I have self published on Lulu.com a book titled The Ancestors and Descendants of Charles and Lula Newcomb. The upload is free. I am not trying to sell it, it is for my grandchildren. I did quite a bit of research on Francis, Peter, John, Benjamin, William, Arnold, John, Charles and Lula Newcomb of Spearman, Texas. Anyone able to fill in any gaps, I would appreciate hearing from them.
Edwin (or Edward) Cordial Newcomb was born 2 Nov 1855. He married Elizabeth Zeidler (b. 1857) in 1888. The DAR lineage books show his name as “Edward C.” and his birth date as 1857. However, both J.B. Newcomb and B.M. Newcomb list “Edwin” born in 1855. The census lists him as both Edwin and Edward in different years.
B.M. Newcomb wrote:
Mr. Newcomb was engaged in trade with his brother Horatio D. at Louisville; he moved to New York City. He is said to have left $200,000 to his daughter and $500,000 to his widow. On 1 Mar. 1866 he wrote:
“To hon. J.W. Brockenbrough, Rector of the Board of Trustees of Washington College, Lexington, Va.: I desire my subscription ($10,000.00) to the Washington College should be regarded as an expression of sympathy for the severe trials, afflictions and hopes my southern friends have sustained in what they consider a just and patriotic cause– it will be a sufficient reward to me to have the privilege of donating to my friends a scholarship for each thousand dollars subscribed, to stand on the records of the institution as a perpetual memorial to my only daughter, Harriott Sophie Newcomb, to whom I have given the disposal of the scholarships. Warren Newcomb.”
Before Sept. 1882, a handsome new library had been erected on the grounds of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Rockbridge Co., Va., costing $20,000, gift of Mrs. Newcomb. To perpetuate the memory of her only child, Mrs. Newcomb, 11 Oct. 1886, gave $100,000 to the administrators of Tulane University, New Orleans, to establish the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College for the higher education of white girls and young women. Included in this College is a School of Art where instruction is given the making of pottery.
From Kentucky Biographical Encyclopedia:
Newcomb, Warren, merchant, was born October 14, 1814, at Bernardston, Massachusetts, and was the son of Dalton and Harriet Newcomb. He received a good English education, and emigrated to the West, where he spent several years as the clerk of a boat, owned and run by his brother Hezekiah, on the Tennessee River. He then engaged with his brother H.D. Newcomb in Louisville. The house met with great success, and finally engaged extensively in the sugar, molasses, and coffee trade. He passed several years in New Orleans, as purchasing agent. Their business was conducted with such signal ability that, in a few years, they had not only succeeded in accumulating a large fortune, but in establishing themselves as among the most far-seeing and successful business men of the county. Being a man of liberal education and refined manners, he carried into his everyday business the agreeable manners and bearing of a gentleman. Although never at any time losing sight of the advantages and best interests of the business, he never neglected the demands society makes on its enterprising members; and was warmly identified not only with the welfare of his adopted city, but also took an active interest in the affairs of the South. In 1863, having accumulated a large fortune, he retired from business, and took up his residence in New York City; but, after spending some time with his family in Europe, he again engaged actively in business, opening a house in New York, under the Name of Warren Newcomb & Co., and continuing with his brother, in Louisville, as H.D. Newcomb & Brother. Mr. Newcomb died August 28, 1866, leaving behind him a record of which his family might well be proud, having taken a place among the merchant princes of the country.
Ebenezer Freeman Newcomb (BMN #1131) was born in 1832. He married Theresa Folma. According to J.B. Newcomb, Ebenezer had a son, Theodore, and “a number of daughters”. B.M. Newcomb listed only one daughter. BMN stated that Ebenezer died in 1872, but according to the 1870 census, his wife Theresa had already remarried, to Ebenezer Cahoon (or Cahron).