James Clarence Harper was born in Pennsylvania and moved with his family to Patterson, Caldwell County, N.C., in 1840, where he engaged in farming, merchandising, the manufacture of cotton and woolen goods, stock raising, and teaching. He served as civil engineer, surveyor, and justice of the peace. He was a colonel in the state militia; member of the North Carolina legislature, 1865-1866; and U.S. representative, 1871-1873; and sat on the North Carolina Commission of Claims.
He was active in road building projects and the Methodist Church and served on the building committee of Davenport Female College, Lenoir, N.C., and as president and building commission member for the Western North Carolina Insane Asylum in Morganton. Harper married Louisa C. McDowell in 1843; the couple had two children: John W. (1847-1865), a Confederate officer who was killed at Kinston, and Emma Sophia (1844-1922), who married Clinton A. Cilley, lawyer and judge of Lenoir and Hickory, N.C.
From the description of James Clarence Harper papers, 1840-1890 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 34075004
