Several small communities in the former townships of Flamborough developed at important intersections but slowly disappeared during the 20th century as rural living has gave way to urban development. Over the next months, this column will be devoted to telling the stories of their establishment and history.
Harper’s Corners was located approximately six miles north of Clappison’s Corners in the former township of East Flamborough. The settlement area originally fronted onto both the 8th Concession East and the present day Hwy. 6 North, or Townline Road, that served as the divide between East and West Flamborough Townships. As was common practice in the naming of many small communities during the 19th century, it received its name from the first permanent settlers to the area: the James Harper (1798-1877) and Sarah Redman/Redmond (1801-1856) family from the town of Dorking, Surrey, England who arrived in Upper Canada in 1832.
The family arrived in the Hamilton area as part of the Petworth Emigration Scheme sponsored by the Earl of Petworth, a major British landowner who believed that Canada would provide a better life for agricultural labourers, tenant farmers and small tradespeople who had little chance in an impoverished England still suffering the effects of the prolonged European war against Napoleon.
Like most of the Petworth group, the Harpers moved beyond the Head-of-the-Lake to settle, purchasing the southern half of Lot 13, Concession 8 in East Flamborough Township from the Canada Company for £68, 15 shillings on Dec. 31, 1838. The entry of the transaction was made in the Hamilton Land Registry Office on Nov. 24, 1845 – more than a decade after the family had arrived on the lot.
On the very day he came to legally own the property, James Harper sold off the rear or back half of the lot to Joseph Knight for £34, 7 shillings and 6 pence – exactly half the original cost of the property.
By 1861, George Harper, the eldest son of James and Sarah, had acquired the northwest 50 acres of Lot 13, Concession 7, across the 8th Concession from his parents’ property. According to the 1861 Census Returns there was a small frame chapel, known as Harper’s Church, on the property, serving the Wesleyan Methodists of the area. The building, erected at a cost of $600 served a congregation that numbered 36 adherents and also as a one-room school during the week.
Sylvia Wray is the former archivist with the Flamborough Archives. She can be reached through the Archives at archives@flamboroughhistory.com.
This article was originally published in the Flamborough Review, 30 July 2015.
