Descendants
After the atrocities committed by the Harpes, many members bearing the family name changed their name, in some way, to hide the heritage of their infamous ancestors. The Harpes may have disguised their Tory past from their Patriot neighbours, by changing their original name of "Harper," which was a common Loyalist name in Revolutionary War-era North Carolina. Some went by "Harp" merely removing the final "E" in Harpe, but leaving the pronunciation the same. Others changed the name significantly. Wyatt Earp is a famous example said - though unconfirmed - to have been a member of the Harpe family. There are still descendants of the family today, including those that have changed their surname back to the original spelling.
Read more about this topic: Harpe Brothers
Famous quotes containing the word descendants:
“And what if my descendants lose the flower
Through natural declension of the soul,
Through too much business with the passing hour,
Through too much play, or marriage with a fool?”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“The descendants of Holy Roman Empire monarchies became feeble-minded in the twentieth century, and after World War I had been done in by the democracies; some were kept on to entertain the tourists, like the one they have in England.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“We go to great pains to alter life for the happiness of our descendants and our descendants will say as usual: things used to be so much better, life today is worse than it used to be.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)