Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1870, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois
• Census: 1900, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois
• Census: 1910, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois

Notes:

JOHN HARPHAM   John Harpham, dealer in harness and saddlery hardware, Third Street, Sterling, was born in Madison, N. Y., Oct. 27, 1828, being the seventh in a family of ten children, – four sons and six daughters. His parents were Septibah and Jane (McAlpine) Harpham, natives respectively of England and Scotland. The senior Harpham was a farmer by occupation, and died Jan. 11, 1840: the widow survived until 1863.
 John was reared on the farm and in the common school until 19 years of age, when he left home and went to Chenango Forks to learn the harness trade, remaining a year and a half. He then engaged in the same business for himself at Bridgeport, N. Y., for one and a half years. Then he sold out and for about three years attended the Fulton and Cazenovia Seminaries, a portion of this time teaching school. Then he married and settled in Fayetteville, Onondaga Co., N. Y., where he followed his trade a year and a half. Selling out, he came to Sterling, since which time he has been successfully engaged in the business stated at the beginning of this sketch, both wholesale and retail. In this line he is the leading man in Sterling.
 Mr. Harpham is a Republican and a Christian gentleman, belonging to the Congregational Church at Sterling. He was married May 22, 1853, to Nancy Terwilliger, a native of Onondaga Co., N. Y., and they have three children, Bertha A., Fanny E. and John L. Mrs. H. is also a member of the Congregational Church. (Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Chapman Brothers Publishing, Chicago, 1885., Page 295).

 He was in the harness business in Bridgeport, but sold out to attend the Fulton and Cazenova Seminaries. After three years of study, he engaged in business in Fayetteville, NY for a year before moving to Rockford, IL, and then, via stagecoach, to Sterling in 1855. There he became a merchant in harnesses, saddlery, etc. His brother, Henry C., may have owned this business with him. All four of Henry C.’s sons worked in the business until 1884, when they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, to form their own saddlery business, The Harpham Brothers Company, which continued to operate there at least until the 1930s.
 John M. C. built the John Harpham building, which graced downtown Sterling until the 1990s, when it was torn down. He and Nancy lived at 511 1st Street in Sterling. (Source: Geoffrey Galt Harpham, December 2, 2003).

John married Nancy TERWILLIGER on 23 May 1853. Nancy (daughter of John Simon TERWILLIGER and Margaret REID) was born on 13 Apr 1830 in New Scotland, Albany, New York; died on 2 Jan 1915. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Mary HARPHAM was born about 1857 in Illinois; died on 5 Nov 1870; was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois.
2. Bertha Ann HARPHAM was born on 10 May 1863 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois; died on 27 Oct 1935 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois; was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois.
3. Fannie E. HARPHAM was born on 21 Nov 1869 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois; died about 1960 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois.
4. John LeRoy HARPHAM was born on 2 Dec 1874 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois; died on 30 Jan 1963.

Septibah married Jane McALPINE. Jane was born in 1796 in New York; died in 1863; was buried in New Bridgeport Cemetery, Onondaga, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]