HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



157 



1842, at the age of eighteen years, started 

 the "Nezutown Journal," at Newtown, 

 Bucks county, and successfully conducted 

 it until 184.7, when he sold out and estab- 

 lished the "Daily Neius" in Philadelphia. 

 but sold it out also the following year and 

 removed to Doylestown, where he studied 

 law in the office of Hon. Henry Chapman, 

 later the judge of the Bucks county courts. 

 He was admitted to the bar of Bucks coun- 

 ty April 24. 1850, and after two years prac- 

 tice at Doylestown removed to Philadelphia, 

 where he practiced his chosen profession 

 for seventeen years, building up a large 

 practice and establishing a reputation as a 

 counselor at law that marked him for a 

 career as a jurist. He was appointed as a 

 judge of the common pleas court of Phila- 

 delphia on the resignation of F. Carroll 

 Brewster in 1869, and, showing marked 

 ability as a judge, was imanimously nom- 

 inated to succeed himself, and elected the 

 following October. After seven years' ser- 

 vice on the common pleas bench, he was 

 elected to the supreme bench in 1874. and 

 at once took a commanding position among 

 his fellow justices. His career on the su- 

 preme bench on which for eighteen years 

 he served as chief justice, was marked by 

 promptness in the discharge of business, 

 and always by careful considerations of the 

 questions of law. His opinions were mod- 

 els of terseness, clearness and appropriate 

 diction, and showed an accurate knowledge 

 of the law, expressed in clear and concise 

 Tanguage and terms that could be clearly 

 imderstood. Many notable cases were com- 

 mitted to his hands, and his reputation as 

 a supreme justice was an enviable one. He 

 resigned from the bench in 1893 and be- 

 .sylvania ; fourth, receiver of the Philadel- 

 phia & Reading Railroad Company, a posi- 

 tion he filled for four years. The only four 

 public positions ever held by Chief Justice 

 Paxson were the following: First, a mem- 

 ber of the board of guardians of the poor, 

 of Philadelphia; second, judge of the court 

 of common pleas, of Philadelphia ; third, 

 chief justice of the supreme court, of Penn- 

 sylvania ; fourth, receiver of the Philadel- 

 phia & Reading Railroad, all of which posi- 

 tions he resigned. He has for many years 

 had charge of several large estates, to the 

 "management of which and that of his own 

 large interests he has devoted much of his 

 time in recent years, his summers being 

 spent at "Bycot House" and his winters in 

 Philadelphia. He is one of the largest real 

 estate owners in' Bucks county, owning 

 manj'^ farms in Buckingham and Solebury, 

 aggregating nearly 2,000 acres. 



Judge Paxson married, April 30, 1846, 

 Mary Caroline Newlin, of Philadelphia, 

 daughter of Nathaniel and Rachel H. New- 

 lin. of Delaware county, Pennsylvania. She 

 died at Bycot House, June 7, 18S5. He 

 married ("second) December i, tS86, Mary 

 Martha S. Bridges, widow of Hon. Sam- 

 uel K. Bridges, of Allentown. He has no 

 children. 



WILLIAM CLAYTON NEWELL, of 

 Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was born in 

 Philadelphia, October 23, 1856, and is a 

 son of William C. and Susan (Bispham) 

 Newell. 



William Cfirst") and Martha (McGee) 

 Newell, the great-grandparents of William 

 C. Newell, came from Belfast. Ireland, to 

 Philadelphia in 1780. He was a wholesale 

 merchant and importer and conducted a 

 large mercantile establishment at Water 

 street, below Market street, Philadelphia, 

 for many years. He died January 7, 1883, 

 and Martha, his wife, died in 1843 at the 

 age of eighty-four years. They were the 

 parents of nine children, all of whom were 

 born in Philadelphia : John in 1789; Eliza- 

 beth in 1790; William, February 25, 1792; 

 James in 1797; Ann in 1800; Stewart in 

 1802 : Samuel in 1804 ; Robert in 1808, and 

 Martha, in i8o5. 



William Newell ("second") son of Will- 

 iam and Martha (McGee) Newell, born in 

 Philadelphia. February 25, 1792. succeeded 

 his father in the wholesale business in Phil- 

 adelphia, and was a large importer of teas 

 and coffees, owning two docks on the river 

 front and doing a large business. He was 

 a member of the First Troop Philadelphia 

 City Cavalry, 1820 to 1831, and was the 

 bearer of government despatches to France 

 in 1842. He married, April 10, 1823, Eliza 



, born in Philadelphia. October 19, 



1795. and died August 2. 1863, and they 

 were the parents of two children, William 

 and Rebecca. 



William C. Newell (third) son of Will- 

 iam and Eliza, was born in Philadelphia, 

 September 5, 1825. and died there June 27, 

 1865. He was reared and educated in Phil- 

 adelphia, and on arriving at manhood en- 

 gaged in the wholesale tea business in 

 Philadelphia, and was a large importer of 

 tea from China, to which country he was 

 the bearer of government despatches in 

 1846. He married. June 16, 1852, Susan 

 Bispham Dunlap. of a prominent family of 

 that city, where she was born in May. 1824. 

 They were the parents of three children : 

 Susan, wife of Dr. James Hendrie Lloyd, 

 of Philadelphia ; William Claj'ton. the sub- 

 ject of this sketch; and Rebecca W., wife 

 of Grellett Collins, of Philadelphia. 



William Clayton Newell, son of 

 William C. and Susan ("Dunlap) Newell, 

 born in Philadelphia. October 23. 1856, was 

 reared in that city and acquired his educa- 

 tion at the Central High School. At the 

 close of his school days he engaged in the 

 wholesale provision business, in 1877, with 

 which he was connected for several vears. 

 In 1892 he accepted a position with the 

 Provident Life and Trust Co. of Philadel- 

 phia, and has since filled a responsible po- 

 sition with that company, having charge of 

 the real estate department. He fs a member 

 of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of 

 the Revolution, and of the Society of the 

 War of 1812. He has been a resident of 

 Dovlestown since 1880, and is a vestryman 



