posted April 20, 2008
One of Chattanooga's shortest streets - Newby Street – bears the name of Edwin Newby. He was a justice of the peace after moving to Chattanooga in 1864. City Hall was built where his house stood.
Newby was born in New York City around 1812. The Newbys had been there since the early 1800s. He was a grocery merchant at the Fulton Market in New York City. It was there he met his wife, Susan Mariner.
Susan was born about 1815 in Charleston, S.C., of English parents. Her father was a sail maker and ship chandler. The Mariners moved to New York City when she was a child.
Edwin and Susan Newby in the winter of 1848-49 set out for the Tennessee hills. They took a steamer to Savannah, then rode a train as far as Dalton, Ga. The Western and Atlantic Railroad had not yet been built on north to Chattanooga so they took a stage the rest of the way.
The Newbys settled on Walden's Ridge on Poe's Turnpike near the future Dunlap. Edwin Newby was one of the founders of Sequatchie County and served on its first county court. The Newby Turnpike went by his place. Edwin Newby helped lay out the town of Dunlap.
During the Civil War, both armies destroyed the Newby homeplace at Dunlap. So they chose to move into Chattanooga in 1864 near the war's end. Newby became active in the government of his adopted city. He served as city recorder and was a justice of the peace.
The Newbys themselves lived just south of town by the massive rock outcropping known as the Stone Fort. They bought Lot 5 of Benjamin Chandler's development known as "Chandler's Addition." The street by their residence came to be called Newby Street. At that time, it ran from 10th Street and across 11th before curving over to Georgia Avenue. Later, Newby Street was cut off at 11th so that it ran for just one short block.
The Newbys still had 500 acres near Dunlap that they leased out. They filed a claim with the government seeking reimbursement for use of their section of Poe's Turnpike during the Civil War, but got no relief from that quarter.
Squire Newby – as he came to be called – was “a mighty nice old man who had about as small a percentage of enemies as any person you can find. He was rather patriarchal and the especial favorite of the young people.”
An entertainment was arranged at Kaylor Hall, which then was the town's amusement center. It was in the Kaylor Building on the west side of Market Street between Eighth and Ninth.. Squire Newby “announced he would do his part, but declined to say in advance what it would be. He simply asked that a table be placed on the stage, and when that was done he asked that the orchestra play something or other. When they commenced to play, that old man with snow-white hair came running out on the stage, jumped on the table, and executed a dance in such splendid style that the audience" cheered and cheered. Squire Newby "cut up high jinks generally” causing the crowd to demand an encore.
The Newbys did not have children of their own, but they took in a boy and girl in 1856 while in Sequatchie County. The boy, Wylie, was about six, when they got him. The girl, Sarah F. “Sally”, was about a year younger. Sally was born in Georgia.
Edwin Newby died Dec. 13, 1870, when he was around 58. He still had brothers, James and Isaac, living in New York City.
Susan Newby sold the Newby Street property in December 1886 to R.H. Rush for $4,000. She moved out to Ridgedale on Montgomery Avenue (Main Street). The daughter Sally married Amandus W. Lauter in 1871. Lauter was a former Union Army officer who urged other former officers, including Adolph Tschopik, to join him in Chattanooga. Tschopik and Lauter were business partners, selling cigars and confections on Market Street at Ninth. Lauter later operated the St. Nicholas Restaurant. He introduced the delivery wagon to Chattanooga in the year of his marriage – 1871. The Lauters later lived at Ridgedale. Sally Lauter was never legally adopted, which later caused some legal problems..
There is a record in 1879 of Susan Newby marrying William King, but she was still Susan Newby when she died in February 1890. King Street was one street over from Newby Street.
Susan Newby in her will gave her parlor furniture, vases and carpet to her granddaughter, Katie Lauter. She left the dishes and chinaware to Sally. Charles Whitcomb, was bequeathed the bed and bedding and all the furniture belonging to his rooms. He also got two clocks and a refrigerator. Whitcomb was the town jailer and he lived near the old Newby place. Mrs. Newby left her medical books to Dr. R.P. Johnson. She gave her son-in-law, A.W. Lauter, $300 credit on the $700 loan she had given him. She gave $100 to Ida Carlile. The rest of the estate was given in one-third shares to Sally, Whitcomb and to her brother, F.C. Mariner. Dr. Johnson was the executor of the estate.
An ornate Custom House was being built just across from the Newby place at the time of Susan Newby's death. The Stone Fort was being knocked down, opening up that section south of town for development.
The Chattanooga Southern Railroad extended its line to Newby Street and built a two-story, brick freight depot at the southeast corner of Newby and 10th. The Belt Line Railroad went by a one-story, frame dwelling at the corner of King Street and swevered to the rear of the Chattanooga Southern Depot.
Then, in the early 1900s, the entire block where the Newbys once held sway was taken by the city for an elaborate new City Hall.
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