Under the influence of his uncle, Oliver Newberry, he spent two years in civil engineering working with the Michigan Central Railroad building the line from Kalamazoo to New Buffalo.

Then he takes a year off traveling mostly by steamboat throughout the Midwest including the Great Lakes, The Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

While traveling, he is shocked by the number of boat accidents due to the lack of established standards and regulations.

In no time he becomes the acknowledged Midwestern maritime expert, publishing Reports of Admiralty Cases in the Several District Courts of the United States.

He moved to a downtown hotel and played with the Detroit Base Ball Club for a short time.

Two sons, Truman Handy and John Stoughton Jr., and one daughter, Helen Hall, are born to that union.

He was appointed the first provost marshal for the State of Michigan by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in 1862 with the rank of captain of Cavalry.

[7] The landmark Newberry Memorial Organ was constructed in his honor at Yale University, where his son Truman graduated in 1885.

His daughter was married to Henry Bourne Joy, President of the Packard Motor Car Company.