Santa
Clara County
Biographies
FRED W. CRANDALL
The accident of ill health interfering with his
cherished dreams of becoming a clergyman of the Christian Church, Fred W.
Crandall sought that satisfaction which nature holds out to such of her sons as
read her lessons rightly, and who are willing to cooperate with her in her
beneficent mission of increasing the brightness, usefulness and happiness of
the toiling human race. As a rancher of wide experience and more than ordinary
understanding of his work he enjoys special prominence as manager of the Sorosis Fruit Farm of two hundred and forty acres, near
Saratoga, an enterprise renowed (sic) for the
excellence of its petite prunes, known in the markets of America and Europe by
the brands of Sorosis, Heart of California, and
Sylvan Glen. This large responsibility, however, by no means represents the
extent of his interests, for Mr. Crandall has a keen appreciation of the
resources of the state, and has variously tested their adaptation to his own
needs. He personally owns and operates a ranch of sixteen acres at Sunnyvale,
Santa Clara county, and which is devoted to peaches
and apricots. He is a promoter of education and all-around developing
conditions, and is one of the most liberal minded and intelligent admirers of
the climatic and home advantages of Santa Clara county.
He is one of the large stockholders in a copper milling and mining company
operating at Eldora, Colo., and with headquarters at Denver, incorporated for
$3,000,000, and with a paid up policy of $450,000.
Remote Crandall ancestors pursued their
various vocations in picturesque Wales, the first immigrants to America
locating presumably in Rhode Island. Mr. Crandall’s paternal great-grandfather,
Aaron, was born and spent his entire life in Rhode Island, an example not
followed by his son, Elery, the next in line of
succession, who left his native town of Hopkinton and settled on a farm in
Susquehanna county, Pa. Here George W. Crandall, the father of Fred W., was
born and farmed for many years, removing, however, to his son in California in
1888, where he still resides at the age of four score and two years. His wife,
formerly Emily Mary Chaffee, also was born in Pennsylvania, and was a daughter
of Harvey P. Chaffee, a prominent contractor and builder of New York state who
eventually removed to and died in Tippecanoe, Miami county, Ohio. Mrs. Emily
Mary Crandall is the mother of two other sons and two daughters.
In 1875 the present manager of the Sorosis Fruit Farm supplemented his common school education
by a course at Cambrian College, and later devoted a year to the theological
course at Irvington, Cal., having then to abandon his ministerial expectations
because of impaired health and eyesight. He taught in Nebraska and Missouri
from 1878 until 1883, in which year he came to California, hoping much from the
outdoor life made possible by engaging in the fruit business. At Saratoga he
had a large fruit packing enterprise, conducted in connection with a farm of
fifty acres. He became manager of his present farm in 1896, and the wisdom of
this appointment is all too apparent, for the farm has never been so well
equipped, or run with such intelligent disposal of its many advantages. Mr.
Crandall’s hospitable home is presided over by his genial, educated and
socially gifted wife, who was, before her marriage in Cawker City, Kans.,
Josephine West, a native of Nebraska. The two children of this union, Thomas
Eugene and Fred Harold, are aged thirteen and ten years respectively. For many
years Mr. Crandall has been a stanch promoter of the Grange, and no less
enthusiastic in his usefulness as a Republican politician. The Christian Church
at Saratoga counts him as one of its most useful and helpful members. He is the
promoter and originator of the Sorosis Irrigation
System, which is a blessing to a large portion of his community, and he
deserves great credit for his perseverance and foresight in thus securing this
system in Santa Clara county.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1331-1332. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.