Newton Booth

Born to Hannah (née Pitts) of North Carolina and Beebe Booth[https://governors.library.ca.gov/11-booth.html Newton Booth Biography] at the California State Library 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.{{cite web |title=Newton Booth |url=https://www.nga.org/governor/newton-booth/ |website=National Governors Association|date=3 January 2011 }} 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.{{cite news |last1=Armstrong |first1=Lance |title=Former Gov. Newton Booth is among historic figures interred at city cemetery |url=https://www.valcomnews.com/former-gov-newton-booth-is-among-historic-figures-interred-at-city-cemetery-he-was-a-cousin-of-abraham-lincolns-assassin/ |access-date=9 February 2022 |work=Valley Community Newspapers |date=January 23, 2020 |location=Sacramento, California}}

In 1850, Booth traveled{{cite news |last1=McCormick |first1=Mick |title=TH's Booth family's wide accomplishments |url=https://www.tribstar.com/community/ths-booth-familys-wide-accomplishments/article_b20a4c24-7a15-5a97-bb6a-1f5aaf9b441c.html |access-date=9 February 2022 |work=Terre Haute Tribune-Star |language=en}} to Panama, continuing by ship to San Francisco. Central Pacific Railroad founder,

• {{cite book |last1=Fulton |first1=Robert Lardin |title=Epic of the Overland |date=1924 |publisher=A. M. Robertson |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVMEAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22L.+A.+Booth%22+%22Newton+Booth%22&pg=PA14 |language=en |quote=D. W. Strong, Charles Marsh, and L. A. Booth as the other four directors. ... Sacramento, was a cousin of Newton Booth, afterwards Governor of ...}}
• {{cite book |last1=Fulton |first1=Robert Lardin |title=Epic of the Overland |date=1924 |publisher=A. M. Robertson |page=14 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zu1CAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22L.+A.+Booth%22+%22Newton+Booth%22&pg=PA14 |language=en |quote=D. W. Strong, Charles Marsh, and L. A. Booth as the other four directors. ... Sacramento, was a cousin of Newton Booth, afterwards Governor of ...}} Lucius Anson Booth (1820–1906), a cousin and New York native,
• {{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Win. J. |title=An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California |date=1890 |publisher=Lewis Publishing Company |pages=287–289 |url=https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~npmelton/genealogy/sacboo.htm |chapter=Newton Booth |via=Golden Nugget Library |quote=Transcribed by: Marla Fitzsimmons}}
• {{cite book |last1=Booth |first1=Lucius Anson |last2=Booth |first2=Newton |title=Lucius Anson Booth letter to Newton Booth: San Francisco |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79263296 |language=English |date=1849 |oclc=79263296}}

and Thomas Morton Lindley Sr. (1819–1896),

{{cite web |title=Register of the Lindley Family Papers, 1890-1928 |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf838nb68z/entire_text/ |website=oac.cdlib.org |access-date=7 February 2022}}

in 1849, began the firm of Lindley & Booth.{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=William Ladd |title=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 |date=1913 |publisher=Historic Record Company |pages=239–243 |chapter=Newton Booth |isbn=9783849675011 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRU1AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22L.+A.+Booth%22+%22Newton+Booth%22&pg=PA239 |language=en}} 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.{{cite web |title=This Day in History |url=http://sachistorymuseum.org/field-trips/fun-facts/ |website=Sacramento History Museum |access-date=7 February 2022 |date=23 February 2015 |quote=November 2, 1852: On this day in 1852, Sacramento’s great fire, known as the Great Conflagration, burned more than 80 percent of the structures in the city.}} 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 SF and living in Oakland.{{cite book |last1=Langley |first1=Henry G. |title=The San Francisco directory for the year 1869 |date=1869 |publisher=Commercial Steam Presses, S.D. Valentine & Sons |location=San Francisco |page=106 |url=https://archive.org/details/sanfranciscodire1869langrich |quote=Booth, Lucius A., real estate, office room 4, 402 Front, residence 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.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

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.

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.{{cite journal |last1=Hendrick |first1=Irving G. |title=Public Policy Toward the Education of Non-White Minority Group Children in California, 1849-1970. Final Report. |date=March 1975 |url=https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED108998.pdf |access-date=9 February 2022}}

File:The New Elaine.jpg support of a local option for alcohol, {{circa}} 1870s]]

In 1873, Booth helped to organize the Dolly Vardens,[https://web.archive.org/web/20080704055219/http://www.californiagovernors.ca.gov/h/biography/governor_11.html Newton Booth Biography] at californiagovernors.ca.gov a new, independent, republican, anti-monopoly political party.{{cite news |title=Dolly Vardens |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=PRP18720601.2.34.4 |access-date=7 February 2022 |work=Pacific Rural Press |publisher=California Digital Newspaper Collection |date=1 June 1872 |quote=Volume 3, Number 22}} The party 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.

File:Newton Booth Grave.jpg}}

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Category:1825 births

Category:1892 deaths

Category:Anti-Monopoly Party United States senators

Category:Booth Tarkington

Category:Burials at Sacramento City Cemetery

Category:Republican Party California state senators

Category:DePauw University alumni

Category:Republican Party governors of California

Category:United States senators from California

Category:19th-century members of the California State Legislature

Category:19th-century United States senators