Robert Harpur

Robert Harpur (January 25, 1731 Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland - April 15, 1825) was an Irish-American teacher, politician, pioneer, and landowner. He participated in surveying lands within the Central Military Tract in New York state and is credited with naming numerous townships, often based on his classical studies. He settled in the Binghamton, New York area.

Life

He came to the colonies in 1761 via Scotland. He became a teacher of mathematics at Columbia University (known then as Kings College). One of his prized pupils was Alexander Hamilton while he studied there in 1774.[1]

Harpur served in various capacities in the New York government during the American Revolution. He was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1777 to 1784. He was Deputy Secretary of State under John Morin Scott and Lewis Allaire Scott from 1778 to 1795. In the spring of 1795, after the American Revolutionary War, Robert Harpur, with his 2nd wife Myra and family, moved west along the upper Susquehanna River. He settled near Belden Brook on his Warren Patent, which is near present-day Harpursville, NY.[2]

Legacy

Harpursville, New York in eastern Broome County, New York was named after him. Additionally, Harpur College, the arts and sciences component of present-day Binghamton University, was also named for him.

Classical names used in New York

While Harpur worked as a Clerk in the office of the New York State Surveyor General, he has been credited with assigning the numerous classical names to locations in the Central New York Military Tract, now in Cayuga County, Cortland County, Onondaga County, and Seneca County. In some cases, it is not entirely clear to which classical person, the name was referring.

The Surveyor General Simeon DeWitt has also been credited with the assignment of these classical names.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Robert Harpur's New York, Anne T. Herbert pg. 33
  2. ↑ Robert Harpur's New York, Anne T. Herbert, pg.97
  • Herbert, Anne T., 2003, Robert Harpur's New York, Broome County Historical Society.pg.33
  • Herbert, Anne T., 2003, Robert Harpur's New York, Broome County Historical Society.pg.97
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