More on Harpersville

There appears to be some confusion about who Harpersville was named for. Some sources attribute that to John Hayden Harper, but others claim the distinction is tipped to his brother, James Riley Harper, known as Uncle Riley. Uncle Riley Harper was a known rancher in the Harpersville area and was recorded as fighting in the Mexican War. Pension vouchers paid to him verify that fact. Also, he would visit grandfather Compton every three months to get his voucher notarized. Compton was also one of the early settlers at Harpersville and the Battle Creek and Sandy Creek areas.

It is quite reasonable that Harpersiville was named after the collective Harper family and not one individual member of the family.

The farm of Joe Diltz, one of the early settlers of Harpersville, owned land on the south side of the mile-long main street of town. He donated land for the school and a tabernacle. His daughter Luella, married Mr. Pierce Tucker, who had built the cotton gin in Harpersville. His son Milton, married Uncle William Harper’s daughter, Willie.

Mr. Bob Johnson owned an unusually round-shaped violin that was said to have a beautiful sound. Some said the instrument was more suited to an orchestra. He often played it at community socials. Johnson was the son-in-law of Mr. Greer Sawyer, who was one of the teachers at the Harpersvill School. Sawyer lived on a farm across Sandy Creek and a mile southeast of the Concord School. Johnson’s son, Joe, owned a farm at the top of the hill from Mr. Sawyer, which was a mile south of the Concord School.

A young Fritz Kline, who was from Germany, arrived in Harpersville with his family in 1877, when there was a large influx of settlers to the county. At age eight, he learned English living in the Union Hill community. His parents built a house there and helped build the Primitive Baptist Church, with Rev. Sawyer. In addition to Fritz, the boys included George, Lonnie, Bay, Willie and Edward and sisters Lillie and Roxie. Lillie married into another historic family of Harpersville, George Miles Beene.

An annual event for the Harpersville community was the Fourth of July celebration, which included a picnic on Sandy Creek. M.H. Keith made the lemonade and barbecued a goat, donated by Mr. Dwiggins. Very few ever missed this community event.

The cotton gin built and owned by Mr. Pierce, in Harpersville, was later sold to Mr. John Lauderdale. Lauderdale hired Minor Harper, the oldest son of John H. Harper, to work at the gin after school and help run the steam packer and tie up the cotton bales. During the off-season from school, Minor would sharpen the gin claws. Ace McClure was responsible for firing up the boiler to operate the steam press and cotton gin.

There were three doctors in Harpersville, which included Dr. Beam, Dr. Robertson and Dr. Buchanan. A story told by Dr. Beam is worth retelling. A rider came to his house late one night and blind-folded the doctor. He said they rode about an hour and when the blindfold was removed, he recognized the area as ‘the Gap,’ which was between the twin peaks of Double Mountain. It turned out to be the camp of the James brothers, notorious outlaws during that era. Dr. Beam was not sure who he treated that night for a gunshot wound but later word came out that the James brothers had killed a man in a bank robbery and was said to bury him at ‘the Gap.’ Many looked for the grave and any possible money the James brothers may have also buried in that location. Much later, W.D. Tucker said, “he had found the grave in question, but found no money.”

Dr. Robertson lived on the Ed Spineer farm. His youngest daughter, Clyde, caused quite a stir when she eloped with Walter Lambert.

The oldest grave in the Harpersville Cemetery is that of Philip Fromeberger, who died in 1882. The following year, a second burial was that of Sarah E. Wade, who died in January of 1883, while her family was traveling through the prairie area below the Double Mts., in a wagon train. Unlike the woman buried near Necessity and is the ‘grave in the middle of the road,’ this family had a town to go to and a cemetery there to bury their daughter at the Harpersville Cemetery.

When the earliest settlers arrived in the prairie below Double Mountain, the prairie grass was said to be ‘stirrup high’ on the horses. The only trees in the area were along the river beds and on the heavily forest Double Mountain. Harper planted numerous trees in the Harpersville Cemetery to provide shade for visitors to the cemetery. There were no Mesquite trees in Stephens County at that time and many have asked how the Mesquite trees became so plentiful in the county?

The mystery is solved. It turns out that when the railroad was extended into Stephens County, the railroad workers brought mules to lay the tracks. The workers fed the mules Mesquite beans and Johnson grass and both took root in the soil.

One of the children of John H. Harper and second wife Sarah Catherine, Ona Harper, lived to be 99 and only died in 2006. She was still living when the Historical Marker was placed at the Harpersville Cemetery in 2000 by her aunts, Mary Ellen Harper and Foncille (Harper) McBride. Ona had also contributed to getting the marker placed thereby adding much of the historical information required for the marker. Her daughter, Jeanne Terrell Gitchell, said, “her mother was very mentally sharp and kept very accurate genealogical records and contributed valuable information to get the marker.” At the time, Ona Harper was age 93. Her records also helped clarify some names that were erroneously recorded in Stephens County records, which need to be corrected based on the very accurate record-keeping of Ona Harper. Mr. Elliott bought the

Sullig? or Pullig? farm, which was located three miles west of the General Store of Harpersville. His son, Ross Elliott, went on to have a distinguished career as a lawyer in Breckenridge. A replica of his law offices can be viewed on the second floor of the Swenson Memorial Museum, which is in the original First National Bank building, in the first block of West Walker St.

I may have a bit more on Harpersville, but plan to move on with more pioneer settlers to Stephens County. If you have additional information, contact Jean Hayworth at office@breckenridgeamerican.com.