Background
Newell was born in North Carolina and educated at Louisiana Grange College in Alabama.
politician member of the Louisiana State Senate
Newell was born in North Carolina and educated at Louisiana Grange College in Alabama.
In 1834, the Newell brothers relocated to Tensas Parish. He and his relatives owned and tortured hundreds of slaves. Edward and Thomas Newell opened up and settled in the area of northern Tensas Parish known as Newell"s Ridge.
The brothers created the Newell Cotton Press.
He purchased some 30,000 acres (120 km²) of public land, a part of his Cypress Plantation. With other investors, and with money he made from keeping people as slaves and forcing them to do all his work, Newell purchased a printing press to establish the weekly newspaper Tensas Gazette in 1852, which was published in Saint Joseph, the seat of Tensas Parish.
Newell was active in the Democratic Party. He was a member and president of the Tensas Parish Police Jury (the equivalent of a county commission in most states).
He was elected to the secession convention of 1861 and supported the removal of Louisiana from the union of states.
The historic Newell Cemetery near Newellton is named after him.
He was a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1857 to 1861.