell 1933 obituary