Sacramento County
Biographies
HERBERT
A. FAIRBANK
An official connection with the California Fruit
Distributors affords notable evidence of the prominence to which Mr. Fairbank has attained in the horticultural activities of
the state. Further testimony concerning
the same appears in his forceful association with the Producer’s Fruit Company
of Sacramento. The organization of this prosperous concern
came as the result of his initiative.
Success came through his laborious application and care in every
detail. From the year 1892, when his
energetic efforts made effective the opening of the business, up to the present
time, when the company ships an average of seventeen hundred cars of fruit per
annum, the history of the business has been one of steady growth and prosperous
development. In the early years of the
company’s existence he held the office of vice-president, but in 1908 he was
elected president, and this office he still holds, while in addition he has
served from the first as manager of the concern and has handled with skill the
constantly increasing business.
Although he came to the west from Texas
and prior to his residence in the Lone Star state had been engaged in business
in South Dakota, Mr. Fairbank claims Illinois
as his native commonwealth. His birth
occurred April 19, 1860,
his parents having been John B. and Ruth
B. Fairbank, being descended from Jonathan Fayerbanke, of Dedham, Mass.,
whose father came from England to Massachusetts about 1631. Primarily educated in the grammar schools of Jacksonville,
Ill., he later took the regular course in
the high school and was graduated in 1876, after which he continued his studies
in Illinois College
for three years. Upon starting out to
earn his own way in the world he went to Sioux Falls,
S. Dak., and engaged in the
wood and coal business until 1883.
During the two following years he carried on a lumber business at San
Antonio, Tex., but in 1885 he
disposed of the enterprise, closed out his interests there and removed to California. In San Francisco
he served as secretary of the California Fruit Union until 1888, in which year
he resigned and removed to Sacramento,
the center of his subsequent business activities. In this city he acted as manager of the National
Fruit Association, a concern composed of twenty-seven eastern firms, organized
under their above title through his personal efforts. The position with them he resigned in 1892 in
order to devote his time to the organization of the Producers Fruit Company.
The establishment of a home of his own
dates from the residence of Mr. Fairbank in South Dakota,
where at Sioux Falls, September
6, 1882, he was united with Miss Lillian
E. Buck, a popular and cultured young lady of that city. One daughter blessed their marriage, Gladys,
now the wife of W. H. Dement and a resident of Berkeley. The religious sympathies of the family are
with the Congregational Church and they have contributed with constant
generosity to the missionary movements of the denomination. In his political views Mr. Fairbank always has supported the Republican party, but at no time has he sought official honors or
aspired to the activities incident to public life. Of recognized culture and breadth of mind, he
has been a welcomed guest in the most select circles of the community. The Sutter Club has received his support as
an active member and his social relations are enlarged through membership in
the Union League of San Francisco. The
Masonic Order has received his sympathetic support in the varied philanthropies
that mark its existence, he being a member of the Knights Templar and Shrine,
while in addition he has maintained fraternal associations with the Woodmen.
Transcribed by Betty Vickroy.
Source: Willis,
William L., History of Sacramento
County, California, Pages 523-524. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1913.
© 2005 Betty Vickroy.