settlement in Northeastern Ohio, was born in Bethlehem, Hunterdon
County, New Jersey, February 13th, 1749. She was the sixteenth child
of her parents, and had still a younger sister. She was descended on
the maternal side from the Huguenots of France, and her ancestors
were persons of wealth and respectable rank, firmly attached to the
principles they professed, and willing to surrender all, and yield
themselves unto death, rather than give up their religious faith. They
removed to Germany after the revocation of the edict of Nantes; and
there is a family tradition that the grandmother of the subject of this
sketch, then a child, was brought from Paris concealed in a chest. She
married in Germany, and in an old age emigrated to America.
In 1771, Elizabeth was married to Alexander Harper, one of several
brothers who had settled in Harpersfield, Delaware County, New York.
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war, these brothers immediately
quitted their peaceful occupations to enter into the continental
service, Alexander receiving a commission to act as captain of a
company of rangers. The exposed situation of that portion of country,
and the frequent visits of Indians and tories, made it necessary for
the whig families to seek the protection of Fort Schoharie. Mrs.
Harper repaired thither with her family, including the aged parents
of her husband. In time of comparative security, she lived at the
distance of about a mile from the fort. Here, when there was a sudden
alarm, she would herself harness her horses to the wagon, and placing
in it her children and the old people, would drive with all speed to
the fort, remaining within its walls until the danger was over, and
then returning to her occupations on the farm. As peril became more
frequent or imminent, the old people were removed to a place of greater
security, while Mrs. Harper, with her four children and a lad they had
taken to bring up, remained at home. One night they were startled by
the sound of the alarm-gun. The mother took the youngest child in her
arms, another on her back, and bidding the two elder hold fast to her
clothes, set off to escape to the fort; the lad running closely behind
her, and calling to her in great terror not to leave him. The fugitives
reached the fort in safety, and for the present Mrs. Harper concluded
to take up her abode there. She would not, however, consent to live
in idleness, supported by the labor of others, but undertook, as her
special charge, the bread-baking for the whole garrison, which she
did for six months. During her stay the fort sustained a siege from a
party of tories and Indians, commanded by British officers. Messengers
were despatched to the nearest posts for relief; but while this was
slow in arriving, the commanding officer, in opposition to the wishes
of all his men, determined on a capitulation, and ordered a flag of
truce to be hoisted for that purpose. The announcement of his intention
created a disaffection which soon amounted almost to rebellion. The
women, among whom Mrs. Harper was a leading spirit, had on that day
been busily occupied from early dawn in making cartridges, preparing
ammunition, and serving rations to the wearied soldiers. They heartily
sympathized in the determination expressed not to surrender without
another effort to repel the besiegers.
One of the men declared his willingness to fire upon the flag which
had been ordered to be hoisted, provided the women would conceal him.
This they readily agreed to do, and as often as the flag was run up
it was fired at, while the commander was unable to discover the author
of this expression of contempt for his authority. The delay consequent
on this act of insubordination and the displeasure of the soldiers,
prevented the capitulation being carried into effect, till the arrival
of reinforcements caused the enemy to retreat.
In the spring of 1780, Capt. Harper availed himself of an interval in
active service, to look after his property in Harpersfield. While there
with several of his friends, they were surprised by a party of Indians
and tories under Brandt, and taken prisoners, an invalid brother-in-law
being killed. Harper and Brandt had been school-fellows in boyhood, and
the chief did not fail to show a remembrance of the days thus spent
together. The Indian captor of Harper treated him with great kindness,
taking him, however, to Canada. Here his exchange was effected soon
afterwards, but he was not released till peace was concluded; being
offered, meanwhile, large rewards by the British if he would enter into
service on their side. Mrs. Harper remained in ignorance of his fate
during the time of his absence, and supposing him killed, mourned for
him, while she did not suffer grief to paralyze her efforts for the
protection and support of her family. All her characteristic energy
was devoted to keeping them together, and doing what she could towards
improving their shattered fortunes.
In the year 1797, a company was formed in Harpersfield, to purchase
lands in the country then called “the far west.” Besides Alexander
and Joseph Harper, the company consisted of William McFarland, Aaron
Wheeler, and Roswell Hotchkiss; others joining afterwards. In June
of that year these individuals entered into a contract with Oliver
Phelps and Gideon Granger, members of the Connecticut Land Company,
for six townships of land in what was then called New Connecticut, in
the Northwestern Territory. Three of these townships were to lie east
and three west of the Cuyahoga river. The Connecticut Land Company
drew their lands in the same year, and the township now known as
Harpersfield in Ashtabula County, was one of those which fell to the
company formed at the town of that name in New York.
In September commissioners were sent out by them to explore the
country. They were much pleased with the locality called Harpersfield,
and selected it as the township most eligibly situated for the
commencement of a settlement. On the 7th of March, 1798, Alexander
Harper, William McFarland, and Ezra Gregory set out with their families
on their journey to this land of promise. As the winter’s snow was
upon the ground, they came in sleighs as far as Rome, where they found
further progress impracticable and were obliged to take up their
quarters until the 1st of May. They then made another start in boats,
and proceeded to Oswego, where they found a vessel which conveyed them
to Queenstown. Thence they pursued their journey on the Canada side to
Fort Erie, being obliged to take this circuitous route on account of
there being no roads west of Genesee River, nor any inhabitants, except
three families living at Buffalo, while a garrison was stationed at
Erie, in Pennsylvania. At Fort Erie they found a small vessel which
had been used for transporting military stores to the troops stationed
at the West, and which was then ready to proceed up the lake with her
usual lading of stores. This vessel was the only one owned on the
American side, and the voyagers lost no time in securing passage in
her for themselves and their families as far as the peninsula opposite
Erie. As the boat, however, was small and already heavily laden, they
were able to take with them but a slender stock of provisions. Having
landed on the peninsula the party was obliged to stop for a week until
they could procure boats in which to coast up the lake, at that time
bordered by the primeval forest. After having spent nearly four months
in performing a journey which now occupies but two or three days, they
landed on the 28th of June at the mouth of Cunningham’s Creek.
The cattle belonging to the pioneers had been sent through the
wilderness, meeting them at the peninsula, whence they came up along
the lake shore to the mouth of the stream. Here the men prepared sleds
to transport the goods they had brought with them; the whole party
encamping that night on the beach. The next morning, Col. Harper, who
was the oldest of the emigrants, and was then about fifty-five, set out
on foot, accompanied by the women, comprising Mrs. Harper and two of
her daughters, twelve and fourteen years of age, Mrs. Gregory and two
daughters, Mrs. McFarland the Colonel’s sister, and a girl whom she
had brought up, named Parthena Mingus. Their new home was about four
miles distant, and they followed up the boundary line of the township
from the lake, each carrying articles of provisions or table furniture.
Mrs. Harper carried a small copper tea-kettle, which she filled with
water on the way to the place of destination. Their course lay through
a forest unbroken except by the surveyor’s lines, and the men who
followed them were obliged to cut their way through for the passage
of the sleds. About three in the afternoon they came to the corner
of the township line, about half a mile north of the present site of
Unionville, Ohio, where they were glad to halt, as they saw indications
of a coming storm. The women busied themselves in striking a fire, and
putting the tea-kettle over, while Col. Harper cut some forked poles
and drove them in the ground, and then felled a large chestnut tree,
from which he stripped the bark, and helped the women to stretch it
across the poles so as to form a shelter, which they had just time to
gather under when the storm burst upon them. It was not, however, of
long continuance, and when the rest of the men arrived, they enlarged
and enclosed the lodge, in which the whole company, consisting of
twenty-five persons great and small, were obliged to take up their
quarters. Their tea-table was then constructed in the same primitive
fashion, and we may believe that the first meal was partaken of with
excellent appetite, after the wanderings and labors of the day.
The lodge thus prepared was the common dwelling for three weeks, during
which time some of the trees had been cut down, and a space cleared for
a garden. The fourth of July was celebrated in the new Harpersfield
by the planting of beans, corn and potatoes. The next thing was to
build log cabins for the accommodation of the different families, and
when this was done the company separated. The location chosen by Col.
Harper was where he first pitched his tent, while his brother-in-law
took a piece of land about half a mile east of Unionville, near the
spot now occupied by the Episcopal Church, and Mr. Gregory put up his
dwelling close to the river where Clyde Furnace was afterwards built.
The settlers suffered from the sickness peculiar to a new country when
the season came. A hired man in Harper’s service was taken ill in
August, and soon after the Colonel himself was seized with the fever,
of which he died on the tenth of September. They had been able to
procure no medical aid, and a coffin was made by digging out the trunk
of a tree and hewing a slab for the lid. This melancholy event was a
peculiar and distressing affliction to the little band of pioneers,
and its effect on them would have been paralysing, but that the
firmness and energy exhibited by the widow, who now found her exertions
necessary to sustain the rest, restored the confidence and hope which
had nearly been extinguished by the loss of their leader. Although the
principal sufferer by the dispensation, she would not for a moment
listen favorably to the proposition made to abandon the enterprise.
When an invitation came from friends in Pennsylvania for herself and
daughters to spend the winter, both she and her eldest daughter,
Elizabeth, declined, knowing how necessary was their presence to keep
up the spirits of the little community, and that their departure would
discourage many who had intended coming to join them in their forest
home. The magnanimity of this resolution can be appreciated only in
view of the hardships they knew it would be their lot to share.
In the fall, another small vessel was built for use on the American
side of the lake, and two pioneers, one of whom was James Harper, were
sent to Canada to procure provisions for the winter. They despatched
four barrels of flour by this vessel, and waited some weeks for the
other, the captain of which had agreed to bring provisions up the lake
for them. Disappointed in this expectation, and hearing nothing of the
vessel, they were compelled to return when the season was far advanced,
without supplies; finding on their way home the remains of the vessel,
which had been wrecked near Erie. They found also that the vessel
which had on board the flour they had purchased had been driven into
the basin, and was too fast locked in the ice to proceed. They were
obliged therefore to remain till the ice became so strong that the
flour could be removed in sleds. They at length arrived at home just in
time to bring relief from absolute want to the settlers, who had lived
six weeks without any kind of breadstuffs, substituting salt beef and
turnips, the supply of which was just exhausted. Some grain had been
raised at Elk Creek, in Pennsylvania, but there were no mills in that
neighborhood, and the wheat afterwards procured there was brought in
hand-sleds on the ice to Harpersfield. The records of the Historical
Society state that the two sons of Mrs. Harper frequently brought bags
of grain packed on their backs. It was ground in a hand-mill somewhat
larger than a coffee-mill, which the pioneers had brought with them.
By keeping this constantly in operation enough flour was obtained for
daily use, mingled, of course, with the bran from which they had no
means of separating it, but having a relish and sweetness which such
necessity only could impart to the coarsest food.
There were no deer in the country at that time, but large droves of
elk, the flesh of which resembled coarse beef, were frequently seen.
The flesh of the bears was much more oily, and really very palatable;
racoons also were abundant and easily obtained, and were much used by
the settlers, although in after years of plenty they lost all relish
for “coon meat.” Hickory nuts were also abundant that year, and were
found a valuable article of food when other provisions failed. It is
worthy of notice, that in the severest straits to which the settlers
were reduced, the utmost harmony and friendly feeling prevailed among
them, and whatever game or provisions chanced to be obtained by any one
family was freely shared with the other two.
Towards spring the men were again sent for a supply of wheat, but by
that time the ice was growing tender, and the weather tended towards
thawing, so that they were detained on the way much longer than they
had expected, and on their arrival at home found the families reduced
to the last extremity, having been without provisions for two days.
In this time of distress, the fortitude and energy of Mrs. Harper
aided in supporting the rest; she was fruitful in expedients, and for
the last few days they had lived on the wild leeks she had gathered
from the woods and boiled for them. Their troubles did not terminate
with the severity of the winter. As soon as the lake opened, the men
set out for Canada in boats to procure provisions, but found so much
ice as they went down that they were unable to reach Buffalo without
much detention. In the meantime new difficulties arose in the little
settlement. The mill, on which all depended, was broken beyond hope of
repair, and there appeared no way of grinding the wheat, which they
could not pound so that bread could be made of it, and which, when
prepared by boiling, proved unwholesome food. In this extremity some
relief was afforded by the arrival, at the mouth of Cunningham’s Creek,
of Eliphalet Austin, who came to make preparations for a settlement at
Austinburgh, and gave the pioneers what they needed for immediate use
from his supplies of provisions, thus preventing them from suffering
till the return of their messengers.
Howe gives an anecdote of Mrs. John Austin, showing some of the
troubles of the settlers. “Hearing, on one occasion, a bear among her
hogs, she determined to defeat his purpose. First hurrying her little
children up a ladder into her chamber, for safety, in case she was
overcome by the animal, she seized a rifle, and rushing to the spot saw
the bear only a few rods distant, carrying off a hog into the woods,
while the prisoner sent forth deafening squeals, accompanied by the
rest of the sty in full chorus. Nothing daunted, she rushed forward to
the scene with her rifle ready cocked, on which the monster let go his
prize, raised himself upon his haunches and faced her. Dropping upon
her knees to obtain a steady aim, and resting her rifle on the fence,
within six feet of the bear, the intrepid female pulled the trigger.
Perhaps fortunately _for her_, the rifle missed fire. Again and again
she snapped her piece, but with the same result. The bear, after
keeping his position some time, dropped down on all fours, and leaving
the hog behind, retreated to the forest and resigned the field to the
woman.”
About this time an accident not uncommon in this forest life occurred
to Mrs. Harper. She went out one morning to find the cows, which had
strayed away, but not having yet learned to tell the north side of a
tree by the difference in the bark--a species of wood-craft with which
she afterwards became familiar--she lost herself, and wandered all day
along the banks of a stream that ran through the depths of the forest.
Her family, of course, became alarmed at her lengthened absence and
blew the horn repeatedly; but it was not until the shades of night
had fallen that she heard the signal, when she managed to light upon
the township line, and followed it to the clearing. In the summer
following, her sons were obliged to watch closely the hogs they had
brought from Canada, on account of the bears, which were very numerous
and destructive to stock. The men being occupied in clearing and
working the land, or procuring provisions, various out-door employments
were cheerfully assumed by the women. One evening Mrs. Harper, with
her eldest daughter, went out to look up the hogs, taking the path
leading to the nearest neighbor’s house. Presently they were startled
by seeing a small bear’s cub cross the path just in advance of them;
it was followed by another, and the old bear composedly brought up the
rear, taking no notice of the females, who made their way home with all
speed. The pigs came to their quarters directly unharmed. So frequent
were encounters with wild beasts, that the men never went beyond the
clearing without fire-arms.
In July, 1799, Major Joseph Harper, the Colonel’s brother, joined the
colony with his family, while a relative of the same name, with some
other families, made a settlement at Conneaut, “the Plymouth of the
Western Reserve,” some thirty miles down the lake. This year wheat,
corn, etc., were raised sufficient for the consumption; but there was
a scarcity of meat, the severity of the preceding winter having killed
several of their cattle, and many of the hogs being devoured by the
bears. The settlers were under the necessity, therefore, of depending
on wild game, and the ease with which they secured it in traps, or
by the unerring aim of their rifles, with their iron strength for the
endurance of fatigue in ranging the forest, might well entitle them
to be called “mighty hunters.” But they were heavily laden with daily
cares and laborious duties, which even the pleasures of the chase could
not induce them to neglect; the clearing of the land and the culture
of grain and vegetables demanded incessant attention, and the grinding
of the grain was a matter requiring the exercise of some ingenuity.
Corn they soon contrived to pound in mortars scooped in the top of oak
stumps, with a pounder attached to a spring-pole; but they were obliged
to send their wheat in boats down the lake as far as Walnut Creek,
in Pennsylvania, where a mill was erected this year. The families of
the new emigrants suffered considerably in the latter part of the
summer from sickness, and Mrs. Harper went down to the settlement at
Conneaut to offer assistance in attending to them. She remained some
weeks occupied in her ministrations of kindness, and was not ready
to return home till the last of November. Travelling in open boats
and on horseback were the only modes practicable among the pioneers;
the season was too far advanced for the first, and accompanied by her
relative, James Harper, our benevolent heroine started on her homeward
journey, the only road being along the lake shore. Fording the streams
at their mouth, they had ridden some fifteen miles when they came to
the mouth of Ashtabula Creek, across which a sand-bar had formed during
the summer, but had now given way to the increased force of the waters
flowing into the lake. Harper was not aware of the depth of the stream,
into which he rode without hesitation, and presently found his horse
swimming. He called out to warn his companion, but she was too anxious
to reach home to heed his remonstrance, and followed him fearlessly.
Both reached the other side with some difficulty, Mrs. Harper wet to
the shoulders, and in this condition she rode the remainder of the way,
arriving at home before midnight.
During the fall there were some accessions to the colony; Judge
Wheeler, who had married a daughter of Col. Harper, came in October
with his family, and Harper’s eldest son, who had been out the year
before and returned. For a year and a half after the settlement was
commenced, they were not visited by Indians, though they frequently
heard their dogs, and learned afterwards that they had not escaped the
observation of their savage neighbors, who had counted them and noticed
all their occupations and new arrivals. The winter of 1799-1800 was
remarkable for the depth of snow upon the ground. In consequence of
this, game could not be procured, and the Indians suffered severely.
Some thirty of them, unable to procure anything to satisfy the cravings
of hunger, came to the settlement to ask relief, and were treated with
the most generous hospitality. They remained six weeks, sheltered and
fed by the colonists, and when the snow was melted they found plenty of
game in the forest, which they showed their gratitude by sharing with
their white friends.