Santa Clara County
Biographies
RANDOLPH W. APPERSON
RANDOLPH W. APPERSON. Among the successful
agriculturists of the county, must be mentioned the gentleman whose name head
this sketch. His farm, of eighty-two acres, in the Braley District, is situated
on the Saratoga and Alviso road, about two miles north of Lawrence. With the
exception of a small orchard, which yields a choice variety of fruit for
domestic use only, the ranch is devoted to the production of hay and grain. Two
artesian wells furnish all the water needed, one of them having a depth of 362
feet, and giving a fine flow of two inches above a seven-inch pipe.
Randolph W. is the son of Dr. John Apperson and Alice (Faver) Apperson, natives
of Culpepper County, Virginia, who removed to Washington County, Virginia, where
the subject of our sketch was born in 1809. He youth was spent upon a farm,
which his father conducted in addition to his professional duties. In 1829, with
his parents, he removed to Franklin County, Missouri, where his father continued
the practice of medicine, while he engaged in farming operations, until 1831.
Then, after spending one year in mercantile life in Franklin County, he went to
Dent County, in the same State, opening here a general merchandise store, which
he conducted with profit for about three years. Returning in 1835 to Franklin
County, he resumed his former occupations of farming and stock-raising. That he
was successful and contented we may know from the fact that he remained in that
locality and business for twenty-eight years. When he left Missouri, in 1863, it
was to make his home in California, the favored State of the Union. Reaching San
Francisco via the Panama route, he made a stay of about eight months in the
city, before coming to Santa Clara County. Upon visiting this county he
purchased the farm which he now occupies and cultivates.
Mr. Apperson in his youth received such scanty schooling as could be gained in
the rural districts in that day, but his ambitious disposition and habits of
industry led him to educate himself. He may be styled a self-made man, for his
successes have been due, not to particularly fortunate circumstances, but to his
strong determination to merit success, by doing all in his power to advance
himself by all honorable means. Public-spirited and a progressive in his views,
he is a valued citizen of his section. Politically, he is a Democrat, but is
liberal and conservative in his views. In 1830, when just entering manhood, Mr.
Apperson became converted to the cause of Christ, and united with the Methodist
Episcopal Church, continuing an earnest member of that denomination until after
his marriage, when during a winter season spent in Iowa, he joined the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, becoming an elder of that organization. His life
has been consistent with his profession of religion, for, by precept and
practice, he has shown his love for the Master.
He was married in 1840, to Miss Drusilla Whitmire, a daughter of Henry Whitmire,
a native of South Carolina, and a resident of Franklin County, Missouri. Of the
three children born from this union, two are living, Phoebe Elizabeth and Elbert
Clark. The former married George Hearst, of Missouri, who is now the able United
States Senator from California. The latter married Miss Elizabeth Sutherland,
daughter of William Sutherland, of Santa Clara County, and now resides upon a
farm of his own near his father’s home.
SOURCE: Pen Pictures From The Garden of the World or
Santa Clara County, California, Illustrated. - Edited by H. S. Foote.-
Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1888. - page 443-444 - Transcribed
by Carolyn Feroben