Los Angeles County

Biographies

 

 

 

FRANCIS QUARLES STORY

 

 

            The late Francis Quarles Story, “father of the Sunkist orange” and nationally known horticulturist, railway builder and civic leader, was a distinguished Southland pioneer who resided in Alhambra for half a century.  He was born in Waukesha, Wisconsin, July 18, 1845, a son of John Patten and Elizabeth (Quarles) Story, and was scion of colonial American ancestry on both the paternal and maternal sides.  The original home of the Story family was in the county palatine of Durham, England.  Elisha Story, the American progenitor, left England in 1701 as a passenger on a sailing vessel bound for the new world and settle in Boston, Massachusetts.  On October 17, 1706, he married Lydia Emmons, by whom he had two sons, both of whom died early in life.  His second wife was Sarah Renouf, whom he married October 1, 1713.  His death occurred September 10, 1725.

            William Story, son of Elisha and Sarah (Renouf) Story, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, April 25, 1720.  He became registrar of the vice admiralty court-house, with office on Queen (now State) street in Boston.  He married Elizabeth Marion, August 13, 1741, and his marriage to Joanna Appleton was solemnized May 14, 1747.  For his third wife he chose Abigail Marshall, whom he wedded February 29, 1776.  The latter part of his life was spent in Marblehead, Massachusetts, where he passed away November 24, 1799.

            Dr. Elisha Story, son of William and Elizabeth (Marion) Story, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 3, 1743, and died at Marblehead, August 27, 1805.  As a surveyor he served with Colonel Little’s Essex regiment and was with George Washington on Long Island, at White Plains, New York, and Trenton, New Jersey.  He was also one of the sons of Liberty, helped capture the two brass cannon on Boston Common and played and important part in military affairs.  In 1767 he married Ruth Ruddock, a daughter of Major Ruddock, and his second wife was Mehitable Pedrick.

            Joseph Story, son of Dr. Elisha and Mehitable (Pedrick) Story, was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, September 18, 1779, and died in Cambridge, that state, September 10, 1845.  He studied law and attained eminence in his profession, becoming a justice of the United States Supreme Court.  William Wetmore Story, son of Joseph Story, was born in Salem, Massachusetts, February 12, 1819, and became a distinguished author, artist and sculptor.  His death occurred in Vallombrosa, Italy, October 7, 1895.

            William Story, son of Dr. Elisha and Ruth (Ruddock) Story, was prominent in shipping circles, sailing vessels out of Marblehead to all of parts of the world.  Two of his vessels were destroyed during the French and English war for which his claim was finally granted.  A replica of one of his ships, “The Friendship” is exhibited at Essex institute of Salem Massachusetts.  He was the father of John Patten Story and the grandfather of Francis Quarles Story, whose name initiates this review.

            Francis Q. Story graduated from Waukesha, Wisconsin high school in 1861.  He taught school the following year and subsequently graduated from the Eastman Commercial College of Poughkeepsie, New York.  He began his business career as an assistant bookkeeper with a large Boston firm of wool importers and manufacturers of woolen goods, later taking charge of the books.  He next engaged as a dealer in foreign and domestic wools in Boston from 1863 until 1876.  The great Boston fire of 1872 caused Mr. Story to lose a small fortune, due to the failure of the insurance companies.  By hard work and careful management he gained a new start, but owing to impaired health he was compelled to retire and move to San Francisco.  In 1876 he became a member of the firm of B. P. Flint & company, and remained in the wool business for two years.

            In 1883 Mr. Story came to Southern California and established his residence in Alhambra, becoming active in the development of that city as well as his extensive community work in the city of Los Angeles.  He established the San Gabriel Valley Rapid Transit Railway, connecting Los Angeles and Monrovia and branch line from Alhambra to Pasadena.  He was general manager of the early transportation system from the time it was built until it was sold to the Southern Pacific Railroad.  During his business career Mr. Story was vitally interested in the orange grove which he planted on his Alhambra property.  Visualizing the potentialities of the citrus crop to California, he turned his abilities to aiding production and distribution of California oranges.  He lived to see the name of Sunkist oranges from California circle the globe and is credited with having been the moving spirit in fighting the battles of the state’s citrus problems.  He became vice president of the Southern California Fruit Exchange in 1897 and president of its successor, the California Fruit Growers Exchange, holding this position for sixteen years before retiring.  He saw the industry grow from an annual shipment to two thousand carloads, the Exchange now handling more than half the citrus crop of the state.  He built the organization into one that ranked among the largest and most successful cooperative movements of its kind in the world.

            At the meeting of the board of directors of the California Fruit Growers Exchange held July 6, 1932, the following resolution expressing their feeling official was adopted:

            “Another of the sturdy, clear-visioned pioneers of the Exchange has passed away-Honorary Life President F. Q. Story, who died on July 1, 1932, at the ripe old age of eighty-seven.

            “For a quarter of a century the history of the Exchange and the life of Mr. Story were inseparably interwoven.  As early as 1896 Mr. Story was elected president of the Alhambra Orange Growers Association, immediately becoming its representative on the board of directors of the Semi-Tropic Fruit Exchange, and in a short time representative of the latter on the board of the central Exchange, then called the Southern California Fruit Exchange.  The following year he was elected president of the Semi-Tropic Fruit Exchange and vice president of the central Exchange.  Made president of the California Fruit Growers Exchange in 1904 and the of the Fruit Growers Supply company upon its formation in 1907, he continue to head the four Exchange organizations until 1920, when he retired at the age of seventy-five years.  During this time the Exchange grew from a small struggling group of growers to a position of national leadership in the field of cooperative marketing.

            “While every forward movement in the industry had his support, Mr. Story is especially well known as father of the great Sunkist national advertising campaign, initiated in 1907.  The wisdom of this farseeing move is manifest in the marketing of continuously increasing crops, greater by far than could be foreseen at that early date.

            “It was in recognition of his invaluable contribution to the prosperity of the Exchange that the position of Honorary Life President was created for him at the time of his retirement.

            “Mr. Story’s largest contribution consists not, however, in the concrete enterprises sponsored and effected, but in the great hear of the man expressed in unselfish devotion, courtesy, fairness, sympathy, simplicity.  Small wonder that among the Exchange family he is greatly beloved and that the nobility of his character will long continue to be an inspiration among our ranks!

            “In appreciation of Mr. Story, the man and the leader, the board of directors of the California Fruit Growers Exchange directs that this small tribute to his worth be incorporated in the official minute records of the organization and copy sent to his relatives.”

            Among other positions which Mr. Story held in the fruit industry was that of chairman of the executive committee of the Citrus Protective League from its organization until 1911.  His administrative power was exercised as president of the Los Angeles Directory Company, publishers of the official Los Angeles city directory, and he was a director of the Security-First National Bank of Los Angeles and a directory of the First National Bank of Alhambra.

            From the time of its inception until his retirement in 1920, Mr. Story was state vice president and director of the National Irrigation Association and director of the National Irrigation Association and as president during his career of the Arizona and California Conservation Commission.  Joining the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce in 1891, Mr. Story was a director continuously until 1920 and was president in 1902.  In 1897 he was chairman of the executive committee of the Nicaraguan Canal Association.  In 1898, under the auspices of the Chamber, and as chairman of the executive committee of the national Education Association, Mr. Story, aided by Judge Charles Silent, raised twenty-tree thousand dollars for the convention held in 1899, and again in 1907, with Judge Silent, raised twenty-two thousand dollars for another convention of the National Education Association.  These two conventions attracted fifty thousand people to Los Angeles.  Mr. Story was chairman of the building committee that in 1901 erected the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce building on Broadway, between First and Second streets.  In 1906 he was chairman of the citizens committee that raised more than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash and supplies for the sufferers in the great San Francisco earthquake and fire.  He also served as chairman of committees which raised funds for the buildings of the Young Women’s Christian Association and Young Men’s Christian Association in Los Angeles.  As chairman of the citrus tariff executive committee of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Story multiplied his Fruit Exchange efforts in protecting California fruit raisers and in making Southern California famous throughout the world for its product.  He was the first president of the San Gabriel Valley Country Club and a member of the California Club, the Southern California Automobile Club, the Los Angeles Municipal League and the Alhambra Chamber of Commerce.  The Alhambra Athletic Club property and an adjoining section of land near the Story home, now part of the city’s park system, were named Story Park in recognition of his deeding the tract of land to the city for park purposes.  As a trustee of the University of Southern California he was closely associated with the education interest of the state.

            In 1876 Mr. Story was united in marriage to Miss Charlotte Forrester Story Devereaux, a daughter of General George H. Devereaux, of Salem, Massachusetts.  He died in the home which he built in 1883 at 520 East Alhambra Road, Alhambra, and is survived by this sister, Anna Story, wife of Judge Albert M. Stephens, who resides at 611 South Kingsley Drive, Los Angeles; by a niece Mrs. Charles Newhall of Medford, Oregon; and John Patten Story of Washington, D. C.  There were two brothers who attained distinction in American History.  John Patten Story retired as Major General and chief of United States Artillery and was sent by President Roosevelt to inspect the artillery in the various countries of the world.  He died in Pasadena.  William Story was a Federal judge in Arkansas, and later Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, and he died in Los Angeles.  His sister, Elizabeth Story Reed, wife of General H. A. Reed, U. S. A. died in New Jersey.

            We quote the editorial which appeared in the Los Angeles Times under date of July 4, 1932.  “Southern California has lost another of the great figures identified with the progress of the southwest in the conclusion just written to the life work of Francis Quarles Story.  Full of years well spent and with record for public service ably performed, this western pioneer passed away in his quite Alhambra home after a few years’ rest, forced by the exigency of advancing age, from his long and tireless activities.  Mr. Story has deserved well of his fellow citizens and will always be affectionately remembered by the many friends he made in his adopted homeland.

            “No single industry has done more to enhance the fame of Southern California than the culture of the orange.  And at its inception no industry had heavier obstacles to overcome.  Those whose memories go back to the closing years of the last century will recall the disappointments and discouragements of the first orange growers and the doubt so generally expressed if its culture here could ever be placed on the paying basis.

            “Among the determined business men who finally did place the young citrus industry on a paying basis none did better work than Francis Q. Story.  He gave it an advertising start that has carried the famous brand of the Sunkist orange to the farthest markets of the world.  In addition he was railway builder and a sound financier who has left his mark on the other western expansions and enterprises.  But it is as a horticultural leader that he won his highest honors.

            “Another of the big builders to whom the southwest owes much that future generations may pass lightly by has gone to his last rest.  But the many living who have benefited by his public enterprise and his private munificence will not forget.”

 

 

Transcribed By: Michele Y. Larsen on 11 January 2012.

Source: California of the South Vol. II,  by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 5-11, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles,  Indianapolis.  1933.

© 2012 Michele Y. Larsen.

 

 

 

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