My Genealogy Hound

J. A. PIPER is the veteran public official of Harlan county of which he has been a resident for eighteen years and twelve of those years have been spent in the service of the people. A man with such a record is deserving of more than a passing notice, in a volume like this.

J. A. Piper is of German and English extraction — German on his father’s side and English on his mother’s. The family tradition as handed down from father to son concerning the origin of his paternal ancestry in this country is that the original Piper on American soil immigrated to this country in colonial days and settled first in Massachusetts. Afterwards he went to Canada, and settled in what is now Oxford county, Province of Ontario, but which was then a wilderness. The place where he settled was called Piper’s Corners, and is so called to this day, being marked by two churches and a school house, which have since been built on the site. There was established the seat of the subject’s family. His paternal grandfather lived there, his father was born there and so was the subject himself.

Joseph B. Piper was the father of J. A. Piper, and, as he was for many years a resident of Nebraska and died leaving a number of children in the state, it will be worth while recording these facts concerning him. He came to Nebraska in 1869, and settled in Nemaha county, and lived there some years, subsequently moving further West to Red Willow county, with a view of getting out to where he could find cheap lands for his younger children. He located and resided there till 1887, when, March 16th of that year, he died at his home of heart failure, being then in the sixty-second year of his age. In his earlier years he was a teacher, but after settling in this state he devoted himself to farming and stock-raising. He led the plain and uneventful life common to his calling. If he was distinguished for one thing more than another, it was for his diligent application to his home affairs and his devotion to his family.

“Wise in his daily work was he,
To fruits of diligence
And not to faiths or polity
He plied his utmost sense.”

Mr. Piper’s mother bore the maiden name of Lucinda Ford. She is still living, being now a resident of Red Willow county, this state. She was born in Oxford county, Ont., Canada, and is a daughter of Robert Ford, a native of Ireland, but himself born of English parentage. He emigrated to Canada when a young man many years ago, and settled in Ontario, where he married and afterwards lived.

Joseph B. and Lucinda Piper were the parents of eleven children, next to the eldest of whom is Joel Alfred, the subject proper of this biographical notice. He was born, as we have stated, in Oxford county, Ont., Canada, June 3, 1851. He was mainly reared in his native place and was educated partly in the public schools of Oxford county and partly at home under the supervision of his father. He was just turned into his eighteenth year when he came to Nebraska. His first years in the state were spent in Nemaha county, on his father’s farm, which is now covered by part of the town of South Auburn. Mr. Piper broke the first furrow on that place, it being a raw prairie when his father moved there. As soon as he became of age so he could take up land, he came to Harlan county, settling here in June, 1872, and filing at that date on a homestead in Alma township on the head of Methodist creek, about six miles northeast of the town of Alma. He took this place with a view of making it his permanent home, and began at once to make substantial improvements. He started in, as most young men do, in a new country, as the saying goes, on the bottom round of the ladder. He was in the county in time to get his full share of the grasshoppers and the dry years, and there fell to his lot the same experiences that fell to the lot of all the old settlers. He stood by his choice, however, continued to improve his claim and in course of time proved up on it.

He still owns it and has added to it by purchase, until he now has a section and a half in a block lying around it, well stocked with cattle, horses and hogs, being one of as heavy farmers as there is in the county.

Mr. Piper’s first public office in the county was that of sheriff. He was elected to this in the fall of 1875, and held one term. In the fall of 1879 he was elected to the office of superintendent of public instruction for the county and held that one term. Then in the fall of 1881 he was elected county clerk and has since been reelected four terms, being now in the ninth year of his service in that capacity. Being a stanch republican, Mr. Piper has always, with one exception, been elected on the republican ticket. For the offices of sheriff and superintendent he had little or no opposition. For the office of clerk he has always had more or less, that is at the polls. In his first race for the clerk’s office he ran on an independent ticket, there being no politics in the contest, the election turning on the county seat question. In each subsequent race he has been nominated by acclamation in convention and opposed at the polls by the nominees of the democratic and prohibition parties. The sharpest contest he has ever had was at the last election, November, 1889. His majority was small, but nevertheless safe. Such a record as this speaks volumes for Mr. Piper’s personal popularity. The office of county clerk in Harlan county is one of the best offices in the county. There are men without numbers who would be glad to get it and many of them have tried. But he has held it against all opposition since first entering it up to to the present time. And this he has done where there has been the strongest possible feeling, growing out of old county seat troubles. There is but one explanation of the matter; that is, Mr. Piper’s fair dealing towards all factions and all parties. He has administered the affairs of his office with absolute impartiality, and has regarded his office as a public trust, and has conducted himself towards the people as their trustee. He is thoroughly competent, as all know, and he is fearlessly honest. The other virtues of a successful public official he also possesses. He is polite, attentive to the wants of all, neat with his work, dispatching it with promptness, and he is always at his post. It will be years before his record is equalled in the county, if indeed it ever is.

Mr. Piper was married February 22, 1877, to Miss Jennie E. Proctor, daughter of William and Maria Proctor, who were natives of England but came to America in 1856, when Jennie E. was four years of age. The family made their first stop for a short time at Guelph, Canada, and then moved to Kane county, Ill., locating near Chicago. In 1874, they came to Harlan county, Nebr., where they settled on a farm adjoining that of the parents of our subject. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Piper have been born three children, named as follows — Jennie Lou, Helen M. and Elsie Ford. Both these parents have presided in the school-room, Mr. Piper having begun to teach after he had entered his homestead, and also taught while serving as sheriff and while filling the position of superintendent of public instruction. He taught in Alma, in 1876 and 1877, receiving the highest salary ever paid to a teacher at that place up to that time. Mrs. Piper had taught in Illinois previous to coining to Nebraska, and is at present engaged at the vocation in Harlan county, where she is looked upon as fully qualitied for her work.