Robert Barr (16 September 1849 - 21 October 1912) was a Scottish-Canadian short story writer and novelist, born in Glasgow, Scotland.Barr emigrated with his parents to Upper Canada at age four and was educated in Toronto at Toronto Normal School. Barr became a teacher and eventual headmaster of the Central School of Windsor, Ontario. While he had that job he began to contribute short stories-often based on personal experiences-to the Detroit Free Press. In 1876 Barr quit his teaching position to become a staff member of that publication, in which his contributions were published with the pseudonym "Luke Sharp." This nom de plume was derived from the time he attended school in Toronto. At that time he would pass on his daily commute a shop sign marked, "Luke Sharpe, Undertaker", a combination of words Barr considered amusing in their incongruity. Barr was promoted by the Detroit Free Press, eventually becoming its news editor. William Learned Marcy (December 12, 1786 - July 4, 1857) was an American statesman, who served as U.S. Senator, Governor of New York, U.S. Secretary of War and U.S. Secretary of State. In the latter office (1853-1857) under President Franklin Pierce, he resolved a dispute about the status of U.S. immigrants abroad and negotiated the last major acquisition of land for the continental United States (Gadsden Purchase). He also directed U.S. diplomats to dress in the plain style of an ordinary American rather than the court-dress many had adopted from Europe.William Learned Marcy was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts. He graduated from Brown University in 1808, taught school in Dedham, Massachusetts 1] and in Newport, Rhode Island. He read the law and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He moved to Troy, New York, where he began a practice, across the river from the state capital of Albany. Marcy served in the War of 1812. Afterward he served as Recorder of Troy for several years. As he sided with the Anti-Clinton faction of the Democratic-Republican Party, known as the Bucktails, he was removed from office in 1818 by his political opponents. He was the editor of the Troy Budget newspaper. On April 28, 1824, he married Cornelia Knower (1801-1889, daughter of Benjamin Knower) at the Knower House in Guilderland, New York. They had two surviving children Edmund Marcy (b. ca. 1833) and Cornelia Marcy (1834-1888).