Samuel Newman was a founder of Rehoboth Massachusetts. Bowen had completed a 450+ page manuscript on the “Life of Samuel Newman” around 1957 and he died before it could be published. We are currently working with publishers to get this work published.
The first reference to Bowen’s research on the life of Samuel Newman came in 1943 when he wrote a letter to Allyn Forbes, librarian at the Massachusetts Historical Society (he was an expert on the Winthrop family). Bowen states that he is writing “a complete life” of Rev. Samuel Newman and his children, carrying most of his sons down to the point where the lines become extinct. He states that he is using original town records of Rehoboth, Mass Bay, Plymouth Colony, and other towns. He draws strong linkages to the Winthrop Family, Judge Sewall and many other early ministers. He boldly claims “Every statement is documented, and the story will be a permanent source record for historians and scholars. There will be no occasion or excuse for anyone else every writing the history of the Newman family.” More than a decade later he wrote a letter to Rev. Frank Cook (addressed to 227 Newman Ave, Rumford, RI – two blocks from the Newman Church) boasting that he has written more than 400 pages and would publish the book by midyear 1957. He became ill and died in 1969 never having published the book. His research files would eventually make its way to his grandson (Nick Bowen) and remain sealed for over 60 years when Nick began indexing the records in 2018.
The files were rather disorganized with most layered between sheets of cardboard and tied with twine. One of the issues was that he kept multiple copies of the transcripts. He also had a habit of cutting and taping parts of the pages together. He had a page numbering scheme that was very confusing. A breakthrough came when I found a handwritten chapter outline.
that included chapter titles and page counts. Once I knew the page numbers the next task was to find color copies because he had a habit of changing his typewriter ribbon to red to type extensive inline footnotes. An example can be seen in the first 27 pages of the manuscript.
There were a significant number of letters to John Winthrop (Governor of Connecticut) from Samuel Newman’s children – Noah Newman (2), John Newman (4), and Antipas Newman (21) between 1658 through Winthrop’s death in 1676. There are some letters to “Uncle Maj. John Winthrop” in New London in 1676-1683. These letters have all been transcribed and indexed.
The manuscript is over 450 pages and divided into 17 sections. A summary of each of the sections can be found here.
- Introduction
- English Ancestry (1602-1635)
- Arrival at Dorchester (1636-1638)
- Removal to Weymouth (1638-1643)
- Life at Rehoboth (1644-1649)
- Rehoboth Church Dissentions (1649-)
- John Brown sues Samuel Newman
- John Brown Guarantees Rehoboth Rate
- Antipas Newman’s Courtship and Marriage
- Death of Samuel Newman (1663)
- Will and Inventory of Samuel Newman
- Samuel2 Newman (46 pages)
- Noah2 Newman (49 pages)
- Antipas2 Newman (35 pages)
- Patience2 Newman Sparhawk (30 pages)
- Hannah2 Newman Peck (96 pages)
- Hopestill2 Newman Shove (37 pages)
I have also extracted a summary of the genealogies from the chapters on each of Newman’s children. Bowen concludes from this work that there are no living male descendants of Samuel Newman.
- Samuel2 Newman – last descendant was David Newman (b. 1769) who had two daughters.
- Noah2 Newman – his only son Henry died in England with no heirs.
- Antipas2 Newman – His great-grandson John Newman (1715-1763) was Antipas’ last male descendant.
- Patience2 Newman Sparhawk
- Hannah2 Newman Peck
- Hopestill2 Newman Shove
An inventory of Bowen’s research notes and other artifacts (included two reprints of Newman’s Concordances) can be found here.
Finally, in 2018 I wrote a paper that linked all the Newman’s mentions in William Saxbe’s extensive three volume genealogy of Richard Bowen of Rehoboth, Massachusetts.
Last update: 4 January 2023.
The Richard Bowen Project 
