Joshua Gaskill Newbold was the tenth Governor of Iowa.
Background
Joshua Newbold was born on March 12, 1830, in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the firstborn child of Barzillai and Catherine (Houseman) Newbold. His ancestors are listed among the first settlers of New Jersey. Quaker in faith, the Newbold family remained aloof from the American Revolution.
Education
Joshua Newbold began his formal education in a common school, later enrolling in a select school taught by Dr. John Lewis, physician and educator who settled in Grinnell, Iowa, in 1878.
Joshua Newbold returned with his family to Fayette County in 1848. There he taught school, assisted his father in running a flour mill, and began studying medicine. His study of medicine was short-lived.
Career
In March 1854 the Newbolds moved to Iowa, settling on a farm near Mount Pleasant in Henry County. A year later they moved to Cedar Township, Van Buren County, where Joshua Newbold became involved in merchandising and farming. Five years later he returned to Henry County, locating in Hillsboro, continuing in the same fields of labor, and expanding to include stock raising and dealing. During that time, additional Newbold family members migrated to Iowa, including Newbold’s parents and his uncle Joshua, who served as pastor of the Hillsboro Free Baptist Church.
When President Abraham Lincoln issued a call in 1862 for 600,000 men, Joshua Newbold joined the Union army as a captain, leaving his farm in the hands of his family and his store in the hands of his partner. He served for nearly three years as captain of Company C, 25th Regiment, Iowa Infantry, organized at Mount Pleasant and mustered in on September 27, 1862. Joshua Newbold saw action at Chickasaw Bayou and Vicksburg and was part of Sherman’s March to the Sea. Captain Newbold served his last three months as a judge advocate at Woodville, Alabama, leaving the army due to a disability just prior to the end of the war.
Upon returning to Iowa, Joshua Newbold reclaimed his standing in the Hillsboro community and became involved in politics as a state representative for Henry County, serving in the 13th, 14th, and 15th General Assemblies (1870, 1872, 1874). He chaired the School Committee in the 14th session and the Appropriations Committee on the 15th. During the 15th session, he also served as a temporary Speaker of the House when the House of Representatives deadlocked during its organization. The elected lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket with Samuel J. Kirkwood in 1875, Joshua Newbold became Iowa’s ninth governor when Kirkwood resigned on February 1, 1877, to run for the U.S. Senate. He served out Kirkwood’s unexpired term, facing such issues as an ever-increasing floating state debt and the inequality of personal property valuations among the counties.
By 1880 Joshua Newbold and his wife, Rachel, both age 50, were back in Mount Pleasant, with he running a dry-goods and grocery store. Politically a devoted Republican, Newbold’s spiritual affiliations varied. Born and raised a Quaker, he spent the greater part of his life as a Free-Will Baptist. In later life, he and his wife joined the Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant; as chair of the building committee, he was actively involved in the construction of the First Presbyterian Church in 1897. Elected mayor of Mount Pleasant in 1900, Joshua Newbold served until his death in 1903 (he had earlier served as mayor in 1883). Joshua Newbold was interred at Forest Home Cemetery in Mount Pleasant.
Religion
Joshua Newbold spent the greater part of his life as a Free-Will Baptist. In later life, he and his wife joined the Presbyterian Church in Mount Pleasant; as chair of the building committee, he was actively involved in the construction of the First Presbyterian Church in 1897.
Connections
Joshua Gaskill Newbold married Rachel Farquhar on May 2, 1850. Five children were born to that union. Only two daughters and one son lived to adulthood.
Spouse:
Rachel Farquhar
References
Hudson, D., Bergman, M., & Horton, L.(Eds.) The biographical dictionary of Iowa