Dascar Octavius Newberry (1869-1928)

From the Elizabeth City Independent, July 29, 1921.

   North Carolina resident Dascar Octavius Newberry was, like many previously profiled politicians, without a face to place with his name for several years. A chance browsing through past digitized editions of the Elizabeth City Independent recently yielded the above portrait of Newberry, the first of which this author has seen. A figure of distinction in Tyrell County, "Dack" Newberry entered politics at an early age, first winning election to local office at the age of just 20. He would later mount a campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican and was selected by President Roosevelt as U.S. Collector of Customs for Elizabeth City in 1906. An alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1912, Newberry later underwent a change of political faith and was appointed as Judge of the Tyrrell County Court in 1921, as a Democrat.

  The son of Marquis De La Fayette (1836-1897) and Victoria (Patrick) Newberry (1844-1909), Dascar Octavius "Dack" Newberry was born in Tyrrell County on October 26, 1869. Newberry suffered a hardscrabble existence during his youth, and resided on "one of the poorest farms in the county." Although his education was limited, Newberry took work as a surveyor early in his life, and "grew to know his county like a book." At the age of twenty, he was elected as Tyrrell County Register of Deeds, where he served consecutive terms from 1890-1898. In the late 1890s, Newberry married Harriet Patrick (1873-1965), to who he was wed until his death. The couple would have three children, Lillian (died in infancy in 1898), Mildred (1901-1934), and Harriett (1906-2000).

  As County Register of Deeds Newberry resided in the town of Columbia, where he would have a considerable impact in civic affairs. He proved instrumental in establishing the town's first daily mail service, a telephone system, an express service, a branch of the U.S. Weather Bureau, and was an educational benefactor to the county school system. 

   Newberry's time as register of deeds also saw him serving in the additional role of justice of the peace in Tyrrell County, and in 1904 set his sights on a seat in Congress. Hoping to represent North Carolina's 1st Congressional district, Newberry won the Republican nomination and that November was opposed by three-term Democratic incumbent John Humphrey Small (1858-1946). On election day it was Small who triumphed at the ballot box, polling 13,065 votes to Newberry's 3,167. Small would subsequently win reelection to seven further terms in Congress and in June 1920 lost his seat in that year's Democratic primary.
  Despite his congressional defeat Newberry continued to advance politically and in 1906 was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as U.S. Collector of Customs at Elizabeth City. He served through the remainder of Roosevelt's administration and through the Taft presidency before stepping down in 1913. One year previous to leaving office Newberry was named an alternate delegate from North Carolina to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where William Taft was renominated for the Presidency.
  Upon leaving the customs house in 1913 Newberry joked that the position should be abolished, and later saw a Democrat appointed to replace him. Newberry could take solace in the fact that the salary of the post was cut from $1,800 to a mere $150, and with that decrease in salary, a limited number of men applied for the post!
  In 1913 Newberry removed from Elizabeth City to Norfolk, Virginia, where he took on the post of legal advisor for the Richmond Cedar Works, then a major manufacturer of cedarwood washbasins, pails, and washing machines. Following his removal back to his old home in Columbia in 1919 Newberry served as president of the Albemarle Telephone and Electric Co. and was the president of the Merchant and Farmer's Bank, which during his stewardship had "resources of more than $200,000.00".  All told, Newberry proved modest about his numerous civic accomplishments, with the Elizabeth Independent remarking that:

"And many of the things he did he never got credit for. He was that rare sort of man who cared little for the praise he got out of doing a thing."

From the Elizabeth City Independent, December 21, 1928.

  With his return to Columbia Newberry felt called to politics once again, and underwent a change of political faith. This change from Republican to Democrat was reported on extensively in the Elizabeth City Independent, which noted Newberry's change in politics was due to the Republican party's stance on racial issues in the South. This paper also remarked on Newberry's other possible motives, including "business reasons" extenuating from a fracas between the Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners and the Merchant and Farmer's Bank.

  Whatever the reasoning behind Newberry's transfer of allegiance to the Democratic party, by the early 1920s he had helped build up its ranks in Tyrrell County, eventually seeing nearly all but one Republican officeholder voted out on election day. Rejuvenated politically, Newberry began speaking out on the pronounced liquor traffic in Columbia, calling a mass meeting of female citizens in the summer of 1921. Speaking on bootlegging and how to curb drunkenness in the town, Newberry was soon after named Tyrrell County judge, this office being created by a vote of the Board of Commissioners.

  His time on the bench saw Newberry imposing "heavy penalties" on those that broke the liquor laws. Proving to be a stern judge, Newberry also took steps to curtail vagrancy, and, with it, gambling and theft. His length of service on the bench remains undetermined at this time, and by August 1922 had been elected as Mayor of Columbia. His time in that office also remains indeterminate and on December 9, 1928, Newberry died in Norfolk, Virginia at age 59. He was survived by his wife Harriet and children and was interred at the Oakwood Cemetery in Columbia, North Carolina.

From the Elizabeth City Independent, December 14, 1928.