Frank H. Harper
Frank H. Harper proprietor of a farm of more than two hundred acres in Ross township, was born in that township and has lived there all his life with the exception ofl a period of about nine years during the days of his youth when his family was living in Missouri. He was born on February 27, 1881, son of Thomas Henry and Cinderella (Herriman) Harper, both now deceased, the latter of whom was born and reared in the vicinity of Lisbon, in Columbiana county, this state.
The late Thomas Henry Harper, who died at his home in Ross township on November 12, 1910, was born in that same township on March 17, 1834, a son of Thomas and Mary (Sirlotte) Harper, natives of Maryland, the latter of whom was a daughter of George and Elizabeth Sirlotte, also Marylanders, of French descent. Thomas Harper was one of the four sons in the family of seven children who accompanied their father and brother. John Harper and wife, over into Ohio from Maryland in 1804 and settled in Greene county, which had just been organized as a civic unit the year before. John Harper was a soldier of the Revolution and was a brother of Thomas Harper, who operated the ferry across the Potomac river at the point which thus came to be known as Harper's Ferry and is still so known, a name familiar to every student of American history, and inseparably associated with the enthusiastic attempt made by John Brown, the Kansan, in 1859, to start a movement for the liberation of the slaves. Upon coming to this county in 1804 John Harper bought a tract of more than one thousand acres of land in what later came to be organized as Ross township, there erected the first log cabin in that part of the county and with the aid of his sons soon had a clearing in the woods. John Harper, the pioneer, died there in 1820 and his land was divided among his children, whose descendants in the present generation form one of the most numerous family connections in this part of Ohio.
Thomas Harper, one of the sons of this pioneer, was born at Harper's Ferry and was named in honor of his uncle Thomas, the owner of the ferry and also then the owner of much of the land thereabout. He was a well grown lad when he came to this county with his parents antl he at once began to take his part in the labors of making a farm there in the wilderness. On May 17, 1818, he married Mary Sirlotte and established his home on a part of the paternal acres and in time so increased his holdings that he became the owner of nine hundred and ninety-five acres of land. He died on January 8, 1875, he then being eighty-two years of age. His wife had preceded him to the grave about two years, her death having occurred on April 6, 1873. They were the parents of five children, Wiliam Harrison, Minerva Ann, George W., Thomas Henry and Mary L, all of whom lived to maturity.
Thomas H. Harper grew up on the home farm in Ross township and in due time became a farmer on his own account and the owner of nearly seven hundred acres of land. On January 16, 1865, he married Cinderella Herriman and continued to make his home in this county until 1889, when he moved with his familv to Missouri, where he remained for nine years, at the end of which time he returned to Greene county and here spent the rest of his life, his death occurring in the fall of 1911. His wife died F/ebruary 4, 1900. She was a member of the Christian church. To Thomas H. and Cinderella (Herriman) Harper were born six children, namely: Idella, who married Lon Cross and is living at South Vienna. in the neighboring county of Clark; Otis, deceased; Thomas Henry, a resident of Cleveland, this state; William, who died at the age of four years; Mary, who died at the same tender age, and Frank H.. the subject of this biographical sketch. Frank H. Harper was eight years of age when his parents moved with their family to Missouri and his boyhood was spent in that state, he having been about sixteen when the family returned to Greene county and resumed their residence on the home place in Ross township. After a year of further schooling in the local schools he entered Nelson's Business College at Springfield and upon completing the course in that institution returned to the home farm and was there engaged assisting his father in the management of the place until his marriage in the fall of 1906, when he began farming on his own account and has since been thus engaged, now the owner of two hundred and thirty-two acres. In addition to his general farming he gives considerable attention to the raising of live stock. By political inclination Mr. Harper is a Democrat, as were his father and grandfather. Fraternallv, he is affiliated with the local lodge of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics at Jeffersonville.
On September 5, 1906, Frank H. Harper was united in marriage to Nora E. Linkinhoker, who was born March 29, 1887, in the neighboring county of Clark, daughter of George E. and Mary E. (Gutshall) Linkinhoker, and to this union two children have been born. Thelma, who died at the age of two months and nineteen days, and George Henry, who was born on April 21, 1915. Mrs. Harper is a member of the Lutheran church.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918