San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOSEPH F. STUART
In 1912 the Ripon Nursery &
Improvement Company was established and since that time Joseph F. Stuart has
been president and general manager; this company deals extensively in handling
large stocks of fruit and nut trees, with headquarters on the Cactus Ranch on
the Tracy-Lathrop Highway. At the
present time this company is featuring the Stuart Prolific Almond as well as
the Stuart Prune, both being originated by Mr. Stuart several years ago. He was born near Silverville,
Solano County, October 19, 1864, a son of Daniel S. and Lydia Ann (Philpot)
Stuart. Daniel S. Stuart was a
Californian forty-niner, who started west but was shipwrecked at Acapulco,
Mexico, and packed and walked across the Isthmus; they encountered severe
hardships, and many died from the Panama fever.
He arrived in San Francisco, California, and went to Amador County,
where he engaged in mining, meeting with considerable success on the North Fork
of the American River; in 1850 he returned east and spent seven years at his
home in Bangor, Maine; then in 1858 he came around the Horn to San Francisco
with his wife and five children and they located on the south end of Grand
Island in Sacramento County, where he became a successful horticulturist. The flood of 1862 completely inundated Grand
Island and Mr. Stuart and family lost all their personal property as well as
the houses and barns, horses, cattle, hogs, etc., including 1000 cords of wood,
which was swept away into San Francisco Bay.
Thus bankrupt, he removed to Solano County, and started in anew at Silverville. He and
his son A. V. went into the mines again for two years and made a good
clean-up. The rest of his life was
devoted to farming, and at the time of his death he was rated at from $60,000
to $100,000.
Nine children were born to this
worthy pioneer couple: A. V. resides in
Ripon; J. E. is a well known artist of San Francisco; Annie, deceased; A. W.
resides in Sacramento; Mrs. E. V. Coleman resides in Antioch; Mrs. Walter
Brady; Joseph F., the subject of this sketch; Annie, deceased; and Nancy Hunt resides in Los Angeles.
In 1883 Joseph F. and his two brothers A. V. and A. W. Stuart removed to
Stanislaus County and engaged in grain farming southwest of Oakdale on the
lands owned by T. K. Beard, which they farmed for four years. In 1887, the mother of our subject and A. W.
Stuart bought 200 acres near Oakdale, and in 1888 Joseph F. was put in
charge. Here he developed a fine orchard
of almonds, peaches, apricots and pears.
It was while on this Oakdale ranch that he originated the Stuart almond
and the Stuart prune. The Stuart prune
is a very valuable contribution to California horticulture. The original tree propagated by Mr. Stuart
near Oakdale, Stanislaus County, is now twenty-seven years old and is still
healthy and a good bearer. It is a
seedling of the Silver prune, crossed with the Tragedy prune, taking its flavor
and color from the Tragedy, but retains the meat, size, and sweetness of the
Silver. It is an easy dryer, drying in
less time than any other prune of its size.
The university test discloses 53 to 55% of sugar; the highest of any
prune known. Mr. Stuart has several
acres in bearing and finds that the Stuart ripens earlier than the Silver, but
a little later than the Tragedy. It
takes less lye to cut them than the French, and they dry quicker and heavier
than any other prune.
Thus far, the Ripon Nursery has been
unable to supply the demand for this variety, owning no doubt to the fact that
growers have found that it returns a greater profit than any other prune. Mr. Stuart continued his operations at
Oakdale until 1904, when with his brother A. V. Stuart, he bought 320 acres
near Ripon, known as the Ruhl tract; two years later
the partnership was dissolved and A. V. Stuart continued in the olive industry
and Joseph F. devoted his entire time to orchard development, which was later
incorporated in 1912, as the Ripon Nursery & Improvement Company.
On October 9, 1888, Mr. Stuart was
married to Miss Jennie E. Mann, born near Silverville,
daughter of Daniel L. and Jane E. (Southern) Mann, both natives of Iowa, who
came to California in 1869. The Stuart
home was at Ripon until four years ago when they removed to Stockton. Six children have been born to them: Arthur L. is a merchant at Ripon; Ernest F.
is a peace officer at Stockton; Raymond S. resides in Ripon; Allen E. resides
at Ripon; Wesley W. is associated with his father; and Evelyn is the wife of
Loren McMullin and they reside in Stockton.
Mr. Stuart is a Republican and has always been a strong temperance man
and is highly esteemed by all who know him.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Page
1003. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County Genealogy
Databases