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Virgil Thomas Harper, born in southern Kentucky in 1877 to William Jasper Harper and Cassie Perkins Harper, moved from Kentucky to Louisiana with his family and lived there and engaged in rice farming for about twelve years. William and Cassie Harper and their six children moved to Matagorda County, Texas, in 1904. Virgil's siblings were: Louella, wife of W. L. Dudley; Ada, wife of J. D. Tabb; Miss Hattie Harper; Fillmore Harper; and Charlie Harper. William J. Harper and Cassie P. Harper were buried in Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City. Virgil Thomas Harper married Minnie Laura Fate, who was born in 1882. To this union four children were born: Melvin Thomas Harper, born in 1910, married Leona Dunbar and had two children, Mary and Howard. He died in 1981 and was buried in Ashby Cemetery, Matagorda County. Louis Fate Harper, born on August 23, 1912, married Helga Johnson in 1936 and they had one daughter Helen Jane. Minnie Mae Harper, born in 1914, married L. A. Augsburger and had two sons, Harper John and Larry A. Hayden J. Harper, born in 1916, married Maybelle Anderson and had three children, Sandra, Virginia, and Hayden Jr. He died in 1974 and was buried at McGhee Cemetery, McGhee, Arkansas. Virgil and Minnie Laura purchased acreage south of the town of Markham in 1918 and made their home there. Minnie Laura Harper died in 1918 leaving her husband and children. She was buried in Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City. Virgil Thomas Harper married second Lila Smith and to this union Louella Harper was born. Virgil continued to farm and ranch until his health failed. He died in 1961 and was buried in Cedarvale Cemetery. Lila Smith Harper and Louella moved from the farm to Bay City where they lived until Lila Harper died in 1980. She was buried at Cedarvale Cemetery. Louis F. Harper was of Scotch, Irish, and English heritage. He was reared in the Markham area and attended the Markham schools. The Harper families were always engaged in rice farming. Louis was taught farming by his father and continued to farm all of his life except for a brief period of oilfield work. Louis recalled the clearing of the log raft from the Colorado River in 1928, and the effect clearing had on the gravity canals that were used for rice irrigation before the installation of pumps. He remembered the use of mules for rice farming before modern machinery was introduced. In 1948, Louis bought his own farm near Clemville, a part of the old Northern Irrigation System. In 1954, Louis was chosen to be the first Outstanding Rice Farmer of the Year by the Bay City Chamber of Commerce. Louis, as his father before him, was an active and supporting member of the Methodist Churches of Matagorda County. He served on many boards and organizations connected with the rice industry, having twice been president of the Rice Farmers Coop. He was a long time associate with the Independent Rice Drying Company. After Louis retired, his son-in-law, Loy E. Sneary, carried on the farming and ranching interests.
Helga J. Harper |
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Services have been set for 10 am Saturday at Taylor Bros. Funeral
Home for Virgil Thomas Harper, 84, of Markham, who died early
Thursday in El Campo. He was the first rice farmer in Matagorda
County, beginning planting in 1892.
Survivors include his wife, of Markham, two daughters, Miss Louella
Harper and Mrs. L. A. Augsburger of Bay City; three sons, Melvin
Harper of Buckeye; Louis Harper of Bay City; Hayden Harper of
McGehee, Arkansas. Also surviving are three sisters, Mrs. Louella Dudley, Mrs. J. D. Tabb and Miss Hattie Harper, all of bay City and one brother, Charles Harper of Channelview.
The Daily Tribune, December 8, 1961
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Mrs. Minnie Laura Harper, wife of V. T. Harper, died Thursday, October 31, and was buried in Cedarvale Cemetery this afternoon from her home in Markham. The cause of the death of this excellent woman was pneumonia. Besides her husband she leaves several children. Mrs. Harper was 36 years, 8 months and 20 days of age at her death. She was a consecrated Christian woman, a devoted wife and mother, loved by all who knew her and regarded in the highest possible esteem by all of her neighbors. The Tribune joins the many friends of Mr. Harper, who share his sorrows and loss with him and his motherless children. Matagorda County Tribune, Friday, November 8, 1918
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Lila Smith Harper, 90, of Bay City died at Matagorda General
Hospital Friday, December 12.
Survivors include daughters, Louella Harper and Minnie Mae
Augsburger of Bay City; sons, Melvin of El Campo and Louis of Bay
City; sister, Myrtle Smith of Bay City; 7 grandchildren, 5
great-grandchildren, 1 niece and 1 nephew.
Funeral services will be held at Taylor Brothers Chapel, Saturday,
December 13 at 10 am with Rev. W. D. Baker officiating. Interment
will follow at Cedarvale Cemetery.
Pallbearers include Larry and Harper Augsburger, Ted Sumerlin, Haden
and Rev. Howard Harper, Rev. Bill Poe, Loy Sneary, and Henry Heller.
Arrangements with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home. Daily Tribune, December 12, 1980
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El Campo – Melvin Thomas Harper, 70, died at 2:40 a. m. Saturday in a Houston hospital after lying helplessly for some seven hours when the small farm tractor he was riding on his farm 12 miles southeast of El Campo apparently rolled off a slope. Officers said Harper, who had been shredding grass with the tractor around noon Friday, was found at 7:15 p. m. by a neighbor, William Westmoreland, who had been searching for Harper along with members of his family when he failed to come home for lunch. Harper was conscious and able to talk but couldn’t move because of a broken pelvis, investigators said. He was taken to a Wharton hospital from where he was flown by a Life Flight helicopter to the Houston hospital. Harper was born Dec. 22, 1910, in Bay City and was a member of the Markham Baptist Church. Funeral services will be held at 10 a. m. Tuesday at Markham Baptist Church with the Rev. Joe Ramsey, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Ashby Cemetery under the direction of Taylor Bros. Funeral Home of Bay City. Surviving are his wife, Mrs. Leona Jane Harper of El Campo; a daughter, Mrs. Mary Margaret McCaleb of Rochester, N. Y.; a son, Howard Thomas Harper of Beaumont, and two sisters, Mrs. Minnie Augsburger and Miss Louella Harper, and a brother, Louis Harper, all of Bay City. Victoria Advocate, August 10, 1981 Melvin Harper Melvin Harper, 70, a former resident of Matagorda County and at the time of his death, a resident of El Campo, died August 8, 1981 as a result of a tractor accident while mowing. He was a rancher and rice farmer, a rodeo rider in his younger years, involved in rodeo production and an active member of the First Baptist Church of Markham. Survivors include: wife, Leona Harper of El Campo; son, Howard Harper of Beaumont; daughter, Mary McCaleb of Rochester, New York; brother, Louis Harper; sisters, Minnie May Augsburger and Louella Harper; 4 grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Tuesday at 10 at the First Baptist Church of Markham. Interment will follow at Ashby Cemetery.
Daily Tribune, August 1981 |
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Funeral services for Leona Jane Harper, 72, of El Campo, will be held 2 p. m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church in Markham with the Rev. Joe Ramsey officiating. Burial will be at Ashby Cemetery, Ashby, Texas. Mrs. Harper was born Jan. 5, 1921 in Ashby to Calvin and Effie Dalton Dunbar and she died Jan. 9, 1993 at Country Village Care Center in Angleton. She was a member of the Baptist church and a former longtime resident of Hollywood Bottom near El Campo. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Mary and Wick McCaleb of Fairpoint, N. W.; a son, and daughter-in-law, the Rev. Howard and Shirley Harper of Markham; a sister and brother-in-law, Helen and L. P. Cobble of Pearland; five grandchildren, Caren McCaleb of Los Angeles, Calif.; Matthew McCaleb of Fairpoint, N. Y. and Hunter, Tasha and Dennis Harper, all of Markham. She was preceded in death by her husband, Melvin Thomas Harper, Aug. 8, 1981. Pallbearers will be John Lee Hahn, Shane Cornett, David Bradley, C. W. Rush, Jerry Lundquist and Grady Quinney. Arrangements are with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home in Bay City.
Daily Tribune, January 1993 |
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Howard Thomas Harper, son of Melvin Thomas Harper and Leona Jane
Dunbar Harper |
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A Cowhand for Christ “Lord, send me cowboys who aren’t Christians.” This is a daily prayer for Melvin Harper, manager of the 8,000 acre Buckeye ranch and rice farm near Bay City. Encouraging cowboys and youngsters to “live for Christ” is kind of a divine calling for the man who was the nation’s top bronc buster and steer rider for more than 10 years. Three choice quarter horses from his personal stock will be given this year to youngsters with the best participation records in his church. Last year he gave four horses to outstanding Christian boys. Through the personal interest of a pastor, who “became as good a rider as any cowhand on the ranch,” Melvin accepted Christ four years ago. Allen Webb, now pastor of Second church, Corpus Christi, began visiting Harper at the ranch and said he wanted to learn to ride and handle cattle. After several months of these visits, the veteran rodeo performer started attending church regularly and made his decision for Christ. Melvin’s first church job was teaching a Sunday school class for boys. He recalls two years of teaching, but “not witnessing for Christ.” James Eaves became pastor of the church and one day the rugged ranch manager, whose vocabulary was so changed that his leopard cattle dogs didn’t respond to his commands for three weeks after he became a Christian came by with a personal problem. He asked the pastor, “Do you believe in the Lord?” After a quick and affirmative answer Melvin asked, “Then, if me and you prayed to God, believed in Christ, and asked for something would we get it?” The prayer that followed is one which Pastor Eaves will never forget. Melvin Harper and his pastor prayed that God would let him become a soul winner. Harper didn’t sleep much the night following his dedication to Christ as a soul winner. At 4 a. m. the next morning he was fully dressed and on his way to the home of a lost friend. He arrived long before daylight and prayed as he waited in a pick-up truck for the light to come on in the house. The friend was won to Christ and Melvin’s pastor estimated that he has won “more than 50 people to the Lord.” Five cowboys at the ranch have become Christians and in his 13-year-old boys’ Sunday school class, 24 accepted Christ last year. The 47-year-old ranch manager, who has steel blue eyes, a ruddy leathery complexion showing years of outside work, doesn’t’ like to talk about his own experiences. When asked about the greatest thrill of his life, he told about being the only rider one year to stay mounted on the nation’s wildest and best bucking rodeo horse in Madison Square Garden and in Houston. “But,” said Melvin, “this kind of a thrill doesn’t compare with winning a boy, his parents, and a cowhand to Christ. For 14 years Harper worked as a rodeo performer and also owned a “string of rodeo stock.” In 1951 his hip and leg were broken when a horse fell on him. His wife and two children wanted him to stop traveling and give up rodeo performing. His stock was sold to Gene Autry and he became manager of the Buckeye Ranch. Melvin Harper, who more than tithes to his church, personally owns a large herd of beef stock, some of the Southwest’s choice quarter horses and is buying a ranch in Arkansas. To summarize some of the things he does for his faith is to write about picnics and hay rides at the ranch, describe the attitudes of boys who work at the ranch during the summer months, tell how cowboys felt about their Christian boss, relate incidents of drunks and more influential men who have been won to Christ and to repeat Melvin’s words, “All I do is try. I try all time for Christ”
Baptist Standard,
June 25, 1958, Baptist General Convention of Texas |
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Bay City – Louis F. Harper, 74, of Bay City died Saturday of heart complications. Born Aug. 23, 1912, in Bay City, to the late Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Harper, he was a farmer and rancher. Services will be held at 3 p. m. Tuesday at First Methodist Church in Bay City with the Rev. Bill Dugger officiating. Burial will follow in Cedarvale Cemetery, Bay City, under the direction of Taylor Brothers Funeral Home. He is survived by his wife Helga Johnson Harper, Bay City; a daughter, Helen Sneary of Bay City; a sister, Minnie Mae Augsburger of Bay City; a sister, Louella Harper, Bay City; and two grandchildren. Pallbearers will be Hooty Estinbaum, Percy Carroll, Worth Lucas, Greg Westmoreland, Craig Williams, Leon Wolf, Johnnie Hahn Jr., Bill Otis.
Victoria Advocate, September 29, 1986 |
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Helga Johnson Harper was born on
July 8, 1918, in Markham, Texas to Albert Henry and Jessie Longuet
Johnson.
Bay City Tribune, Published
September 8, 2010 |
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Funeral services for Minnie Mae Augsburger, 79, of Bay City, are scheduled for 2 p. m. Friday at First United Methodist Church in Bay City with the Revs. Jim Welch and Buford Finley officiating. Burial will follow in Roselawn Memorial Park in Van Vleck, Mrs. Augsburger was born Oct. 30, 1914, in Bay City to Virgil Thomas and Minnie Laura Fate Harper and died March 23, 1994, in Matagorda General Hospital. Survivors include two sons and daughters-in-law, Harper and Jerry Augsburger of Beaumont and Larry and Mikki Augsburger of Houston; a sister, Louella Harper of Bay City; two sisters-in-law, Helga Harper of Bay City and Maybelle Harper of McGee, Ark.; three grandchildren, Blake Augsburger of San Diego, Calif., Holly Augsburger and Jody Augsburger, both of Houston, and a great-grandchild, Philip Augsburger of San Diego, Calif. She was preceded in death by her husband, L. A. “Six” Augsburger on Aug. 21, 1992. Pallbearers are Dick Burford, Mike Wade, Matt Caldwell, Loy Sneary, Cecil Williamson and John Estlinbaum. Arrangements are with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home.
Daily Tribune, March 25, 1994 |
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Funeral services for L. A. “Six” Augsburger, 81, of Bay City were scheduled for 3 p. m. Sunday at First United Methodist in Bay City with Rev. Jim Welch officiating. Burial was scheduled to be at Roselawn Memorial Park in Van Vleck. Mr. Augsburger was born Dec. 30, 1910 in Hopedale, Ill. to Amos and Mary Diekhoff Augsburger and he died Aug. 21, 1992 at Matagorda General Hospital in Bay City. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and a resident of Bay City since 1938. Mr. Augsburger was raised in Sweeny and graduated from West Columbia High School. He was a former employee of Texas Pipeline before going into business as the owner/operator of Six’s Texaco. Mr. Augsburger sold the family business in 1966 and went to work as a salesman for Rugeley Motor Co. until his retirement in 1978. He was a member of Bay City Volunteer Fire Department and helped to organize the Little League Baseball in Bay City, where he won the first four championships. Survivors include his wife, Minnie Mae Augsburger of Bay City; two sons and daughters-in-law, Harper and Jerry Augsburger of Beaumont and Larry and Mikki Augsburger of Houston; three sisters, Eva Orr of Sweeny, Esther Hardegree of Bay City and Peggy Young of Corpus Christi; one brother, Clarence Augsburger of Houston; three grandchildren, Blake Augsburger of San Diego, Calif., Holly Augsburger of Huntington Beach, Calif. and Jody Augsburger of Houston; one great grandchild, Philip Augsburger of San Diego, Calif. Arrangements are with Taylor Brothers Funeral Home in Bay City.
Daily Tribune, August 29, 1992 |
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Harper John Augsburger passed away Tuesday,
December 25, 2018 and went to his heavenly home to celebrate the
birth of his Savior. He was born Oct. 13, 1938, in Bay City, Texas,
to Lawrence and Minnie Mae (Harper) Augsburger. Harper loved playing golf in retirement, traveling with his wife and spending time attending his two grand kid's sporting events. He had a lifelong passion for basketball, spending many years playing and coaching it, along with teaching driver's education for many years. He is survived by his wife, Jeri Augsburger of Burleson; son, Jody Augsburger and wife, Jo Lynn of Burleson; grandchildren, Garrett and Meredith Augsburger; brother, Larry Augsburger and wife, Mikki, of Houston; and numerous nieces and nephews, extended family and friends. Service: Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019 1:00pm, Mountain Valley Funeral Home, 3407 SW Wilshire Blvd JOSHUA, TX 76058
Mountain Valley Funeral Home |
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Larry Arthur Augsburger, 81, of Montgomery Texas, passed away on August 24th and has gone to be with Jesus. Larry was married to Mikki for 62 loving years. He was born on September 14th, 1940 to Lawrence (Six) and Minnie Mae in Bay City, Texas. He graduated from Lamar University with a business degree in 1963. Larry had a very successful business career rising to a key executive at Tenneco Oil E&P, successful in Private Equity, and CEO / Owner of Samik Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. He was a firm believer in hard work and the pursuit of perfection. Larry was an all-American and 4-year letterman at Lamar where he led the team in 3 basketball conference titles. He was also a scratch golfer that shot his age on multiple occasions. A regular who loved the big game at both Champions Golf Club & Bentwater Country Club. Larry was an all-around athlete; he even ran the Houston marathon. He loved sports, loved to compete, and loved to win. Larry and Mikki had two children, Blake (wife Laura), Holly (husband Edward), and five grandchildren (Philip, Daniel, Madeline, Hannah, and Zachary). Family was always “front and center” as Larry instilled the importance of Christian family values. By far his number #1 love was always his wife, Mikki! Larry’s legacy will live on for generations to come through both his children and grandchildren. They are competitive, hard working, pursuing perfection, and driven to win, just like Larry. He left us the greatest of all gifts, he is with the Lord and we will see him again. Taylor Bros. Funeral Home
[Buried Roselawn
Memorial Park, Van Vleck, Texas] |
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Burials in McGehee Cemetery, McGehee, Desha County, Arkansas Photos courtesy of Ronald Conrad Find a Grave Volunteer 47756372  
Hayden John Harper
May Belle Harper |
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Virginia Harper McGehee, Ark. – Virginia Harper, 17, of McGehee was killed in a two-car collision Wednesday night about six miles south of McGehee on U. S. 65, State Police said. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hayden Harper. Danny Felder, 21, also of McGehee was the driver of the car in which Miss Harper was riding. Felder was listed in critical condition in a Dermott hospital. Ruth Ellen Robinson of Indio, Calif., was the driver of the other car, police said.
Northwest Arkansas Times, September 1,
1966 |
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Louella Harper, 75, of Bay City died May 20, 1996 at the Legacy in Bay City. She was born May 17, 1921 in Markham, Tx. to Virgil T. and Lila Smith Harper. She was a member of the First Baptist Church, a former clerk for the Water Dept. of the City of Bay City, and a life long resident of Matagorda Co. Funeral Services will be 10 a. m. Wednesday, May 22, 1996, at the First Baptist Church with Rev. Mike Zimmerman and Rev. Howard Harper officiating. Interment will be at Cedarvale Cemetery in Bay City. Pallbearers are Larry and Harper Augsburger, Loy Sneary, Howard Harper, Gaston Morton and Jimmy Powers. Survivors include: Nephews: Larry Augsburger of Houston, Harper Augsburger of Beaumont, Howard Harper of Markham, Hayden Harper of McGee, Ark., Nieces: Sandra Lee Lloyd of McGee, Ark., Helen Harper Sneary of Bay City, Mary McCabe of Fairport, New York, Sisters-in-law: Helga Harper of Bay City, Maybelle Harper of McGee, Ark., 12 Grand Nieces and Nephews and six Great Grand Nieces and Nephews. Arrangements are with Taylor Bros. Funeral Home.
Daily Tribune, May 1996 |