Russell W. Harper

As printed in 1914

RUSSELL W. HARPER.

Russell W. Harper is a member of the Harper & Mclntire Company, controlling an extensive hardware trade. He was born in Ottumwa, November 4, 1877, and is a son of the Hon. Samuel H. and Cornelia (Russell) Harper. The father was born near Zanesville, Ohio, April 23, 1843, '""- was a little lad of but ten summers when brought to Wapello county by his parents, who took up their above on a farm about a mile and a quarter north of the present city limits of Ottumwa. There Samuel H. Harper was reared to agricultural pursuits, remaining upon the farm until 1862, when he could no longer content himself to follow the plow, for the country was involved in civil war and he felt that his first duty was to the Union. Accordingly, he offered his services to the government, becoming a private of Company B, Thirty-sixth Regiment of Iowa Infantry. In June, 1863, he received a commission from the secretary of war, making him a second lieutenant in the Forty-sixth Regiment of United States Colored Infantry. He was afterward advanced to the rank of first lieutenant and later to the rank of captain and was honorably discharged in February, 1866, thus closing a service that covered three years and seven months.

The following year Samuel H. Harper became actively connected with the hardware trade, in which line of business he continued until his death. He entered the firm of Henry & Haw, of Ottumwa, with whom he remained until 1869, when he established business on his own account as junior partner in the firm of Egan & Harper. A disastrous fire overtook them in 1873, destroying building and stock, but in the same year they purchased the hardware stock of Daggett & Edgerly, after which the business was continued under the firm style of Egan, Harper & Company, Mr. Edgerly remaining with the new firm. However, in 1875 he sold his interest to E. A. Chambers and in 1876 the firm embarked in the wholesale business by sending two men upon the road to represent their house to the trade. In 1881, when Mr. Egan disposed of his interest, R. C. Wilson and Frank Mclntire entered the firm under the firm name of Harper, Chambers & Company. In 1881 fire again brought disaster to the house, destroying their building and largely damaging their stock. In 1885 Mr. Wilson retired from the firm and in 1892 Mr. Chambers withdrew, at which time the business was reorganized under the name of the Harper & Mclntire Company and has so continued. In 1893 f'""* large four-story building now occupied by the company was erected and the business year by year has continually increased until it has reached extensive proportions.

Samuel H. Harper continued in active connection therewith until his death, and he was also president of the South Ottumwa

Savings Bank, a director of the Iowa National Bank and of the Iowa Savings Bank and also vice president of the Phoenix Trust Company, while of the Chillicothe Savings Bank he was a director. He was widely recognized as a man of sound business judgment, of close application and of unfaltering energy. He never made engagements that he did not keep nor incurred obligations which he did not meet, and he enjoyed to the fullest extent the respect, confidence and honor of colleagues and con-, temporaries. His position in business circles is indicated in the fact that he was elected to the presidency of the Mississippi and Missouri Valley Hardware Association. He took an active part in politics and was serving as mayor of the city at the time of his death. He was also for five terms a member of the state senate and aided in holding the legislative history of the state. He indorsed and supported many important bills which eventually became laws, and he left the impress of his individuality for good upon the development and progress of the commonwealth. He likewise indorsed all those measures and movements which are a matter of civic virtue and civic pride. He served on the board of education and was a member of the board of directors of the Ottumwa Library. He was one of the directors of the Open Door Mission and was an elder in the First Presbyterian church. He was likewise on the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Association and did all in his power to advance the moral progress as well as the material development of the community. His social nature found expression in his membership in the Wapello and Country Clubs, and his fraternal spirit was manifest in his membership in the Masonic lodge and in the Grand Army of the Republic, of which he was state commander for the years 1905 and 1906. He was also commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, department of Iowa, in 1906-7. He died December 17, 191 1, and in his demise Wapello county lost one of its most worthy and valued citizens, for his efforts were an element in public progress along many lines.

His son Russell W. Harper has spent his entire life in Ottumwa and is indebted to the public-school system for the educational privileges he enjoyed. After putting aside his text-books he entered the employ of the Harper & Mclntire Company, accepting a clerical position and later going upon the road as a traveling salesman. Some time later he returned to the office, with which he has since been connected, and upon the incorpora-

9-t HISTORY OF WAPELLO COUNTY tion of the firm in February, 1913, he was elected treasurer. Practically his entire time is devoted to the development of the hardware business, which is conducted along both wholesale and retail lines, its ramifying trade interests reaching out over a wide territory. He is also a director of the Iowa Savings Bank and the Agency Savings Bank and is financially interested in a number of other business enterprises of Ottumwa. He possesses the typical progressive spirit of the age and individual merit and worth have brought him to his present connection.

In June, 1908, Mr. Harper was united in marriage to Miss Edna Burroughs, of Marshalltown, Iowa. They belong to the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Harper is a member of the Wapello Club. His political allegiance was given the Republican party until 191 2, since which time he has been identified with the Progressive party. The change in his political affiliation was characteristic of the man. He has always taken an advanced step when the way seemed favorable, and when he has felt that the times demanded it. He has never been content to remain in a grove marked out by others, and his initiative spirit and laudable ambition promise well for further success in the future.

As printed in History of Wapello County, Iowa (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.