Miscellaneous, Robert Harpur of Harpursville

Robert Harpur of Harpursville

from the Rural New Yorker

Bainbridge News & Republican, Feb. 16, 1933

 

Robert Harpur is a name that does not figure largely in new York state history for the most part.  He was not a military character, as were the Harpers of Harpersfield, in what is now Delaware county.  Note the difference in spelling the names.  It is not until you go quite deeply into the state records that you find the real Robert Harpur, of the Revolution and after.  He deserves a much larger place in state history than has been accorded him. 

 

Harpur settled at what is now Harpursville, Broome county, in 1795.  The frame house that he erected there and in which he lived for many years is still standing, although considerably altered.  About eight years earlier he had purchased from the state a tract of land embracing the whole of the old town of Warren, Montgomery county.  That tract or that town extended form what is now the north bounds of Broome county on its eastern one-third, perhaps, down quite well towards the Pennsylvania line, and from a line that approximates the course of the Susquehanna River, sometimes on one side of it and then the other, across to the east bounds of the country.  This tract that was purchased by Mr. Harpur and others (others is understood to mean something to keep the letter of the law relative to the state selling large tracts to any one person) was, according to state records, 61,440 acres.  Quite a respectable sized farm we would think. 

 

However, we find that a year or two previous to this purchase he had procured 16,000 acres embracing what is now the eastern portion of the town of Coventry, in Chenango county, but was then the northwestern part of the town of Clinton, Montgomery county.  The original charter for this tract is still in existence, and is carefully kept by one of the descendants of the somewhat renowned Robert Harpur.  There is more to the land story, however, for at a still earlier date Mr. Harpur had obtained a large tract around the head of Lake George, which he named Harpursville and for which  he secured a number of settlers from Ireland with the intention of establishing the flax industry in this country. this vention was not continued, the settlers became dissatisfied, Harpur paid them back their money and they left.  There have been found no records to show what became of Harpur's claim to the land.  At one time still earlier Robert Harpur negotiated for 60,000 acres of land in the Connecticut Valley in the state of New Hampshire, but nothing is known as to the result, and there are no known records of any transfer.

 

But Robert Harpur was more than a land-grabber and speculator.  He was a scholar, educator and statesman.  His birthplace was Ireland, but his parents were Scotch.  He was educated for the ministry, a Scotch Presbyterian, in the University of Glasgow.  Fearing, as he said, that he lacked the fluency of speech for the ministry, he decided to try teaching, and taught for a time in Ireland.  In 1761, at the age of 28, he came to America, landing at New York, and immediately sought and obtained employment in Kings College, then becoming an important factor in advanced education in America. He remained as professor until the Revolution broke and the college closed.  Of the 15 professors of the college at that time, Harpur was the only one to side with the colonists, the others being pro-British.  When the college opened after the war it became Columbia, the beginning of Columbia University.

 

Harpur's work was not done yet; in fact, it may almost be said that it just then had its beginning.  Conventions were called and Harpur represented New York city and southern New York.  The Convention of 1776 made preparation for the Constitutional Convention of 1777 at Kingston, when the first constitution was formulated and accepted, Harpur having a considerable share in the work.  As the war advanced there were commissions and committees, many of which had Harpur's name in the list.  Committees of safety were of special importance, and there was one committee, on which Harpur figured, that had to call those of doubtful patriotism and examine them.  There are numbers of reports to be found where some unfortunate suspect had been offered the oath of allegiance and refused it, and was recommended to the governor to be transferred, within the enemy's lines unless it might be desired to use him in an exchange of prisoners.

 

It would be interesting to go much further into details of Harpur's activities during the war and for some time after, for he was a very busy an in the affairs of New York state.  From 1780 to 1795 he was deputy secretary of state and active secretary.  He was secretary to the land board and did the work of what was then an important branch of the state activities.  He was the first secretary of the Board of Regents.  It looks as though, by reading the records of those days, that he may have been secretary of most branches and was depended upon to see that things were done as directed.  To go into all these lines would make a story too long, for there are other matters to which our attention is needed.

 

Apparently, with little intermission in work, he suddenly left state work and the association of the ablest men of the time, and started overland by way of Catskill, across to the Susquehanna River and down to his land holdings in the then Tioga county, now Broome, for Broome is one of the several counties carved from old Tioga, which came into existence in 1791.  By his orders roads had been opened to some extent, a sawmill and a grist mill erected and some building done.  One wonders if the mills may have been on Belden Brook.  In this tract he seems to have sold land in relatively small tracts to actual settlers.  His account book with these settlers is in existence and shows neatness and system, and we may add, a consideration for the under-financed buyer of the farm.  He lived here in Harpursville, still a small, cozy, neighborly little village for 30 years, died at the age of 94, full of years, and with kindly memories and honors and was buried somewhat back of the house not far from the river bank.  Rather recently that grave has been moved to the beautiful little Harpursville cemetery, and the old-time little monument reconstructed and placed beside it near the front of the yard.

 

The land in the Harpur tract is varied, some of it upland and considerable along the river and on the flats.  A part is land hard to beat in the state and farms are nicely kept up, even in this depression.  It is doubtful if this tract included that old Indian village of Ouaquaga, but it must have had some of that river flat nearby.  It is said that the present Gracemore Stock Farms are within the limits.  Frank Rose, who lives on the road to Deposit from Windsor, is probably within the tract and possibly W.W. McNair, near old Tuscarora.  Further north Ernest Poole has a little land that seems to be included, but his farm buildings are a little to the north.  M.B. Williams, on the old Yale Farm, tells me that his farm is within the Harpur tract.  I have not positively verified these, although I have looked out some of them on a county map.  I was sorry not prove that Ouaquaga, of early Indian fame, could qualify for admission.  The village of Harpursville and the land on which Harpur lived is well to the northwest corner of the tract.  There seems some reason to believe that Harpur sold some large tracts here as he did in the 16,000 acre tract farther north, and possibly some of this may have been pretty large areas.

 

So far as I know there is only one male descendant of Robert Harpur living in the vicinity of Harpursville and that is R. Charles Harpur (Robert Charles), the postmaster of the place. He gave me some of the facts here stated, but there is another descendant, Mrs. Ralsa Johnston, of Binghamton, who has taken a good deal of pains to collect material relative to the family which has aided materially.  Also certain state papers have been published affording quite complete information of activities during the Revolution. R. Charles Harpur has a daughter now in high school, who carried the name Roberta, and she is considering a course in Columbia University, as would seem to be fitting.