Professors of Alabama: R. D. Harper

R. D. Harper
Frank Leslie's Sunday Magazine

R. D. Harper
Log College Press

Robert David Harper (b. April 27, 1823; January 3, 1890)

Pennsylvania.  White.
Education: B.A (Western University), D.D. (Miami University)
Occupation: clergyman, minister.

R. D. Harper was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1823. His father died when he was young, and his mother moved the family to Allegheny City. Later, he moved to Pittsburg. While there, he attended Western University (now the University of Pittsburg), graduating in 1841. He then studied at the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Allegheny. He was licensed to preach by the Presbyterian church in 1844. The next year, he was stationed at the First United Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio. While serving at the church, in 1853, he received a D.D. He took a four-month break from the church in 1860 and traveled to Europe to recover his health.

After the Civil War broke out, Harper served the Union army. He first was in charge of a hospital in Dennison, Ohio, but later he served in the Army of the Cumberland. 

After the war, he moved to Alabama to serve as superintendent of education for the Freedman's Bureau. In that capacity, he helped set up schools in Montgomery and Mobile. He held the position from 1868 to 1869.

In December 1868, the regents of the University of Alabama elected him university president. This was a challenging position as locals, led by newspaper editor and Ku Klux leader Ryland Randolph, were threatening the university's new faculty. Harper's predecessor had fled from the area and resigned his position before even acquiring keys to the campus buildings. Harper's term as president lasted only slightly longer. He had resigned by March, before any classes started. 

Harper left Alabama and returned to work as a clergyman. By 1880, he was serving as pastor at the First Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. He moved to Philadelphia to serve the North Broad Street Presbyterian Church. 

Harper died in 1890 and is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Sources

1) magazine

2) book

3) The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Xenia, Greene, Ohio; Roll: M653_968; Page: 149; Family History Library Film: 803968

4) Year: 1870; Census Place: Indianapolis Ward 1, Marion, Indiana; Roll: M593_340; Page: 4A