Warren Newcomb, 1814-1866
Warren Newcomb was frequently called a sugar merchant in New Orleans. With his brother, H.D. Newcomb, he ran a very prosperous wholesale business that took cotton, molasses, and other southern products to the growing midwest market of the United States. Though born in New England, they engaged in such work from Louisville, where Jo, summering there with her sister’s family, met Warren. More
Warren Newcomb (1814-1866), ca. 1860. Courtesy, Filson Historical Society, Lexington, KY.
Bust of Warren Newcomb, created by the Piccirilli Brothers, ca. 1895. Newcomb Archives, Tulane University.
JLN commissioned the bust of her husband from the New York firm of Attilio Piccirilli. Her friend, Mr. Callender, commissioned a bust of her that he gave to the College. The Piccirilli family worked with Tuscan marble, and JLN wanted such memorials. What Warren Newcomb would have thought is unknown.
In 1850, Warren’s brother Horatio supplied the capital to save from failure the cotton manufacturing firm of Cannelton Cotton Mills, at Cannelton, Indiana, pictured at the right, bringing in another brother into their businesses. They were a huge family of thirteen, sometimes contentious, and sometimes with many other sad problems, but JLN seemed to remain close to a number of them throughout her life.
Cannelton Cotton Mills, ca. 1870. Courtesy, American Memory Project, Library of Congress.
Tomb of Warren Newcomb, Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY, as pictured in the Memorial Booklet created to commemorate Sophie.
JLN also moved the remains of her mother (from Baltimore), father, and brother (from New Orleans) to Greenwood.