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Abraham Newell and family settled in Roxbury where they were members of the First Church of Roxbury. He is mentioned
in the History of Roxbury at several places. In the list of Estates and Persons, he is listed as having 22 acres. Page 351
tells of early owners of various parcels of land. Abraham Newell and Edward Bugby received 26 acres of a property called "The
Foxholes". Page 370 relates that Edward Porter and Abraham Newell were the original owners of the property called the "Maccarty
Farm". He and his family receive mention in various portions of the history of "The First Church".
Abraham's son,
Isaac "of Roxbury", married Elizabeth Curtis. Her uncle was the Rev. John Eliot, the minister to the Indians in the Natick
area.
Josiah Newell, Isaac's son, had a homestead on what became Central Avenue of Needham. He is shown on the tax
records of 1712 in Needham as owning over 200 acres which were mostly in the southern part of town near the river. He was
a Justice of the Peace besides being a farmer, and signed many of the important papers of the time.
Isaac's son, Ebenezer
Newell, married first Elizabeth Bullard, then Elizabeth Allen. In 1748 he and his family moved to a farm on Strawberry Hill
in Springfield Parish (Dover/Dedham), a few miles west of Needham. Ebenezer sold the farm in 1769 and returned to Needham
with his second wife. Ebenezer and his second wife are buried in the Needham Cemetery on Nehoiden Street. (See special page
at end for more history from the History of Needham by George Kuhn Clarke.)
Ebenezer Newell, Ebenezer's son, was approximately
12 years old when the family moved to Strawberry Hill. On April 24, 1760, he married Elizabeth Wheaton, daughter of Caleb
Wheaton of Rehoboth and Needham. The Wheaton family came from Wales to Rehoboth. He later married Abigail Allen (sister of
his step-mother, Elizabeth Allen), and married last Rachel Ames (could be Eames). The family moved around but finally settled
near the center of Dover. Ebenezer kept a tavern for a while. He was very active in town government, serving as a selectman
for many years. He was a deacon in the First Parish Church and the District clerk. Ebenezer, his mother, Elizabeth Bullard
Newell, his first wife, Elizabeth Wheaton Newell, and probably others of his immediate family are buried at Highland Cemetery
in Dover, Massachusetts.
After the early death of his mother, Asa (Ebenezer's son), spent much of his childhood with his grandfather, Caleb Wheaton.
He also helped with the family tavern. He married Miriam White (Wight?) in 1805 in Natick. They moved to Amherst shortly after
the wedding in December, and their first child was born in Amherst the following August. Asa named him for his grandfather,
Caleb Wheaton. Their second child, Charles William, arrived four years later in 1810.
Asa prospered for a few years.
According to the tax valuation lists, he increased his land under cultivation each year until the taxes were due in 1814.
For some reason he went from 50 acres under cultivation to 1/2 acre.
Asa died of pnuemonia October 12, 1844. Caleb's
first wife, Mary Pease Newell, daughter of Sharon Pease, died of tuberculosis the following February. Miriam died June 17,
1849, according to the entry on Page 78 of Deaths in Amherst, Massachusetts..
Caleb and Mary Pease Newell had six
children of whom only 2 survived - George Whitfield Newell and Mary Elisabeth Newell. Caleb married Lucina Tolman, daughter
of Hosea Tolman of Dana, in May of 1845. They had seven children of whom three survived - Maria Lucina, Jesse Lee, and Sarah
Amelia. Caleb was the owner of the "Caleb W. Newell Cabinet Maker, Inc." factory in East Amherst for many years. On
the census of 1850, Kitty (Katherine) Sherman is noted as living in the household of Caleb Newell. She was Lucina's
maternal grandmother.
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