John I. HARPER

Birth: 10 Jul 1774, Harpersfield, Delaware, New York
Death: 26 Aug 1849, Independence, Cuyahoga, Ohio

Father: John HARPER Col.
Mother: Miriam THOMPSON

Family 1: Amanda RUDD

                                                                  __
                                          _James HARPER _________|__
                    _John HARPER ________|
                   |                     |                        __
                   |                     |_Janet "Jannet" LEWIS _|__
 _John HARPER Col._|
|                  |                                              __
|                  |                      _William MONTGOMERY ___|__
|                  |_Abigail MONTGOMERY _|
|                                        |                        __
|                                        |_Mary AKEN ____________|__
|
|--John I. HARPER 
|
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|                                         _______________________|__
|                   _____________________|
|                  |                     |                        __
|                  |                     |_______________________|__
|_Miriam THOMPSON _|
                   |                                              __
                   |                      _______________________|__
                   |_____________________|
                                         |                        __
                                         |_______________________|__

INDEX

Notes

OHIO CEMETERY PRESERVATION SOCIETY OHIO CEMETERIES PRESERVATION REPORT The Burial Ground of John I. Harper and Captain Orange McArthur By Laura Palcisko "When history becomes legend, print the legend." John Ford (film maker) John I. Harper July 10, 1774 - August 26, 1849 John I, Harper came from a long family line of pioneers. His great grandfather, James Harpe r emigrated from the county of Derry in Ireland and arrived with his family at Casco Bay in M aine in October 1720.1 After a war broke out with the Indians, James Harper moved with his fa mily to Boston. James Harper's youngest son, John, the grandfather of Valley View's John I. H arper stayed in Maine for nearly four years defending the province before joining his famil y in Boston. He later traveled to Connecticut where he married Abigail Montgomery in 1728 an d had eight children, their third son being Colonel John Harper (the father of Valley View' s John I. Harper) who was born in 1734. In 1754 the family moved from Windsor, Connecticut t o Cherry Valley, Albany County in the province of New York.1 John I. Harper's father, Colonel John Harper married Miriam Thompson in Windsor, Connecticut. 2 Colonel Harper became a land speculator and with his brothers in 1768 acquired a patent fro m the New York governor to purchase Indian Lands. They founded the settlement of Harpersfiel d on this newly acquired Indian land in Delaware County in New York.1 It is there that John I. Harper was born on July 10, 1774. He is believed to be the first whi te child born in Delaware County, New York.2 At age three, John I. Harper and his family narrowly escaped death. John I. Harper's father a ttained the rank of Colonel during the Revolutionary War as a patriot. On August 8, 1777, a d etachment of 300 Tories and Indians were commanded to invade Harpersfield.1,2 An Oneida India n in the invading party, who had been friendly with Colonel Harper in the past, slipped awa y from the camp during the night, and informed Colonel Harper of the planned attack.1,2 Colonel Harper put toddler John I. Harper, his wife and infant daughter on the only horse, an d he and the other children all walked through the night in a heavy rain arriving to safety a t the town of Sharon, Schoharie County, New York at noon the next day.1 Their home was burne d to ashes the next day and the Grist Mill the Harpers had built was destroyed, but the famil y was saved.1,3 The Harper family retreated to Middleburgh in Schoherie County, New York, and from there Joh n I. Harper was sent with his mother and siblings by his father to East Windsor, Connecticu t to be with relatives.2 From there, Colonel Harper raced to Schoharie, New York where he gai ned his fame defending the settlement during the war in a 1772 stone fort that still stands a nd honors him today.2 John I. Harper's mother died in 1778. His father, Colonel Harper, remar ried the widow of his brother Joseph who had died in 1782, Isabel McNight. After the war Colo nel Harper, his father, and his brothers Joseph and Alexander returned with their families t o the ransacked settlement of Harpersfield New York in the winter of 1783-1784.2 John I. Harp er continued to grow up with the settlement of Harpersfield, New York. He married a woman nam ed Amanda and they had a daughter named Hannah about 1810.4,5 His father, Colonel Harper died at Harpersfield New York in November 1810.6 In 1810 at age 36, John I. Harper and his brothers, Archibald and William left New York and c ame to Ashtabula County in Ohio.7 John I. Harper's uncle, Captain Alexander Harper, had pione ered the settlement of Harpersfield in Ashtabula County Ohio in 1798.14 John I. Harper's firs t cousin, John A. Harper, the son of his uncle, Captain Alexander Harper, built Shandy Hall < http://www.wrhs.org/sites/shandy.htm> there in 1815. Shandy Hall still stands as one of the o ldest surviving structures of our region and is now a museum owned by the Western Reserve His torical Society. John I. Harper and his wife had a son Erastus about 1812 and a daughter Sama ntha about 1814.5 In October of 1816 at age 42, John I. Harper and his wife Amanda purchased 110 acres at th e riverbank in Lot Two, Gore number 6 in the Connecticut Western Reserve, of what is now Vall ey View.4 The 1820 United States Census lists him in Independence Township as a farmer, alon g with his brother Archibald. One of their neighbors at that time was Abraham Garfield, the f ather of the not yet born President James Garfield.8 John I. Harper's brother Archibald die d September 25, 1825.6 John I. Harper was elected as one of the three Trustees of Independenc e Township in 1834.9 Valley View was a part of Independence Township at that time. These ar e the oldest existing records of the Township, as earlier records were destroyed by fire.9 Jo hn I. Harper died on August 26, 1849 at age 75 and is buried in the family cemetery he had es tablished on his property.10 Captain Orange McArthur 1811 - November 13, 1837 Orange McArthur was born in 1811.10 His fath er, Rial McArthur (who earned the rank of Colonel during the War of 1812) first came to the r egion in 1808 as a surveyor of the eastern section of Independence Township for the Connectic ut Land Company. Colonel Rial McArthur returned to the area in 1833 and served a Postmaster.9 ,11 Captain Orange McArthur was one of two elected constables for Independence Township in 18 34, the earliest records in existence. The other elected constable that year was Jonathan Fra zee.9 Captain Orange McArthur died on November 13, 1837.10,12 A notice of his death appeare d in the Cleveland Herald and Gazette Newspaper on November 16, 1837 stating simply "Died, a t Independence, Cuyahoga County, on the 13th instant, Capt. Orange McArthur, aged 26 years".1 2 No occupation for Captain Orange McArthur was listed. Local oral tradition consistently sta tes that Orange McArthur was a canal boat captain. The Ohio and Erie Canal opened between Akron and Cleveland in 1827 and one of four locks within Independ ence Township cut through the property of John I. Harper, whose land Orange McArthur was als o buried on. Unfortunately, the earliest known existing records that include the names of can al boat captains date to 1839, after Captain Orange McArthur's death. The Cemetery The cemetery originated as a family plot on land purchased by John I. And Amanda Harper in 18 16 as a 110 acre parcel east of the river bank.4,10 It was traditionally known as the Harpe r Family Cemetery or the Old Rockside Cemetery.10 John I. Harper extended its use to others. From 1825-1827 construction of the Ohio and Erie C anal cut through John I. Harper's property. Local oral tradition stated that canal workers wh o died of swamp fever were buried there.10 The cemetery originally was south of Old Rockside Road. Over the years, the neighboring publi c avoided the low, swampy road to the north of the cemetery by cutting to the higher ground o n the south side of the cemetery, between the cemetery and the Harper home.11 Frequent use turned the south side of the cemetery into the road, which was realized when cou nty surveying was done years later to clear land titles along Old Rockside Road.11 Some local oral tradition stated that there may have been as many as one hundred burials in t he cemetery.11 About 1929, Garfield Heights resident Velma Matzger (1911-1984) recorded the inscriptions o f the only four legible stones recording five burials of the cemetery for the Western Reserv e Historic Society.10,14 The inscriptions were: HARPER Our father John I. August 26, 1849 He has gone home He entered the second sphere HARPE R Martha, dau of E.R. & A. Harper, died _____ 31, 1851, age 5 yrs, 7 m, 26 days (Erastus R. H arper was John I. Harper's son. His wife's name was Amanda).5 McARTHUR In memory of Capt. Orange McArthur, who departed this life Nov 13, 1837, age 26 yrs , 9 mos. JOINER Ithraim and Samantha Our Father, He has gone home He has entered the secon d sphere, October 23,1847 Our Mother Her home is with the spirits She left this sphere July 2 4, 1840 The Leader local newspaper (no longer in existence) carried an undated old photo on i ts January 5, 1995 edition that showed three boys standing next to the upright gravestone o f Captain Orange McArthur.15 By May of 1989, photographs taken by local historian Dan F. Ostrowski show Orange McArthur' s gravestone lying in the grass. John I. Harper's gravestone is the only stone standing.16 By 1998, only the bases of two stones, one being John I. Harper's remained. The cemetery wa s nearly extinct. Floods, erosion, farming and commercial development as well as neglect ha d taken a heavy toll. In 2000 with new commercial development unknowingly encroaching on the burial ground, the Vil lage of Valley View, under Mayor Randall Westfall enclosed the burial ground with a split rai l fence. On April 26, 2003 the Bicentennial Committee of the Village of Valley View erected a sign an d dedicated the Harper-McArthur Cemetery. Prepared by: Laura Palcisko April 25, 2003 1. History of Delaware County, N.Y. with Illustrations, Biographical Sketches and Portraits o f some Pioneers and Prominent Residents. 1777-1880. New York: W. W. Munsell & Co., p.217-220 . Viewed at Fletcher Davidson Library, Delaware County Historical Association, Delhi, NY. 2. Those Rugged Hills and Green Valleys. By Evangeline MacLaury 1987. pp.2, 3, 10, 13, 14. Vi ewed at Fletcher Davidson Library, Delaware County Historical Association, Delhi, NY. 3. Delaware County New York, History of the Century 1797-1897. Edited by David Murray. Willia m Clark, Publisher, Delhi, N.Y., 1898. p.158. Viewed at Fletcher Davidson Library, Delaware C ounty Historical Association, Delhi, NY. 4. Cuyahoga County Deeds, July 10, 1810 -- March 16, 1830, Volume B. 392 Viewed at Cuyahoga C ounty Archives 5. United States Census 1850. Independence Township Ohio Viewed at Western Reserve Historica l Society Library, Cleveland, OH 6. Records of the Harper Family. Compiled by Jane Cowles Ford and edited by Carrie Harper Whi te. The A.C. Rogers Co., Cleveland, 1905. p.38. Viewed at Fletcher Davidson Library, Delawar e County Historical Association, Delhi, NY. 7. Guide to Records in Cuyahoga County, vol. II, Municipal Archives. Chapter, Independence Vi llage. Viewed at Western Reserve Historical Society Library, Cleveland, OH. 8. United States Census 1820. Independence Township Ohio. Viewed at Western Reserve Historica l Society Library, Cleveland, OH. 9. The Story of Independence. By Grace Miller, Elizabeth Spelman, Kathryn Boyer, and Robert B oyer. Independence Historical Society, Independence, Ohio, 1979. pp.33, 40. Viewed at Garfiel d Heights Historical Society, Garfield Heights, Ohio. 10. Cuyahoga County Ohio Cemetery Inscriptions, Part II., prepared by Western Reserve Chapte r DAR, Cleveland, Ohio., 1978. pp. 40-41. Viewed at Western Reserve Historical Society Librar y, Cleveland, OH. 11. The Village of Valley View, Cuyahoga County, Ohio: Three Hundred Years of Recorded Histor y. Fifty Years of Incorporation 1919-1969. By Valley View Founder's Day Historical Committee , 1969. pp. 13, 31, 32. Viewed at Garfield Heights Historical Society, Garfield Heights, Ohio . 12. Annals of Cleveland 1818-1937, 1837 Volume XX. Abstracted by: J. Young, I. Thomas, W. Ken ney, F. O'Sullivan, Multigraphed by the Cleveland WPA Project 16823. Cleveland, Ohio., 1938 . p. 88. 13. Carl Ehmann, Canal Society Secretary 2001., University of Akron Archives. 14. Norman Braun, Garfield Heights Historical Society. 15. The Leader Newspaper. January 5, 1995 edition., p.1. 16. Independence Township Cemeteries. Cuyahoga Valley Genealogical Society. Brecksville, Ohio ., 1998. p.156. Reprinted with permission by the author. April, 2003 If you have any furthe r questions or want to tell


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