Frank Prior Sterling (October 26, 1869 – July 16, 1938) was an American oilman and oil industry businessperson, based in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. Sterling and his brothers grew up on Double Bayou in Chambers County, southern Texas. They were ambitious and built a sail boat to carry vegetables to

Galveston Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

for sale.

Career

Frank Sterling was one of nine founders of the Humble Oil & Refining Company of Houston, Texas in 1911. Their first wells were in the

Humble, Texas Humble ( ) is a city located in the Greater Houston, Houston metropolitan area. Humble became an Boomtown, oil boomtown in the early 20th century when oil was first discovered there in 1904. By 1905, the Humble oilfield was the largest producing ...

area. Frank Sterling, who was a post-production expert, became a Vice President of Humble in 1921. Humble Oil was one of the best oil & gas finding companies in the history of

petroleum exploration Hydrocarbon exploration (or oil and gas exploration) is the search by petroleum geologists and geophysicists for hydrocarbon deposits, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth's crust using petroleum geology. Exploration methods V ...

. Humble Oil merged with

Standard Oil of New Jersey Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was formed ...

to form

Exxon Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...

, Inc., the present day

ExxonMobil Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational List of oil exploration and production companies, oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the Successors of Standard Oil, largest direct s ...

corporation. Ross S. Sterling, Frank Sterling's brother, was the first president of Humble Oil, and later became the

Governor of Texas The governor of Texas is the head of state of the U.S. state of Texas. The governor is the head of the executive branch of the government of Texas and is the commander-in-chief of the Texas Military Forces. Established in the Constit ...

. Florence Sterling, Frank Sterling's sister, also worked at Humble Oil and became its Corporate Secretary.

Family

;Frank and Isla Sterling Frank Sterling married Isla Randa Carroll (b. 1885) of

Temple, Texas Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the 2020 United States census, U.S. census. Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas and is a principal city in th ...

. In 1925, Frank and Isla Sterling built a house designed by John Staub, located on Lot 5/1505 South Boulevard in the fashionable Broadacres subdivision of Houston. The Sterling Mansion was donated to the

Houston Museum of Fine Arts The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. Follow ...

in 1948, but in 1951 it was sold by the museum to Gus Wortham. Lyndall Wortham bequeathed the house to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

on her death in July 1980, to be used as a residence for the University President. ;Carroll Sterling Frank and Isla had one child, a daughter, Carroll Sterling. In the early 1930s, Carroll Sterling married Bert F. Winston. They had two children: Isla Sterling Winston and Bert Winston. After divorcing Bert Winston in the 1940s, Carrol Sterling married John Cowan, who later died in a

plane crash An aviation accident is an event during aircraft operation that results serious injury, death, or significant destruction. An aviation incident is any operating event that compromises safety but does not escalate into an aviation accident. Pre ...

around 1950. Carroll Sterling Cowan then married Harris Masterson III with whom she built the "Rienzi" mansion. Upon their deaths "Rienzi" was formally given to the

. Carroll Sterling Masterson's daughter, Isla Sterling Carroll Winston, married businessman Thomas Radcliffe Reckling III in 1957. They had eight children, Cliffe, Christiana, Stephen, Randa, Carroll, James, Thomas, and John. Isla Reckling and her family of eight children and numerous grandchildren still maintain a strong interest in "Rienzi" and its operational affairs within the museum.

References

External links

Sterling-Turner Foundation
— ''of Ms. Isla Carroll Sterling Turner''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sterling, Frank 1869 births 1938 deaths American businesspeople in the oil industry Businesspeople from Texas ExxonMobil people People from Chambers County, Texas

Career

Family

See also

References

External links