Robert Harpur

Robert Harpur (January 25, 1731 Ballybay, County Monaghan, Ireland - April 15, 1825) was an American teacher, politician, pioneer, and landowner who settled in the Binghamton, New York area.

Life

He came to the colonies in 1761 via Scotland. He was 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. 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 Robert Harpur with his 2nd wife Myra and family moved west along the Susquehanna River settling near Belden Brook on his Warren Patent which is near present day Harpursville, NY.

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.

Harpur

Coordinates: 52°08′49″N 0°28′36″W / 52.14695°N 0.4767°W / 52.14695; -0.4767

Harpur is an electoral ward and area within the town of Bedford, England.

The boundaries of Harpur are approximately Manton Lane to the north, De Parys Avenue to the east, Bromham Road to the south, with the Midland Main Line railway line to the west.

Manton Heights, the Poets, the Prime Ministers, and the Black Tom neighbourhoods all lie within the boundaries of Harpur ward.

History

The area is named after Sir William Harpur a famous Bedfordian. The area houses Bedford Modern School which is part of the Harpur Trust.

A notorious Highwayman labelled 'Black Tom' reportedly frequented the area in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Supposedly he was buried with a stake driven through his heart at the junction of Tavistock Street, Union Street and Clapham Road. Today Black Tom is the informal name of a neighbourhood of mainly 19th Century terraced housing in Harpur, North of Roff Avenue.

Most buildings in the area date from the 19th Century or before. However the northern part of the area (Manton Heights) was developed much later, in the 1970s.

Harpur, Buxar district

Harpur is a small village located in the Rajpur block of Buxar district, Bihar. It has a total of 417 families residing in it. The population of the village is 2799 out of which 1431 are males and 1368 are females.

References

Harpur (disambiguation)

Harpur may refer to:

Places

People