Lue Gim Gong was born in the year 1860 in the village of Lung On in the Taishan district of China and, at the age of twelve, immigrated to the United States. After two dreadful months traversing the Pacific Ocean, he landed in San Francisco where he worked in a shoe factory. Shortly after, Lue Gim Gong, along with seventy-four other Chinese workers, was hired by Calvin T. Sampson to break a strike at his North Adams shoe factory in Massachusetts. In Massachusetts, he learned English, became a Christian, and met one of his greatest influences, Fanny Burlingame, who was a volunteer teacher at his school. Miss Burlingame practically adopted the young Lue. She invited him to live in her house and help with her large exotic garden and conservatory, as he was familiar with plants, as he worked in the orange groves in Lung On where his mother taught him how to cross-pollinate blossoms and graft stock.
In the mid-1880s, Lue was diagnosed with tuberculosis and given one year to live if he did not leave the hard New England climate. To combat his disease, Lue decided to return to China with his family in subtropical Guangdong. Once back, however, he quickly learned that his Christian ideals were not compatible with Chinese customs. One such case was with an arranged marriage set up for him by his family, which he refused to accept. This brought shame upon his family, and due to his insubordination, Lue’s name was stricken from the clan genealogy. After four months back in China, Lue yearned to return to the states, a feat that seemed impossible due to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 being in effect. To get back, Fannie Burlingame had to forge documents for Lue, claiming that he was a merchant who wanted to open up a store in Massachusetts. Once back in the states, Lue did not return to Massachusetts, as he went directly to Florida where he stayed with the Burlingame family in their orange grove in DeLand. The following year, Lue Gim Gong officially became an American citizen. Severe freezes in the early 1890s motivated him to develop a strain of orange that would resist frost. By crossing the Florida Harts Late orange with a Mediterranean variety, Lue Gim Gong created the Lue Gim Gong orange, a sweet, juicy fruit that could endure severe weather. It was reported by the New York Times in 1925 that Lue Gim Gong had saved the industry millions of dollars. For his achievement, Lue was awarded the Silver Wilder Medal in 1911 by the American Pomological Society, the first time that the award was given out to an advancement in citrus. Lue would follow this up by developing an aromatic grapefruit, along with propagated roses, other flowers, and fruits. His contributions in the citrus industry earned him the nicknames “the Citrus Wizard” and “the Chinese Burbank of Florida.”
Resources: Shipman, David R. “The Citrus Wizard of Florida.” USDA, 16 May 2012, www.usda.gov/media/blog/2012/05/16/citrus-wizard-florida.
Although Lue was a talented botanist, he was not known as a savvy businessman. His advancement in citrus brought him fame, but not fortune, as he was often cheated by distributors who refused to pay for the material he purchased. He was also known to give away free samples of his fruits and plants to the thousands of visitors to his groves. In 1922, with no money to his name and a mortgage due, Lue was saved by the Florida Grower who published his story and, with the aid of citizens from DeLand and North Adams, enough money was raised to save his property.
Lue Gim Gong died on June 3, 1925. He was unmarried, and his family disowned him, but hundreds of people attended his funeral at Oakdale Cemetery in DeLand. Lue Gim Gong touched the lives of citrus growers and his community, and he should not be forgotten by the industry.
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