William Stamps Farish, Jr.
| William Stamps Farish II | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 23, 1881 Mayersville, Mississippi |
| Died | November 29, 1942 (aged 61) Houston, Texas, United States |
| Education | St. Thomas Hall |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi |
| Spouse(s) | Libbie Randon Rice (m. 1911) |
| Children | William Stamps Farish Jr. Martha Farish |
| Parent(s) | William Stamps Farish I Katherine Maude Power |
| Relatives | William Farish III (grandson) |
William Stamps Farish II (February 23, 1881 – November 29, 1942) was a pioneer in East Texas oilfield development, president of Standard Oil and a founding member and president of the American Petroleum Institute. He was a member of the influential Farish family.
Farish was born in Mayersville, Mississippi the son of William Stamps Farish I (1843–1899) and Katherine Maude Power (1860–1931) and the grandnephew of Jefferson Davis. He attended school at St. Thomas Hall, an Episcopal preparatory school at Holly Springs, Mississippi.
After receiving a law degree from the University of Mississippi in 1900, he practiced law for three months at Clarksdale, Mississippi, before moving to Beaumont, Texas, when oil was discovered at the Spindletop oilfield. He became supervisor of wells for Texas Oil Fields, Limited, an English syndicate. The next year he organized the Brown-Farish Oil Company, which did contract drilling and traded in oil. The firm became bankrupt at Brown's death, but Farish succeeded in borrowing money to pay creditors. By 1904 Farish and Robert Lee Blaffer had formed a partnership to do contract drilling and lease trading. The next year Blaffer and Farish moved to Houston to be nearer the Humble field.
In 1915, Farish became president of the Gulf Coast Producers Association and subsequently was named president of the Texas-Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. In March 1917, he and others organized the Humble Oil and Refining Company. As vice president, Farish was in charge of production, advancing industry technology and helping the company expand rapidly. In 1918, he raised the profile of Humble, serving on the Petroleum Committee of the Council for National Defense. When Humble grew short of capital for expansion, Farish turned to industry executives he had met. He negotiated with Walter Teagle, head of Standard Oil of New Jersey (later Exxon Corporation), which paid $17 million for a slight majority of Humble in 1919, and Humble gained a market for its oil and financial backing to build in Baytown, Texas one of the world’s largest refineries.
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