in April 1699 Newton appeared as a witness in a testamentary suit in the Chester Consistory court as Francis Newton of Altrincham, yeoman, aged 49.
Newton was a schoolmaster and clerk in Altricham, who wrote many wills for local people between 1680 and 1720.
Bowdon Wills: Wills and Inventories from a Cheshire Township, part 3, 1690-1790, ed. J. Groves (Sale, 1999), 6, 26, 29.