Benjamin Smith Newton was born 20 May 1829 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom to Benjamin Newton (1792-1856) and Ruth Whitley (1797-1837) and died 2 June 1902 South Shields, London, England, United Kingdom of unspecified causes. He married Agnes Brown (1829-1919) 4 March 1850 .
As an adult, Benjamin moved to Sunderland, Durham , England; his children were born here between 1851 and 1869. He laboured as a building contractor and was a skilled bricklayer. His hard work provided well for his family and they were considered well-to-do. However, he was subject to wild financial speculations and were reduced to poverty. Each time his hard work would create some comfort for the family, speculative ventures would bring them back down again. He worked once as a ship's husband (making cargo arrangements, paying wharf fees, crew wages, etc.). The job lasted for a short while since the ship on a voyage to Hamburg Germany with a a load of coal went to the bottom with all hands.
He went back into the building trade at this time, but at this time (1871) business was very slow. He finally obtained work building signal cabins for the Great Eastern Railway Company. He oversaw the work for all of the cabins. In 1873, he moved the family to Heburn, a small village on the river Tyne. He had accumulated enough money for the family to emigrate to the United States, but he lent the money to his brother and it was all lost. He then took a job with a company Thompson & Sons in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where they lived for about 3 years until the construction trade faded again and the company went out of business.
No more is known of his life from this point on.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Fanny Newton (1856-1871) | |||
| Emely Newton (1857-1877) | |||
| Sam Smith Newton (1858-1954) | |||
| Lavina Newton (1859-1899) | |||
| Agnes Annie Newton (1861-1941) | |||
| Clara Newton (1863-1959) | |||
| Benjamin Smith Newton (1865-1868) | |||
| Margaret Newton (1867-1868) | |||
| Laura Newton (1869-1871) | |||
Residences
Footnotes (including sources)
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