My Genealogy Hound

SMITH HARPER, an eminently successful business man of Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, and one who is held in esteem as one of its useful and influential citizens, was born in Abington township, in the county named, April 26, 1827, son of William and Esther (Smith) Harper.

His father, William Harper, was a son of George and Mary Harper, and his birth occurred November 11, 1796, at the family homestead on the old York road, in Cheltenham township, the property now owned by the merchant prince John Wanamaker. For a short time after attaining young manhood, William Harper resided in Philadelphia, whence he removed to Cheltenham, where he engaged in the manufacture of gimlets, and afterward of garden hoes. He transacted a business which was of advantage to the community and remunerative to himself. April 1, 1848, he removed to Abington township, where he passed the remaining years of his life. He was united in marriage to Esther Smith, of Cheltenham township, and the children born to them were as follows: 1. Adeline; 2. Reuben; 3. Henry; 4. William; 5. Smith, who is to be further referred to; 6. Charles; 7. Mary; 8. Edwin; 9. Catherine; 10. Esther. The mother of this family died in 1838, and her husband survived her many years, dying in 1866, in his seventieth year.

Smith Harper, fifth child and fourth son in the family above named, acquired his education in the Friends’ school at Abington, and after completing his studies was associated with his father in his different business enterprises until some time prior to the death of the elder Harper. In 1848, the year in which he attained his majority, he purchased the feed mill located at Harper Station (which took its name from his family), on the Philadelphia, Newtown & New York Railroad. This he operated until September, 1902, in the meantime manufacturing hoes and other garden implements, which found a ready market in Europe as well as in the United States. In the last named year he sold his manufacturing interests to the American Fork and Hoe Company of Cleveland, Ohio, and retired from business pursuits after an active and useful career of more than a half century.

Mr. Harper married Miss Fannie Snyder, a daughter of George and Emeline Snyder, and of this union there is one surviving child, Esther. Fannie (Snyder) Harper died April 13, 1863. Mr. Harper was united in marriage (secondly) to Miss Martha L. Roberts, a daughter of Thomas and Priscilla L. (Watson) Roberts. The children born of this marriage were Jennie Watson, Fannie, who married Frank M. Feaster, and they have two children, Anita and Francis; Charles Smith; Anna Martha, John Krause, Mary Priscilla, and Frank West. Mr. and Mrs. Harper and their children are members of the Society of Friends. The family make their home in a beautiful modern stone mansion known as Lakeview, which was erected by Mr. Harper in the year 1880.