Luther C. Tibbets

Luther Calvin Tibbets (June 26, 1820 – July 21, 1902) was a Maine merchant and farmer who supplied the federal government from New York City during the American Civil War, had a store in Virginia after the war, and moved to Riverside, California in 1870 as one of the early pioneers. He sold retail goods and then wholesale goods to the federal government from New York City during the American Civil War. With his wife Eliza Tibbets, he was known for growing the first two Washington Navel orange trees (from grafts) in Riverside, California about 1875. Their success and the qualities of the fruit resulted in a conversion of citrus orchards to this variety and rapid expansion of the California citrus industry.