Periander C. Newton

PERIANDER C. NEWTON, M. D. - The profession of medicine and surgery in Wyandotte county, Kansas, lost one of its most valued members in the death of Dr. Periander C. Newton in 1903. This gifted gentleman and fine citizen, practiced medicine, owned and operated a farm near Piper and lived a life of usefulness, always giving his influence to advance the best interests of the community. He was born in Buchanan county, Tennessee, June 11, 1842, the son of Robert H. and Martha C. Newton. He passed his boyhood until the age of thirteen in his native state, and then came to Kansas with his parents to a claim of land lying near the present city of Atchison. In 1863 having come to a decision as to his life work, Dr. Newton entered the St. Louis Medical College and spent eight months in that institution. He then entered the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, where he completed his course of study and was graduated from that college. Early in his professional career he located at Nashville, Tennessee, where he practiced for two years and also attended the Nashville Medical College for six months. He then returned to Kansas and settled at White Church on the Parallel road where he divided his time between the practice of his profession and merchandising and agriculture. He made a great success of his life both in a professional sense and from a business standpoint. He was the oldest practicing physician in Wyandotte county and for a number of years was county physician. He was a man who held his home ties sacred and esteemed the family circle above all else. At his demise Dr. Newton left a widow and five children.

Mrs. Newton, formerly Miss Julia Donahue, is a daughter of Henry and Sarah (Burgess) Donahue, pioneers of Kansas, they having made settlement in Wyandotte county when she was a child of eleven years. Her mother died here in 1889, and her father in 1901. In their family were nine children, Mrs. Newton being the eighth in order of birth and the others as follows: Octavia, deceased; Warren, deceased; Hulda; Hayden J., who is a prominent citizen of Wichita, Kansas; Miranda, deceased; Absalom, deceased; James, a retired farmer living in Wellington, Kansas; and Leon, deceased. The children born to Dr. and Mrs. Newton are: Abigail, teaching school in Rosedale; Robert, who married Miss Lula Ingram and is engaged in farming; Grace, a school teacher; James, who has just completed his high school course and is preparing to enter college; and Carleton, a high school student.

Mrs. Newton, with her children, continues to reside on the home farm, a tract of two hundred and seventy-six acres, and gives to it her personal supervision. She has always been interested in educational affairs, as also was her husband, and she enjoys a wide acquaintance among the leading citizens of the county, many of the old families of Kansas City, Kansas, being among her warmest friends. Both her husband and her father were politically, Democratic, and her father was a Mason. The beautiful home of Mrs. Newton is known as Oak Mound.