Dwight's parents wanted him to spell his first name with a "y" instead of an "i". However, as a child he found it too hard to make the 2 downward loops followed by the 2 upward loops when writing "yght", and insisted on using the "i". The name printed on his 1932 Nor'easter shows "Dwyght". As you can see in the scanned pages of the Nor'easter below, the name is spelled both ways. He was enrolled in what was known as the "New Plan" in his Junior year. It was a special program which allowed graduates to enter the Junior year in college and skip the first two. However, he thought he could learn more on his own and dropped out of school and studied at home for years. He enrolled in the University of Kansas City later to become the University of Missouri at Kansas City) as a Sophomore and graduated in 3 years. He took a year off and then went back and got his Masters degree in History. He had thought about teaching and received money from the University of Colorado to get his PhD, but his draft notice came up and he decided to volunteer for the Army Corps of Engineers where he stayed from 1942-1946. While in the Army, he volunteered to go to Oregon and decided to settle there after his Army service was up.  He then went on to become a well-known Western writer.

He is the son of Otis L. and Grace (Thompson) Newton. He met his wife Mary Jane Kregel, who attended the same college. After he got his degree in History, they married in 1941. She worked at Montgomery Ward (or what NE people affectionately refer to as "Monkey Wards") while he stayed home and wrote stories. He has two daughters by the name of Jennifer and Janet. He spent his final years in Bend, Oregon.