Daniel Tobias Newcomb (1794-1891)
The following biography is (slightly revised) from Bethuel M. Newcomb’s 1923 Andrew Newcomb and His Descendants.
In the War of 1812 Mr. Newcomb served under Capt. John Fake, Col. William Knickerbacker, in the brigade commanded by Gen. Eddy, at the invasion of Plattsburgh, September 1814.
Daniel Newcomb was born at the old homestead of his parents, and his youth and early manhood were spent on his father’s farm in his favorite pursuit, agriculture. In 1822, at the age of twenty-eight, he located in Essex County, New York, with a view to the cultivation of a large tract of land which he owned there, situated in what is now the town of Newcomb. The town was named after him, incorporated in 1928; he was the first supervisor.
After his marriage, they resided in Essex County, then a wild region of the Adirondacks, for four or five years, when they returned to Pittstown. He great ambition was to become a large agriculturist. He decided, therefore, to explore the “Great West”. Early in January 1837, he left his home and traveled alone on horseback (the snow in many places two feet deep) through New York, Upper Canada, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois, to the Mississippi River, crossing the river into what is now Iowa (then Wisconsin Territory). After his explorations he decided to settle on the west side of the “Father of Waters”.
In September Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb, with her parents, emigrated to Iowa, arriving 10 November 1837. They located in a beautiful part of the country, on the Mississippi River, about fifteen miles below Rock Island, where they took possession of a log cabin. There were at the time but two counties in what is now Iowa, Dubuque and Des Moines. For several years they endured the labor, fatigue and privations incident to settling and opening a farm in a new country. The proceeds and profits of Mr. Newcomb’s estate, under his wise management and untiring industry, accumulated into a large fortune.
At an early day, seeing that the location of the site of the present town of Davenport was surpassingly beautiful, even in its natural state, he decided to make it his future home. According, in 1853 he moved to Davenport and erected a fine residence, known as the “Newcomb Mansion”, on spacious grounds. In this lovely home, which commands a charming view of the Mississippi River and Rock Island, he spent the remainder of his days, dispensing the same generous hospitality that he had in this cabin in the country.
Mr. Newcomb was a man of little or no personal pretentions, unusually retiring, remarkable for sound judgment and close observations, his uprightness unquestionable, correct in all his dealings, so generous to the needy and kind to the poor that he was often called “the poor man’s friend”. The law of his life was the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have other do unto you.” No man could with truth charge him with injustice of oppression in a business transaction, and all trusts committed to him were scrupulously performed. The sternness of his character was equaled only by his goodness, temperance and integrity.
Though never a member of any Christian denomination (his sympathies were with the old-school Presbyterians), he always entertained a profound respect for religion and its ordinances, and manifested his sense of duty by an habitual attendance at the house of worship. He lived and died in the assurance of a blessed immortality. He often said his hope of heaven was unclouded, and that death to him had not terrors, the silent grave no gloom. No words more fully represented his feelings than the following: “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” a sentiment expressed a short time previous to his death. His character may thus be briefly summed up: to a sound judgment and uprightness of heart and life he united great energy and untiring industry in all affairs of business.
Mrs. Newcomb’s long devotion to her husband and to his memory were not more marked than her benevolence in every good work about her by which the happiness or well-being of others might be promoted. She united in her character those qualities which have ever rendered a woman a blessing to the world. She erected to her husband’s memory the Newcomb Memorial Chapel at Davenport. In 1875-76 she gave a lot from her homestead, valued at $5,000, to the Davenport Academy of Sciences; she also presented to the Society five large oil paintings, set in rich frames, of herself and husband, together with a copy of the “Newcomb Genealogy” bound in Morocco. She also gave the ground upon which stands the Presbyterian Church and other religious and educational institutions, was chief patron of the public library, and gave $25,000 to found the Old Ladie’s Home at Davenport.
The accompanying portrait of Mr. Newcomb was engraved from a photograph taken a short time before his death.