Elizabeth HARPER

[S5]
Father: Alexander HARPER
Mother: Elizabeth BARTHOLOMEW

Family 1: Abraham TAPPAN Judge
  1. Electra T. TAPPAN
  2. Alexander H. TAPPAN
  3. Cornelia TAPPAN
  4. John Harper TAPPAN
  5. Sallie Munson TAPPAN
  6. James Harper TAPPAN
  7. Elizabeth TAPPAN
  8. Abraham Walworth TAPPAN 
                                                                        _____________
                                                _James HARPER _________|_____________
                          _John HARPER ________|
                         |                     |                        _____________
                         |                     |_Janet "Jannet" LEWIS _|_____________
 _Alexander HARPER ______|
|                        |                                              _____________
|                        |                      _William MONTGOMERY ___|_____________
|                        |_Abigail MONTGOMERY _|
|                                              |                        _____________
|                                              |_Mary AKEN ____________|_____________
|
|--Elizabeth HARPER 
|
|                                                                       _____________
|                                               _______________________|_____________
|                         _Johan BARTHOLOMEW __|
|                        |                     |                        _____________
|                        |                     |_______________________|_____________
|_Elizabeth BARTHOLOMEW _|
                         |                                              _Jacob ENDT _
                         |                      _Johan Theobald ENDT __|_____________
                         |_Dorothy ENDT _______|
                                               |                        _____________
                                               |_Sibbilla STRATTON ____|_____________
INDEX

Notes

Extract from Pioneer Women of the West, by Elizabeth Fries Ellet, published by Charles Scribn er, 1852, p. 274-280. ELIZABETH TAPPEN Elizabeth Harper was the second daughter of Alexand er and Elizabeth Harper, and was born February 24th, 1784, in Harpersfield, New York. She wa s in the fifteenth year of her age when she accompanied her parents to Ohio, in 1798, and wa s the oldest daughter who went with them, her elder sister having been married some years an d remaining in their old home. The labors and perils of commencing a settlement in an almos t unbroken wilderness, encountered by all who took part in this adventurous enterprise, wer e shared without a murmur by the young girl, to whom fell, of course, no small part of the wo rk of the household and the care of the younger children. The novelty of their mode of living , and the wild forest scenery, with incessant occupation, caused the time to pass speedily an d pleasantly through the first summer; but with the approach of a more rigorous season, thei r hardships commenced, and the death of her beloved father brought before before the bereave d family the realities of their situation, far from early friends, and isolated from the comf orts of civilization. Elizabeth suffered much of this time of gloom and distrust, with a long ing for home, and fears for the future; but the fortitude and resolution with which Mrs. Harp er sustained herself under the pressure of calamity, had a due influence on the minds of he r children, and the feeling of discontent was soon subdued. During the absence of James, wh o went to Canada, as mentioned in the preceding sketch, to procure provisions, another son, W illiam, broke his leg. The other boys were seven and nine years old, and as they could do not hing of consequence, the work of providing firewood for use in the house devolved entirely, f or some four weeks, upon Elizabeth and her younger sister, Mary. It was no easy task to cut , split, and bring home all the fuel consumed, as the cabin was very open and large fires wer e required. The prospects for the approaching winter were very dark, owing to the scarcity o f provision and the want of comfortable quarters; and Mrs. Harper though it best to send he r younger daughter to stay with some friends at a settlement in Pennsylvania. She determine d not to accept the invitation herself, and Elizabeth decided to stay with her mother. The wi nter proved one of unusual severity, and the settlers suffered greatly from the want of provi sions after the wreck of the only vessel on the southern shore of Lake Erie, their supplies h aving to be brought from Canada. Twice the little community was reduced almost to the point o f starvation, having to relieve cravings of hunger with strange substitutes for wholesome foo d. On the last occasion, when the men sent for supplies returned, they brought with them a sm all quantity of coarse Indian meal boiled, which was called samp. Mrs. Harper warmed a portio n of this, and making some tea, called her family to partake of the simple meal, then a luxur y privation had taught them to appreciate. Most of the children felt sick from absolute want , and disinclined to touch the food, but after tasting it, they were so eager for more that i t required all the mother' firmness to restrain them from taking more than they could bear i n so weakened a state. It has been mentioned that a quantity of wheat raised in Pennsylvania , was brought on hand-sleds a distance of fifty miles on the ice to the settlement, and groun d in a small mill belonging to one of the families. It was Elizabeth's work to grind that req uired for her family. She would take a peck of wheat and walk two miles and a half to grind i t, then carry home the meal and make it into bread. The mill would grind no more than a bushe l of grain in a day when constantly in use, and three families were to be supplied. The men b eing occupied in bringing the wheat and attending to other necessary duties, the grinding wa s chiefly done by the women. Many of the cattle belonging to the settlers died this winter , and some of the oxen disappeared, supposed to have been killed and carried off by the India ns. The disaster that caused so much inconvenience the following season - the breaking of th e little mill which had been so useful, set them upon the invention of a substitute. A hole w as burned and scraped in the top of an oak stump, large enough to hold a quantity of corn whi ch was then pounded as fine as possible with a pounder attached to a spring pole resemblin g a well-sweep, the heavy end being fastened to the ground. This contrivance was called a mor tar. Their ovens were equally primitive. As neither brick nor stone was to be had, a stump wa s hewn perfectly flat on the top, and a slab hewn out and laid upon it. On this the women spr ead a layer of clay, and placed upon it wood heaped up in the form of an oven, covering the w hole except a small opening at one end, with a thick layer of clay. It stood a short time t o dry, and then the wood was set on fire and burned out. The oven thus manufactured proved a n excellent one for use, and served as a model for all the ovens in the country for some year s afterwards. In the autumn of the second year of the settlement, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Harper' s eldest daughter, came with her husband and family, and they took up their residence in a ca bin they built half a mile from that of the widow. They were joined by several other familie s soon afterwards. Some anecdotes of their encounters with the wild beasts of the forest ar e remembered in family traditions. One summer evening in the third year, when William Harpe r was returning about dusk from Judge Wheeler's, his attention was arrested by the sight o f a bear just in the path before him, engaged in devouring a hog he had just killed. Willia m fired at the animal without apparent effect, and was hastily reloading the gun, when the be ar desisted from his meal, and started in pursuit of the new enemy. Fortunately, a large tre e was near at hand, which the young man ran round, the bear closely following and tearing a t off the pieces of the bark in his fury. William contrived, while dodging him, to load his g un, and fired eleven times before the enraged animal fell to the ground; then, completely exh austed by the efforts he had made to keep the foe at bay, he hastened homeward, and met his b rother, who alarmed by hearing reports in such rapid succession, had come to look for him. O n going to the spot the next evening, they found the bear quite dead, with ten of the eleve n balls in his body, the tree being entirely stripped of bark as high as he could reach. I t was not long after this that Elizabeth, while staying with her sister in the absence of he r husband, was alarmed by an attack from one of these ferocious animals. A crazy woman belong ing to the settlement had come to stay the night in the house. Late in the evening they hear d a noise among some fowls roosting upon the projecting logs of the cabin, and going to the d oor they distinctly saw a large bear standing on his hind legs, trying to reach the fowls, th at crowded together in their terror above the range of his paws. It required all of Elizabeth 's presence of mind and energy to prevent the lunatic from rushing out; but by alarming her f ears she persuaded her to be quiet, and fastened the doors. A more severe encounter took plac e some years afterwards, in the house of her brother. A hungry bear broke into the yard and a ttempted to catch a goose wandering on the premises. Mrs. Harper, the sister-in-law, hastil y called to her children to come in, and barred the door; but the fierce creature had heard t he sound of her voice, and bent on securing his prey, sprang through the open window and atta cked her. Her clothes were torn, and her arm badly scratched; but her husband and a man who c hanced to be with him coming to the rescue, they beat off the bear with clubs, and killed him . The fright of Mrs. Harper had such an effect upon her that she suffered in health for years . When the school was established in 1802, the earliest on the Reserve, Elizabeth Harper wa s employed to teach it. The following winter Abraham Tappen was appointed to take charge of i t, and some of the scholars came from distant settlements. The school was taught alternatel y by Tappen and Miss Harper during the winter and summer, for some years. Religious meeting s were established about the same time. In 1806, Elizabeth was married to Abraham Tappen, th en engaged as a surveyor, and employed in equalizing the claims of land-holders. His duties c ompelled him to be absent from home during a great part of the time, and after they were sett led, the labors of superintending the clearing of a new farm devolved upon his wife. The wor k was done, however, with an energy and cheerful spirit worthy the daughter of such a mother ; and a substantial foundation was thus laid for future comfort and prosperity. For a few yea rs the youthful couple lived in a small log hut containing but one room, in which it was nece ssary very frequently to entertain company, as Tappen's acquaintance and business association s with land owners and land agents brought strangers continually to his house, and the dutie s of hospitality were esteemed sacred in the most primitive settlements. Mrs. Tappen was ofte n obliged to spread the floor with beds for the accommodation of her guests; and the abundanc e of her table, and the excellent quality of her cooking, could be attested by many who fro m time to time were the chance inmates of her cheerful home. At that early period an unaffect ed kindness of feeling, poorly replaced in a more advanced state of society by the convention alities of good breeding, prevailed among the settlers, and some families were sincerely atta ched to each other. Good offices were interchanged between neighbors every day, and a friendl y intercourse maintained by frequent visits. These were often paid from one to another, eve n when a journey of fifteen miles on horseback, occupying a whole day, had to be performed. T he alarms and accidents to which a new settlement is liable, tended also to bind the emigrant s together for mutual assistance and protection. One of a number of similar incidents which o ccurred in 1811, caused much trouble to the Harper family. A son of Mrs. Wheeler, nine year s of age, had gone out alone to gather chestnuts, long before a terrible storm of wind and ra in came on, prostrating acres of forest, and swelling the streams in a little while to torren ts. Just before dark, Mrs. Tappen received a hasty summons to go to her sister, whom she foun d half frantic with fears for the missing boy. The alarm quickly spread, the neighbors assemb led, and the people came from a distance of fifteen and twenty miles to aid in the search, wh ile was continued through the next day and the following one, without success, till near th e close of the third day, when the child was found in so exhausted a state that in attemptin g to rise he fell upon his face. His limbs were torn and filled with porcupine's quills. No t very long afterwards, another boy belonging to the settlement was lost in the woods, and th e members of his family, in the search for him, called his name aloud repeatedly. It may no t be generally known that the panther, which at this time came frequently near the dwelling s of man, emits a cry resembling a human voice in distress. The calling of the boy's name wa s several times answered, as his friends supposed, and after following the sound and hallooin g some time, they discovered that the voice was not human. In a state of torturing anxiety an d apprehension, they were obliged to wait for day-light, when the boy made his appearance. H e had wandered in an opposite direction from the panther's locality, and had found shelter a t a house, where he remained all night. The experience of Mrs. Tappen during her residence i n the backwoods was full of such incidents. But the forest around them gradually receded befo re the axe of the enterprising emigrant, the country became cleared and cultivated, and wit h the progress of improvement the condition of the early settlers became more safe and comfor table. Judge Tappen and Mrs. Tappen still reside on the same farm which they first reduced t o cultivation, about half a mile from the spot where her father fixed his dwelling on his fir st removal to the country. The little village of Unionville, in Lake County, Ohio, has been b uilt partly on Judge Tappen's farm; and partly on the farm formerly owned by his wife, the co unty line running through it. Back to Biographies <../bios.html> Ã 2002 Rebecca Falin



Documented Family Genealogy Introduction Family Photos Site Search
  Members Only Shandy Hall Family Reunion



This site maintained by Rick Harper
Images copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
All rights reserved
Created by Sparrowhawk 1.0 (4/17/1996) on Thu Mar 6 21:10:10 2008