William Harper [EE.1]
(b. 16 Aug 1865 in Bourbonnais; d. 2 Aug 1954 in Chicago)

Will moved to Chicago with his family at the age of two. He [EE.1] was a mailman. Grace Curran (Sweeney) [DS.4.7.6] had a photograph of Will [EE.1] taken at his 85th birthday party.

Photo taken 25 July 1897.

Will married Ellen Elizabeth Curran (called Nell or Nellie) [DS.4.2] (9 Dec 1863-17 Mar 1933) in Chicago on 31 Oct 1887²⁶ and had nine children. For information about this family and their descendants, click here.

Edmond Napoleon "Edward" Harper [EE.2]
(b. 1 Aug 1867 in Chicago; d. 25 Aug 1933 in Chicago)

Edward Harper [EE.2] was a bridge tender.
m. Mary Jane "Molly" Curran [DS.4.6] (b. 20 Sep 1870 in Chicago; d. 31 Jan 1947 in Chicago) on 5 Feb 1888²⁶ in Chicago and had ten children. For more information about this family and their descendants, click here.

Photo taken 25 July 1897.

John B. Harper [EE.3]
(b. 4 Jan 1870 in Chicago; d. 20 Jan 1945 in Chicago)

m. Mary Caroline Taysec (b. 26 Oct 1874 in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia; d. 16 Mar 1948 in Chicago) in Chicago on 23 Nov 1892.

These two photos were provided by Pat Kusar. The man is John B. Harper. The woman at the upper left is his wife, Mary Taysec Harper. She is holding her eldest son, Earl Harper. The woman at the upper right is probably Nell Curran Harper. The woman at the lower left is probably Mollie Curran Harper. The little girl at the lower right is probably Jennie [EE.9]. (I shall be grateful to anyone who can provide better quality photos and/or identify any of the women.)

John and Mary had five children:

Frederick Harper [EE.4]
(b.c. 1871 in Chicago; d. Oct 1926 in Chicago)
Census of 1 Jun 1880 recorded his age as 9 years at last birthday.

According to family oral history, Fred died in a railroad accidence. He tried to crawl between two box cars when they were stopped. The cars moved and Fred was killed.

On 11 Mar 1893, Fred married Mary Ranney (b.c. 1875) and had at least two children:
EE.4.1 Leslie Harper (b. c. 1895)
EE.4.2 Catherine Harper (b. c. 1912)

In 1980, all of Fred's immediate family was deceased except for Kate O'Toole who was living in Texas.

Louise Arpin [EE.5]
(b. April 1875 in Chicago; d.c. 1915 in Chicago)
Census of 1 Jun 1880 recorded her age as 6 years at her last birthday.

Louise married Robert McMullen and had three daughters:
EE.5.1 Helen McMullen (b. c. 1906)
EE.5.2 Louella McMullen (b. c. 1908)
EE.5.3 Berniece McMullen (b. c. 1910)

Grace Curran (Sweeney) [EE.6.6] had a photograph of the three daughters.

According to family oral history, Louise died as a result of a botched abortion which had been urged by her husband.

Malinda MaryAnn Harper [EE.6]
(b. 21 Jul 1879 in Chicago; d. 15 Sep 1951)

Photo on left was taken circa 1895.  Photo on right was taken 25 July 1897.  Both photos have been identified as Malinda by her descendants despite the difference in weight.  The hair style seems to be essentially the same in both photos.

Malinda was called "Minnie" as a child.  She married James Francis Curran (3 Dec 1875—April 1949) in Milwaukee, WI on 4 July 1896 and had 8 children. For information about this family, click here.

Robert G. "Robbie" Harper [EE.7]
(b. 6 Feb 1884 in Chicago)

Robert married firstly Louise and had four children:
EE.7.1 Orville Harper (b. c. 1908; d. after 1939 in Chicago)
EE.7.2 Mercedes Harper (b. c. 1914)
EE.7.3 Jenny Belle Harper (b. c. 1916)
EE.7.4 Mavis Harper (b. c. 1919)

Robert married secondly Connie (b. c. 1886).

Antoine R. F. Harper [EE.8]
(b. 11 Feb 1886 in Chicago; d. c. 1953 in Chicago)

Antoine worked for the Elgin Watch Co.
He married Lizzie Clem and had at least one child:
EE.8.1 Thelma Harper (b. c. 1900)

Eugenie Eudacide Arpin [EE.9]

(b. 16 July 1888 in Chicago, 6 months 20 days after the death of her father; d. Tuesday 2 Nov 1954 in Chicago) She was sometimes called Jennie or Jen. Eugenie Arpin [EE.9] was named after her Aunt Eugenie Hebert (Bouregard) [942]. She [EE.9] married firstly (and divorced) J. Oliver Johnson [EE.9S₁] who sold grass seed and flowers. They had no children.

The photo at the right was taken circa 1920.

While separated from J. Oliver Johnson, Eugenie resided with her brother, John Harper [EE.3] and family.

Jennie [EE.9] married secondly Otto Arnston, Sr. (3 Aug 1885—Dec 1971)
They had one son:

EE.9.1 Otto A. "Guy" Arnston (b. 15 Oct 1925 in Chicago; d. 8 Mar 1995 in Chicago)

Will [EE.1] and Ed [EE.2] both spoke French. They said that if "Grandpa Harper" [AC.8] had lived, all the children would have spoken French.

The family of Edmond Arpin [AC.8] moved to Chicago circa 1867.  The French-Canadian pronunciation of "Arpin" included an initial "H" when the name was spoken without any preceding word.  Thus the census enumerator wrote Edmond's surname as "Harpin" in 1880.  When the children of Edmond [AC.8] and Euducide [JS.5] started going to school at St. Bridget's Church (Archer Ave. near Troope) in Chicago, they told the Irish nun that their surname was "Harpin".  The nun decided that when they said "Harpin", their surname must be "Harper" and taught them all to write it that way. Thereafter, seven of the nine children always used the name Harper.  Louise [EE.4] and Eugenie [EE.9] retained the name "Arpin".