Career
Harper later moved to North Carolina to live with his uncle, James Harper. In 1840, he moved to Lenoir, North Carolina. He laid out the city in 1841 and acted as its civil engineer, drafter, and land surveyor. He owned slaves.
Harper then worked as a businessman. As such, he surveyed the land on which a road from Lenoir to Blowing Rock in 1846 and 1847. He helped found the company which built the road, becoming its president in 1856. He built and mills for cotton, flour, oil, paper, wood, and wool, as well as a blacksmithery, icehouse, and tannery. He also worked as a banker, farmer, logger, and merchant. In 1861, he enlisted into the North Carolina State Militia as a private, later becoming a colonel. He was unable to fight in the American Civil War due to his health.
Harper was a Democrat. In 1865 and 1866, he was a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1873, representing North Carolina's 7th district. Due to poor health, he introduced only two bills and made one speech, the speech being an argument against the Civil Rights Act of 1875. He was not nominated for the following election. Politically, he was moderately liberal.
After serving in Congress, Harper worked in the roadwork industry and owned a farm.
Personal life and death
On September 12, 1843, Harper married Louisa C. McDowell, the great-granddaughter of William Lenoir; they had three children together. His daughter, Emma, married Clinton A. Cilley. He was Methodist. He died on January 8, 1890, aged 70, in Patterson, and was buried on January 16, at Harpers Chapel Cemetery, in Patterson. His cousin was George Washington Finley Harper.
