(1814-1865)
John W. White was one of the interesting journalistic persons in Knox County, Ohio, during the 19th century. He was born in Vermont and came to Knox County about 1840. Little information is available regarding his family.
He was active in community affairs, including the beginning of the first Knox County Historical Society, which was formed in 1849. For a few years (1849-1852) he edited The True Whig newspaper in Mount Vernon. John White died in Mount Vernon in 1865.
(1850-1913)
Harvey Scribner was a lawyer and an avocational writer. He was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1850, the son of Charles H. and Mary (Morehouse) Scribner. Harvey was an older brother of Josephine (Scribner) Gates, also a writer. He attended public schools in Mount Vernon.
In 1869 the family moved to Toledo, Ohio, where Harvey studied law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1871. In 1880 he married Jennifer Blueland in Scotland. Scribner practiced law in Toledo until his death in 1913.
(1869-1937)
Frank H. H. Roberts was an educator with interests in history and government. He was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, in 1869. He attended public schools in Knox County, and in 1892 he graduated from The Ohio State University. For a few years he was engaged in teaching and administration in Fredericktown and Centerburg, also in Knox County. In 1896 Roberts married Luella Hanna. There were two sons, one of whom was also a writer.
(1885-1970)
Anna Louise Strong was a world-famous radical American journalist with a Knox County connection. Her great nephew, Tracy B. Strong, has titled his biography of her She Was Right in Her Soul. He begins his book with the account of her death in China in 1970. Anna Louise was 84 years old and dying in a hospital in Peking. She had pulled out her intravenous tubes and had refused to eat and take medication.
She had had many important visitors, but on this day there was special excitement throughout the hospital. Premier Chou En-lai was visiting his old friend, Anna Louise, with whom he had conferred and worked for many years. He did his best to encourage her to cooperate with the doctors because, he said, "You have important things to do for us and the rest of the world." She replied that she would try. However, a few days later, on Easter Sunday, 1970, Anna Louise Strong died.