Walter B. Whitman, 37th president, was born at Starville on Nov. 8, 1872. He attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis.

His first newspaper venture was the Cherokee Blade of Rusk and in 1894 he became editor and part owner.

Whitman joined Texas Press Association in 1906. For several years he was on the staff of Holland’s Magazine at Dallas.

In 1917 he returned to East Texas and purchased the Register at Carthage, which he edited and published until 1921 when he moved to New York to become night editor of the New York Sun.

Whitman married in 1899. His wife also was a newspaper worker and member of TPA. They had one son.