William Randolph Hearst
(from Wikipedia)
Early life
Hearst was born in San Francisco to millionaire mining
engineer George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson Hearst.
George Hearst's paternal grandfather, John Hearst, who was
of Scottish origin, emigrated to America with his wife and
six children in 1766 and settled in South Carolina. Their
immigration to America was spurred in part by the state
government's policy that encouraged the immigration of
Protestants. The names "John Hearse" and "John Hearse Jr."
appear on the council records on the October 26, 1766,
being credited with meriting 400 acres (1.6 km²) and 100
acres (0.40 km²) of land on the Long Canes (in what
became Abbeville District), based upon 100 acres (0.40
km²) to heads of household and 50 acres (200,000 m²) for
each dependent of a Protestant immigrant. The "Hearse"
spelling of the family name never was used afterward by the
family members themselves, or any family of any size. A
separate theory purports that one branch of a "Hurst"
family of Virginia (originally from Plymouth Colony) moved
to South Carolina at about the same time and changed the
spelling of its surname of over a century to that of the
emigrant Hearsts. Hearst's mother was of Irish ancestry;
her family came from Galway.
Following preparation at St. Paul's School in Concord, New
Hampshire, Hearst enrolled in the Harvard College class of
1885, where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity (Alpha chapter), the A.D. Club (a prestigious
Harvard Final club), and of the Harvard Lampoon before
being expelled for antics ranging from sponsoring massive
beer parties in Harvard Square to sending chamber pots to
his professors (their images were depicted within the
bowls).
SNAPSHOT | BIO | EARLY LIFE | PUBLISHING BUSINESS | EXPANSION
INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS | PERSONAL LIFE | MARION DAVIES
CALIFORNIA PROPERTY | ST. DONAT’S CASTLE | THE FAMILY CLUB
CRITICISM | IN FICTION | OTHER WORKS
William Randolph Hearst in 1906