Newton Greenwood

1840s–1860s

Born about 1845–1847 in Wadsworth, Yorkshire, the son of James Greenwood. Married Mary Jane Farrar about 1869.

1870s–1880s

A worsted weaver in the Halifax mills. Son James Edward (about 1870) and daughters Amy (1871), Florrie (1877), and Gertrude (1887) were born.

1890s

A worsted weaving foreman living at 8 Plymouth Grove, Halifax, in 1891. Sailed from Liverpool on the S.S. Pennland, reaching Philadelphia on 25 March 1896. A loom boss in South Chester, Pennsylvania, by 1897.

1900s–1920s

A loom fixer in the Chester mills, owning a house at 1824 West 4th Street from 1904. Retired by 1920. Died at home on 6 October 1923.

From the Halifax Mills to Chester

Newton Greenwood was born around 1845 to 1847 in Wadsworth, Yorkshire, the son of James Greenwood. About 1869 he married Mary Jane Farrar, a Halifax girl, and they raised their family in Halifax: James Edward (Ben's 2x-great-grandfather), born about 1870, Amy in 1871, Florence (Florrie) in 1877, and Gertrude in 1887. By 1891 Newton was a worsted weaving foreman, and his household at 8 Plymouth Grove in St. Augustine's parish included his son James, then an overlooker in the same trade.

In 1896 father and son both emigrated to Pennsylvania. Newton sailed from Liverpool on the S.S. Pennland and landed at Philadelphia on March 25, 1896, two weeks after James. By 1897 both were loom bosses in South Chester and living at 405 Flower Street, where James's daughter Ida was born that February, and in 1900 Newton was still renting there. His daughters Amy and Florrie were both married in Chester in 1900.

Newton spent the rest of his working life in the Chester mills, as a loom fixer from 1898 to 1910 and a weaver in 1912. From 1904 he lived at 1824 West 4th Street in Chester, which he owned by 1910. He began the naturalization process in 1909 and filed a new declaration of intent in September 1920, when he was retired; both times he was described as five foot five and 135 pounds, with gray hair and brown eyes. Six months before his death Newton had a stroke, and he died of heart failure at home at 11:30 in the morning on October 6, 1923. He was buried at Chester Rural Cemetery.