Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

W. C. Newcomb, who is one of the most extensive stock-raisers and feeders of Buena Vista county, owns a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres on section 20, Elk township.  Mr. Newcomb was born in Poweshiek county,  September l4, 1860, a son of Joseph Newcomb, a native of England, who emigrated to the new world when a young man and was married in Poweshiek county to Miss Esther Cassiday, a native of Ohio.  The father served in the Civil war and was present at the siege and surrender of Vicksburg.  He died while at the front, passing away at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, in 1863.  His wife survived for a long period and died in Buena Vista county in 1904.  She became the mother of four children, but two died in childhood, the sister of our subject being Rosetta, the wife of J. F. Haight, a resident of Brooke township.

W. C. Newcomb was but three years of age when he lost his father and he was reared on the home farm by his mother and pursued his studies in the common schools.  When he attained mature years he took charge of the home farm for his mother and established a home of his own by his marriage in Brooke township, April 21, 1886, to Miss Lulu F. Goodrich, a daughter of P. C. Goodrich, of Storm Lake.

Following their marriage Mr. Newcomb continued to operate the homestead farm, which he has since purchased and greatly improved.  He also owns three hundred and sixty acres in Brooke township.  In connection with farming he is extensively engaged in raising and feeding stock.  In 1898 he left the farm and removed to Alta, where he engaged in buying and shipping stock for nine years, one year shipping one hundred and five carloads of cattle and some horses, handling a number of carloads of western horses.  In March, 1907, he returned to the farm and has since been engaged in raising stock, giving the greater part of his time to this branch of business, and he is meeting with a very gratifying success, for his long experience in this line has made him an excellent judge of the value of stock.

Mr. and Mrs. Newcomb have become the parents of five children, of whom three are living:  Fae E., who is engaged in teaching in the Mapleton high school; Lillian F., a young lady at home; and William Craig, a little lad of three years. Joseph Dale died at the age of a year and a half, while Marida May died at the age of six years.

Politically Mr. Newcomb has been a republican since age conferred upon him the right to vote and aside from filling the office of road supervisor and serving on the school board he has filled no public office.  Mr. Newcomb is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Alta. and his daughter Fae is a member of the Rebekah lodge, in which she is serving as an officer.  Mr. Newcomb possesses the enterprising spirit of the west and in his chosen field of labor has won distinction in Buena Vista county, being numbered among the most extensive stock-dealers of this part of the state.