Entry Category: Boone Leaders

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 …

Thomas Newman published the first newspaper in Boone County, the Boone County Advocate, which was printed in Harrison (Boone County) in 1870 and evolved into the Harrison Times. Newman was the first mayor and the first marshal of the newly renamed town of Harrison, formerly known as Crooked Creek. He was a founder of what became the Arkansas Press Association and served terms as its vice president. Dubbed the “great walking editor of Arkansas,” Newman preferred to travel by foot—for example, walking from Harrison to Little Rock (Pulaski County) and back to attend press meetings and other gatherings. During the Civil War, Newman was a member of the Missouri State Militia (US). Thomas Newman was born in Blandford, Dorchester, England, …