Louisiana AHGP

Part of the American History and Genealogy Project

William D. Harper, M. D.

William D. Harper, M. D. The people of Claiborne, as well as the surrounding parishes, are familiar with the name that heads this sketch, for for many years he has been successfully occupied in the prosecution of his chosen profession at this place. He has shown himself eminently worthy of the confidence and trust reposed in him by all classes, and has unquestionably shown that he is a physician of decided merit.

He is the youngest of the following family: James D., who graduated from the Philadelphia Medical College in 1852, and practiced his calling at Minden until 1878, at which time he died. He was regarded as a leading physician of Northern Louisiana, and his memory still remains green in the hearts of his numerous acquaintances and friends. Albert G. (who graduated from the New Orleans Medical College in 1807, and is now one of the most successful physicians of Minden), Sarah (widow of N. Young, of Magnolia, Arkansas), Mary K. (widow of Judge W. B. Edgar, deceased, of Homer), Annie (wife of John W. Todd, of Magnolia, Arkansas), Margaret (who died in infancy), Samuel B. (who died at the age of twenty-eight years), and Dr. William D. Harper. These children were born to Samuel B. and Annie S. (Jones) Harper, the former of whom was born in Georgia in 1796, and the latter in North Carolina. Samuel B. Harper was one of five children, and after the death of his father his mother married again, her husband being a Mr. Bonner.

Dr. William D. Harper received the advantages of the common schools of Claiborne Parish, and at the age of thirty-one years he entered the Tulane Medical College at New Orleans, from which place he was graduated in 1885. Since then he has successfully followed his chosen profession in the place of his birth, and has acquired an enviable reputation for the conscientious discharge of his duties. He was married in 1874 to Miss Nobie Carr, a daughter of W. A. Carr, a resident, of Homer. Two children have been born to them: Rolla C. and Mary Kinnie. The Doctor at all times affiliates with the Democratic Party, and, socially, is a member of the K. of P.

His wife is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Until recently the Doctor practiced at Plat Lake, but in May, 1890, he located in Homer, where his practice is sufficiently large to keep him fully employed the year round. Personally, he is liberal, generous and high-minded, the soul of honor, and although he has views of his own, with the moral courage to express them, he is not in the least aggressive.

Biographical Sketches| Claiborne Parish

Source: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana, Southern Publishing Company, 1890