MRS. JULIA B. NEWBERRY

(DEC. 15,  1885)

   A cable dispatch from Paris, published in the daily papers, tells of the death in that city on the 9th inst., of Mrs. Julia B. Newberry.  The announcement will be received with sincere regret by many here, where she was held in pleasant memory.  Mrs. Newberry was a daughter of the late James Clapp, and a grand daughter of Benjamin Butler, both of whom died some years since.  She was born in this village May 12, 1818.  The family residence was on Washington Square, and gave place nearly thirty years ago to St. Paul's Church, which now occupies the site of the old house.

   The mother died early in the present century, leaving besides the subject of this notice an elder daughter, Mary D., and sons, Benjamin, James and Nicholas D.  The two last only, now survive.  There are those still living in our village who will recall the elder sister, excellent and beloved in her life, and who faded away regretted by all who knew her, nor can they forget the bright girlhood of the younger at the Academy, and the charms of person and conversation which in after years were a delight to the home circle and in society.

   She was married Nov. 22, 1842, to Walter L. Newberry and removed to Chicago.  A son of the marriage died here in early youth when she was visiting her old home, and his ashes repose in the cemetery.  The husband died on the ocean while on his passage to the other side to join her.  Two lovely and accomplished daughters met death in a foreign land, leaving the mother the sole remnant of the family.  For some years past Mrs. Newberry had lived abroad, occasionally returning to her native land, when she always sought the scenes and associations of her girlhood in our village.

   Mr. Newberry gathered a large estate, valued at $5,000,000.00, or more, and left a will very peculiar in some of its provisions.  The widow did not accept those made for her, and upon a settlement secured large property for her separate estate.  It is said that by the terms of the will, about $2,500,000 will now become operative for the erection of a building and the establishment of a library to perpetuate the family name in Chicago.  The balance of the estate will go to the collateral heirs of Mrs. Newberry.

   Mrs. Newberry had indulged the hope and often expressed her purpose to again visit the scenes of her childhood, but a barrier more implacable than the ocean has been placed between her cherished plans and their realization.

NOTE:  DATE WAS HAND-WRITTEN ON THE ARTICLE. 

FROM THE ANNALS OF OXFORD Compiled, Edited and Published by Henry J. Galpin, 1906.

   JULIA B. Clapp, born May 12, 1818, in Oxford; died December 9, 1885, while residing in Paris, France; married November 22, 1842, Walter L. Newberry of Chicago.  She was an active member of the Episcopal Church, and a memorial window to her memory is in the American church in Paris.  

   She was known and respected for liberality and benevolence, as well as for her talents and social acquirements.  She left a fortune of over $3,000,000.  Mr. Newberry died November 6, 1868, at sea en route for Havre to join his family, then in Paris.  Naturally austere and taciturn, he repelled all offers of friendship or acquaintance on shipboard, and thus among strangers he sickened and died.  He escaped the usual burial of those dying at sea by the interference of a gentleman from Unadilla, N. Y., who knew him and who assured the captain of the vessel that the relatives of the deceased would meet any expense accrued in keeping the body.  A cask of Medord rum that formed a part of the cargo, it is stated, was brought into requisition.  Mr. Newberry's body was placed within it, and when the cargo was discharged the cask was re-billed to Mr. Newberry's friends in Chicago by the Unadilla gentleman, who was ignorant of the fact that Mrs. Newberry was then in Paris.  The cask left for America on the next steamer and in due time arrived at Chicago on a freight train.  The friends who had been notified of the shipment of the body, it is further stated, took charge of the cask, still containing the body, and buried it in Graceland cemetery.