James Robinson Newhall, a prominent lawyer, judge, printer and author, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on December 25, 1809. In 1824, he became a printer's apprentice at the Salem Gazette. After a few years, he went to Boston, and then to New York, where he became employed by the Conference. In approximately 1831, he returned to Salem where he started his own newspaper, the Record, but this did not last for long. In 1844, James began to study law, and in 1847, he was accepted to the Bar and began a practice in Lynn.

In 1849, he became Special Justice of the Lynn Police Court, and in 1866 he was commissioned as a Judge, a position which he held for 13 years. In 1852 he held the position of President of the Common Council, and he served as Chairman of the School Committee. In addition to writing more than a dozen volumes, he was the author of History of Lynn Volume One, published in 1865, and the co-author of History of Lynn Volume Two, published in 1883. James' autobiography, Legacy of an Octogenarian, was edited and published posthumously by Israel Augustus Newhall and Howard Mudge Newhall. He kept a font of type in his home, from which he set up the books he published. He was the President of the Lynn Press Association for many years.

In October 1837, James married Dorcas B. Brown, the daughter of Captain W. B. Brown, of Salem. The couple had one son together; Dorcas died not long after giving birth, and the child died at age ten. James married his second wife, Elizabeth Campbell Newhall, the daughter of Hon. Josiah and Lydia (Johnson) Newhall, in 1853. James died on October 24, 1893.