[11] The Lovells were members of the Swedenborgian Church of the New Jerusalem in Cincinnati; it was based on the writings of Swedish scientist and mystic, Emanuel Swedenborg.

Their congregation included intelligent, cultured, and influential people who loved good literature, music, painting, the theater and other arts.

[12] Cincinnati church members included inventors Jacob, William & R. P. Resor, publisher Benjamin and sculptor Hiram Powers, clockmaker Luman Watson, artist Mary Menessier Beck, educators Alexander Kinmont, Frederic Eckstein, and M. M. Carll, and theatrical agent Sol Smith.

Her sister Clara Lovell Smith's sealed letter was divined by spiritualist physician John Redmond, who discussed the family in one of his books.

[18] Noted Spiritualist lecturer Thomas Gales Forster and his family lived with James and Eliza Lovell Neal in Clifton, Ohio, in 1860.

[25][26] A 21st century account suggested that Nicey was the daughter of Eliza's son James and a young black woman in Virginia.

[24] In Washington, D.C., Eliza and Luther Tibbets worked with Josephine S. Griffings, Congressman Benjamin F. Butler and other progressives on universal suffrage, freedmen's rights and other social issues.

[30][31] Frederick Douglass had accompanied the group, which included Tibbets, Belva Lockwood, the first woman admitted to the Supreme Court Bar; educator Sara Spencer, Dr. Susan A. Edson, physician to President Garfield, pioneer Julia Archibald Holmes; author E. D. E. N. Southworth, and founder of the Freedmen's Bureau, Josephine S.

[35] Their test cases, Spencer v. Board of Registration, and Webster v. Judges of Election, were heard in the Supreme court of the District of Columbia.

[36] Women throughout the United States, including Susan B. Anthony and Virginia Minor demonstrated in this way, testing the law with civil disobedience.

[37] Eliza moved to California and was among pioneers in Riverside, where she lived first with her son and his wife Harriet, Luther Tibbets's eldest daughter.

Tibbets accomplished much in her years in Riverside and Southern California, including successfully cultivating two grafted navel orange trees.

A desirable sport like this enables growers to avoid the complications of genetic segregation and recombination by spreading the species through asexual propagation.

[46] In fact, all commercial citrus trees are grafted onto rootstock selected for adaptation to the soil, resistance to disease, and influence on fruit quality.

[52][53] It took some time and perseverance, but by 1871 Saunders was able to obtain from Bahia twelve newly budded navel orange trees in fairly good condition.

[66] When the Washington navel orange was publicly displayed at a fair in 1879, the valuable commercial characteristics of the fruit, including their quality, shape, size, color, texture, and lack of seeds, were immediately recognized.

[66][67][68] Tibbets’s orange was ideally suited to Riverside's semiarid weather; its thick skin enabled it to be packed and shipped.

The commercial success of these early orchards soon led to a widespread interest in this variety, so that by 1900 it was the most extensively grown citrus fruit in California.

[73][74] Since then Washington navel orange budwood and trees have been taken from California across the seas to Japan, Australia, South Africa, and other tropical or semi-tropical districts.

[66][83] The size, scale, and ingenuity of the irrigation structures in Riverside and surrounding area are considered one of the agricultural marvels of the age.

[87] In 1886 alone new citrus towns were laid out in Rialto, Fontana, Bloomington, Redlands, Terracina, Mound City (Loma Linda), and South Riverside, (Corona).

Citrus built the foundations of the region's economic modernization before the great flood of defense funds began in World War II.

[66] The study and efforts of pioneers in the development of the California citrus industry led to the invention of orchard heaters and of many other methods of culture.

[95] Another illustration of the results of the success of the citrus industry in California was the organization of the growers into an exchange for the co-operative handling of their crop and its distribution.

Study of propagation culture handling, transportation and other phases of producing distributing and marketing the crop was largely responsible for advancements used not only with citrus but also in other fruit industries.

[96] A U.S. Department of Agriculture scientist helped growers to harness nature's biological wrath during the "decay crisis" of 1905–1907, when alarming proportions of fruit spoiled in transit, and wed the industry to the scientific expertise of the USDA.

[97] Growers, scientists, and workers transformed the natural and social landscape of California, turning it into a factory for the production of millions of oranges.

Originally located on the slope of Mount Rubidoux, the station[100] institutionalized the scientific expertise, support, and presence of the state's university and the federal government in the citrus industry, and brought quality control to the first link in the corporate agricultural chain.

[97] A field department was created which provided member growers with scientific and practical horticultural advice and direction that ultimately led to huge gains in productivity.

The navel orange remains as one of the most popular of all of the varieties of fresh fruit whether produced in California, Peru, South Africa, or Australia.