Morrison's Pensions


Pension Application for Alexander Harper

R.4626
Widow: Elizabeth
[The deposition has too much bleed through from the back and can’t be transcribed.  The letter of inquiry is the only part I can read.]
Date:  April 2, 1936
            The data which follow are obtained from the papers on file in Revolutionary War pension claim, R.4626, based upon the military service in that was of Alexander Harper.
            The data and place of birth and the names of the parents of Alexander Harper are not shown.
            Alexander Harper married July 30, 1771, Elizabeth.  The date and place of her birth, the names of her parents and the place where her marriage to Alexander Harper took place are not shown.
            While residing in Harpersfield, New York, Alexander Harper entered the service, date not given, and served as captain of a company of rangers, engaged in protecting the inhabitants from the Indians and Tories.  In July, 1778, the people of Harpersfield where compelled to flee from their homes and take refuge in the fort at Schoharie and the family of Captain Alexander Harper were among the number who made their way to the fort.  In April, 1780, Captain Alexander Harper was captured at Harpersfield, New York, by a party of Indians and Tories under the command of Captain Brandt, was carried to Canada where he was held in captivity until the year 1782, when he was released and reached his home on November 27, of that year.  At least one year of the time he spent in prison, he was in irons.  While Captain Harper was in Canada in confinement, his wife, Elizabeth, and their children lived in the fort at Schoharie, and were there when an attack was made on the fort by a party of Indians and Tories under Colonel [Captain] Butler and Captain Joseph Brandt, at which time Elizabeth Harper and the other women at the fort made cartridges for the soldiers.  It was stated, also, that Elizabeth baked the bread for the fort.  It is not shown that Alexander Harper ever served as a colonel.
            Sometime in 1798, Alexander Harper moved his family from Harpersfield, New York, to the state of Ohio, in which state he died September 10, of that year.  His widow, Elizabeth, died June 11, 1833, in the eighty-fourth year of her age.
            The names of the following children are shown:
            Margaret Harper. . . . Born June 1, 1772, married ____ Wheeler.
            Elizabeth Harper . . . . date of birth not given, married _____Teppin.
            Robert Harper . . . . . . date of birth not given.
            The places of residence of Elizabeth Teppin and Robert Harper are not stated.
            On May 3, 1851, Margaret Wheeler, then a resident of Lake County, Ohio, Applied, in behalf of herself, and the brother and sister named above, for the pension that might have been due on account of the services of her father, Alexander Harper, in the Revolutionary War.
            The claim was not allowed as there was then no provision of law under which the children of soldiers of the Revolutionary War were entitled to pension.
            In 1851, one Charles Wheeler made affidavit in Ashtabula County, Ohio; no relationship to Margaret Wheeler was shown.

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