Joseph Harper
Joseph Harper, farmer, deceased, was born in the State of Delaware, February 23, 1809, and came to Ross County, Ohio, with his uncle, Caleb Harper, at the age of twenty-one, his father having died when he was but twelve years of age. After arriving in this country, it was ascertained that his uncle did not require his services, and for some time he performed day labor on surrounding farms.
In 1834, he came to this township, and settled on a tract of one hundred acres, now owned by James Brown's heirs, where he remained one year, then removed to the land now owned by his heirs, which consisted of two hundred and eleven acres, and was purchased of Horatio Walker.
He married Ann Catharine, daughter of Frederick Parrott, who lived in Ross County, March 21, 1833. This union was blessed by five children: One infant, John Wesley, Leonidas, Hamlin, Priscilla Ann, and Mary, married to John Rodgers. John Wesley and Leonidas are deceased.
He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which faith he died triumphantly, June 22, 1878. His wife was born in Shenandoah Valley, in 1812, and still lives on the old homestead. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at New Holland, and an exemplary Christian. He was steward and trustee of the church. The total amount of land now owned by his heirs is five hundred and eighty-eight acres, well improved, and in a good state of cultivation, farming to grain and stock. It is located at the crossing of the Holland and Waterloo pikes, half-way between Holland and Bloomingburg.
Mr. Harper was township trustee for several years, and was administrator of several estates. Since his death, his heirs have sold an acre of land to the school district, on which the Harper schoolhouse has been located.
From R. S. Dills' History of Fayette County