Apperson, John (of Coles Co., IL)

Born: 1794-01-09 New Kent County, Virginia

Died: 1877-06-05 Coles County, Illinois

Flourished: Coles County, Illinois

John Apperson was an early settler and pioneering physician in Coles County, Illinois. During the War of 1812, he served as a private in Captain John Meek's Company of the Virginia Militia. In August 1821, Apperson married Sidney Hanson in Russell County, Virginia. In 1829, Apperson and his family moved from his native Virginia to Coles County, settling in a log cabin near the roadbed of the proposed Illinois Central Railroad. In 1830, he moved his cabin to the edge of the frontier and cleared thirty acres of land for cultivation. In 1832, Apperson purchased thirty-eight acres of public land southwest of Charleston, near Paradise. Apperson became the first physician in Coles County, treating patients for forty years. His practice grew large, and he regularly treated patients as far as twenty-five miles from his home. In 1843, he served on the board of directors for the Coles County Agricultural Society. In 1850, Apperson owned real property valued at $3,000. In 1851, Apperson received for his war service seventy-eight acres of public land northeast of his farm between Mattoon and Charleston. By 1860, he owned real property valued at $10,500 and had a personal estate of $11,030. Apperson was a charter member of Wabash Lodge, 179, of the Freemasons.

War of 1812 Pension Applications, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group Number 15, National Archives, Washington DC; The History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 254, 263, 499, 506, 510; Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales, Coles County, 145:32, 154:188, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Wabash, Coles County, IL, 39; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Paradise, Coles County, IL, 118; Gravestone, Dry Grove Cemetery, Coles County, IL.