Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

One of the virtuous few

by Aaron Wherry on Monday, May 25, 2009 8:50pm - 15 Comments

Roy McGregor traces Stephen Harper’s lineage to its Canadian root.

When the various county offices were re-organized, Harper was made Commissioner of Roads and then Justice of the Peace. The inhabitants of the area were furious. They complained that he was “exceedingly obnoxious” in his dealings with them.

Tags: Christopher Harper, England, Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, Sackville, Stephen Harper, Yorkshire

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DisplacedCanadian

It really doesn’t matter.

From a very crass, political perspective (hell, it’s what I do for a living in DC)…I’m reminded of that thing about glass houses. Or even a house with windows, damn.
dan in van

I bet Christopher Harper sure wish he’d had a home renovation tax credit those days, because he also had a wife *nudge-nudge*…
Jenn

I love little history stories like this. I can’t say I find it hard to believe Mr. Harper’s ancestor was like that.
Gary

This is starting to look retrospectively like a clash of dislikable dynasties. A century after Harper’s forebear was annoying Nova Scotians, Michael Ignatieff’s great-grandfather was bringing in new anti-Semitic laws on behalf the of Czar:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Pavlovich_Ignatyev
Gary

make that “on behalf of the Czar,” natch.
http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Cool! Give us more, Mr. MacGregor, anonymous genealogist, and Mr. Wherry, about Harper’s ancestors. Sounds like they were in the thick of things from the beginning! Ignatieff may have those Grants, but having an ancestor who stood by the Crown and then got drunk on power is pretty cool.

Critical Reasoning

I thought the MacGregor piece was cute. Not that it makes a difference, but it occurs to me that “Harper” isn’t exactly a rare name, and I wonder if the genealogist made a credible effort to establish a link between Christopher and Stephen (as opposed to typing a search query into a genealogy database)

Ideally, assuming no inter-familial breeding, we have two parents, four grandparents, eight great- grandparents, and so on. 280 years is equivalent to approximately 12 human generations. Harper could have had as many as 4,096 (2^12) distinct ancestors twelve generations ago, each of whom made contributions to his DNA.

Therefore, it’s not particularly edifying to pick one possible ancestor (really, just some semi-noteworthy fellow from 1730 who happens to have the same surname) and then speculate about what traits he has in common with someone living today.

kc

O give over CR. You know very well that the similarity in character traits betwee the two Harpers is at least amusing. In fact i find them quite creepy. But i wouldn’t hold that against SH in any way, it’s just of interest.

Critical Reasoning

Sure, it’s amusing. It just has no basis in science or reality.

http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

“Or reality”? I wouldn’t underestimate that kind of thing, CR. Look at the Hound of the Baskervilles. Also, your reckoning is off: “280 years is equivalent to approximately 12 human generations” isn’t right, it’s only 7 generations (or 8 generations inclusive). 23 years is too low an average generation gap for early Canada, in which women often had children into their 40′s and the men would often be 5-10 years older than their wives.

Re: tracing, you can get online records back to 1850-ish; parish records could take you further back. I’d like to see the evidence too, but it’s not impossible at all.
Critical Reasoning

According to genealogists, generations are between 20 and 25 years. I split it down the middle at 23 years.

Even if we assume that the average generation length of the Harper clan is 30 years, it’s still 2^8 = 256 ancestors / DNA donors. My point still stands.

I don’t doubt that a genealogist could accurately trace of the Harper clan using online records, though without participation or corroboration from the Harper family, it’s hard to verify.

Also, you stumped me with the Hound of the Baskervilles reference. I’m not sure what the Sherlock Holmes story has to do with it.
http://www.jackmitchell.ca Jack Mitchell

Where’s your whimsy this evening? Anyway, you’re taking personality as purely genetically determined? If this Christopher Harper is the PM’s direct ancestor, he’s his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father (or perhaps his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father), unless the Harper name got crossed in at some point, which isn’t likely. And fathers do tend to hand on their personalities, over and above their DNA, to their sons. Whence the Hound of the Baskervilles . . . not just the curse, but the angry disposition which characterised the descendants of the original Baskerville evildoer.
Critical Reasoning

Sorry that I’m flimsy with the whimsy today.

I’m not sure that non-genetic personality traits can really be passed on through eight or twelve generations (excluding monarchy, titled nobility and other ancestor-worshipers who try to adhere to ancestral storylines).

In other words, I wouldn’t put much stock in the theory that Harper’s a jerk because his father was a jerk, but only because his own father was a jerk, and yea, unto n generations. If even one of those direct ancestors wasn’t a jerk, the whole chain would be broken.

Also, I prefer the Jewish emphasis on matrilineal descent, if only because it reduces the possibility that one’s father’s father’s father was actually the milkman.

kc

Great post Aaron – Roy Mac’s great!

That’s it. i intend to become a Hindu – or is it Buddist? No more convincing evidence for reincarnation exists in the land. I wonder who Layton’s ancestors were? Any chance of one with a penchant for arson?
Sisyphus

Six degrees of similarity.

Oh, and he’s still annoying Nova Scotians.