California Biographies, San Joaquin Valley Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm Source: History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from its earliest settlement to the present time. Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905 Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176 RICHARD JEFFERSON WIGLEY. Among the prominent and enterprising farmers of Tulare county, Richard Jefferson Wigley is located within the vicinity of Poplar and engaged in the operation of his extensive ranch, consisting of twenty-five hundred and fifty-five acres. He was born in Gordon county, Ga., April 21, 1852, a son of Richard and the grandson of William Wigley, the former born in North Carolina in 1813, where the latter removed from his birthplace in Virginia and followed the occupation of farmer. In manhood Richard Wigley sought a home further south, locating in Gordon county, Ga., about 1850, where he farmed in Sugar valley. In 1866 he removed to Franklin county, Ark., where he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1890. His wife, formerly Minerva Mackey, was born in Georgia and died in Arkansas. They were the parents of eleven children, six sons and five daughters, of whom Richard Jefferson Wigley was the ninth in order of birth. A limited education was all that Richard Jefferson Wigley could obtain among the primitive conditions of the early day. From earliest childhood he was trained in the practical duties which fall to the lot of a farmer's son, assisting his father in farming until 1872. In that year he went to Texas and located at Clarksville, where he engaged in farming for six years. He then went home to Arkansas, and spent the ensuing year with his parents, after which he came to California. For one year he remained in the San Joaquin valley, when he went to Walla Walla, Wash., and remained the same length of time. Returning to California, he located near Poplar, Tulare county, in conjunction with his brother purchasing two sections of land. Later he bought his brother's interest in the land and has continued to add to the original purchase until he now owns twenty-five hundred and fifty-five acres. About thirty acres of this extensive tract is in alfalfa, while the balance is given over to the cultivation of grain. His interests are very extensive and he has met with success in all of his operations, his property ranking among the finest in this section. In Visalia, Cal., Mr. Wigley married Laura H. Radliff, a native of Wisconsin, and they are the parents of the following children : Ethel, Amy and Carrie, all at home. In 1901 Mr. Wigley purchased property in Tulare city, establishing his home there in order to give his children the advantages of the high school of that place. Politically he is a stanch adherent of the principles advocated by the Democratic party.