Solano County Biographies

JOHN C. McLEOD

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
was born in Inverness, the Capital of the Highlands of Scotland, on March 19, 
1801, but, at the age of three years, he was taken by his parents to Pictou, 
Nova Scotia, whither they had emigrated.  Here he served an apprenticeship to a 
ship-carpenter, and, when seventeen, sailed on the ship �Harvest Home� to 
Whitehead, England, where he completed the learning of his trade, and from which 
place, in 1823, he sailed for New York City, where he settled.  In 1828 he 
joined the ship �Sampson,� a vessel bound for London.  At that port he shipped 
on board the East India Company�s ship �Duke of Sussex,� in which he made a 
voyage to Calcutta and Bombay, at which place he arrived during the ravages 
committed by a cholera epidemic in 1832.  From Bombay the vessel proceeded to 
Canton, China, where, having loaded a cargo of tea, he sailed for London; here, 
in 1833, he joined the schooner �Bonanza,� and in 1834 landed at Monterey, 
California.  Here, and at Santa Cruz, Mr. McLeod remained for eighteen months, 
trading with the Mexicans and Indians in tallow and hides, when the vessel, 
taking Mr. McL. and his freight on board, sailed for London.  From the 
metropolis of Great Britain he once more returned to New York, and shipped on 
board the �Champlain� to Liverpool, sailing thence to Canton, China, and 
Manilla, in the Phillipine [sic] Islands, where, securing a cargo of rice, they 
returned to Canton.  From this port our voyager traded to Batavia, in the island 
of Java, in rice, at the end of which he again returned to New York in 1838.  
For the next ten years Mr. McLeod passed most of his time in trading between 
that city and Liverpool, until, in December, 1849, he sailed for Panama in the 
steamship �Philadelphia.�  On arrival there he took passage in the �California� 
and arrived in San Francisco in January, 1850, and at once proceeded to Benicia, 
where he commenced working at his trade in the employ of the Pacific Mail 
Company.  There he remained until August, 1851, when he went to the Southern 
mines, prosecuting that life in Sonora and other places for a short time, after 
which he made for Sutherland�s creek, Wood�s creek, and other mining localities, 
until he returned to San Francisco and worked at his trade.  This was, however, 
but for a little while, for shortly after, in 1853, we find him established in a 
building and repairing yard in Redwood City, a business he continued with much 
success until 1860, when he came to Vallejo and has since found employment on 
Mare Island Navy Yard.  Mr. McLeod married in Jersey City, November 25, 1842, 
Mary Farrier, a native of Scotland, who died in Vallejo, March 9, 1878, by whom 
there are three children living:  Mary J., Sarah E., and Isabella.
 
History of Solano County � San Francisco, Cal. - Wood, Alley  & Co., East 
Oakland, pub 1879, pp 375-376