NEWTON F. LOCKE
Freemason of the Grand Lodge of Texas, Miami Lodge No. 805
U S Army Soldier – Indian Wars
Texas Ranger
District/County Clerk and Treasurer Wheeler County
Judge and County Treasurer Roberts County
Newton Franklin Locke was born near Selma, Alabama, 13 January 1853, being a son of William F. and Elizabeth (Brazeal) Locke. His parents were both natives of Alabama. After his father and uncle lost their lives while fighting for the Confederacy, and, as the oldest son, he became the man of the house post-Civil War.
Reared on a farm, Locke spent the first twenty-one years of his life in his native State, and in 1874 came to Texas. His first location was in Dallas, where for a year he was employed in the mercantile firm of Leonard Brothers. He then moved to Jacksboro in Jack County and was in a store there for about a year. When prospects dried up there, he walked over the Trinity River and found himself soon employed with a farmer in Jacksboro, TX.
Adventures with the Texas Rangers
We sure had a hard time gettin’ this fella back to a jail… He was a desperate character…a cold blooded murderer.”
Ranger N F Locke, Company B
After being injured breaking horses, Locke ended his employment at the farm. Major John B Jones became interested in Locke and encouraged him to join the battalion of Texas Rangers he was organizing. When the battalion was later broken up into eight companies, Locke was placed in Company B under Lt. Hamilton stationed at Ft Belknap. For two years he was in the exciting and arduous service of the Rangers in the frontier counties from the Red River southward. Reliving those days, Locke once said that it was a wonderful life, that of a Texas Ranger, and he liked it better than anything he ever did. Camping out all the time, riding all over a country with no fence lines, plenty of adventure — plenty of danger, too. It was no life for a weakling. “Made a man of you, or you got out!”
“Made a Man of You or You got Out!”
Ranger locke
Recalling his first time in the Panhandle, Locke said, “When I was a Ranger, I was sent to arrest a man and take him back to Fort Worth for trial. That was the first time any man had been authorized by the civil authorities to invade this country and arrest a criminal. Before that, if a lawbreaker got to the Panhandle, they just let him go.”
“We sure had a hard time getting that fellow back to a jail. He was a desperate character , a cold blooded murderer. Took three of us on guard all the time. At night we stacked the artillery beside the campfire, out of reach, and slept with him hand-cuffed between two of us, while the third kept watch. We ran out of food too. Had to make a thirty day trip on ten days rations. We were delayed by bad weather…nearly froze!”
When asked if he got hungry, he replied “No, when we ran out of food, we’d kill buffalo ’till we got to a trading post”
Trailing the outlaw Sam Bass
Perhaps the most thrilling hunt of his Ranger service was trailing the notorious outlaw Sam Bass and his gang of desperadoes after their hold-up of the Great Northern gold train. At one time, every Texas schoolboy knew the story– how the gang was trailed back to Texas by the Twenty Dollar gold pieces they spent on the way–for the loot was freshly minted gold! As it turned out, with Mr. Locke’s company of Rangers only hours behind the outlaw gang, on July 19th, 1878, Ranger Commander Maj. John B Jones and three Rangers were waiting for the outlaws to arrive at Round Rock. A gun battle ensued- one outlaw was dead and Bass was mortally wounded. Storied outlaw Sam Bass died in Round Rock, Texas July 21st, 1878. It was his twenty-seventh birthday.
On to New Adventures
After some time of adventure on the high plains, Newton Locke fell in love and became engaged. Determined to find a vocation that would support a wife, the young Ranger resigned from Ranger service in 1879. Newton decided to head to Leadville, Colorado, undoubtedly lured by the tales of gold and silver.
In the spring of 1879 Locke came to Wheeler County, which was the first county to be organized in the Panhandle, and the organization was effected that very year. He located at Mobeetie, the county seat.
At that time all the counties north of the Red River in the Panhandle were attached to Wheeler for judicial purposes, and in the year of Locke’s coming, the nearest Justice of the Peace was at Henrietta in Clay County. He had wintered in Mobeetie, out of necessity, doing odd jobs. The call of the Panhandle of Texas – open prairies, available land and unlimited opportunities won his heart, though. He decided to stay. He staked a place in the Panhandle of Texas.
Marriage
In 1881 he went back to Fort Belknap and married Miss Dora Barton, the girl who had waited five years for him to make his “stake” and come back and claim her as his bride. It took them eight days to make the trip back to Mobeetie in a double seated carriage.
Public Service
In 1884, when the second regular election after the organization of Wheeler County occurred, Locke was elected Clerk of the County and District Courts, and received three successive re-elections, so that he held the office for eight years and was partner in a mercantile business with Johnny Long. He remained a resident of Wheeler County until 1896.
This photo shows (front row, L to R) N F Locke, County Clerk and Treasurer, Emanual Dubbs, first County Judge in the Panhandle, J J Long, Wheeler Co. Treasurer; (back row, L to R) Joe Mason, Deputy Sheriff, G W Arrington, Sherrif, Wheeler Co. and C B Willingham, Sheriff Oldham Co.
The Rush From Texas- letter to his brother 1893
In 1893, he and a group of friends decided to join the land rush in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Land Rush
Early in that year he came to Miami in Roberts County and opened his own mercantile business. After engaging in the mercantile business for a while he sold his business, and focused on ranching ventures.
In 1901, he bought back into the Mercantile business. and was numbered among the enterprising merchants of the town of Miami. His well known firm was N.F. Locke and Son, his son, Newton being the associate in the business.
In Roberts County, Locke took time off from his own interests in the store and ranch to serve on term as County treasurer and in 1902 was elected to the office of County Judge for a term of two years. He was re-elected in 1904. An interesting historical note, N. F. Locke’s great, great, Grandson now serves as Roberts County Judge, elected in 2022.
Not just a man. A Mason
“I never tried to be a leader, just tried to do what’s right”
N.F. Locke
Those words fittingly describe a man who spent his life making everything around him better. In his service to his community he was always behind every worthy cause. He contributed to the building of every school house on the Plains. He was a charter member and helped organize and build the Baptist churches in Miami and Mobeetie.
He was a member of the first class of the Miami Masonic Lodge #805 after the organization received its charter on 10 December 1897. He faithfully served in various offices within that Lodge: Secretary, Senior Warden, Treasurer, Senior Deacon and Worshipful Master in 1904, when the building burned destroying all records. As a Mason and Oddfellow, he was involved in the civic affairs of Wheeler and Roberts Counties. A man of the highest character and standing, with a most creditable record in every enterprise he had undertaken, Locke was greatly esteemed by all who knew him. He wielded his influence in the right direction for public progress and prosperity. His life continually depicted the beliefs and values of Masonry.
As Masons, we are taught that it is the internal characteristics of a Man that make him a Mason. We learn what is in a Man’s heart by his actions. Newton Locke lived his life to the benefit of others.
We who live in the Texas Panhandle are the benefactors of his kindness, humanity, and generosity. Men like him lit the torch of the Panhandle Spirit, and we carry it’s flame in our hearts every day.
On 26 April 1939, at his home in Miami, Brother Newton Franklin Locke passed from this transitory life to his eternal home, that house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. He was interred in the Miami Cemetery with Masonic Honors.
Man’s action are the picture book of his creeds.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sources:
“History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas, Vol. I” (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), pp. 298-299. B. B. Paddock
“A History of Miami and Roberts County” Private printing. First and Second Editions available at Roberts County Museum, Miami, Texas. An outstanding record of the founding families of the region.
N F Locke Census. Family Search