Notes:

John Wood Harpham was born in Sterling (505 W. 3rd St.) on 14 March 1919. His family moved to Park Ridge, IL, when he was two. He attended Central School and Lincoln Jr. High School in Park Ridge before graduating from Maine Township High School in 1937. He attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1941. Enlisting immediately after Pearl Harbor, he served in the U. S. Navy for three and a half years as a supply officer, achieving the rank of Lieutenant j.g. He was stationed in England and Scotland, and went into France at D-Day plus 2. On his return, he became the editor of The School Musician, and worked for a number of advertising agencies in Chicago before starting Proebsting, August, and Harpham in 1958. In 1965, he started The Harpham Company, with offices at 333 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, where he worked until his death in 1981. (source: Geoffrey Galt Harpham)

John married Mardel Marie JERRICK in 1941 in Seattle, King, Washington. Mardel (daughter of Frank Thomas JERRICK and Marie Antoinette BRUSEK) was born on 15 Sep 1919 in Berwyn, Cook, Illinois; died on 20 Oct 2006 in Park Ridge, Cook, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. John Elliot HARPHAM was born on 11 Mar 1943; died on 11 Sep 1970 in Park Ridge, Cook, Illinois.
2. Geoffrey Galt HARPHAM was born on 30 Dec 1946.
3. Joan Marie HARPHAM was born on 13 Mar 1952.
4. Janet Gerard HARPHAM was born on 22 Jul 1955.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1900, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois

Notes:

He attended Northwestern University, graduating in 1895. At some point, he moved to Clinton, IA. He married Josephine Elliott in Sterling (b. 1883, d. 1936); uncertain about date of marriage. They lived in Clinton for awhile, then moved to Oregon (Portland, Eugene, Roseburg), where they lived until 1917 before returning to Sterling (1917-1921).

John married Josephine Ruth ELLIOTT. Josephine was born on 31 May 1882 in Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois; died on 19 Nov 1936 in Evanston, Cook, Illinois; was buried in Riverside Cemetery, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Josephine was raised in Sterling and graduated from the Township High School in 1901, and from the University of Illinois in 1905. She died by her own hand in 1936.

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1850, DeWitt, Onondaga, New York
• Census: 1855, Syracuse, Onondaga, New York
• Census: 1870, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois
• Census: 1900, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois
• Census: 1910, Sterling, Whiteside, Illinois

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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 1850, DeWitt, Onondaga, New York
• Census: 1855, Syracuse, Onondaga, New York
• Census: 1860, Clay, Onondaga, New York

John married Margaret REID on 6 Dec 1823 in New Scotland, Albany, New York. Margaret was born about 1803; died on 11 Dec 1838 in Onondaga, New York; was buried in Collamer Cemetery, DeWitt, Onondaga, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]