Rev. Isaac Denison Newell, Jr. (1837-1914)
Isaac Denison Newell, Jr. was born on July 2, 1837 in Rushville, Illinois to Isaac Denison Newell, Sr. and Sarah Greene. His heritage can be traced back to one Thomas Newell who arrived in the New World from Herefordshire, England in 1634 and settled in Farmington, Connecticut. The family lived in Connecticut for five generations until 1781 when Captain Daniel Newell moved to Tinmouth, Vermont. Isaac senior was born in Tinmouth and, while living there, married Sarah Greene, a distant relative of Major General Nathaniel Greene, who was second in command to George Washington during the Revolutionary War. Isaac senior and Sara moved first into New York and then on to Illinois where they lived out the remainder of their years.
On February 24, 1859, Isaac junior married Almira Flanagin, but she died only three months later. When the Civil War began, Isaac enlisted on the Union side. He first served in the Illinois Infantry as a Private, but was transferred to the Mississippi River Marine Brigade where he rose to the rank of Captain. Shortly after returning home, on December 24, 1867, he married again, this time to Annie Grace Bartlett, daughter of Gardner Bartlett and Sarah Heard of Upper Alton, Illinois.
Isaac entered Divinity School, attending Shurtleff College and Crozier Theological Seminary with graduation in 1871. In 1873 he and Annie, who was then pregnant with their second child (a son had been born in 1870, but died shortly after birth), decided to move further west. Isaac, together with Annie’s brother, John Bartlett, and the family dog, left home to look for land. Isaac hoped to be able to move his wife and child before the birth, but they weren’t that lucky. Isaac and John surveyed large portions of southeast Nebraska and northeast Kansas before deciding to take land west of Glenvil. A sod house was built on John’s land for them to live in (with their mules) while a frame house could be built on Isaac’s.
Isaac and Annie Grace (he habitually called her Gracie) were Glenvil residents the rest of their lives, although Isaac’s calling meant they were frequently gone, sometimes for years at a time. He founded the First Baptist Church in Hastings and churches in Harvard, Glenvil, Fairfield, and Inland, plus several in Kansas. He also served as Glenvil Superintendent of Schools from 1877 to 1884.
The couple had six children: George (died as an infant), Nora (who was born in Illinois and traveled to Nebraska in her mother’s arms), Clara, Albert, Merle and Grace. The last four were all born in Glenvil. Grace choked on a kernel of corn and died at the age of 17 months. Merle contracted tuberculosis and died in 1908; the other three lived to adulthood.
Norah married Charles Hatch and moved to Kansas. Clara married a local boy, Louis Brandt, and Albert married Louis’ sister, Anna Brandt. Louis and Anna were both children of Lutjen and Gretje Brandt. The newlywed Newell and Brandt families lived side by side for some years on First Street in Glenvil village where all but two of their children were born. Some time between 1914 and 1918 the Brandts moved to Hastings and in 1921 the Newells moved to Grand Island.
Annie Grace Newell died in Glenvil in 1912 and is now buried in Parkview Cemetery in Hastings. Isaac joined her in 1914. Following the death of Albert Newell in 1950, the original homestead land northwest of Glenvil village was sold to Menno and Frances Murman, who had rented it since 1930. Menno’s sons, David and James Murman now own and operate the land.
Contact - Jan Young j.b.young@sbcglobal.net