Descendants of Wm. B. Harper, SC/TN (1785-1842)

1. Wm. B. (Bradford?) Harper, b. Chester County?, SC 1785, d. 1842 in Henry Co., TN, m. Rosannah Love, b. PA 1798, d. abt. 1860, Freestone, Co., TX.

Wm. B. Harper (b. Abt. 1785) first shows up with his family in the 1830, and 1840 Federal censuses of Henry Co., TN. Deed records show that he purchased 140 acres in Henry Co., in 1828. He is shown on the Henry Co., TN tax role in 1827 (100 acres) and in 1828, 29, 31, 32, 34 for 140 acres. He died intestate and his personal property was probated in March of 1842 according to court records.

Wm. B. (1785) Harper’s widow, Rosannah (Love) Harper moved to Cotton Gin, Freestone Co., TX with her daughter Elizabeth and sons Josiah W. Harper and Wm. B. Harper (b. 1826) --listed below--after the sons sold the family farm in Henry Co., TN in 1857. She appears as head-of-household in the 1850 federal census of Henry Co., TN. Neither of the children John Matheson Harper and Nancy Carolyn Harper, listed below, appear in Rosannah’s household in the 1850 Henry Co., TN census. She is present in her son’s household in the 1860 census in Fairfield, Freestone Co., TX, but is missing in the 1870 census. She may be buried in the Cotton Gin, Texas cemetery in Freestone County, but if so her grave marker has disappeared.

1.1. John Matheson Harper: b. 11 Jun 1822, Henry Co., TN

1.2. Nancy Carolyn Harper: b. 14 Apr 1825, Henry Co., TN. d. 1880, Rusk Co., TX. m. Fieldin (Frank?) Wesley Derrington 23 Oct 1849 in Henry Co., TX

1.2.1. William L. Derrinton, b. 1852

1.2.2. John M. Derrington, b. 1856

1.2.3. Charles Derrington, b. 1858

1.2.4. Amanda Derrington, b. 1864

1.2.5. Bettie Derrington, b. 1866

The complete line for Fieldin W. Derrington is available at Ancestors.com.

1.3. William B(1826) Harper: b. 10 Jan 1826, Henry Co., TN. m. 3 Apr 1852 in Henry Co., TN Mary Ann Copeland: b. 1834 TN. d. abt. 1881 in Cherokee Co., TX.

The brothers Josiah W. and Wm. B. (1826) Harper bought land together in Freestone Co., TX in 1857. In addition to their mother's death, Wm. B. and his wife Mary Ann lost an infant son, Elmer Elsworth (25 Mar 1861-30 Aug 1861) while living in Freestone Co.

Although the brothers both mustered with the "F" company Freestone County militia in 1860, (Wm. as 2nd sergeant, Josiah as a private) only Josiah enlisted in the Confederate States Army from Freestone Co., Texas. He appears on the muster roll for with Company I, 12th Texas Infantry (Young's Regiment, 8 Reg't Texas Infantry) for Feb 28 through June 30 1862. He was discharged at Tyler, Texas July 12, 1862. No reason is given for his discharge, but it is interesting that the brothers sold their land in Freestone Co., December 1, of the same year. Secessionist sentiment was high in Freestone County, as in most of Texas, after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November of 1860.

The issue appears to have been about "states' rights" and not abolition. A look at the 1860 census for Freestone County shows that there were very few people in the county who owned slaves, although those who did were extremely influencial in county and state affairs. It is not unusual, even in the 21st century, for people to vote against their own economic and social interests when they are manipulated by clever political ploys. On February 23, 1861, the county voted 586 for secession and 3 against. Perhaps Josiah and William B. Harper were two-thirds of the opposition, and the Harpers may have been motivated to sell-out and leave the county (and probably the state) because of the hostility towards the Republican administration.

Because only men who had not sworn allegiance to the Confederacy could vote or hold office during Reconstruction, it is certain that Wm. B. (1826) left Texas–family tradition says to Missouri–where he may be the "Mr. Harper" mentioned in a dispatch from M. Jeff. Thompson, Brig. Gen. Commanding Camp Sikeston, MO on August 13, 1861 to Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow at New Madrid, MO. "Please appoint a parole system of passes, or something of the kind, for the use of the armed forces. Any communications sent to Mr. Harper can be sent to me each hour."

Census data indicates that he and his family were living in Texas on 23 Oct 1862 when his daughter Sallie was born and back in Texas on 23 Apr 1865 when his next child, Mollie, was born. William B. Harper's allegiance to the Union and his absence from Texas during the war years seems to be confirmed by his being appointed postmaster of Henderson, Rusk Co., TX on 30 April 1866 by president Andrew Johnson. He was elected county clerk of Rusk County in 1870 and bought property in Henderson in the same year. His name and signature appear on numerous court documents between 1870 and 1872 when he was voted out of office after Texas was re-admitted to the Union.

The family subsequently moved (after he was voted out of office in 1872) first to a farm adjoining his son’s land near Laneville, Rusk Co., Texas, then to Larissa, Texas in Cherokee County. The town of Larissa (which is now extinct) was known as the "Athens of Texas" because of a university located there. The 1880 census for Cherokee Co., shows the family living there at that time. His occupation in the census is shown as "nursery agent." He may have been working for relatives of his mother’s Love family who owned a peach orchard and nursery in Cherokee County to which they had immigrated (first to Freestone County, then to Cherokee County) from Tennessee. Having Love relatives in the area may have been why the Harpers moved to Texas in 1857. The 1880 census noted that Mary Ann (Copeland) Harper had consumption. She probably died while the family was living in Larissa–although a search of the Larissa cemetery did not discover a grave marker for her. It may have deteriorated or the family may have not been able to afford one there.

Wm. B. (b.1826) Harper's Unionist and abolishionists sympathies during the Civil War was a source of dishonor among many in the family–particularly among his in-laws during the last years of the 19th and the first half of the 20th. He paid a political and social cost for his beliefs. His grandson, Irwin Bradford Harper remained a staunch, if secret,  Republican even though the dark years of the Great Depression.  He only "came out" as a Republican after Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president in 1952.

1.3.1. Samantha (she changed her name to "Stella" before 1880.) Love Harper, b. 13 Apr 1852 in Henry Co., TN , d. 1927 Chandler Van Zant Co., TX. m. (1) 30 Apr 1870 in Henderson, Rusk, Co., TX John Dudley Wherry b.05 Jun 1840, d. 5 Sep 1878, and (2) John "Boss" Partlow sometime after the 1880 census. She was living in Larissa, Texas with her parents and her surviving Wherry children at the time and the census shows that John Partlow was a neighbor. She was called "Aunt Love" in the family.

Because Wm. B. and Mary Ann Harper's eldest daughter was named Samantha Love (even though she later changed it to Stella) it may indicate that she was named for a Love family relative, maybe a Samuel Love. Court documents filed in Londonderry, Chester County, PA in 1790, the year after Rosannah was born mention an unnamed daughter of Samuel Love, but efforts to place Samuel Love in either South Carolina or Tennessee at the same time as likely Harper families have produced no results.

1.3.1.1 Maggie Lee Wherry, b.&d. 14 Feb 1872

1.3.1.2 Claudius Wherry, b. 1 Feb 1873, d. 21 Apr 1873

1.3.1.3 John W. Wherry, b. 1874, d. 1937

1.3.1.4 Herbert Milton Wherry, b. 03 Sep 1877

Samantha "Stella" Wherry m. (2) John Boss Partlow, b. 8 Nov 1849, d. 12 Jun 1919

1.3.1.1.5. Walter Herbert Partlow, b. 13 Dec 1881, d.15 Oct 1960

1.3.1.1.7 Willie Mae Partlow, b.03 Nov 1886

1.3.1.1.6 Annie Dye Partlow, b. 18 Dec 1887

1.3.2. William B. (1854) Harper, b. 9 Jul 1854 in Henry Co., TN, d. 10 Mar 1920 in Rusk Co., Texas.  m. 29 Feb 1880 in Henderson, Rusk Co., TX Columbia Blair, b. 11 May 1856 in Rusk Co., TX, d. 4 Mar 1948 in Laneville, Rusk Co., TX.

Wm. B. (1854) farmed on land given him by his father-in-law, James Vincent Blair near Laneville, Rusk Co., TX. He was a Justice of the Peace and the enumerator of the 1900 federal census in the Laneville area. His signature appears on the census pages that list his own family , his son Irwin's family and his Blair in-laws. Columbia (Blair) Harper’s father and mother James Vincent Blair and Mary Houston-Grigsby moved from Tennessee to Rusk Co. Texas in 1848 with Vincent's brother, Hugh Blair, who was married to Mary’s sister Sarah Elizabeth Houston-Grigsby. The Blair sisters looked as if they had native American ancestry, which was passed down to their children and to some extent, their grandchildren. There is a family story that they were descendants of General Sam Houston and his Cherokee wife, but no positive link can be made directly to Sam Houston although the Blair sisters mother, Mary (Houston) Blair may have been a cousin of the general. They bought 600 acres in the Laneville area–then known as the "New Salem" community. The Blair brothers donated 5 acres of land for the Redlands Methodist Church near present-day Laneville. The church building still exists (in 2006) and although it no longer has an active Methodist congregation, it is owned by a group of citizens in the area (including Blair descendants) who maintain it and hold occasional services there.  The Blair brothers worked as farriers (blacksmiths) for the Confederate government during the Civil War, which exempted them from service in the military.

The Blairs and many of their descendants are buried in the cemetery in Laneville, Rusk County, Texas. William B. (1854) Harper and Columbia (Blair) are buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery near New London in Rusk Co., TX.

1.3.2.1. Irwin Bradford Harper, b. 3 Jan 1881 in Laneville, Rusk Co., Texas, d. 21 Feb 1961 in Cushing, Nacogdoches Co., TX. As a young man, he was a baseball player of some local renown. He owned a grocery store in Cushing, Nacogdoches Co., TX but went bankrupt during the Great Depression from "carrying too much credit" according to his wife Ophelia (Johnson.) During WWII he worked for the Houston Shipbuilding Company near Pasadena, TX. After the war he and Ophelia retired to Cushing, Texas where he served for a few years as city judge and held the town checker championship.

m. Ophelia Louise Johnson, b. 11 Feb 1880 in Laneville, Rusk Co., Texas, d. 26 Sep 1953 in Jacksonville, Cherokee Co., TX. She taught school prior to marrying and had some odd ways having to do with a fanatical sense of personal hygiene, parsimony and rampant nosiness.

She was the daughter of Wm. David Johnson and Nancy Melinda Parker who moved to Texas from Walnut Grove, MS in 1870. They came to Texas in two wagons. Wm. David was a private in Company K, 5th Regiment, Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States Army and was wounded in the hip by canister shot at the Battle of Shiloh on May 9, 1862. He was a patient at the "Texas Field Hospital" in Enterprise, Mississippi and was discharged from the hospital and the army on November 20, 1862. He walked with a limp from the wound. Wm. David and Nancy Johnson are buried in the cemetery in Laneville, Rusk Co., Texas along with many of their descendents. Laneville is about 10 miles south of Henderson, the county seat of Rusk County.

 Irwin Bradford Harper and his wife Ophelia are also buried in the cemetery in Laneville, Texas in Rusk Co. 1.3.2.1.1. Loraine Harper, b. 23 Oct 1905 in Laneville, Rusk Co. TX, d. 2 Aug 1906, in Laneville, Rusk Co., TX. She is buried in the cemetery in Laneville, Texas.

1.3.2.1.2. William Bruce Harper, b. 23 Feb 1908 in Cherokee Co., TX, d. 1 Jan 1945 in Pasadena, Harris Co., TX. m. 17 Apr 1932 in Logansport, De Soto Parish, LA to Hattie Francis Compton, b. 10 Sep 1906 in the Blair Community, Shelby Co., TX, d. 19 Sep 1999 in Pasadena, Harris Co., TX. Both were school teachers although Bruce did not like teaching and was eventually fired from his teaching job by his borhter-in-law, Zannie Crump, who was superintendent of the Timpson, Texas Independent School System. It seems he told Zannie to "go to hell" in anger over criticism of his work. The stories vary, but Bruce was noted for having a temper. He had a teaching degree from Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, Texas. His mother insisted that he enter college at the age of 16 in order to take care of his  cousin Robert Pierce Johnson, Jr. who had a heart murmur. Robert 's father, who was a wealthy merchant in Cushing, Texas, paid for both to go to school. Leaving high school before his senior year kept him from playing his last year as a baseball star, which may explain both his unhappiness as a teacher and his temper. Bruce worked as a shipfitter during WWII and died at 37 from complications due to pneumonia just prior to penicillin's becoming available for civilian use during the war.

Hattie got a teaching certificate after completing one year of preparatory training at Stephen F. Austin College in Nacogdoches, Texas. She began teaching in Alabama in 1926 because she did not have enough teaching experience to teach in Texas. She returned to Texas in 1928 and taught first in her home community of Blair, then in the community school at Wedgeworth, near Timpson, Texas where she met Bruce who was teaching at the same school. The two were popular and had a "song and dance" routine that they performed to entertained the community. The conditions of their teaching contracts forbade their dating, but they did so secretly and on 17 Apr 1932 they married secretly in Logansport, Louisiana just across the Sabine River from Shelby County where they were teaching. Texas had a three-day waiting period between getting a license and marrying, which meant that the license would appear in the paper and expose their defiance of their contracts. Lousiana did not require a license or waiting period at the time and the marriage was not reported in the Texas newspapers. They waitied until the school board had granted them new contracts at the end of May and when the Board Trustees called Hattie to get her contract for the next term, Bruce stepped up instead, and said "I'll take Miss Compton's contract becausue she's now Mrs. Harper.

Hattie stopped teaching when her first child, Thomas Paul, was born in 1933, but returned to teaching because of an emergency teacher shortage at the beginning of WW2. She continued teaching first grade in the same school room in Pasadena, Texas from 1942 until she retired in 1972. She earned bachelor's degree in music at the Southern School of Fine Arts (now extinct) and a masters degrees in education at the University of Houston after Bruce died in 1945. 

Hattie was the daughter of William Bartley "Bart" Compton and Ada Roselee (nicknamed "Dump" (Bright) the daughter of  Thomas Jefferson Bright and his wife Rachel (Henry). Tom Bright enlisted in the Confederate army at the age of 14. He served in Co. D, 26th Alabama infantry at the battle at Shiloh. The Compton family moved from Blount Co., Alabama to the Blair Community in Shelby Co., Texas along with Bart's parents and siblings in 1903. Most of the siblings returned to Alabama because they thought the water was bad in Texas. Bart and Ada Roselee are buried in the Blair Cemetery three miles west of Timpson, Texas in Shelby County.

Bart's father Isaac Claiborne Compton served in the confederate army and was wounded. He had a metal plate in his head and the injury was aggravated later in life when a brick fell off the top of the chimney and dented the plate under his scalp. From that time until his death he suffered from crazy spells when he would chase his grandchildren with a stick trying to kill the "enemy." Isaac Compton and his wife Sally (Best) are also buried in the Blair Community cemetery.

Bruce Harper and Hattie are buried in the cemetery at Laneville, Texas in Rusk County.

1.3.2.1.2.1. Thomas Paul Harper, b. 17 Jul 1933 in Timpson, Shelby Co., TX, d. 12 Feb 1971. m. (1) Living Land and m. (2) 18 Feb 1965 Living Clark, b. 7 Sep 1933.

Thomas was killed accidentaly while working in Greenville, SC. He is buried in the Laneville, Texas Cemetery beside his parents, uncle, and grandparents.

1.3.2.1.2.1.1. Living Harper, b. 22 Feb 1958. m. Living Alley

1.3.2.1.2.1.1.1. Living male Alley, b. 1998

1.3.2.1.2.1.2. Living Harper, b. 18 Nov 1965 in Virginia. m. Living

1.3.2.1.2.1.2.1. Living male Harper, b. 1998 in Virginia

1.3.2.1.2.1.2.2. Living male Harper, b. 2003 in Virginia

1.3.2.1.2.1.3. Living Harper, b. 20 Dec 1967 in Virginia.. m. Living Montague, b. 2 Apr 1964

1.3.2.1.2.1.3.1. Living male Montague, b. 6 Nov 1990 in Virginia

1.3.2.1.2.1.3.1. Living female Montague, b. 5 Nov 1992 in Virginia

1.3.2.1.2.2. Glynn Compton Harper, b. 21 Oct 1935 in Huber, Shelby County, Texas.. m. Susan Porter, b. 10 Aug 1938 in Washington, D.C.. d. 26 Oct 1963 in New London, Connecticut

1.3.2.1.2.3. Living male Harper, b. 20 Aug 1938. in Houston, Harrus County, Texas. m. 09 Oct 1966 living Patterson, b. 21 Aug 1944 in Fairhope, Alabama

1.3.2.1.2.3.1. Living male Harper, b. 20 Jan 1969 (twin) in Laramie, Albany County, Wyoming

1.3.2.1.2.3.2. Living male Harper, b. 20 Jan 1969 (twin) in Laramie, Albany County, Wyoming

1.3.2.1.3. Irwin Johnson Harper, b. 19 Jan 1912 in Rusk Co., TX, d.12 Jul 1988 in Cushing, Nacogdoches Co., TX. m. Joyce Whitside. Irwin Johnson is buried in the Laneville, Texas cemetery in Rusk Co., TX

1.3.2.2. Mary Harper, b. 1882 in Laneville, Rusk Co., TX

1.3.2.3. Alice Harper, b. 1884 in Laneville, Rusk Co., TX, d. 1978. m. William Carrelton Rives, b. 31 Mar 1876 in Bethel Community, Rusk Co., TX, d. 01 Apr 1974 in the Bethel Community.

1.3.2.3.1. Sallie Rives, b. 1904.in Rusk Co., TX. m. (1) 1929 Daniel McElroy, b. 1904, d. 1969. m. (2) Marlen Thasher, d. 1980

1.3.2.3.2. Henry J. Rives, d. 1970. m. Pauline Allen

1.3.2.3.2.1. William Carrelton Rives, b. 1932

1.3.2.3.3. Wilbur C. "Buster" Rives, 1909, d. 1973

1.3.2.3.4. Wilma C. Rives, b. 1909

1.3.2.4. Hassie Harper, b. 1891

1.3.2.5. Margie Harper, b. 3 Jan 1881, d. 23 Feb 1961

1.3.2.6. Madge "Maggie" Harper, b. 1896

1.3.3. Thad Clinton Harper, b. 1856, d. 21 Oct 1881. He is buried alongside his father and brother, John Matheson Harper in the Blanton-Gould Cemetery near the Glenfawn Community in Rusk Co., TX. A single, modern (in the 1980s) gravestone marks all three graves and was placed there by the daughters of John Matheson Harper (1.3.4.) who was the last of the three to die. Presumably there was some connection with the Glenfawn Community (or perhaps the earlier New Salem) community when Thad Clinton, the first of the three to die was buried there.

1.3.4. John Matheson Harper, born near Cotton Gin in Freestone Co., Texas in 1859, d. 3 Aug 1892. He is buried beside his brother Thad Clinton and father Wm. B. (1826) in the Blanton-Gould cemetery near Glenfawn, Rusk Co., TX. Since the name "John Matheson" is the name of this John Matheson’s uncle (1.1.) and may be the name of a cousin, John M. Derrington, b. 1856 (1.2.2.) the name may have family significance, but census index searches have not proved fruitful. John Matheson Harper m. Jennifer Martin

1.3.4.1. Una Harper, 1887

1.3.4.2. Ada Harper, b. 1889

1.3.4.3. William Bradford Harper, b. Jul 1891, m. Flara Savana Cauthron, d. 1962.

This William Bradford Harper lived in the household of his uncle Wm. B. (b. 1854) Harper after his father died. He is listed  with his uncle's family as "Willie B." Harper in the 1900 census.

1.3.4.3.1. Delmiree Harper

1.3.4.3.2. Agnes Ruth Harper

1.3.5. Elmer Elsworth Harper, b. 25 Mar 1861 near Cotton Gin, Freestone Co., TX. d.30 Aug 1861, Freestone Co., TX.

1.3.6. Sallie Harper, b. 23 Oct 1862. d. 2 May 1956 in Rusk Co., TX. m. 18 May 1879 William T. Bricknell

1.3.7. Fannie Harper, b. 23 Apr 1865, d. 23 Sep 1956

1.3.8. Molly Harper, b. 1867

1.3.9. Mary Hugh Harper, b. 16 Sep 1868, d. 3 Jun 1963 in Jacksonville, Cherokee Co., TX

1.3.10. Mattie Mae Harper, b. 28 Oct 1870

1.3.11. Alice Arrie Harper, b. 6 Jan 1874, m. Eugene Rowden

1.4. Josiah W. Harper: b. 1827. Moved to Freestone Co., TX in abt. 1857.

He may be the namesake of his grandfather. Several Josiah Harpers appear in various records, but nothing establishes a connection for sure. Josiah sold his share in the property in Freestone Co., TX December 21, 1862 and then disappears. Several "Josiah Harpers" fought and were killed while serving in both the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil war. He may have been one of these but there is no mention of him in the Harper family traditions, perhaps because he fought for the Union after being discharged from the 12th Texas Infantry in 1862.

1.5. Elizabeth Jane Harper: b. 16 Jan 1829, Henry Co., TN. Moved to Freestone Co., TX in abt. 1857. d. 23 Apr 1899 in Rusk Co., TX. She moved to Texas from Henry Co., TN with her brother and family in about 1857. She never married and lived first with her brother Wm. B. (b. 1826) in Cotton Gin, Freestone, Co., TX where she appears in the 1860 Freestone Co., census. According the 1870 Rusk County, Texas census she lived with her sister Nancy Carolyn (Harper) Derrington until Nancy’s death, then according to the 1880 federal census (Henderson, Rusk Co., TX) continued to live as housekeeper for her brother-in-law Feildin (Frank?) Derrington.

All attempts to place the original Wm. B. Harper (b. abt.1785) prior to his appearance in Tennessee in the 1820s have proved fruitless.