Library of Congress

BOOTH, Newton, a Senator from California; born in Salem, Washington County, Ind., December 30, 1825; attended the common schools, and was graduated from Asbury (later DePauw) University, Greencastle, Ind., in 1846; studied law in Terre Haute, Ind.; admitted to the bar in 1850; moved the same year to California, where he temporarily engaged in the wholesale grocery business at Sacramento; returned to Terre Haute in 1857 and engaged in the practice of law until 1860, when he returned to Sacramento, Calif., and again engaged in mercantile pursuits; member, State senate 1863; Governor of California, 1871-1874, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected as an Anti-Monopolist to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1875, to March 3, 1881; was not a candidate for reelection in 1880; chairman, Committee on Manufacturers (Forty-fifth Congress), Committee on Patents (Forty-fifth Congress); engaged in the wholesale mercantile business in Sacramento, Calif., where he died on July 14, 1892; interment in the City Cemetery.