John Arunah Harper, a faithful citizen and veteran banker for thirty eight years associated with the Bank of Pittsburgh National Association, the oldest financial institution west of the Allegheny Mountains, John Arunah Harper was born on Penn Street near old Marbury, Pittsburgh, June 29, 1839, son of John Harper and Lydia Electa Metcalf Harper. John Harper, son of Hugh Harper, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, December 5, 1811, and following the father's death in 1821, the mother and children came to America, settling in Washington, DC. In 1826 the family moved to Jefferson County, Ohio, and one of the sons, Lecky Harper, became a United States Senator from Ohio. Among John Harper's intimate boyhood friends was Edwin M Stanton who became President Lincoln's famous Secretary of War. John Harper became an expert bookkeeper and in 1831 accepted a position with one of the large mercantile houses of Pittsburgh, a year later being elected to a position in the Bank of Pittsburgh. Within the following year he was promoted to chief clerkship and his subsequent long career was a succession of advances to posts of increasing responsibility, culminating in his election to the presidency. He assumed the duties of this office in 1866 and remained at the head of this institution until his death in 1891. Not only did he guide the Bank of Pittsburgh in paths of prosperity, usefulness and honor throughout a quarter of a century of his presidency but as one of the organizers and the first president of the Pittsburgh Clearing House, he rendered a valuable service to the cause of financial and commercial stability in the district. As a financier he was without a superior, his excellent judgment having its source in comprehensive knowledge of economic and banking laws, and strengthened by intimate touch with all phases of the industrial and business life of the community. He was president of the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Suspension Bridge Company, director of the Monongahela Navigation Company, and a corporator of Allegheny Cemetery. For several years he was trustee of West Penn Hospital, a trustee of the Western University of Pennsylvania for many years, and a commissioner of the Sinking Fund of Allegheny County. His home life was of rare beauty and in his home he had gathered one of the finest libraries in Western Pennsylvania. He was endowed with a marvelous memory and his mind was a veritable storehouse of the contents of the volumes of his library. John Harper married in June, 1836, Lydia Electa Metcalf of Otsego, New York, daughter of Nathan Metcalf, granddaughter of Arunah Metcalf, and a direct descendant of Michael Metcalf who came to New England from his English home in 1637. Arunah Metcalf was for many years sheriff of Otsego county, New York; served in the New York Legislature and the National Congress, and was a neighbor and friend of James Fenimore Cooper. Arunah Metcalf married Eunice Williams, a direct descendant of William Williams, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and they lived to celebrate their Golden Anniversary. John Arunah Harper, son of John Harper and Lydia Electa Metcalf Harper, was educated in the Griff and McDonald Academy of Pittsburgh, the Western University of Pennsylvania, and Kenyon College of Gambier, Ohio, being graduated from the last named institution in the class of 1860. In the same year he attained his majority and he entered the Bank of Pittsburgh and for many years served in various official capacities, his service interrupted only by a term of enlistment in the Union army as a private in Company D, Fifteenth Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, dating from June 15, 1863. His influence in Pittsburgh financial circles was the counterpart of that of his father, steadying and strengthening the public confidence, inducing trust and good will wherever he appeared, and these qualities constituted a large part of his contribution to the bank's welfare. Mr Harper had numerous business affiliations outside financial circles, and was a director of the Eagle Cotton Mills, and a director and for a long time secretary and treasurer of the Sixth Street Bridge Corporation. His philanthropies were numerous and important, prominent among his interests of this nature being the West Penn Hospital of which he was a staunch friend from 1860, serving as its president from 1891 until his resignation in 1898. He found time for social and club activities, was a member of Post No 259, Grand Army of the Republic, sons of the American Revolution, the Western Pennsylvania Historical Society of which he was a trustee, and from his college years was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. His club was the Duquesne of Pittsburgh. In religious affiliation the Harper family is Episcopalian. Mr Harper married in Pittsburgh, May 30, 1882, Flora Warner Sherburne, daughter of Edward Warner Sherburne and Jane Marie McLaughlin Sherburne. They were the parents of the following children: Alberta Harper, born December 17, 1883, married Franklin C Irish of Pittsburgh; Florence Harper, born August 2, 1885, married Herbert Fulton Byram of Pittsburgh; and Lydia Electa Harper, born January 1, 1887, married Ralph E Brush of Greenwich, Connecticut. John Arunah Harper died December 28, 1920. His death marked the closing of a record of remarkable service of father and son to one of the city's great financial institutions, and more important still of notable cooperation for the advancement of the civic, educational and philanthropic interests of Pittsburgh. Vol. 3 History of Pittsburgh and environs, from prehistoric days to the beginning of the American revolution. By George Thornton Fleming p858 John Harper, president of the Bank of Pittsburgh, is remotely of English descent. From the reign of James I till the death of Robert Harper, the great grandfather of John Harper in 1780, his ancestors were owners of one of the townlands in County Tyrone, Ireland, and were men of high character. John Harper was born in County Donegal, Ireland, December 5, 1811. At the age of nine in 1820, he came with his parents to Washington, DC, where he received a thorough practical education under the superindence of a relative, Alexander McCormick, Esq, who is still living at the age of ninety. In his boyhood he was distinguished for the strength of his memory as well as for his domestic tastes and habits. His father, Hugh Harper, died in 1821 and his mother with her children moved to Jefferson county, Ohio. His brother, Lecky Harper, still living, has been a newspaper editor for more than fifty years and is an ex senator in that state. When fifteen years of age, John Harper took a subordinate position in a mercantile house in Steubenville and four years later had become bookkeeper and confidential clerk. During his clerkship he was noted for his studious habits and the scholarly attainments he thus acquired. At this time Edwin M Stanton was employed in a neighboring store and between the two young men an intimacy sprang up that terminated only with the life of Mr Stanton. In 1831 Mr Harper became a bookkeeper in the house of M & A Leech of Pittsburgh, and on September 19, 1832, was chosen without his solicitation for a position in the Bank of Pittsburgh where he soon became principal clerk. In 1837 he was sent to Beaver as cashier in the branch bank at that place but was soon recalled to become assistant cashier in the Bank of Pittsburgh. He was chosen cashier on the resignation of that office by Mr John Snyder and subsequently succeeded Mr John Graham, president of the bank, which position he still occupies. It is proper to remark here that during his service of more than half a century, the bank has passed safely through all the financial crises that have occurred, that there was never a defalcation in its accounts or a misdemeanor by any of its officers involving the loss of a dollar. It has never repudiated its obligations and never failed to pay a semi-annual dividend. Mr Harper has occupied many other responsible positions. He has been president of the Pittsburgh Clearinghouse ever since its organization; is president of the Western Pennsylvania Hospital of which he is one of the founders; is president of the Pittsburgh & Allegheny Suspension Bridge Co; a director of the Monongahela Navigation Co; a trustee in the Western University of Pennsylvania; a corporator and director of Allegheny Cemetery; a commissioner of the sinking fund of Allegheny county, and a member of other useful associations. Mr Harper married in June, 1836, Miss Lydia Electa Metcalf, a daughter of Nathan W Metcalf of Otsego, New York. Mrs Harper's genealogy runs through an honored line to Michael Metcalf who came from Norwich, England, to the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1637 because of the religious tyranny of Bishop Wren of Norwich. They have had five sons and one daughter and to all these who have survived their childhood were given a collegiate education. Major Harper, whose life history follows this sketch, died unmarried. Lydia Harper, the only daughter, married George B Mallory, civil engineer of New York, and died at the residence of her parents, October 4, 1884, leaving a son, John Harper Mallory. John A Harper, born June 29, 1839, in Pittsburgh, married May 30, 1882, Flora Sherburn, daughter of Col Edward Warner Sherburne of St Louis, Missouri, and they have three daughters. Orlando M Harper, born September 17, 1846, married November 22, 1887, Kathleen Theodora Ludlow, daughter of John Livingston Ludlow, MD, of Philadelphia, Penna. They have two daughters and reside in New York. Charles S Harper, born March 5, 1853, in Pittsburgh married October 26, 1882, Julia Murfey, daughter of Gardner Bower Murfey of Cleveland, Ohio; they have one daughter and reside in New York. The subjects of this sketch, John Harper and Lydia Electa, his wife, celebrated their "golden wedding," June 4, 1886, with mental powers unimpaired. Both are able to look back without regrets on long and well-spent lives. History of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania : including its early settlement and progress to the present time ; a description of its historic and interesting localities ; its cities, towns and villages; religious, educational, social and military history ; mining, manufacturing and commercial interests, improvements, resources, statistics, etc. ; also, biographies of many of its representative citizens. Imprint: Chicago : A. Warner & Co., 1889. a231