Jesper Harding (November 5, 1799 – August 21, 1865) was an American publisher in Philadelphia.
Early life
Harding was born on November 5, 1799, in Philadelphia, a son of George Harding and Mary (née Hudd) Harding. His father was one of four brothers who emigrated from England to Canada and then to Philadelphia where he became a ship's carpenter and acquired significant property.
Initially a supporter of Andrew Jackson, Harding attempted to simultaneously support Jackson while also defending the directors of the Bank of the United States, which Jackson fiercely opposed. Harding later switched support (and his newspaper's editorial stance) to the anti-Jackson faction within the Democratic-Republican Party and in 1836 supported the Whig candidate William Henry Harrison for president. After this, Harding's newspaper became an advocate for the cause of the Whig party, until it was weakened by internal divisions in 1852.
Harding also manufactured paper at a manufacturing plant in Trenton, New Jersey, in what was the largest paper mill in the United States, along with a large iron works in Trenton.
- George Harding (1827–1902), who became a patent lawyer and argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and who married Charlotte Ludlow Kenner (1839–1890).
- William White Harding (1830–1889), who succeeded his father as publisher of the paper who married Catharine Badger Hart (1838–1924).
- James Barclay Harding (1830–1865), who married Georgiana Maria Gallagher (1838–1905).
His wife died on June 2, 1862. Harding died on August 21, 1865, at the residence of his eldest son in Chestnut Hill. In his obituary in The New York Times, he was referred to as "one of the oldest and best known publishers in the United States."
Descendants
Through his son William, Harding was a grandfather of Jessie Harding Morris (1865–1952), wife of Alfred Hennen Morris, and J. Horace Harding, was a financier and married Dorothea Barney, a daughter of Charles D. Barney and granddaughter of Civil War financier Jay Cooke.