John Newbrough
John Ballou Newbrough
Biography
Early Life
John Ballou Newbrough was born in a small log cabin on June 5th, 1828. The cabin in which John Newbrough was born in was located on his families farm a few miles from Mohicanville, Ohio. Johns middle name, Ballou, came from theological writer Hosea Ballou. He was born to British American father William Newbrough (1791-1878), and Swiss American mother Elizabeth Newbrough (1795-1875). Johns father, William Newbrough, was born in Maryland and attended the established William and Mary College in Virginia. Willian Newbrough also spent a time as the local schoolmaster in Mohicanville. Johns mother, Elizabeth Newbrough, was born in Morgantown, West Virginia and was involved with spiritualism. The Newbroughs were simple folks who lived off their own produce and substance their Ohio land offered. John Newbrough was one of seven children born from William and Elizabeth Newbrough. He had three older brothers, Jacob Cyrus Newbrough (1819-1822), Solomon Daniel Newbrough (1819-18960), and Eugenius Polsley Newbrough (1824-1888). John also had two younger brothers and one younger sister Josephus Justice Newbrough (1829-1911), Franklin Cicero Newbrough (1835-1913), and Paulina Olive Newbrough (1832-1866).
Education and Careers
John Newbrough grew up receiving his education from the local schoolhouse, and eventually went on to study Medicine and Dentistry. John studied both those things in 1844 at Cleveland Medical College in Ohio. John worked as a dental assistant to Dr. F. S. Slosson to afford medical school along with the help of his mother who sold wool and eggs. John assisted Dr. Slosson by taking impression of teeth and creating dental plates. After graduating from college in 1849, Newbrough worked for his uncle, the head physician of an insane asylum. News of Gold discovered in California drove Newbrough to head out west with his partner John Turnbull. Both men came into possession of a large sum of gold in California, and continued onto mine gold in Australian gold fields of Ballarat in 1851. John Newbrough found about $25000 worth of gold while mining the Australian gold fields. Upon returning to the United States with his Gold fortune, Newbrough shared his fortune with his family back in Ohio. John started to practice as a physician in Cincinnati, but ended up switching to a career in Dentistry. He found being a Physician to be too much for his sensitive nature.
Family Life
Newbrough eventually moved to Dayton and St. Louis to continue on with his Dentistry career. John Newbrough settled down with his partner, John Turnbull, sister Rachel Turnbull (1844-1918). The two were married in Scotland on February 24th, 1860. The wedding ceremony took place in a typical Presbyterian church. John and Rachel Newbrough would go onto have three children William Newbrough (1860-1919), Elizabeth Newbrough (1865-1954), and George who passed at age 2. Originally settling in Philadelphia, the Newbroughs proceeded to move and reside in New York for the better part of twenty years. During which John Newbrough continued to practice Dentistry to support his family. John Newbrough later fathered a daughter, Justine (1884), to his dental assistant Frances Vanderwater. John divorced his wife Rachel in 1186 and went on to marry his dental assistant Frances. Newbrough and Vanderwater moved to Pearl River, New York and lived on a farm together with their daughter Justine. By March 1884, the farm was transformed into the Shalam Colonies place of living, which would be described later in one of his books Oahspe: A New Bible.
Written Works
John Newbrough also became known as a writer and a poet. The Lady of the West, also known as The Gold Seekers, was Newbroughs first novel to be published/ printed in Cincinnati, 1855. This novel was based of his adventures and discovers of him and his partner Turnbull in the California Gold Rush. Aside from the 600-page Gold Rush novel, Newbrough wrote many other books. His most famous work was that of Oahspe: A Kosmon Bible in the Words of Jehovah and his Angel Ambassadors. John Newbrough believed himself to be clairvoyant, against his father’s beliefs, and in touch with spiritualism. Newbrough had claims of gifts such as painting in the dark with both hands as once, and being able to read any book with his eyes shut. John followed those footsteps of his mother Elizabeth who was also a spiritualist. Newbrough associated himself with the spiritualist movement, and even became a trustee for the Spiritualist Association of New York. Newbrough declared Oahspe to contain new revelations and claimed it to be written by automatic writing. Thus, Oahspe: A New Bible was published in 1882, and made it as one of the 19th century spiritualist works.
A New Colony
John Newbrough and Andrew Howland set out to find a place to set up the Colony they had created. Andrew Howland was a fine man of a New England family and was the inheritor of a Whaling fortune. Newbrough and Howland settled on 1490 acres in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Newbrough set up the colony in hopes to raise orphan children into sophisticated member of society. HE also became a strict /vegetarian and kept to a disciplined prayer regimen during the development of his colony. The 22 people who arrived to start the colony were referred to as “Faithists of the Seed of Abraham”, and surprisingly lasted until 1891. In 1891, the colony had an outbreak of Influenza that not only killed the colony but Newbrough himself. John Newbrough passed on April 22, 1891. Newbroughs new wife France Vanderwater and partner Andrew Howland tried to salvage what was left of the colony for almost a decade. Eventually the children themselves rebelled against the colony and it ceased to exist.
Contributions To Pseudoarchaeology