James Harper Starr, an important figure in early Texas public life, was born at New Hartford, Connecticut, on December 18, 1809. A medical doctor, Starr's first practice was in Georgia where the good reports he heard about Texas inspired him to move with his wife, Harriet J. Johnson, to Nacogdoches in 1837. Here Starr served variously as President of the Board of Land Commissioners of Nacogdoches, Secretary of the Treasury of the Republic of Texas, and as Confederate agent for the postal service west of the Mississippi River during the Civil War.

At the close of the Civil War, Starr's public career came to an end. In 1870 he moved to Marshall, Texas where he established the city's first bank. He died July 25, 1890 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery at Marshall.

(Craven, John Nathan."Starr, James Harper." The Handbook of Texas. Texas State Historical Association. Vol. II. Austin: Lakeside Press, 1952. p. 660).