When Samuel Harper was born in 1773, in Cumberland, Pennsylvania, United States, his father, John Harper, was 42 and his mother, Jean McGaa, was 38. He married Sarah Patterson on 17 March 1801, in Cumberland, Pennsylvania, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 1 son. He died on 15 April 1802, in his hometown, at the age of 29.
English (Staffordshire), Scottish, Irish (Antrim and Down), and Dutch: occupational name for a player on the harp, from Middle English harper(e) ‘harper’ (Old English hearpere) and Middle Dutch harper, herper. The harper was one of the most important figures of a medieval baronial hall, especially in Scotland and northern England, and the office of harper was sometimes hereditary. The Scottish surname is probably an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Chruiteir ‘son of the harper’ (from Gaelic cruit ‘harp’, ‘stringed instrument’). This surname has long been present in Ireland.
As a nonprofit, we offer free help to those looking to learn the details of their family story.