John Rogers Eakin was born on February 14, 1822, in Shelbyville, Tennessee, to John Eakin and Lucretia Pearson Eakin. He attended the University of Nashville from 1838 to 1840 and later studied law at Yale University from 1842 to 1843. After completing his education, Eakin moved from Nashville to Wartrace, Tennessee, in 1853, where he attempted to establish a farming operation. A lifelong lover of horticulture, he won first prize for the best wine at the National Fair in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1868, he wrote a series of articles on the rudiments of grape culture, which were published in the Washington Telegraph and later compiled into a single volume.

John Eakin married Elizabeth Erwin in 1848, and they had eight children together. After relocating to Washington, Arkansas, in 1857, he became one of the town's most distinguished citizens. Shortly after moving there, he was elected mayor and became the editor of the town's newspaper, the Washington Telegraph, during the Civil War. The Washington Telegraph eventually became the only newspaper in Confederate Arkansas to remain in operation throughout the war and served as the official organ of Confederate Arkansas. In 1863, Eakin played a role in establishing the Arkansas Historical Society.

After taking the oath of allegiance at the war's end, voters elected him as the head of the Judiciary Committee in the Arkansas Legislature in 1866. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1874, and in 1878, he became an Associate Justice of the State Supreme Court. John Eakin served in this position until he died in 1880 while visiting family in Missouri.

You can learn more about John Eakin and his legacy while touring our Print Museum at Historic Washington.