OKGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any
format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must
obtain the written consent of OKGenWeb State Coordinator.

Presentation here does not extend any permissions to the public. This
material can not be included in any compilation, publication,
collection, or other reproduction for profit without permission. Files
may be printed or copied for personal use only.
=====================================================================

WILLIAM P. HARPER
Vol. 5, p. 1861
Book has photo

A resident of Oklahoma City since 1889, Judge Harper has here been
engaged in the practice of law since 1891 and he holds secure vantage
place as one of the representative members of the Oklahoma bar.
Under the territorial regime he served as judge of probate of
Oklahoma County and of this office he was the incumbent also at the
time when Oklahoma was admitted to statehood, in 1907.  He controls a
large and important law business, has been influential in public
affairs in the territory and state, and is one of the progressive and
liberal citizens of Oklahoma City, where he maintains his well
appointed law offices at 207-9 Majestic Building.

Judge William Philip Harper was born at Wheeling, Delaware County,
Indiana, on the 18th of February, 1859, and is a son of Charles A.
and Mary J. (WENDALL) Harper.  His father was a lawyer by profession
and for a number of years was engaged in the practice of his
profession at Muncie, the judicial center of Delaware County,
Indiana, and there the subject of this review initiated the study of
law under the effective preceptorship of his father, after he had
duly profited by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his
native state.  From 1876 to 1885 Judge Harper was a resident of
Clinton County, Indiana, and he then came to the West and passed
three years in the State of Kansas.  In December, 1899, the year in
which Oklahoma Territory was organized and opened to settlement Judge
Harper numbered himself among its pioneer settlers, and he has
wielded not a little influence in the civic and material development
and progress of both territory and state.

Upon coming to the territory he established his residence in
Oklahoma City, where he resumed the study of law and where he was
admitted to the bar in 1891.  He here engaged in the practice of his
profession and in 1894 he was elected, on the republican ticket, to
the office of judge of the Probate Court of Oklahoma county of which
position he continued the efficient and valued incumbent for a term
of two years, within which he did much to systematize, solidify and
make authoritative the important business of this territorial court
of the county.  After his retirement from office the judge again
engaged in the general practice of his profession, and few lawyers
have been more prominently associated with important litigations and
legal interest in the state than has he.  He retains at the present
time a large and representative clientage, is well known to his
professional confreres throughout the state, and commands unqualified
popular confidence and esteem.  In 1902 he was again elected judge of
probate, and he continued in the effective administration of the
affairs of this office until the admission of Oklahoma to the Union,
in 1907, having retained the post during the pending agitation and
legislation incident to the creation of the new state.  Since that
time he has given virtually his undivided attention to his large and
important law business, and his name merits enduring place on the
roster of the pioneer members of the Oklahoma bar.  The judge has
continued a stalwart and effective advocate of the principles of the
republican party and is one of its influential representative in
Oklahoma.

In the city that has long been his home was solemnized the marriage
of Judge Harper to Miss Cora B. GREGORY, and she is a popular factor
in the representative social activities of Oklahoma City.  Judge and
Mrs. Harper have three children, Annabel, Wendel and William P. Jr.,
the family home being an attractive residence owned by the judge at
2204 West Nineteenth Street.

Transcribed by Lee Ann Collins, April 13, 2000

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).