Cheatham County TN Archives Biographies.....Harper, Samuel L. 1865 - 
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Author: Will T. Hale

   SAMUEL L. HARPER. The present clerk of the Cheatham county court is Samuel L.
Harper, one of the alert, resourceful and worthy native sons of Tennessee who
before he assumed official duties gave ample evidence of an agriculturist and
business man that he knew the secrets of success. The same efficiency has marked
his services in different official capacities. Mr. Harper was born June 29,
1865, in Cheatham county in the same house in which his grandmother, Elizabeth
Williams Harper, was born in 1820, and both by paternal and maternal descent he
represents families that were established in Tennessee early in the last
century. His parents, Christopher A. and Louisa (McCormack) Harper, were both
born in Cheatham county, Tennessee, the former on March 7, 1845, and the latter
on January 16, 1842. Christopher A. Harper is a farmer by occupation and has
been quite successful in a business way. Politically he is a Democrat and has
served twelve years as a justice of the peace in Cheatham county. Both he and
his wife are members of the Christian church. His parents were John H. and
Elizabeth (Williams) Harper, the former of whom was horn in Halifax county,
North Carolina, January 16, 1806, while the latter, as previously mentioned, was
born in Cheatham county, Tennessee, in 1820. John H. Harper came from North
Carolina to Tennessee in 1827 with an ox team and settled in Cheatham county,
where the remainder of his life was spent as a shoemaker and farmer. He became a
man of substance and was the owner of a large farm. Joseph McCormack, the
maternal grandfather of our subject was born in Buckingham county, Virginia,
December 6, 1812, and came to Tennessee as a young man, settling on a farm in
this section of the state and continuing his residence thereon until his death.
His wife was Susan Darr as a maiden and was born in Germany, January 4, 1809.

   Samuel L. Harper is the eldest of a family of nine children and is one of
seven now living. He was reared a farmer boy and received his education in the
common schools of Cheatham county and at the Pleasant View high school. Taking
up farming as his own occupation he began with practically nothing in the way of
capital, but he applied brains as well as brawn to his endeavors and today is
the owner of two good farms and is also a stockholder in the Cheatham County
Bank at Ashland City. He continued to be actively engaged in agriculture until
1896, when he was elected constable. After six years' service in that capacity
he was elected sheriff of Cheatham county and served in that office six years.
By appointment he then took up the duties of fire marshal for the state of
Tennessee, serving two years. He was then elected clerk of the Cheatham county
court in 1910 and is now filling that office.

   On November 12, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Harper and Miss Mary
J. Sadler, daughter of Sanford and Rebecca (Henson) Sadler, natives of Virginia
and Kentucky who moved into Tennessee and resided in this state until their
deaths. Mr. Sadler was a farmer by occupation and was a Confederate veteran of
the Civil war. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Harper have been born four children,
viz.: Wiley V. Harper, who is now traveling for The American Tobacco Co.; Cora
C., who married C. F. Felts and resides in Ashland City; and Varna A. and
Vinson, both of whom are attending school. Mrs. Harper is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, South. Mr. Harper is affiliated fraternally with the
Masonic order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias,
and has "passed the chairs" in the local lodge of each of these orders. In
political views and allegiance he is a Democrat. Since he left the farm Mr.
Harper and his family have resided in Ashland City.


Additional Comments:
From:

A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in
commerce, industry and modern activities
by Will T. Hale
Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913


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