Warren G. Harding, aka Warren Gamaliel Harding, was born on November 2, 1865, near Blooming Grove, Ohio. He was the eldest of the eight children of Dr. George Harding and Phoebe Dickerson Harding. His ancestry combined English, Scottish, and Dutch stock. His mother was a midwife who later obtained her medical license, and his father taught for a time at a rural school north of Mount Gilead, Ohio. During his teenage years, the Harding family moved to Caledonia, Ohio in neighboring Marion County, Ohio when Harding's father acquired The Argus, a local weekly newspaper. At age 15, he entered Ohio Central College where he studied the basics but excelled at debating and composition. Drawing on his experience, he helped found the campus newspaper, which he also edited. He graduated in 1882 and delivered the commencement address. It was here that Harding learned the basics of the newspaper business. Harding's education was completed at Ohio Central College in Iberia, Ohio. While a college student, he learned about the printing and newspaper trade while working at the Union Register in Mount Gilead. After college, Harding taught in a country school outside Marion, Ohio, for one term before trying his hand at law, insurance sales, and journalism for the local newspaper. In 1884, he raised $300 to purchase with two friends the nearly defunct Marion Star newspaper. They achieved moderate success over the next five years.