In my previous post I had shared that perhaps there could be a connection between our family line and that of Sir Isaac, but more research needed to be done. Since that time, additional research has been carried out.
Some of the following detail is from the book "Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton" by Richard S. Westfall. This book draws from an article by CW Foster entitled "Sir Isaac Newton's Family" published in 1928. I've also obtained some of the following information from the Newton Tree Party website. Primarily however, I've hired genealogists to assist me.
According to Isaac Newton's own research, which was incomplete and somewhat inaccurate, his family descended from John Newton of Westby who lived in this part of Lincolnshire in the 1500's. The village of Westby was only about three miles from Woolsthorpe where Isaac was born.
Sir Isaac didn't have access to the historical baptismal and estate archives which we now have, so his understanding of his family tree was only half correct, and contained errors. However, he got some of the basics correct: he descended from John Newton of Westby, who begat Richard, who begat Robert, who begat Isaac senior, who begat Isaac junior (the scientist) in late 1642.
The various Newtons in the area had been living there for at least a hundred years by the time Isaac was born. The Newtons were primarily involved in agriculture. Some were husbandmen (farmers) but by the 1600's several had attained the status of yeomen (small estate owners). According to Westfall (Westfall, page 42) the Newtons primarily raised wool sheep.
John Newton of Westby had 11 children, ten surviving. Of these, seven were sons. Thus his descendants rather quickly multiplied and spread throughout the region.
One of his sons, Richard (Isaac's great grandfather), was somewhat wealthy according to his will (Westfall, page 43). Richard had seven children, of whom five survived.
Another of the sons of John Newton of Westby was William, who was ancestor to the John Newton who obtained a baronetcy around 1661, who thus was known as John Newton, Bart (the Bart referring to his baronetcy).
Back to Richard. One of Richard's sons was named Robert. Richard, who was moderately wealthy, gave a farm-property in Woolsthorpe to Robert, his son. Robert then had a son in 1606 who was named Isaac, who in turn had a son in 1642 who was also named Isaac (the great scientist).
But Robert also had another son, who was also named Robert, who would therefore be Isaac's uncle. For most of Isaac's life, Isaac was unaware of his uncle Robert, perhaps because of a family rift (according to historian Russell Newton). It was this Robert Newton who may be our direct ancestor.
According to Russell's work, "Isaac did not know his uncle Robert until late in his life. In August 1666, when Robert was 59 years old, Sir Isaac submitted his pedigree to the Herald at Grantham, wholly unaware of the existence of his uncle. It was not until 1705 that Isaac discovered the truth, and his early drafts either omit him as before or include just his name, without any wives or children’s names. Some time soon after descendants of both the Francis Newton once at Swayfield and Robert Newton visited Isaac in London."