Cherubusco Newton (1848-1910)

Portrait from Herringshaw's Encyclopedia of American Biography of the 19th Century.

   A prominent lawyer and legislator in 19th century Louisiana, Cherubusco Newton's first name is truly one-of-a-kind. Research on Mr. Newton's life was somewhat hampered by the rather inconsistent spelling of his first name, which is variously given as "Cherubusco", "Churubusco" and "Curubusco". Seeing that Newton was born on May 15, 1848, one year following the famous Battle of Churubusco during the Mexican-American War, it is in all likelihood that he was named after that particular battle. I first discovered Mr. Newton's name in 2001 while perusing the website www.politicalgraveyard.com and other than the information obtained there, little else could be found on him other than his short tenure in Congress. This remained the norm until websites (such as Wikipedia and Infoplease) began offering up small, brief blurbs on the man whose profile you are now reading.

   Cherubusco Newton was born in St. Helena Parish, Louisiana, the son of Daniel and Nancy Wright Newton. He attended the State Seminary of Learning in Alexandria and graduated from Louisiana State University. He began teaching school soon afterward and in 1870 passed the Louisiana state bar exam. Over the next few years Newton gained statewide distinction as an attorney, and the Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana (Volume II) mentioned that his firm "was ranked second to none in the northern part of the state." Newton married in 1879 to Amanda Cason (the sister of his law partner J.T. Cason) with whom he would have two sons, Thomas C. Newton (born 1886) and Sterling M. Newton, both of whom went on to distinguished careers as lawyers.

   In 1879 Newton was elected to the Louisiana State Senate and this four-year term saw him sit on the judiciary committee and chair the Committee on Public Education. In 1886 he was nominated by the Democrats for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and that November trounced his Republican opponent, G.L. Walton, by a vote of 13,618 to 495. He took his seat in March 1887 and was a member of the committees on the Eleventh Census, and Public Buildings and Grounds. He served one term, being defeated for renomination by Charles Jahleal Boatner (1849-1903) in November 1888. 

A recently located portrait of Newton, found May 19, 2020, via the Library of Congress.

  In 1888 Newton was named as a delegate to that year's Democratic National Convention in St. Louis that renominated Grover Cleveland for President. At the expiration of his congressional term in 1889, Newton returned to Louisiana and continued with his earlier law practice. The Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana Volume II notes that Newton was also a "successful financier and has accumulated a comfortable competency and a considerable fortune."
  In 1893 Newton and his family moved to Monroe, Louisiana. Cherubusco Newton died at his home there shortly after his 62nd birthday on May 26, 1910, and was survived by his wife and sons. Following funeral arrangements, his body was later interred at the New Cemetery in Bastrop, Louisiana. 

                                                          From the 1886 Troy Daily Times.