Strother was born in Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia). He studied drawing under Pietro Ancora in Philadelphia, Pennsylvaniain 1829, and studied painting under Samuel F. B. Morse in New York in 1837-1838. After travels in the Midwest in 1838-1839, he embarked for Europe in the fall of 1839. Residing primarily in Italy, he returned to the United States in the spring of 1843. During the mid-1840s, under the direction of John G. Chapman, Strother learned the craft of woodcut illustration in New York. He illsutrated a variety of publications before winning fame as both the author and illustrator of a series of humorous travelogues which appeared in Harpers Monthly magazine. Commencing in 1853 and published under the Pen name "Porte Crayon," these articles included The Virginia Canaan (