RICE HARPER

Father: John A. HARPER
Mother: Lorain MINOR

Family 1: Susanna MONTGOMERY
  1. Mary HARPER 
                                                                  _James HARPER _________
                                            _John HARPER ________|_Janet "Jannet" LEWIS _
                   _Alexander HARPER ______|
                  |                        |                      _William MONTGOMERY ___
                  |                        |_Abigail MONTGOMERY _|_Mary AKEN ____________
 _John A. HARPER _|
|                 |                                               _______________________
|                 |                         _Johan BARTHOLOMEW __|_______________________
|                 |_Elizabeth BARTHOLOMEW _|
|                                          |                      _Johan Theobald ENDT __
|                                          |_Dorothy ENDT _______|_Sibbilla STRATTON ____
|
|--RICE HARPER 
|
|                                                                 _John MINOR ___________
|                                           _John MINOR _________|_Elizabeth ____________
|                  _John MINOR ____________|
|                 |                        |                      _Benjamin DUTTON ______
|                 |                        |_Sarah DUTTON _______|_Mary CONE ____________
|_Lorain MINOR ___|
                  |                                               _______________________
                  |                         _John RICE __________|_______________________
                  |_Loraine RICE __________|
                                           |                      _______________________
                                           |_____________________|_______________________
INDEX

Notes

Household Record 1880 United States Census Search results | Download Previous Household Next Household -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Household: Name Relation Marital Status Gender Race Age Birthplace Occupation Father's Birthplace Moth er's Birthplace Rice HARPER Self M Male W 76 MA Retired MA MA Susin HARPER Wife M Female W 66 OH Keeping House --- --- Mary MULDUE Other Female W 18 OH Servant IRE IRE --------------- Source Information: Census Place 1st Ward, Sandusky, Erie, Ohio Family History Library Film 1255013 NA Film Number T9-1013 Page Number 188C _______________________________________________________ "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Ohio of the Nineteenth Century" [Galaxy Publishing Co., Columbus, OH, 1876] RICE HARPER, retired from active business, was born, November 28th, 1803, at Unionville, Lak e county, Ohio. He is the son of John A. Harper and Loraine Miner. He attended the district s chools, but is mainly indebted to his parents for his education. He studied Latin with Alexan der R. Chase, a brother of Chief-Justice Chase. He was for some time a pupil in the school o f James Noyes, at Perry, Lake county, Ohio. At the end of his school days he became a clerk i n a store at Ashtabula, where he remained one year. He then read law with Messrs. Wheeler & M cClung at Unionville, being admitted to the bar in 1827. He practised his profession until ob liged by failing health to seek another pursuit. In the spring of 1832 he went into busines s at Madison, Ohio, remaining there until 1836, when he sold out and went to Painesville. H e was the originator of the Ohio Railroad, now known as the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Ra ilroad. He helped to organize Erie county, Ohio, by being appointed Clerk of the Court of Com mon Pleas, December 14th, 1838. He was also appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court for Erie cou nty, Ohio, in the year 1839. He remained at Sandusky and held these two offices until Februar y, 1855. Close confinement and hard work had again impaired his health, and he went to Iowa i n the hope of regaining his strength. There he became an agent and attorney for entering gove rnment land, continuing his residence, however, at Sandusky, Ohio. He now has the care of abo ut 55,000 acres of land in Western States, upon which he pays taxes for the owners thereof. D uring the war of the rebellion he was a member of the Board of Enrolment for a district compr ising about six counties. Mr. Harper makes his home in Sandusky, where he has at different ti mes since the year 1845 held the office of City Councilman. He now is the Senior Warden of Gr ace Church, and has been a vestryman in said church for about thirty years. He is known a s a man of business capacity and solid worth. He is a Republican in his political attachments . January 5th, 1830, Mr. Harper married Susanna Montgomery, at Unionville, Lake county, Ohio. _________________________________ Source: Microfilm copy of Sandusky Register February 19, 1891; pg. 4; col. 4 Received from Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Library Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio 43420-2796 Transcribed at Simi Valley, California May 4, 2003 by D. Cuillard DIED Mr. Rice Harper, who has been ill for the past four weeks, died at his home on Washington Str eet at 12:30 this morning. Mr. Harper was 87 years old and had been a resident of this cit y for many years. His death was the result of a complication of diseases. _______________________________________________________________________________ Source: Microfilm copy of Sandusky Register February 20, 1891; pg. 2; col 3 Received from Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Library Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio 43420-2796 Transcribed at Simi Valley, California May 4, 2003 by D. Cuillard RICE HARPER Few of the men, who forty years or more ago made their impress upon this community and count y, remain. In the death of Rice Harper, esq., the list has been still further diminished. F or a number of years Mr. Harper has lived a quiet retired life, as well becomes a man after t he yellow leaf has fallen and the winter of ripe old age comes on, but in the Ùt40s and Ùt50s M r. Harper was one of SanduskyÙus most active citizens, serving in various official capacitie s and always taking a leading part in public affairs. He was one of those self-made men wh o laid sure the foundations of character and built well the superstructure of the intelligen t honorable citizen. Born Nov. 28, 1803, in the little village of Unionville, Lake County, Ohio, his boyhood wa s passed at a period when much of the State was a howling wilderness. Schools were comparati vely few and the ÙSschoolingÙT of those days for boys was limited. His parents, however, Joh n A. and Loraine Miner Harper, were intelligent people who believed that the best legacy a bo y could have was an education, and although young Harper attended the district school some, h e was yet mainly indebted to his parents for his education which at that time was much abov e that most children received. As he approached manhood, he studied Latin with Alexander R . Chase, a brother of Chief Justice Chase, and was at one time a pupil of James Noyes at Perr y in Lake County. Young HarperÙus first ÙSshifting for himselfÙT was as clerk in a store at Ash tabula, but his tastes and ambition were toward a professional life, and after one year he to ok up the law, reading in the office of Wheeler & McClurg in his native town, and in 1827 h e was admitted to the bar. Mr. Harper continued the active practice of his profession till 1 832, when breaking in health he was obliged to seek an occupation less sedentary and went int o mercantile business in Madison where he remained till 1836, then removing to Painesville . While residing there he originated the Ohio railroad, as it was called, which is now pract ically the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. Mr. Harper associated other men with him in build ing the road from the Pennsylvania to the Indiana boundary line, following the lake shore. T he piles that mark the line of the road are still occasionally found. He was the companyÙus f irst secretary, and bills of currency issued by the company in those days of shin plasters a d wild cat money bore Mr. HarperÙus signature as secretary and that of N. Allen as president . Ohio City, now West Cleveland, was the headquarters of the road and Richmond, at the mout h of the river near Painesville, was then a leading port. The road finally went down as di d most railroads in those days and in 1838 Mr. Harper took active part in the organization o f Erie County. He was the first clerk of common pleas, court of the county, the office the n being by appointment and on Dec. 15, 1838, entered upon the duties of the office. He was r eappointed at the expiration of his first term and filed the office with exceptional abilit y for a period of seven years. In 1839 he was also appointed clerk of the Supreme Court fo r the county. Mr. Harper remained here in active business till February, 1855, when failin g health again compelled him to seek a business less confining and for a time he was the gove rnment agent for large blocks of land in Iowa. He however always maintained his residence he re, and during the war served as a member of the board of enrollment for six counties of th e State, was repeatedly elected to the city council, serving his first term in 1845-6. I tho se days, men were chosen to municipal office for their capacity, not because they could be us ed by a ring. Our council, as was the board of education, was made up of citizens who were t axpayers and had some business standing in the community. That was the rule then. Now it i s the exception. January 5, 1830, Mr. Harper married at Unionville, Susanna Montgomery, who, with one daughte r, Mrs. Henry C. Strong, their only child, survives him. During his long life from the tim e he was 16 years old, Mr. Harper was an almost constant sufferer from a constitutional infir mity and yet he lived to the advanced age of 88 years. Good habits, right living and the car e of a helpmate whose devotion and companionship were as perpetual sunshine, enabled him to l ive and enjoy life far beyond the time allotted to most men. He was a most exemplary man in his private and social life, a pattern to the young in his da ily walk. Firm in his convictions and unswerving in what he regarded to be the right, he wa s yet kindly and charitable in his estimate of others, and always ready to do his part in pro moting the public zeal. For a long period of years he was actively identified with the interests of Grace Episcopa l Church, of which he has been a member since 1839. He was a churchman after the old schoo l and served his parish in an official capacity for over forty years with much usefulness. O f Mr. Harper it may be truthfully said, he has left his impress upon the community in which h e lived and it is an impress for good. _____________________________________ Source: Microfilm copy of Sandusky Register February 20, 1891; pg. 4; col. 5 Received from Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Library Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio 43420-2796 Transcribed at Simi Valley, California May 4, 2003 by D. Cuillard THE LATE RICE HARPER At a meeting of the vestry of Grace church yesterday afternoon, called to take suitable acti on on the death of Rice Harper, Esq., the following resolutions of respect were adopted: ÙSWhereas, In His unerring and merciful providence God has called from earth Rice Harper, Esq ., and ÙSWhereas, Mr. HarperÙus connection with Grace Church Parish has been of so notable and import ant a character as to call for some expression by its official body, be it therefore ÙSResolved, By the vestry of Grace church that in the death of Mr. Harper the community of Sa ndusky has lost a man who, in all his daily walk and conversation, was a conspicuous exampl e of the upright citizen, discharging every duty, whether public or private, with conscientio us and unswerving devotion to his convictions of right. ÙSResolved, That in his long stewardship in Grace Church parish - covering a period of over f ifty-two years, during which, for seventeen years he was a vestryman and thereafter for twent y-five years consecutively one of its wardens - he not only performed every trust of the comm unicant and official as a faithful soldier of Christ, but rendered to the parish services whi ch are of lasting important to its welfare. We note especially Mr. HarperÙus services I secur ing the present charter of the parish in 1842, whereby it was enabled to greatly enlarge it s work and increase its usefulness. So also, many years later, in conjunction with the late J udge Wm. G. Lane, was Mr. Harper chiefly instrumental I the corporate organization and establ ishment of Good Samaritan Hospital. All through the records covering the long period of hi s official connection with the parish, do we find the impress of his personal services to hi s church. ÙSResolved, that in his domestic and social relations we believe he fulfilled in marked degre e the measure of the Christian husband, father and friend, and in this hour of their bereavem ent we extend to the family of our deceased brother ad counselor this expression of our sympa thy. ÙSResolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the journal of proceedings and a copy be fu rnished to the family of the deceased.ÙT _______________________________________________________________________________ Source: Microfilm copy of Sandusky Register February 20, 1891; pg. 4; col. 6 Received from Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Library Spiegel Grove, Fremont, Ohio 43420-2796 Transcribed at Simi Valley, California May 4, 2003 by D. Cuillard DEAD- HARPER - At his late residence, northeast corner of Washington and Franklin streets, Sa ndusky, Ohio, Feb. 19, 1891, at 12:00 am., Rice Harper, aged 87 years. Funeral Saturday afte rnoon, Feb. 21st, at 2:30 oÙuclock, from his late residence. Friends invited. Burial Private .



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