Newton, Thomas W.

Born: 1804-01-18 Alexandria, Virginia

Died: 1853-09-22 New York, New York

Flourished: Arkansas

Thomas W. Newton was an Arkansas politician and Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He attended local schools in his native Alexandria, Virginia. Newton moved to the Arkansas Territory in 1820, settling in Little Rock. He became involved in local government, serving as the secretary of the Legislative Council in 1823, 1825, 1827, and 1828. From 1825 to 1829, he served as clerk of the courts of Pulaski County. He read law and moved to Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1829, establishing a law practice in Shelbyville. While living in Shelbyville, he married Mary K. Allen, with whom he had two sons. After Mary Newton's death, he married Amelia Cordell. In 1837, Newton returned to Little Rock, finding work as a cashier at the State and Real Estate Bank. From 1844 to 1847, he was a member of the Arkansas Senate. In 1847, the Arkansas General Assembly elected Newton as a Whig to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of Archibald Yell. Newton served in the Senate from February 6 to March 3, 1847; he was not a candidate for a full Senate term in 1846. After his stint in the Senate, he returned to Arkansas and resumed the practice of law.

Gravestone, Mount Holly Cemetery, Little Rock, AR; Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1586; William H. Pruden, III, "Thomas Willoughby Newton," CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/thomas-willoughby-newton-4287/, accessed 11 September 2019.