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- SOLDIERS CAME AND GOT HIM OUT OF BED AND TOLD HIM TO PUT HIS CLOTHES ON. HE STARTED TO TIE HIS SHOES AND THEY TOLD HIM NOT TO TIE THEM. HE WOULDN'T HAVE THEM ON LONG. THEY TOOK HIM ACROSS A HILL IN SIGHT OF ECCLES WVA TO A HILL-TOP WHERE THERE WERE DRAW BARS WHERE HE HAD SOLD CATTLE ON THAT DAY AND HAD 300.00 DOLLARS. THERE WAS A SNOW ON THE GROUND. THE NEXT MORNING THEY WENT WITH SLED AND OXEN AND GOT HIS BODY. HE IS BURIED IN THE HARPER CEMETERY AT HARPER WVA. REF; PEARL HURT DEAVER(NOW 90 OR 91 AND A PATIENT IN PINECREST HOSPITAL) PROBABLY DECEASED NOW AS TOLD BY HER TO FAY PETTRY, DAUGHTER OF FRANK AND JENNIE DAVIS HARPER. 1980
WE KNOW ABOUT JACOB HARPER'S FAMILY PRIMARILY THROUGH RALEIGH CO. LAND RECORDS. SINCE THERE WAS "NO LAW IN RALEIGH CO." AT THE TIME JACOB HARPER DIED, WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO FIND A DEATH RECORD FOR HIM, BUT WE KNOW THAT HE DIED SOMETIME DURING THE CIVIL WAR. THE STORY I HEARD COMES FROM MARY JEFFRESS DAVIS, WHO HEARD IT FROM SARAH JANE HARPER DAVIS. SARAH DESCRIBED HER GRANDMOTHER CARRYING SARAH'S GRANDFATHER IN FROM THE FIELDS IN HER APRON AFTER HE HAD BEEN SHOT BY BUSHWHACKERS. THIS WOULD BE ELVIRA AND JACOB, BUT DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A SLED AND SNOW. I HAVE FOUND TWO OTHER ACCOUNTS OF HIS DEATH. ONE IS FROM WEST VIRGINIA HISTORY BY HILA APPLETON RICHARDSON, WHICH SAYS ON PAGE 298: "ANOTHER WAR OUTRAGE OCCURRED IN THE FALL OF 1864... A PARTY OF THESE CONFEDERATE OUTLAWS WENT TO THE HOUSE OF MR. JACOB HARPER AT NIGHT AND TOOK HIM PRISONER, LED HIM OUT INTO THE WOODS FROM HIS HOME, AND SHOT HIM. MR. HARPER, REALIZING HIS POSITION, SLIPPED HIS WALLET INTO A NOOK OF THE FENCE CORNER WHEN CROSSING, WHERE IT WAS FOUND SOME TIME AFTERWARDS BY MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY." ANOTHER DESCRIPTION COMES FROM THE "HISTORY OF THE NEW RIVER SETTLEMENTS" AT PAGE 315, WHICH READS: THIS OCCURRED ON THE 8TH DAY OF AUGUST, 1864. ABOUT THE SAME TIME A PARTY OF CONFEDERATE OUTLAWS WENT TO THE HOUSE OF MR. JACOB HARPER, IN RALEIGH COUNTY, AND TOOK HIM A PRISONER, LED HIM OUT INTO THE WOODS AND SHOT HIM. HARPER WAS A PLAIN, HONEST, UPRIGHT, PEACEABLE CITIZEN AND HARMED NO ONE," THE BOOK IS ACTUALLY TITLED "HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE NEW RIVER SETTLEMENTS" BY DAVID E. JOHNSTON.
WE DO KNOW THAT HE DIED SOMETIME IN 1863 OR 1864. HIS ESTATE WAS "SETTLED" IN 1867, WHICH IS ABOUT THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF TIME, CONSIDERING THE ABSENCE OF LAW FROM THE COUNTY. THESE RECORDS BEGIN ON PAGE 402 OF RALEIGH COUNTY LAND BOOK B. THE DISTRIBUTION IS AS FOLLOWS. FIRST A DOWER INTEREST GOES TO ELVIRA HARPER, WIDOW. THEN THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE TAKE INDIVIDUAL LOTS OF TRACTS FROM THE ESTATE: ANDREW J. HARPER, HENRY HARPER, CALVIN H. HARPER, JACOB F HARPER, MARY J HARPER, WILLIAM HARPER, AND ELVIRA F HARPER, AND SAMUEL MCGINNIS. THE LAST ONE MAY LOOK OUT OF PLACE, BUT MAKES SENSE WHEN YOU CHECK THE MARRIAGE RECORDS AND FIND AN EVALINE F HARPER MARRIED TO SAMUEL MCGINNIS. AS A MARRIED WOMAN, SHE COULD PROBABLY NOT RECEIVE PROPERTY IN HER OWN NAME, SO HER SHARE WAS TRANSFERRED TO HER HUSBAND. IT IS FROM THIS PROPERTY DISTRIBUTION THAT I GET THE LIST OF JACOBS CHILDREN.
Facts about this person:
Occupation
School Teacher and Deputy Sheriff of Raleigh Co. WVa
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1816 - 1863 (47 years)
Has 21 ancestors and 85 descendants in this family tree.
[1, 2] 
Abt 1767 - 1824 (56 years)