Sarah Logan Wister Starr

Sarah Logan Wister Starr (1873 - August 21, 1956) was a prominent member of Philadelphia society in the early 1900s and a dedicated humanitarian.

Even as a young woman, Sarah was dignified and proper and "held high the banner of family morality."

Starr, an 1891 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania who also earned a degree in Mining Engineering the following year from Towne Scientific School, was known for his collection of Chinese stamps.

[2] Later, Meigs describes Sarah’s marriage as "dreary…like a man and wife yoked together like a couple of oxen, plodding along in gloomy silence or to the sound of a monologue.

"[3] She and James are interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Section G, Plot 202 & 204 After her mother died in 1922, Sarah received ownership of the Belfield Estate, a Philadelphia homestead that had been passed down through the Wister family for years, and which had once been owned by the artist Charles Willson Peale.

Elizabeth's anger at not receiving Belfield led to a feud between the two sisters that lasted for 30 years, until the death of Sarah’s husband brought them partially back together.

“A plastered stone wall, separated by a tiny hip roof and an entrance to it is made through a large vase-shaped gate, on one side of which appears, in red, the Chinese characters which denote the year, month, and day of its erection.”[4] The garden also holds an orange and a lemon tree taken from the orangery of Butler Place when Owen Wister sold it.

She also served as the State Vice-Chairman of the World War I-era National League for Woman's Services, as well as the chairman of the Germantown Branch.