Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1892, volume 3).djvu/112

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HARPER
HARRAH

Kingston, Ontario. He subsequently received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Illinois, af- ter finishing a three years' course in the section of metaphysical science. Before leaving his native country he had received an appointment to an acad- emy in New Brunswick, and, after several years' residence in the maritime provinces, he became the principal of the Victoria high-school at St. John, N. B. When this school was destroyed, in the great fire at St, John, Dr. Harper became principal of the Provincial normal-school at Charlottetown, Prince Edward island, and afterward professor in the Amalgamated normal-school and Prince of Wales college, with special supervision of the training of teachers. He is now inspector of superior schools for the province of Quebec, and editor of the " Educational Record " of Quebec. Dr. Harper was instrumental in establishing a periodical in Nova Scotia devoted to the cultivation of Canadian litera- ture, and has written much in prose and verse, in- cluding poems in the Scottish dialect. He has also prepared and published school text-books, and is the author of various lectures.


HARPER, Joseph Morrill, physician, b. in Limerick, York co., Me., 21 June, 1787; d. in Can- terbury, N. H., 15 Jan., 1865. He studied medicine, and began to practise in 1810 at Canterbury, where he afterward resided. He served in the war of 1812 as assistant surgeon in the 4th infantry. He was a member of the legislature in 1826-'7, and again in 1829-'30, serving during the latter year as president of the senate, and ex-officio as governor from Feb- ruary until June, 1831, through the resignation of Mathew Harvey. He was then elected to congress as a Democrat, and served from 5 Dec, 1831, till 3 March, 1835. From 1842 till 1856 he was president of the Mechanics' bank of Concord, N. H. He passed the latter part of his life on a farm, having retired from the practice of his profession.


HARPER, Robert Goodloe, senator, b. near Fredericksburg, Va., in 1765 ; d. in Baltimore, Md., 15 Jan., 1825. He was the son of poor parents, who, during his childhood, removed to Granville, N. C. At the age of fifteen he served, un- der Gen. Greene, in a troop of horse, com- posed of the youth of the neighborhood, during the closing scenes of the south- ern campaign of the Revolution. He was graduated at Prince- ton in 1785, studied law in Charleston, S. C, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. He soon removed to the interior of the state, where he be- came known through a series of articles on

a proposed change in

the constitution. He was elected to the legislature and subsequently sent to congress, serving from 9 Feb., 1795, till 3 March, 1801, and warmly sup- porting the administrations of Washington and Adams. He served in the war of 1812, being pro- moted from the rank of colonel to that of major- general. Soon after the defeat of the Federal- ists he married the daughter of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, and removed to Baltimore, Md., where he attained eminence at the bar. He was employed with Joseph Hopkinson as counsel for Judge Samuel Chase, of the U. S. supreme court, in his impeachment trial. At a dinner given at George- town, D. C, 5 June, 1813, in honor of the recent Russian victories, he gave as a toast " Alexander the Deliverer," following it with a speech eulogiz- ing the Russians. On the publication of the speech, Robert Walsh addressed the author a letter in which he expressed the opinion that the oration underrated the military character of Napoleon, and failed to point out the danger of Russian as- cendency. To this letter Harper made an elaborate reply, Walsh responded, and the correspondence was then (1814) published in a volume. Harper was elected to the U. S. senate from Maryland to serve from 29 Jan., 1816, till 3 March, 1821, but resigned in the former year to become one of the Federalist candidates for vice-president. In 1819-'20 he visited Europe with his family, and after his return em- ployed himself chiefly in the promotion of schemes of internal improvements. He was an active mem- ber of the American colonization society, and the town of Harper, near Cape Palmas, Africa, was named in his honor. His pamphlet, entitled " Ob- servations on the Dispute between the United States and France " (1797), acquired great celebrity. He also printed "An Address on the British Treaty" (1796); "Letters on the Proceedings of Congress"; and "Letters to His Constituents " (1801). A collection of his various letters, ad- dresses, and pamphlets was published with the title " Select Works " (Baltimore, 1814).


HARPER, William, jurist, b. in the island of Antigua, 17 Jan., 1790; d. in South Carolina, 10 Oct., 1847. His father, an English Methodist, had been sent to Antigua as a missionary by John Wesley, but came to Baltimore, Md., and afterward removed to Columbia, S. C, where William was graduated at South Carolina college in 1808. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and in 1818 emigrated to Missouri. In 1819 he was elected chancellor, and was a member of the convention that adopted the state constitution of 1821. In 1823 he resigned, and, returning to Columbia, S. C, was made state reporter. After performing the duties of the office for two years, he was ap- pointed U. S. senator to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Gaillard, and served from 28 March till 7 Dec, 1826. He then removed to Charleston, S. C, and practised his profession un- til 1828, when he was elected to the state house of representatives and chosen speaker. The same year he was elected chancellor, and retained the office until 1830, when he was made one of the judges of the court of appeals. On the abolition of that court in 1835 he was again chosen chan- cellor. In November, 1832, he was a member of the convention that passed the ordinance of nulli- fication, and met with the same body in March, 1833, to rescind it. He is the author of an article on " Colonization " in the " Southern Review," a speech in congress on the " Panama Mission," a eulogy on Chancellor de Saussure, and several addresses in favor of nullification.


HARPER, William Rainey, Hebraist, b. in New Concord, Ohio, 26 July, 1856. He was gradu- ated at Muskingum college, in his native town, in 1870, and was professor of Hebrew in Chicago Bap- tist theological seminary from 1879 till 1887, when he became professor of the Semitic languages at Yale. He has published several Hebrew text- books, including " Elements of Hebrew " (Chicago, 1882), and is the editor of "Hebraica" and the " Old Testament Student."


HARRAH, Charles Jefferson, merchant, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 1 Jan., 1817. His education