Tuolumne
County
Biographies
MARION CLARK RANDOLPH
The popular citizen of Quartz,
Tuolumne County, California, whose name is above and who fills the responsible
position of postmaster of the town mentioned, is a native born son of the
Golden State and is descended from early California pioneers. He was born at Sutter Creek, Amador County,
December 27, 1854, a son of Isaac N. and Mary Minerva (Morrow) Randolph. Isaac N. Randolph was born in Pennsylvania,
January 27, 1824, and was educated in his native state and in Maryland. He served as a soldier in the United States
army in the Mexican War, and in 1846 came to California, in the command of
General Phil Kearney, and was honorably discharged from the service at Sonoma,
Sonoma County, in 1847. He engaged in
the hotel business in that town and was married May 12, 1850, to Mary Minerva
Morrow, a native of Missouri and a daughter of Samuel Morrow, who in 1846 came
with his family to California, by way of Salt Lake. The family, which consisted of Mr. and Mrs.
Morrow and their four sons and four daughters, camped in the mountains at
Donner Lake a short time before the Donner party met with its terrible fate at
that point. Mr. Morrow settled in Sonoma
County near Santa Rosa and farmed there until 1851, when he moved to South
Creek with his family, which then included Isaac N. Randolph and his wife. There Mr. Morrow and others of his party
engaged in placer-mining and he was successful for a time, but sunk his gains
in later mining enterprises. He died at
the age of seventy-six years.
Isaac N. Randolph became a leading
citizen of California, and being a resolute man of much decision of character
and of military experience, was several times elected to the office of
constable and was for some years the sheriff of Amador County and did much
toward ridding his part of the state of lawless characters, and was prominent
in the capture of the Mexicans who committed the Rancheria massacre. He died March 26, 1883, aged fifty-nine years. His wife survives him and is now (1900)
sixty-eight years old and is a well known and respected resident of Sutter
Creek. Isaac N. and Mary Minerva
(Morrow) Randolph had five children, as follows: George S., a resident of Idaho; M. C., the
immediate subject of this sketch; Orville C., who lives at Sutter Creek; Mary,
who is Mrs. John Lithow, and Joseph S., of Sutter Creek.
The subject of this sketch was
educated at Sutter Creek and at Napa College, and was in the real estate and
insurance business and in trade as a general merchant at Napa, Napa County, and
at Quartz, Tuolumne County.
Politically Mr. Randolph is a
Democrat. He is a past president of the
Amador Parlor of Native Sons of the Golden West, is a member of the Order of
Red Men and of the Ancient Order of Foresters.
He has a pleasant home at Quartz where he has lived during the past five
years and where he and his family are highly esteemed. He was married December 8, 1881, to Miss Mary
H. Shaw, a native of Calaveras County, California, and a daughter of Mathew
Shaw, who came to this state in 1858, and they have three children: Ethel May,
Edith and Frederick W.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 103-104. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.