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Bio-Sawyers
SURNAMES: APPLING, GIBBONS

A highly esteemed resident of the Mountain View district who is showing great capability in the management of her ranch is Mrs. Bettie Gwartney, whose home is a center of community progress and hospitality. She was born in Mississippi and when only three years old, came with her parents, Seth Gibbons, a native of North Carolina, and Martha (Appling) Gibbons, a native of Virginia. Her father was a farmer by occupation, and left Mississippi directly after the Civil War and coming to California settled in Merced County, where he engaged in farming. Mr. and Mrs. Gibbons are the parents of six children, all of whom are living, but both parents are deceased.


Mrs. Gwartney began her education in the public schools; later she was graduated from the State Normal School at San Jose and became a teacher, first at Sutter Creek and later at Mayfield, Cal. At her childhood home in Merced County, she was married to Prof. J. G. Gwartney; he was a native of Indiana and was educated in the grammar and high schools of his native state; then he entered the State University at Lincoln, Nebr., and after removing to California entered the State Normal School at San Jose, from which he graduated in 1891. He later graduated from Stanford University with the class of 1898, receiving the degree of A. B. Professor and Mrs. Gwartney were sent by the U. S. Government to teach in the Philippine Islands, Professor Gwartney preceding his wife by two years, teaching there for six years, while Mrs. Gwartney taught there for four years.

Through the influence and efforts of Mrs. Gwartney a sanitary restaurant was established in the Philippine Islands as a branch of her teaching of domestic, science, and this restaurant has been kept up and is still running. In 1907 they returned to their ranch in Mountain View, and Prof. Gwartney passed away October 1, 1916, at the age of fifty-six. While Mrs. Gwartney gives most of her time and attention to the management of her fifteen-acre ranch, she still is deeply interested in educational matters, and is held in high esteem by the residents of the community.

From Eugene T. Sawyers' History of Santa Clara County,California,  published by Historic Record Co. , 1922. page 1481

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