Newton Booth

Early life

Born to Hannah (née Pitts) of North Carolina and Beebe Booth of Connecticut, Quakers, in Salem, Indiana, he attended the common schools. In 1841, his parents Beebe and Hannah Booth moved from Salem to Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1846, he graduated from Asbury College (later renamed DePauw University), in nearby Greencastle, Indiana. Booth worked in his father's Terre Haute store, then studied law in the office of attorney William Dickson Griswold (1815–1896). He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and became a partner in Griswold's law firm.

Business career

In 1850, Booth traveled to Panama, continuing by ship to San Francisco. Central Pacific Railroad founder,

• Lucius Anson Booth (1820–1906), a cousin and New York native,

and Thomas Morton Lindley Sr. (1819–1896), in 1849, began the firm of Lindley & Booth. When Newton Booth arrived in Sacramento, the first cholera epidemic was spreading, and he went to Amador County, where he was sick for some time. The epidemic, reportedly, ended in three weeks. In May 1850, John Forshee, Lucius Anson Booth and John Dye established Forshee, Booth & Co. In the spring of 1851, Lucius Anson Booth and John Dye retired from Forshee, Booth & Co. In February, 1851, Charles Smith and Newton Booth established a business of Smith & Booth., on J Street, between 4th and 5th streets. Kleinhaus & Co., established in 1852, Theodore P. and David W. Kleinhaus as partners.

The firms suffered from the Sacramento Fire of November 2, 1852. Soon after Lucius Anson Booth, one of the organizers of Lindley & Booth, became a partner, and the firm assumed the name of Booth & Co. and continued until 1856, when Newton Booth retired and returned to Indiana, while the firm consolidated with Kleinhaus & Co., but the name was not changed from Booth & Co. In 1856, C. T. Wheeler and T. L. Barker were admitted as partners. The Kleinhauses retired in 1860, and Newton Booth again entered the firm. Lucius Anson Booth and T. L. Barker retired in 1862, and Joseph Terry Glover (1832–1886), of San Francisco, became a partner in the firm. In 1869, Lucius Anson Booth was working in San Francisco and living in Oakland. In December 1871, business was established in San Francisco in connection with W. W. Dodge. The firm in 1878 was composed of Newton Booth, C. T. Wheeler, Joseph Terry Glover and W. W. Dodge.

Newton Booth made his fortune as a saloon keeper.

He returned to Terre Haute in 1856 and engaged in the practice of law with future U.S. Congressman Harvey D. Scott. In the summer of 1857 Booth traveled through Europe.

Political career

In 1860, Booth returned to Sacramento and the wholesale mercantile business. He campaigned for Abraham Lincoln for president. In 1862, he was elected to the California State Senate, serving from 1863 to 1865. In 1871, Booth was elected the eleventh governor of California, serving from December 8, 1871, to February 27, 1875. Booth openly sought black support.

In 1873, Booth helped to organize the Dolly Vardens, a new, independent, republican, anti-monopoly political party. The "Dolly Vardens" was named for a calico pattern composed of many different colors and figures, alluding to a political party made up of "sore heads from any party or by any name". With their support, he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a member of the Anti-Monopoly Party in December 1873, serving from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1880. During his time in the Senate, he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Manufacturers and the U.S. Senate Committee on Patents, both during the 45th Congress. In 1876, the Greenback Party nominated him for Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Peter Cooper. However, Booth declined the nomination and Samuel F. Cary replaced him. As of 2021, Booth remains the only senator from California who served as a member of a third party.

After serving in Congress, he returned to his wholesale mercantile business in Sacramento.

Personal life

Booth married the widow of Joseph Terry Glover,

• Microfilm at Colorado Mesa University; Edward Eberstadt & Sons - Collection: Archives at Yale

his business partner, Octavine C. Glover (1833–1907) on 9 February 1892, in Sacramento, where he died, in July 1892. His wife, Octavine C. Booth (1833–1907), Glover's mother-in-law, Eliza Payne (1810–1873); his sister-in-law, Julia E. Dunn (1839–1923); and his brother-in-law, William Henry Payne (1848–1919) are interred in the Newton Booth plot in Sacramento Historic City Cemetery.

He was the uncle of author Booth Tarkington, son of his sister Elizabeth Booth, who was raised in Terre Haute.

Recognition

• Sacramento's Newton Booth neighborhood was named for him.
• Native Sons of the Golden West historical plaque in front of the Booth Company wholesale grocery Building 1017 Front Street in Old Sacramento.

Gallery

File:Newton Booth, oval portrait.jpg|Booth in an undated portrait File:Newton Booth by Bradley & Rulofson.jpg|Booth in an undated portrait File:Governor Elect Newton Booth.jpg|Engraving of Booth in Harper's Weekly, 1871 File:NewtonBooth.jpg|Booth's official gubernatorial portrait

References

References

1. [https://governors.library.ca.gov/11-booth.html Newton Booth Biography] at the [[California State Library]]
2. (3 January 2011). "Newton Booth".
3. (January 23, 2020). "Former Gov. Newton Booth is among historic figures interred at city cemetery". Valley Community Newspapers.
4. "TH's Booth family's wide accomplishments". Terre Haute Tribune-Star.
5. (1913). "History of Sacramento County, California: With Biographical Sketches of the Leading Men and Women of the County who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present". Historic Record Company.
6. (23 February 2015). "This Day in History".
7. (1869). "The San Francisco directory for the year 1869". Commercial Steam Presses, S.D. Valentine & Sons.
8. (March 1975). "Public Policy Toward the Education of Non-White Minority Group Children in California, 1849-1970. Final Report.".
9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080704055219/http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_11.html Newton Booth Biography] at ''californiagovernors.ca.gov''
10. (1 June 1872). "Dolly Vardens". [[California Digital Newspaper Collection]].
11. "Sacramento Daily Union 21 April 1871 — California Digital Newspaper Collection".
12. "Sacramento Daily Union 18 July 1874 — California Digital Newspaper Collection".
13. (4 May 1895). "Octavine Booth, the widow of ex-Governor Booth, for the fine oil portrait of him which she presented to the State last winter". [[California Digital Newspaper Collection]].
14. (15 July 1892). "NEWTON BOOTH. Death Overtakes Him Suddenly and Unexpectedly". [[California Digital Newspaper Collection]].
15. (January 2006). "Self Guided Tour". Historic City Cemetery, Inc..
16. "Newton Booth, Sacramento City Cemetery, 1000 Broadway, Sacramento CA 95818".
17. "John S. Tarkington Papers, 1844-1923 (Bulk 1910-1923)".
18. "The Booth Family of Terre Haute". [[Terre Haute Tribune-Star]].
19. [https://www.cityofsacramento.org/economic-development/community-engagement/neighborhood-directory/District4/Newton-Booth-Neighborhood-Association City of Sacramento - Newton Booth Neighborhood Association City of Sacramento]
20. "38°34'58.8"N 121°30'20.0"W · Front St, Sacramento, CA 95814".
21. "Booth Building - Sacramento, CA".