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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Newby, Gabriel

by William S. Price, Jr., 1991; Revised by Jared Dease, Government and Heritage Library, December 2022

d. 1735

Image of signature of Gabriel Newby on his last will and testament, dated March 1735. Call No. SS 839 - SS 861, Secretary of State Record Group, State Archives of North Carolina. Courtesy of the State Archives of North Carolina. Gabriel Newby, colonial official, appears in North Carolina records as early as 1695, when he was residing in Perquimans Precinct. Like many other people in that area, he was a Quaker. In 1703 Newby served in the lower house of the General Assembly. In November 1707 he joined the Proprietary Council during William Glover's presidency as one of the Lords Proprietors' deputies. From that vantage point he supported the efforts of Thomas Cary to assume executive control in the colony. Newby served on the Council during Cary's presidency from July 1708 until January 1711, when Cary and his supporters were ousted. Thereafter, Newby disappeared from provincial politics.

At his death early in 1735, Newby owned at least nine hundred acres of land and enslaved several people. His will mentions three sons and a wife named Mary.

References:

J. R. B. Hathaway, ed., North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, 3 vols. (1900–1903).

Secretary of State Papers and Wills (North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh).

Image Credits:

Newby, Gabriel. Will. March 1735. Call No. SS 839 - SS 861, Secretary of State Record Group, State Archives of North Carolina.

 

Subjects: 
Biographies
Colonial period (1600-1763)
Public officials
Authors: 
Price, William S., Jr.
Origin - location: 
Perquimans County
From: 
Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 1991 | Price, William S., Jr.