David McCheyne Newell

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David McCheyne Newell (March 23, 1898 – 1986) was an American journalist, novelist, and children's writer. He is best known for books about early twentieth-century rural life in West Central Florida, especially the Gulf Hammock region between Cedar Key and the Withlacoochee River. His stories, including If Nothin' Don't Happen and The Trouble of It Is, feature a truthful look at the people of that area during the interwar years. He also wrote The Fishing and Hunting Answer Book (illustrated by Lynn Bogue Hunt), a children's book called American Animals, Cougars and Cowboys (1927), and numerous short stories and articles.

Key facts about his life:
- Born in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to Leesburg, Florida, in 1912.
- Studied at Washington University in St. Louis and joined the U.S. Army during his junior year.
- Studied art at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts.
- Worked as a journalist and illustrator for publications such as Life, Field and Stream, Boys' Life, The Saturday Evening Post, the New York Herald-Tribune, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- A naturalist and lifelong hunter, he edited Field and Stream for several years and hosted a nature and hunting show on early television in the 1950s.
- He hunted with Annie Oakley when she wintered in Florida and befriended Florida author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings.

Final years and legacy:
- Newell is buried in the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church Cemetery in Fruitland Park, Florida, beside his first wife, Frances Bosanquet Newell; they had three daughters.
- Many of his paintings and letters are on display at the Leesburg Heritage Museum in Leesburg, Florida.