Apphia was the daughter of Amaziah Cleveland and Sarah Marvin Cleveland. She is a descendant of Moses Cleveland.

Apphia's unusual name is Biblical; from Greek meaning bountiful.

"Good Old Times of McLean County"
Mrs. Cunningham, in addition to the daily household work and the exacting duties pertaining to maternity, carded, spun and wove the wool which made their daily clothing; brought thus safely through the mumps, measles, whooping-cough, croup, cholera morbus and courting, and lived to the good old age of seventy-five years, without ever losing a child or losing her firm faith in fore-ordination and predestination, which is the central doctrine in the faith of that branch of the Baptist Church of which she was a bright and shining light.

It never has been fully understood by mothers of the present day how those old mothers in Israel got along. That they had some strong sustaining aid in the way of sense and duty, and, perhaps, in most cases, the aid of faith in the promises is more than likely. Indeed, it can hardly be conceived that such an endless round of pressing and exhausting labors, running through nearly thirty years of a woman's life, could be borne without such aid. The sense of duty is one of the strongest, and nerves weak mortality to the most laborious and heroic acts. That which could have driven Mrs. Cunningham to her grave or to distraction was, possibly, to be endured even with joy and pleasure under the incentives or faith, duty and love.

Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham were members of the Antinomian, or in common parlance, "Hard-shell" Baptists. Their house was the place of the stated preaching of that sect. Rev. John Darnell, of Indian Grove, was for years the regular preacher there. The membership there was limited, and now seems to have entirely disappeared. It is due to them to say that, at least in their case, none of the absurdities which, by common fame, attached to some of the disciples of this sect were ever acted on by them. While holding to all the doctrines of the sect firmly, they were sensitive to any irregularity of conduct as they could have been had they believed in salvation by works alone.