Kate McPhelim Cleary

In 1878, at age 15, she published her first short story, "Only Jerry" in the magazine Saturday Night and began writing prose and poetry in earnest, often under the pseudonym "K. Temple More".

[2] During this time, all four of the McPhelim children turned to writing stories, poems and articles for such publications as The Chicago Tribune and Philadelphia's Saturday Night as a source of income for the family.

Two years later in 1880, McPhelim's family moved to Chicago, where she married local businessman Michael Timothy Cleary in 1884.

"[3] Not long after her marriage, they relocated with her mother to Hubbell, Nebraska, where Michael Cleary had established a lumber business in partnership with his brother-in-law, John Templeton.

During this period, she had befriended fellow writer Elia W. Peattie, and the two bonded over their shared financial, health, and family concerns.

[5] In 1895, Michael Cleary left temporarily for Chicago in an attempt to rescue his business, and during the next three years he traveled frequently in search of a better climate to alleviate his failing health.

By the end of her life, Kate McPhelim Cleary published hundreds of stories, essays, and poems, as well as one novel, The Gallant Lady in 1897.