My Genealogy Hound

JOHN HARPER, president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, is remotely of English descent. From the reign of James I till the death of Robert Harper, the great-grandfather of John, in 1780, his ancestors were the owners of one of the townlands in County Tyrone Ireland, and were men of high character. John Harper was born in County Donegal Ireland, Dec. 5, 1811. At the age of nine (or in 1820) he came with his parents to Washington, D. C., where he received a thorough practical education under the superintendence of a relative, Alexander McCormick Esq., who is still living at the age of ninety. In his boyhood he was distinguished for the strength of his memory, as well as for his domestic tastes and habits. His father Hugh Harper, died in 1821, and in 1826 his mother, with her children, moved to Jefferson county, Ohio (his brother, Lecky Harper, still living, has been a newspaper editor for more than fifty years, and is an ex-senator in that state). When fifteen years of age he took a subordinate position in a mercantile house at Steubenville, and four years later he had become bookkeeper and confidential clerk. During his clerkship he was noted for his studious habits and the scholarly attainments he thus acquired. At this time Edwin M. Stanton was employed in a neighboring store, and between the two young men an intimacy sprang up that terminated only with the life of Mr. Stanton. In 1831 Mr. Harper became a bookkeeper in the house of M. & A. Leech of Pittsburgh, and on Sept. 19, 1832, he was chosen, without his solicitation, to a position in the Bank of Pittsburgh, where he soon became principal clerk. In 1837 he was sent to Beaver as cashier in the branch bank at that place, but was soon recalled to become assistant cashier in the Bank of Pittsburgh. He was chosen cashier on the resignation of that office by Mr. John Snyder, and subsequently succeeded Mr. John Graham as president of the bank, which position he still occupies. It is proper to remark here that during his service of more than half a century the bank has passed safely through all the financial crises that have occurred; that there was never a defalcation in its accounts, or a misdemeanor by any of its officers involving the loss of a dollar. It has never repudiated its obligations, and never failed to pay a semi-annual dividend. Mr. Harper has occupied many other responsible positions. He has been president of the Pittsburgh Clearing-house ever since its organization; is president of the Western Pennsylvania hospital, of which he is one of the founders; president of the Pittsburgh & Allegheny Suspension Bridge Co.; a director in the Monongahela Navigation Co.; a trustee in the Western University of Pennsylvania; a corporator and director of the Allegheny cemetery; a commissioner of the sinking fund of Allegheny county, and a member of other useful associations.

Mr. Harper married, in June, 1836, Miss Lydia Electa, a daughter of Nathan W. Metcalf, of Otsego county, N. Y. Mrs. Harper’s genealogy runs through an honored line to Michael Metcalf, who came from Norwich, England, to the colony of Massachusetts Bay, in 1637, because of the religious tyranny of Bishop Wren, of Norwich. They have had five sons and one daughter, and to all these who survived their childhood were given a collegiate education. The family record might end here, but a few words more may not be amiss. The issue of the subject of this sketch might suggest inquiry as to the quality of their fruit. Maj. Harper, whose life-history follows this sketch, died unmarried. The only daughter, Lydia, married George B. Mallory, civil engineer, of New York, and died at the residence of her parents, Oct. 4, 1884, leaving a son, John Harper Mallory. John A. Harper, born June 29 1839, in Pittsburgh, married, May 30, 1882, Flora, daughter of Col. Edward Warner Sherburne, of St. Louis, Mo., and they have three daughters. Orlando M. Harper, born Sept. 17, 1846, in Pittsburgh, married, Nov. 22, 1887, Kathleen Theodora, daughter of John Livingston Ludlow, M. D., of Philadelphia, Pa. They have two daughters and reside in New York. Charles S. Harper, born March 5, 1853, in Pittsburgh, married, Oct. 26, 1882, Julia, daughter of Gardner Bower Murfey, of Cleveland, Ohio; they have one daughter, and reside in New York. The subjects of this sketch, John Harper and Lydia Electa, his wife, celebrated their “golden wedding,” June 4, 1886, with mental powers unimpaired. Both are able to look back without regrets on long and well-spent lives.