My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM SANFORD HARPER, the subject of this sketch, was born in Trumbull Co., Ohio, July 11, 1810; moved with his mother to Butler Co., Ohio, in the spring of 1815 and from there to Darke Co., Ohio, in 1823. with his step-father, B. Roll, and settled on a small farm on the Greenville & West Milton road, four miles southeast of Greenville, there being no house southeast on said road for nine miles; wolves, deer and smaller animals were numerous in the unoccupied forests, at that time; schools were few and far between. The subject of this sketch acquired, in addition to a common school education, practical surveying. He was married, in 1832, to Delila, daughter of William Arnold, and in 1833, moved into the green forest to open up a farm; for about twenty years, taught school in the winter and cleared ground and farmed in the warm season. In 1852, he was elected County Surveyor, and filled that office as principal and deputy for about ten years, and unofficially for about the same length of time, and yet, at his advanced age, works at civil engineering, when called on. From a youth, he was of a sober, pious turn of mind, and made a profession of Christianity in 1833, and became a member of the Christian Church; his zeal for the cause of Christ has steadily increased as he has become better acquainted with the sacred Scriptures; he sometimes amuses himself by writing articles for our secular journals, signing them W. S. H.; he is also an ardent advocate of temperance, of the prohibition class. His sons, William Marion and John Harper, are prominent business men in Greenville; in the year 1860, they erected a business house on Broadway, where they are still engaged in business; the former in the jewelry trade, and the latter in the photographic art. Their uniform courteous, honorable, obliging habits have made for them many friends.