John Harper
John Harper was here fifty years ago in a log-house in the upper end of Reily on the old road. He died in the West. His brothers, Joseph, Thomas, and James, were men of considerable note. The most interesting bit of history connected with them, is that they killed five half-breed Indians on Fall Creek, Indiana, about 1818. Some of the Harpers had previously been massacred by the Indians, and they took this means of avenging their brethren. After the Indians were killed the civil authorities offered a reward for the capture of the Harpers, and one of the Ridges, who gave his assistance, but they fled to Virginia. Here they were taken prisoner, but in time gained their liberty.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.