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

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, 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 coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Ga ...

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 Houston metropolitan area. Humble became an oil boomtown in the early 20th century when oil was first discovered there in 1904. By 1905, the Humble oilfield was the largest producing oilfield in Texas. Humble ...

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 deposits of hydrocarbons, particularly petroleum and natural gas, in the Earth using petroleum geology. Exploration methods Vis ...

. Humble Oil merged with

Standard Oil of New Jersey ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation presently based out of Texas, has had one of the longest histories of any company in its industry. A direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the company traces its roo ...

to form Exxon, Inc., the present day ExxonMobil corporation. Ross S. Sterling, Frank Sterling's brother, was the first president of Humble Oil, and later became the Governor of Texas. 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 U.S. census, and is one of the two principal cities in Bell County. Located near the county seat of Belton, Temple lies in ...

. 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. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

in 1948, but in 1951 it was sold by the museum to

Gus Wortham Gus Sessions Wortham (February 18, 1891 – September 1, 1976), was a businessman and civic leader in Houston, Texas. Biography He was born on February 18, 1891, in Mexia, Texas, to John Lee Wortham and Fannie Sessions. He moved with his fathe ...

. Lyndall Wortham bequeathed the house to the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

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 defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

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