Eliza Tibbets facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Eliza Tibbets
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Eliza Tibbets in Los Angeles
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Eliza Maria Lovell
August 5, 1823 Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
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| Died | 1898 (aged 74–75) Summerland, California, United States
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| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Activist, horticulturalist |
| Known for | Introducing hybrid Washington navel orange trees in California. |
Eliza Tibbets (born Eliza Maria Lovell; 1823–1898) was an important American pioneer. She helped found the city of Riverside, California. Eliza was also a strong activist in Washington, D.C. She fought for important social causes. These included rights for formerly enslaved people and the right for all citizens to vote.
Later, Eliza moved to the West Coast. She was also a spiritualist, leading special meetings in Riverside. She became famous for successfully growing the first two special Washington navel orange trees in California.
Eliza married three times. She lived with Luther C. Tibbets in Virginia and then moved with him from Washington, D.C., to California in the early 1870s. They later married and became farmers. Her amazing success with the navel orange helped many farmers. It led to a huge growth in the citrus industry in California. This created the beautiful orange groves we see today.
Contents
Eliza's Early Life and Family
Eliza Maria Lovell was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on August 5, 1823. She was the youngest child of Oliver and Clarissa Downes Lovell. Her family were pioneers who moved to Ohio from Boston in 1812. They traveled by covered wagon and then by river boat.
Eliza's family became well-known in Cincinnati. Her father, Oliver Lovell, held many important jobs. He was a city councilman and president of the Fire Wardens' Association. He also helped manage the city water works and schools.
Her uncle, "Commodore" John Downes, was a famous naval officer. He fought in the War with Tripoli and the War of 1812. His ship, the USS Potomac, was the first U.S. Navy ship to sail all the way around the world.
The Lovell family belonged to the Swedenborgian Church. This church was based on the ideas of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish scientist. Their church community included many smart and creative people. They loved literature, music, painting, and theater.
Eliza's Marriages and Activism
When Eliza was 18, she married James Summons, a steamboat captain. Their son, James B. Summons, was her only child to live to be an adult.
Eliza later became a spiritualist. This was a popular movement in the mid-1800s. Her father even became the president of the spiritualist society in Cincinnati. Eliza was known as a skilled medium.
Eliza's second husband was James Neal, a merchant. He was also known as a healing medium. In 1861, the Neals moved to New York City with Eliza's father. Her son, James Summons, joined the New York State infantry at age 17. He served for three years in the army.
Moving to the South
After the war, Eliza became involved with Luther C. Tibbets. He had been married before and had several children. Luther was against slavery. Eliza's son, James Summons, married Luther's oldest daughter, Harriet. They all moved together.
The Tibbets family moved to Tennessee in the South. But local people did not welcome them. They were seen as "carpetbaggers," a term for Northerners who moved South after the Civil War.
In 1867, the family moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia. They opened a local store. Luther worked to help formerly enslaved people. He was a land agent and ran a Sabbath School for them at a Black Baptist Church. This helped many freed people get an education.
Luther Tibbets also planned a large community outside Fredericksburg. He wanted people of all races to be able to buy land there. When the Tibbets family had to leave Fredericksburg, a freedwoman asked them to take her young daughter, Nicey, with them. She believed Nicey would have a better life elsewhere.
Fighting for Rights in Washington, D.C.
In Washington, D.C., Eliza and Luther Tibbets worked with important activists. These included Josephine S. Griffing and Congressman Benjamin F. Butler. They fought for universal suffrage (the right for everyone to vote) and rights for formerly enslaved people.
Luther Tibbets moved to California in 1870. He settled in what became Riverside. Eliza stayed in Washington, D.C., and continued her activism, especially for women's suffrage (women's right to vote).
In 1871, Eliza and about 70 other women tried to register to vote in Washington, D.C. They marched to the registrar's office, but they were not allowed to register. Famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass joined them. Other important women included Belva Lockwood, the first woman to argue a case in the Supreme Court, and Sara Spencer.
These women tried to vote in the election, but they were turned away. Their actions were a form of peaceful protest. Women across the United States, like Susan B. Anthony, also tried to vote to challenge the law. However, in 1875, the Supreme Court decided that being a citizen did not automatically mean you had the right to vote.
Life in California
Eliza later moved to California. She was one of the first settlers in Riverside. She first lived with her son and his wife, Harriet (Luther Tibbets' daughter). Many of the early pioneers in Riverside were "spiritualists and free thinkers." Eliza and Luther officially married in California.
Eliza achieved a lot in Riverside. She successfully grew two special navel orange trees. When the fruit from these trees was shown at agricultural fairs, everyone was amazed. These special oranges quickly became very popular. They changed the way citrus was grown in California.
Eliza and Luther had good times and bad times. They went bankrupt in 1878. But they kept working on their small farm and rebuilt their lives. They were never rich, but they made a huge impact.
Eliza Tibbets passed away in 1898. She was visiting a spiritualist community in Summerland, near Santa Barbara. She was buried in Riverside's Evergreen Cemetery.
Eliza's Legacy and Honors
- A statue of Eliza Tibbets was placed in Riverside on August 5, 2011. It is located near the historic Mission Inn. This statue is the first in Riverside to honor a woman.
- The California Citrus State Historic Park and the Orcutt Ranch Horticulture Center help preserve the history of navel oranges in Riverside.
The navel orange was not completely new when Eliza Tibbets brought it to the United States. A type of navel orange was described as early as 1646. The Washington navel orange is special because it has no seeds. It also has no pollen, so it cannot produce seeds from other orange varieties.
Because it has no seeds, the Washington navel orange must be grown by grafting. This means taking a bud from an existing tree and attaching it to a different tree's rootstock. This way, all Washington navel orange trees are genetically identical to the original.
This type of orange first appeared as a natural change on a sweet orange tree in Bahia, Brazil. This change was very useful because it allowed growers to spread the orange without seeds. Many important fruits today, like oranges, grapes, and apples, are grown this way. All commercial citrus trees are grafted onto rootstock. This rootstock is chosen to help the tree grow well in different soils and resist diseases.
California's Citrus Industry
California already had a citrus industry before Eliza Tibbets grew the Washington navel orange. But there wasn't a great type of sweet orange that grew well in the climate. Most citrus trees were grown from seeds, and the quality of the fruit varied a lot.
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., a scientist named Saunders was experimenting with plants. He wanted to find new plants that could grow well in America. In 1871, he was trying to collect all kinds of citrus plants.
In 1869, Saunders received a letter from a woman in Bahia, Brazil. She wrote about an amazing local orange. It took some time, but by 1871, Saunders got twelve young navel orange trees from Bahia. He prepared young orange plants and grafted buds from the new trees onto them. Saunders wrote in his journal that Eliza Tibbets wanted some of these plants. He sent her two of them by mail.
Orange Groves in California and Beyond
Many Bahia orange trees were sent to Florida, another big citrus area, but none of them grew well there. Eliza Tibbets planted the two trees in her garden in Riverside in 1873.
It is widely believed that Eliza took great care of these two trees. She even used leftover dishwater to water them because her property did not have a connection to the canal water. Agricultural experts say her care was the reason these two trees grew so well.
The first fruits from these trees appeared in 1875–76. When the Washington navel orange was shown at a fair in 1879, people immediately saw how valuable it was. The fruit was high quality, had a great shape, size, color, and texture, and had no seeds. Its thick skin also made it easy to pack and ship.
This new orange was perfect for Riverside's dry climate. It was so much better than other oranges that most new orange groves quickly started growing Washington navel oranges. Eliza sold buds from her trees to local nurseries. This led to many new trees being grown from hers.
Eliza's success with the navel orange caused a huge increase in citrus planting. Most of the new trees were Washington navel oranges. By 1900, it was the most widely grown citrus fruit in California. Since then, buds and trees from California's Washington navel oranges have been sent all over the world. They now grow in Japan, Australia, South Africa, and other warm places.
Eliza's orange helped California's agriculture change from growing mostly wheat. Wheat had been the most profitable crop between 1870 and 1900. But around 1880, many farmers in California started growing fruit instead. The soil and climate were perfect for it. After 1900, wheat exports declined, and the land was used for growing fruits. Agriculture became a strong part of California's economy.
The Impact of Eliza's Orange
The growth of the Washington navel orange industry in Riverside spread throughout California. It helped the state's economy and even the national economy. Citrus became a very important part of California's economy. By 1917, the Washington navel orange industry in California was worth $30 million a year. By 1933, it had grown to $67 million annually.
From one million boxes of oranges in 1887, California grew to more than 65.5 million boxes of oranges, lemons, and grapefruit in 1944. Even during the tough years of the 1930s, the California citrus industry grew incredibly fast.
The success of Eliza Tibbets' orange trees inspired many irrigation projects. These projects turned more desert land into orange groves. The irrigation systems in Riverside were amazing for their time. By 1893, Riverside was the wealthiest city per person in the United States. Money poured into California. Eliza's orange led to an estimated $100 million in direct and indirect investments in the citrus industry over the next 25 years.
Her orange didn't just make existing towns richer. It also led to the creation of new cities and towns. These new places depended entirely on the orange market. In 1886 alone, new citrus towns were planned, including Rialto, Fontana, Redlands, and Corona.
The growing citrus industry also boosted the real estate market. Land that was once considered worthless became very valuable. The orange industry helped Riverside survive when the land boom ended in 1888.
Eliza's orange also helped other industries grow. It led to the development of fruit packing houses, new boxing machines, special fruit wraps, and iced railroad cars.
By the mid-1880s, Riverside had five packing houses. Many new methods developed in this industry were also used for other fruits. People working in the California citrus industry invented orchard heaters and many other farming methods. In 1897–1898, Benjamin and Harrison Wright invented a machine to wash oranges. By the end of 1898, two-thirds of Riverside's packinghouses were using these machines.
The Santa Fe Railroad opened a direct line to Riverside in 1886. This allowed oranges to be shipped directly to the East Coast. Eight years later, the first refrigerated rail cars carried oranges from Riverside to the east.
Another important result of the citrus industry's success was the organization of growers. They formed a cooperative to handle and distribute their crops. The California Fruit Growers Exchange was founded in 1893. Today, it is known as Sunkist Growers, Incorporated.
A Scientific Approach to Growing Oranges
A key part of the Washington Navel orange industry's growth was its scientific approach. Studying how to grow, handle, transport, and market the crop led to many improvements. These advancements were used not only for citrus but also for other fruit industries.
In 1893, cyanide gas was used to fight citrus pests. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture helped growers deal with a "decay crisis" from 1905–1907. During this time, a lot of fruit spoiled during shipping. This led to a strong connection between the industry and scientific experts.
Growers, scientists, and workers changed California's landscape. They turned it into a huge factory for producing millions of oranges. California orange growers developed commercial agriculture that later spread across the country. In 1906, the University of California started its Citrus Experiment Station in Riverside. This was the beginning of the University of California, Riverside. This station brought scientific knowledge and support to the citrus industry.
Conclusion
The trees grown from Eliza Tibbets' original parent tree are still the most popular navel oranges in California. Many people believe the Washington navel orange is still the best in terms of size, flavor, quality, and lack of seeds. It also stays fresh well on the tree.
The navel orange remains one of the most popular fresh fruits worldwide. Millions of trees have been grown from the descendants of Eliza's original mother tree, not just in California, but all over the globe.
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