Eccentric inventor, self-proclaimed prophet, author of a "new Bible" – John Ballou Newbrough led one of those quintessentially individualistic lives which exemplified the American frontier ethos of unbridled creativity, spiritual seeking and a thirst for building new worlds. Often overshadowed by other big names like Edison and Tesla, Newbrough‘s story deserves closer re-examination for both his forward-thinking inventions as well as his controversial religious teachings that retain thousands of followers to this day.
A Child Medium Who Struck Gold
Born in rural Ohio in 1828, John displayed a talent for communicating with spirits from childhood. After studying medicine and dentistry in Cleveland, he left for California to try his luck during the famous Gold Rush. Successfully mining gold also in Australia, his exploits took John across the world before he returned home wealthy. He married Scottish girl Rachel Turnbull in 1860 with whom he would father three children^.1
Prolific Inventor and Patent Holder
Settling into a dentistry practice in New York City while tinkering with inventions on the side, John Ballou Newbrough was awarded over a dozen US patents between 1860-1884. He devised one of the earliest mechanical calculators and also created innovations in manufacturing of rubber for dental applications that brought him into conflict with major companies. Some other notable patents included artificial tooth fabrication methods reflecting his background as a dentist, furnace kilns and crucibles, a double-deck railway carriage design, ventilation systems and weight training equipment.
His most revolutionary invention was likely an inexpensive rubber compound used in fitting dentures, which provoked the ire of the giant Goodyear Rubber Co. that dominated the dental plates market^.2 While records are unclear if he profited directly from his patents, they demonstrate John‘s remarkable creativity for conceiving useful products across diverse industries from computing and engineering to sports and healthcare.
Comprehensive table of patents held by John Ballou Newbrough over his lifetime indicating his widespread inventive interests
Breaking Social Norms in Life and Literature
Despite family and career stability in New York, John Ballou also hid an obsessive interest in topics like spirituality, utopian philosophy and the occult. After losing his first wife in the late 1870s, he published a book in 1882 titled Oahspe that combined supposed angelic revelations and prophecies channelled through automatic writing. This controversial new "bible" criticized established religions and proposed founding a superior faith. Its radical counterculture ideas resonated with occult movements like Theosophy that were growing popular in America^.3
Professionally, John Ballou had also attracted scandal by developing intimate relations with a much younger dental assistant named Frances who eventually bore him an illegitimate daughter in 1884. After abandoning his wife Rachel soon after, he married Frances and incorporated her into planning an experimental utopian colony.
The Rise and Fall of the Shalam Cult
Inspired by his unorthodox Oahspe beliefs, John Ballou relocated with his new wife and select followers toestablish the Shalam community on over 1,400 acres in New Mexico‘s Rio Grande valley in 1884. This commune tried implementing progressive policies around property ownership, diet, schooling and women‘s equality for raising orphan children. John served as its self-declared leader channeling spiritual insights until pneumonia ended his life in 1891, sinking Shalam into financial ruin soon after^.4
While its founder did not live to see the outcomes, this unusual commune experiment presaged later religious cults in America that emerged from marginalized traditions like occultism and mysticism rather than mainstream faiths. The original Oahspe \"bible" also continues to have thousands of devotees as a minor alternative religion into the 21st century. 5
John Ballou Newbrough packed an astonishing variety of careers, relationships, writings and inventions into his 63 years of life. For every seemingly ordinary pursuit like his work as a dentist and smalltime inventor, there were also episodes of seeking treasure worldwide during the California Gold Rush or formulating mystical religions that appealed to rural Americans‘ anxieties in a rapidly industrializing society.
The relative obscurity he faded into after death is undeserved because Dr. Newbrough demonstrated visionary thinking rarely credited to more popular inventors of that inventive age like Edison. Whether designing mechanical calculators using 19th century tools or promoting progressive values for women, children and minorities through movements like the Shalam cult commune, his boundary-pushing ambitions make for a remarkable footnote in the history of American science, technology and culture.
- Newbrough, J. B., The Wedded Life of Rachel and John (1860)
- US Patent Office Records (1860-1890)
- Peebles, J. M., Around the World: Or Travels in Polynesia, China, India, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Other Heathen Countries (1874)
- Howland, A. C., The City of Moral Science (1936)
- Gardner, M. The Oahspe Bible (2019)