Woman of the Century/Lydia Starr McPherson

McPHERSON, Mrs. Lydia Starr, poet, author and journalist, born in Wamock, Belmont county, Ohio. Her father was William F. Starr, and LYDIA STARK McPHERSON. her mother was Sarah Lucas Starr, a woman of English descent. The family moved from Belmont county to Licking county when Lydia was three years old. They settled near the present town of jersey. Lydia early showed poetical tastes and talents. She was precocious in her studies, learning everything but mathematics, with ease and rapidity. When she was twelve years old the family removed to V an Buren county, Iowa, where they settled on a claim near the Des Moines river. There she grew to womanhood At the age of seventeen she became teacher of a select school in Ashland, Iowa She taught successfully and received a salary of one dollar a week, with board among the patrons of the school. In her twenty-first year she became the wife of I). Hunter, and they settled in Keosauqua, Iowa. Five children were born to them, of whom three sons and one daughter are now living. Widowed in early life, she placed her sons in printing-offices to learn a trade and earn a living. They are now editors and publishers of newspapers. In 1874 Mrs. Hunter moved to the South, where she became the wife of Granville McPherson, editor of the "Oklahoma Star," published in Caddo, Ind. Ty. Mrs. Mcpherson's taste for literary work there found exercise. She worked on her husband's journal as editor-in-chief until 1876, when she established the "International News" in Caddo. She did the literary' work, while her two sons did the printing. Mr. McPherson had aroused hostility by his conduct of the "Star," and he was threatened with personal injury. He left Caddo and went to Blanco, Tex., where he died. Mrs. McPherson wearied of life among the tribes in Indian Territory. In 1877 she removed to Whitesboro, Tex. There she started the "Whitesboro Democrat," which was the first paper published in Texas by a woman. In 1879 the "Democrat" was moved to Sherman, Tex., where it is still published as a daily and weekly. The daily is now in its twelfth year and has long been the official paper of the city as well as the county organ. She has, with the aid of her sons, made it a paying and influential journal. Mrs. McPherson was chosen honorary commissioner to the New Orleans Exposition from her county. In 1881 she joined the State Press Association of Texas and was elected corresponding secretary. In March, 1886, she was elected a delegate to the World's Press Association, which met in Cincinnati, Ohio. In the same month she was appointed postmaster of Sherman, which office she filled successfully for four years. Besides all her journalistic work, her society associations and her relations in numerous fields of work and influence, she has written much for publication. Her poetical productions are numerous. They have been widely quoted, and have been collected into a volume entitled "Reullura" (Buffalo, 1892). She has a number of books now in manuscript, one of which is a novel entitled "Phlegethon." She has traveled much in the United States. She spent four months of 1890 in Oregon. Nevada, Utah and neighboring States, and furnished letters of travel for Oregon journals. She is one of the busiest women of the age and country in which she lives.