J. W.  Gardner came to Prescott in November of 1884 from Carrolton, GA. when he was only 26 years of age and purchased a half interest in the Nevada County Picayune from the late W.B. White, grandfather of Archie and Cecil Johnson, publishers of the Daily News. The Picayune office was then located on the first floor of a two-story frame building on East Elm St. and for a while Mr. Gardner roomed upstairs with Dudley Madden and Lee Montgomery, young lawyers. In 1885, Mr. Gardner bought out the interest of Mr. White end married Mr. White's sister, Miss Lena White. He then purchased two lots on the block where the Allen Hotel is now Located and erected a residence on one and a two-story frame building on the other where he operated the Picayune until 1892 when he sold it to the late Charles E. Shankle. The first Mrs. Gardner died in 1888 and was buried in DeAnne Cemetery, as was also Mr. Gardner's father. In 1890 Mr. Gardner married Miss Lena Gossett of Hope, with whom he had one son, Z.W. Gardner Jr. He removed with his family in July of 1892 to Texarkana where he published the Daily Texarkanian several years before moving to Mena, his home at the time of his death.

 

 

 

Information provided from the Prescott Daily News of January 1956