John Robert Newman (1859–1919)

John Robert Newman was a politician, a military leader, and the editor and owner of the Harrison Times newspaper in Harrison (Boone County) for more than four decades. He served as president of the Arkansas Press Association and the North Arkansas Press Association and was a member of the executive committee of the National Press Association. During the Spanish-American War, he recruited Boone County men and served as a captain. He was also Harrison’s mayor and president of the local school board.

John Robert (J. R.) Newman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 19, 1859. His parents were Thomas Newman and Elizabeth Carr Newman. He attended public schools in St. Louis. His father introduced him to the printing trade, and he received further education in that field from Chamberlain and Company of St. Louis.

In 1869, Newman’s family moved to Harrison, where his father published the first newspaper in Boone County, the Boone County Advocate, which evolved into the Harrison Times. Newman completed his common school education in Harrison and then attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he specialized in band and orchestra music. During Harrison’s Independence Day celebration in 1876, Newman led Harrison’s band in entertaining spectators on the town square. Newman graduated from music school in 1877. Newman then taught band and orchestra music in Missouri and central Arkansas, holding large classes in Conway (Faulkner County), Morrilton (Conway County), Little Rock (Pulaski County), and Springfield, Missouri.

In 1878, he bought an interest in the Harrison Times and became its editor. He eventually became its sole owner and continued to be its editor for the rest of his life.

On June 27, 1882, Newman married Mary M. Murphy in Harrison. The couple had nine children, including one who died as an infant and two who died as teenagers.

Despite being a busy newspaperman, Newman continued to pursue his passion for music. His instrument was the E♭ cornet. Around 1880, he organized and directed Harrison’s Silver Cornet Band, which played in the orchestra pit of the Harrison Opera House and was said to be one of the best musical groups in the state. The Newman Family Orchestra, comprising Newman and his children, played at Arkansas Press Association meetings as well as in people’s homes.

Newman served as the president of the Arkansas Press Association from 1889 to 1891 and as president of the North Arkansas Press Association in 1905. He contributed articles to Boston’s North American Review and the New York Journal of Psychological Research.

Newman was a Democrat and a delegate to various Democratic State Conventions. He served as mayor of Harrison from 1896 to 1897, having been elected on an anti-saloon platform. (At some point during his time in Harrison, Newman managed to close all four saloons in town.)

In April 1898, President William McKinley called for troops from Arkansas to serve in the Spanish-American War. Newman recruited many men and was elected as captain of Harrison’s troop, which was known locally as the Clendenin Rifles but known officially as Company B, Fourth Infantry, Arkansas National Guard. By late February 1899, after various assignments stateside, all its men had returned home, having never engaged in combat. Newman resumed his active editorship of the Harrison Times.

Newman served for twenty years as chairman of Harrison’s school board; was a member of the town’s Methodist Church, South; and became president of its board of trustees. He was keenly interested in the mineral development of northern Arkansas. For more than two decades, he collected samples of ore and other minerals and displayed them in his office. His collection was considered one of the best in the state and became a tourist attraction. He held stock in the Boone County Bank and dabbled in real estate. He was a member of the local Rotary Club, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the International Order of Good Templars, and was a presiding officer of each fraternal lodge in Harrison.

Newman died on February 22, 1919, of diabetes. He is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery. His four sons (Thomas, Harry, John, and Fred) took over management of the Harrison Times.

For additional information:
Allsopp, Fred W. History of the Arkansas Press for a Hundred Years and More. Little Rock: Parke-Harper Publishing Company, 1922.

“Capt. J. R. Newman, of Harrison, Dead.” Harrison Times, March 1, 1919, p. 1.

“Capt. Newman Passes Away.” Harrison Times, March 1, 1919, p. 1.

“Harrison, Ark.” Arkansas Gazette, June 4, 1885, p. 4.

Hempstead, Fay. Historical Review of Arkansas, Volume 3. Chicago: Lewis Publishing Company, 1911, pp. 1344–1346.

Herndon, D. T. Centennial History of Arkansas, Volume 3. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1922, pp. 429–430.

Logan, Roger V., Jr. History of Boone County, Arkansas. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Company, 1998.

Newman, Thomas M. “Some History of Times Development—An Estimate of the Significance of the Daily Times New Press.” Harrison Times, September 5, 1930, p. 3.

Rea, Ralph R. Boone County and Its People. Van Buren, AR: Press-Argus, 1955.

A Reminiscent History of the Ozark Region. Chicago, IL: Goodspeed Brothers, 1894, pp. 118–123.

Shiras, Tom. “Four Generations, One Newspaper.” Arkansas Gazette, September 13, 1942, p. 9.

Nita Gould
Tulsa, Oklahoma