Fred W. Crandall Family

Biographical Note

Fred Warren Crandall was born to George Washington Crandall and Emily (Chaffee) Crandall on July 28, 1858 in Herrick, Pennsylvania. One of five children, Fred was raised a farmer’s son; however, from an early age, he aspired to join the clergy, and in the mid-1870s traveled to Irvington, California to study theology. Unfortunately, the misfortune of ill health forced him to reconsider his theological aspirations. After spending a brief time as an educator in Nebraska and Missouri from 1878 to 1883, Crandall moved to California to pursue a vocation in the ranching business.

Fred Crandall entered into an agricultural, fruit-drying business partnership with William T. Rice in the mid-1880s. Over thirty years Crandall’s senior, W.T. Rice shared his partner’s farming background. Born in 1821, Rice owned nearly 600 acres of farmland in his native state of Tennessee before selling it in 1875. That same year, Rice moved with his wife to Saratoga, California, where he purchased a farm of 190 acres. Rice eventually sold much of the acreage and settled with a smaller farm consisting of thirty acres of prune and pear orchards.

Located at University and Cypress Avenues in Los Gatos, the Crandall & Rice fruit-drying business was in close proximity to local fruit farms such as the F.H. Hume Ranch and the A.P. Chrisman orchards. An 1880s print advertisement describes the business as a “Big Orchard Drying Establishment, Dealers in Green and Dried Fruits, and Contractors for Drying,” and lists Crandall & Rice as the proprietors. The Crandall & Rice establishment included a fruit dryer, a drying yard, a packing house, employed approximately twenty-five employees, and produced twenty-five tons of dried prunes per day.

Around 1890, Fred Crandall married Nebraska native Josephine West, and the couple had two sons, Thomas Eugene Crandall in 1890 and Harold Fred Crandall in 1893. Three years later, Crandall became manager of the Sorosis Fruit Farm, located in Saratoga, where he worked for over ten years. From 1896 to 1906, the Crandall family lived in the farm’s stately main residence, built in 1881 by wealthy mine owner William Farrington. During the heyday of Santa Clara County’s prune growing industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Sorosis Fruit Farm was recognized as a farm and business par excellence. Comprised of nearly 250 acres, much of which was devoted to prune orchards, the Sorosis Fruit Farm was well-known for the production and processing of the petite prune, a fruit popular across the United States and Europe.

During Crandall’s time as manager, the Sorosis Fruit Farm was highly regarded for the decent working conditions and generous wages the business provided its employees. In addition, the farm became a place of social interaction and fellowship: tours of the farm were given and banquets were held on a regular basis for visiting professional organizations; and, under Crandall’s direction, the second level of the Sorosis fruit evaporator was converted into a community hall which was used by local residents as a gathering space. After a successful tenure as manager, Fred Crandall resigned from the Sorosis Fruit Farm in 1907, with the intention of going into business for himself.

By 1930, the Crandall family made their home in Santa Cruz. Fred W. Crandall died September 4, 1941, and Josephine passed away December 3, 1952, both in Santa Cruz County.

From the guide to the Fred W. Crandall Photographs, circa 1883-1911, (Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, )