| Notes |
- John Newton, of Westby in the County of Lincoln in Basingthorp Parish, first mentioned in the Visit. of Lincoln in the year 1634.
source: Genealogical Memoranda Relating to the Family of Newton. London, UK: Taylor and Company, 1871.
- The John Newton, of Westby, with whom the Visitation pedigree of 1634 begins, was Sir Isaac Newton’s great-great-grandfather, the descent being through the third son, Richard. The first two Johns in this pedigree shall be distinguished as John II and John III. John II seems to have been the son of an earlier John (see below), whom we will call John I. Now, the evidence of wills and parish registers shews that Sir Isaac Newton, in 1705, not having before him the evidence to be obtained from the family wills, failed to distinguish between John II and John III, and concluded that the latter was the John who bought an estate in Woolsthorpe, and dying in 1562, was his ancestor. This mistake led him to misinterpret the quite accurate Visitation pedigree of 1634; and the same error has been perpetuated by Mr Larken, Mr Mirehouse, and Canon Maddison, who all, very pardonably, followed the great man’s guidance. Sir Isaac’s pedigree of 1705 is printed below (Pedigree no. III). He stated in his affidavit that the deed of 1562 was then in his possession, by which document John Newton II settled the land which he bought in Woolsthorpe on his sons Richard, George, Robert, Simon, and William Newton, and their heirs, in succession. This settlement, seemingly, led Sir Isaac to the conclusion that Richard was the eldest son, since he came first in the entail, and from this it followed that he could not be the Richard named in the second generation of the pedigree of 1634 (Pedigree no. I), and in the same generation of his own pedigree of 1705 (Pedigree no. Ill), because that Richard was the third son. The evidence now available proves that Sir Isaac’s ancestor was the third, but second surviving, son, Richard, of whom Newton said: 'what became of him, or his descendants, is not yet known.’ The correct descent is given in the Pedigree no. IV, below.
The pedigree of 1634 states that John Newton II was descended from the Newtons of Lancashire. If this is correct, the migration probably took place not later than the first quarter of the sixteenth century, for the family was settled at Westby and in the neighbourhood in 1524. The story of the Lancashire origin of the family is the less improbable from the fact that, in the sixteenth century, there was, for a cause which has still to be explained, a considerable incursion of Lancashire families into Lincolnshire. At one time Newton seems to have played with the notion that his family was descended from a noble Scottish house of Newtown, a derivation for which there appears to be no evidence at all. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was considered more desirable than it is now for new men, who had become eminent, to establish a descent from an armigerous family; and there are many instances of venial officials who were ready for a sufficient consideration, to accept bogus pedigrees. The pedigree, however, which was entered in the College of Arms in 1705, on the strength of the affidavits of Newton and his cousin. Sir John Newton, was perfectly genuine, (though mistaken in an important particular, as mentioned above), and contained no suggestion of either a Lancashire or a Scottish descent. The available evidence proves a descent from a yeoman at Westby m the time of Henry VIII, whose father seems to have been in a humbler social position than himself, and who had relatives in the same and neighbouring parishes. The presumption, therefore, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is that the family was one of native Lincolnshire descent, which took its name from one of the several places called Newton in the county. The family is found at Newton by Folkingham, within ten miles of Westby, in the reign of Elizabeth.
source: Foster, Charles Wilmer. "Sir Isaac Newton's Family," Reports and Papers of the Architectural and Archaeological Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton, Volume 39, Parts 1-2. Associated Architectural Societies, 1928.
- JOHN NEWTON I, of Westby, yeoman, contributed to the subsidy in 1544, as mentioned above. No conclusive evidence with respect to his parentage is likely ever to be forthcoming ; but the probability is that he was the son of the Simon of 1524, whose place he had taken in the subsidy roll of 1544; and it may be presumed that he was the father of John Newton II, who, as the subsidy rolls indicate, succeeded him at Westby. It is not without significance that John II gave the name of Simon to one of his sons. John I seems to have died in, or soon after, 1544, since that is the last occasion on which his name appears on the subsidy roll.
source: Foster, Charles Wilmer. "Sir Isaac Newton's Family," Reports and Papers of the Architectural and Archaeological Societies of the Counties of Lincoln and Northampton, Volume 39, Parts 1-2. Associated Architectural Societies, 1928.
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1490 - 1546 (~ 56 years)
