==Nixon's biography==
Nixon was born in Colchester in McDonough County in western [[Illinois]], the son of Joseph Nixon, originally from Newcastle upon Tyne in [[England]] and the former Susannah Mellor. He was reared in Osage County and Wellington in Sumner County, both in [[Kansas]], where he had engaged in farming and became a printer's assistant, respectively. He moved to the American South in 1885; his parents relocated to Grand Bay near [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]], [[Alabama]]. Nixon worked on newspapers in Mobile and [[New Orleans]], [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]] (now ''The [[Alexandria Town Talk]]''), Patterson in St. Mary Parish, and Washington in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana. In 1893, with partner Julius Cheney, he launched ''The Monroe Evening News,'' a forerunner of ''The News Star'' in Monroe in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana.<ref name=jtnixon/>
In 1898, Nixon moved to Crowley, where he became the editor of ''The Rice Journal'' and ''The Southern Farmer.'' His Rice Belt Printing Company produced the weekly ''Rice Belt News'' and ''The Crowley Daily News,'' later turned into the ''Crowley Daily Signal.'' From 1906 to 1909, he was part owner and manager of the Signal Printing Company. He was national editor and later president of the National Amateur Press Association,<ref name=jtnixon>Dictionary of Louisiana Biography - N - Louisiana Historical Association (lahistory.org), "Nixon, John Travis," accessed April 20, 2021.</ref> an organization founded in 1876 in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]].