Monterey-San Francisco-San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Biographies.....Jacks, David 1822 - 
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Joy Fisher cagwarchives@gmail.com January 13, 2007, 1:46 pm

Author: Luther A. Ingersoll, Editor (1893)

DAVID JACKS was born in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, in 1822. His ancestors
were French Huguenots. He came to New York in August, 1841, and engaged as clerk
in a store, first at Williamsburg, and then at Fort Hamilton, where he remained
till 1848 in a large mercantile and manufacturing establishment. His employer,
who was a very capable business man, was the inspector of all the wagons and
harness bought by the Government in that market for use in the war with Mexico,
and who, like so many others, under similar circumstances, was inclined to
extend favors to the army officers at Fort Hamilton, expecting that those favors
would be returned in some form, thereby placing officers, by implication at
least, under some sort of obligations to him. Captain Robert E. Lee, who was
then stationed at the fort, and who had, in his official capacity, large
dealings at this store, preferred always to deal with Mr. Jacks, and studiously
avoided the proprietor. So thoroughly honest was he that he shrank from laying
himself under obligations to any one in any manner that might in the least
interfere with the conscientious discharge of 'his duties to the Government as a
purchasing agent. Thus Mr. Jacks came to know him well, and to admire very
highly his nobleness of character.

  James C. Flood, in after years a miner and banker in California, learned the
carriage-maker's trade at this establishment where Mr. Jacks was employed,
working there three years or more. As the clerks had all they could do, young
Flood, after his days work was done in the shop, would often come in and help
them, which kindness on his part they greatly appreciated.

  About this time the commissary sergeant of a company of the United States
Army, which had been ordered to California, needed a competent assistant to help
him to keep his accounts correctly, and he engaged Mr. Jacks to go with him in
that capacity. Having about the same time read a letter in the New York Herald,
from Rev. Walter Colton, a chaplain of the Navy, stationed at Monterey, and
holding some civil office there, giving definite information about the gold
discoveries, Mr. Jacks concluded to invest his earnings, amounting to $1,400 or
$1,500, in goods which he thought would sell out there. He sailed with the
company on the Sea Queen from New York for San Francisco, December 14, 1848,
stopping at Rio De Janeiro and Valparaiso, at both of which places they were
shown gold from the new Eldorado, the nuggets exhibited at Rio de Janeiro having
been brought overland from Valparaiso.

  He arrived at San Francisco in April, 1849, where he disposed of his goods in
forty-eight hours, realizing about $4,000. Revolvers costing $18 in New York
readily sold in San Franciso for $50. He loaned his money at one and one-half
per cent per month (the rates of interest ranging at that time from one to five
per cent per month), the party keeping it upward of two years, when he paid up
in full.

  Mr. Jacks was employed in San Francisco as an inspector in the customhouse at
$100 per month, his duties being performed mostly on ship-board, as there were
no wharves then, cargoes being discharged by means of flat-bottomed lighters.
Lightermen received $8 per day, and were scarce at that, as nearly everybody had
gone to the mines.

  On the 11th of October, 1849, Mr. Jacks and two other young men had their
supplies of clothing and provisions ready to start on the following day for
Sacramento and the mines. During that night the rain commenced and continued
three days and three nights. Reports came from Sacramento and the upper country
that teams could not haul provisions from Sacramento to the mines; that the
roads were so bad, or the ground was so soft from the heavy rains as to be
impassable for teams. Flour, bacon, beans, etc., in the mines, went up to three
times the prices they were worth before the rains. And so Mr. Jacks gave up all
notion of going to the mines-then or afterward.

  The semi-monthly arrival of the Pacific mail steamers was quite an important
event in those times in San Francisco. Once Mr. Jacks says he went to the post
office at four o'clock in the morning, and took his place at the end of a long
line, and there remained- the postmaster being very short of help-till the post
office closed, with still a number of persons ahead of him! There were so few
women in San Francisco at that time that if one walked along the streets the men
would watch her, of course in a deferential way, and when she had passed them
they would turn round and stare at her till she was out of sight, so great a
novelty was the sight of a woman in those days! They could also see a few French
women in the gambling houses, which were then numerous, and often gorgeously
equipped, even when located in large tents or other temporary structures.

  Mr. Jacks arrived at Monterey on the first day of January, 1850, and he has
made his home here ever since. He came on the steamer California, the fare from
San Francisco being $25; the steamer was bound for Panama, and Monterey was one
of her stopping places. Monterey at that period was the headquarters of the
Tenth Military Department, which included all of California and Oregon, and
which was under the command of Brigadier-General Bennett Riley. Mr. Jacks well
remembers most of the young officers who were then stationed at this point.
Among them were: Captain H. S. Burton of Company F of the Third Artillery,
afterward in command at Fortress Monroe; Lieutenants Ord and Hamilton; Captain
H. W. Halleck, who afterward became general of the army in the Civil war, was
General Riley's chief engineer, and in fact most of the duties of the governor's
office devolved on him; Captain Kane was quartermaster, and Lieutenant Sully was
commissary of subsistence; Major Can by, with his wife and adopted daughter, was
here then,and was Riley's Adjutant-General; Lieutenant Derby, afterward widely
known as the genial and witty humorist "John Phoenix," was stationed here; also
Lieutenant Steele, who was with a company of infantry, and Captain Lyon, was in
command of another infantry company; there was also a Captain Wescott; and
Captain Baldwin, was in charge of ordnance. Captain W. T. Sherman was here
occasionally at that period.

  Some 300 head of horses and mules belonging to the United States, under charge
of Mr. Jacks, were kept on the San Francisquito rancho, about twenty-four miles
southeast of Monterey. Expeditions consisting of a small force, well armed, with
wagons and supplies, etc., were sent out into the interior (Tulare and San
Joaquin valleys), for the purpose of making known to the Indians that there was
a government or military force in the country which would make itself respected.

  Of course there were lively times in Monterey then, as the United States had
considerable military forces stationed here, and large sums of money were
disbursed. Gold dust, Spanish doubloons or ounce pieces, and Mexican silver
dollars were very abundant. Mr. Jacks clerked for nearly two years, at a salary
of $2,000 a year, for James McKinley, who had a large grocery and dry-goods
store. The traders from the Mariposa mines came to Monterey to buy goods,
bringing each from fifty to 150 pack mules, usually purchasing from $6,000 to
$8,000 worth of goods at a time, and paying for the same in gold-dust, which
usually was received at $16 per ounce, and which the Monterey merchants sent to
New York, where they generally realized about $18 per ounce, net.

  In the latter part of 1851, Mr. Jacks engaged in farming, though with
indifferent success, in the Carmel valley, hiring men to work the land. In 1854
he personally took hold of the business of raising potatoes, paying from six and
one-half to seven and one-half cents per pound for seed potatoes at Santa Cruz,
employing western farm hands at $80 per month and board; also Carmel mission
Indians, who were excellent workers, at $40 per month and board. From twenty-two
sacks of seed potatoes left over after planting, which he sent to San Francisco,
he realized $252 net, over and above expenses, including $20 a ton freight and
twelve per cent commission. But the results from the planting were not quite so
encouraging. Three speculators came to Carmel, in June of that year (1854),
offering or proposing to buy from $20,000 to $40,000 worth of "spuds" at two
cents a pound, deliverable in November or December following at Monterey, in
storehouse or on the wharf; but they finally concluded a contract with Mr. Jacks
for $8,000 worth, on the same terms. Jacks was the only man who would sell at
this price, because potatoes had been sold that spring at from three and
one-half to seven and one-half cents per pound. In the outcome, this syndicate
paid Jacks the $8,000 as agreed, but never took a potato, although he delivered
them all at the warehouse according to contract! but they afterward hired him to
haul them off and throw them away.

  Subsequently, two young men came to to [sic] Jacks and contracted for the
delivery, at one and three-fourth cents per pound, in the spring (1855), of
300,000 pounds of spuds, paying one-half the money down. They never paid the
balance and never took the spuds away.

  These last buyers, Mr. Jacks was informed, "hedged" by selling :the potatoes
and receiving the same amount of money they paid Jacks; but as he was not aware
of this hedging, and supposing that the original buyers still owned the goods,
he had pity on them and did not insist on their complying with the balance of
their contract. He sold that season $20,000 worth of potatoes, and came out
about $500 short; expenses, including high wages, etc., ate up everything.

  He continued farming in 1855, planting potatoes, bayo beans and barley. All of
these brought excellent prices and he cleared this season, ending in the spring
of 1856, about $8,000. During the preceding three years, hogs had been going up
in value, and he had meanwhile gathered about 300 head, some of which were
fine-blooded English stock, which had cost him from $50 to $80 a piece. The
entire lot had cost him in the aggregate between $2,500 and $3,000, but as he
made up his mind to visit his old home in Scotland, he offered them for $1,000,
without finding a buyer; but finally sold them all for $50, as they were "eating
their heads off," in barley, worth in the market four and one-half cents per
pound, and besides, if he left them he would, become responsible for any damage
which they might cause to his neighbors. He thereupon quit farming and went to
Scotland, remaining there twelve months, visiting his mother and sister. In a
little more than two years, the parties who had bought these hogs realized about
$4,000 for them.

  Mr. Jacks returned to Monterey from his visit to Scotland, in the latter part
of 1857. He took personal charge again of his extensive business-having left it,
during his absence, in the hands of agents-and continued to loan money, or to
carry on one line of a banking business without actually having a banking house.
He says he was averse to purchasing lands as he considered he was not so well
adapted to their management as to the management of money; his policy being like
that of most savings banks in loaning money, to get the interest and principal,
and not to get land; although often, as with them, he was compelled to take
lands which he did not want. He says that about 1860, having a mortgage for
money loaned on five and one-half leagues of land, he compromised to receive
only three and one-half leagues, leaving two leagues to the mortgagors, which
would all have been absorbed by foreclosure at the then very low price of land.
In fact, he afterward offered these lands again and again at seventy-five cents
per acre without finding purchasers. Therefore, in spite of his adoption of this
policy in his business of loaning money, as has so often happened with others,
in the course of years he has come to be a large land owner.




THE NARROW-GAUGE RAILROAD.

  The Monterey and Salinas Valley railroad, narrow gauge (the pioneer railroad
enterprise of Monterey county), was built in 1874, by the business men of
Monterey and the farmers of Salinas valley. When completed and ready to be
operated, having two locomotives, and two passenger coaches, and eight box cars,
and forty flat cars, the cost of the same was about $360,000; and, the farmers
being unable to borrow the amounts of money necessary to pay up their
subscriptions to the capital stock, Mr. Jacks borrowed $75,000 on his ranchos,
"Chualar " and "Zanjones." Of this sum he put $25,000 into the company, and
loaned most of the balance to other stockholders. He also acted as treasurer for
the company about twenty months, disbursing all funds received, amounting to
some $250,000, for which services he never received one cent. He sank over
$40,000 in this road, which was finally sold to the Southern Pacific Company.
This latter corporation converted it into a broad-gauge road, connecting it with
their general continental system, and giving, instead of one train a day, two
trains and sometimes three trains daily, between San Francisco and Monterey.

PACIFIC GR0VE.

  The presiding elders of the San Francisco Methodist Episcopal Conference
having conferred with Mr. Jacks in May, 1875, with reference to a suitable
seaside location for holding annual camp-meetings, he suggested the site where
the town of Pacific Grove now stands, and Bishop Peck and other influential
church members, after carefully looking over the ground, strongly approved the
selection, and urged the brethren to go ahead and prepare for holding
camp-meeting there that same summer, which was done, the people gathering there
in large numbers on the 9th of August, and continuing religious services daily
for three weeks. Bishop Peck was present at the commencement, and, with
appropriate ceremonies, dedicated the grounds as a Christian seaside summer
resort, for which purposes they are still, and doubtless long will be, devoted.
A more detailed account of the settlement and growth of Pacific Grove appears
elsewhere in this work; but it is proper also to state briefly here the
honorable and generous connection of David Jacks with the founding of that town.
In preparing the grounds, erecting buildings, providing bedding, etc., much
labor and expense was necessary, for which Mr. Jacks advanced personally about
$30,000. During the next year he expended in improvements about $3,000, and a
camp-meeting was held that year, and the popularity and fame of the place as a
summer resort, where religious, social and literary societies could annually
hold their reunions, and where all could find rest and recreation, and renewal
of strength and health, amidst the pines and along the sea-shore, have steadily
increased from year to year till the present time. The wisdom shown by Mr.
Jacks, Bishop Peck and others in selecting this location and in laboring to
build up this beautiful town, has been abundantly vindicated by results. A
clause in the deed prohibits gambling and the sale of spirituous liquors on the
grounds HI any form, and this provision has certainly produced good practical
results.

  In 1880 Mr. Jacks sold to the Pacific Improvement Company, 7,000 acres of
land, namely, "El Pescadero"and "Punto de Pinos" ranchos, which included the
greater portion of the lands of Pacific Grove retreat that had not already been
disposed of, at the price of $5 per acre, on which the company, it is currently
reported, has since realized, in the sale of lots, several hundred thousand
dollars.

  In 1878, Mr. Jacks turned his attention again to farming, this time on the
"Chualar" and "Zanjones" ranchos in Salinas valley, about ten miles south of
Salinas city. Mr. Jacks was among the first in that section to inaugurate the
policy of leasing lands on shares, instead of for a fixed cash rent, thus
enabling his tenants to do well-and often very well-in good years, and to save
themselves from financial ruin in bad years. The shares agreed on are usually
three-fourths for the tenant, and one-fourth for the landlord. This policy works
well in the long run for both parties. By it the farmer in a dry year is not
compelled to see all his crop sacrificed to pay his rent. About 13,000, acres of
these two ranchos are now under cultivation, one-third of the crops raised
latterly having been wheat, and two-thirds barley. Mr. Jacks also has about
1,500 acres under cultivation on the Alisal rancho and lands adjoining, near
Salinas city; here the tenants receive two-thirds of the crop and the landlord
one-third.

  Mr. and Mrs. David Jacks were married April 20, 1861, at San Luis Obispo. The
maiden name of Mrs. Jacks was Maria Cristina Soledad Romie; and she was the
daughter of J. F. and Maria A. Frohn Romie, natives of Germany who came to
Mexico in 1835. She was born in Oajaca, in 1837, and came with her parents to
Monterey in 1841, and has resided here ever since. She remembers that while yet
quite young,she went to school here in Monterey, to Dona Anita, the wife of one
of the Castanares brothers (probably J. M.), who taught children in Spanish, to
read and write, and also the rudiments of arithmetic, as well as the catechism.
Mrs. Jacks has a vivid recollection of the events connected with the raising of
the American flag in Monterey in 1846, she then being about nine years of age.
She says she thought at the time that the officers and sailors of the American
men-of-war, with their neat, handsome uniforms, presented a fine appearance, as
they marched from the beach to the "cuartel" in front of the Hartnell house,
where she then happened to be. She remembers that the sisters, Mrs. Jimeno and
Mrs. Hartnell, were much excited, and as they embraced each other and cried,
she, Mrs. Jacks (or Maria Romie, for she was only a little girl then), asked a
daughter of Mrs. Hartnell why her mother and aunt cried and "took on" so, and
the reply was: "The Americans have come to take our country from us!"

  Mrs. Jacks, having been born and raised in a country where Spanish was almost
the only language used, came to regard that as her native tongue, as indeed it
was; and as late as the time when she attended the Santa Clara College, in 1859,
she was accustomed to think in Spanish, and then mentally translated her
thoughts and express them in English. She soon, however, learned to think in
English, and now is able to talk with equal facility in Spanish, English and
German,-the latter being the language of her parents.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jacks have seven children, five daughters and two sons. Their
names are: Janet, Louise L., William, Mary R., Margaret A., Romie C. and Vida G.
The eldest, Janet, was married in April, 1891, to Allan C. Balch; their home is
in Portland, Oregon. Mrs. Balch graduated at the University of the Pacific,
after which she took a post-graduate course at Cornell University. Louisa and
Mary graduated at Mills Seminary. William attended the University of the Pacific
three years, and Cornell one year; he is now studying law at the Harvard Law
School. The three eldest daughters and William visited the Paris Exposition in
1889 and traveled in Germany, Italy, England and Scotland; and in 1892 the four
eldest daughters spent the summer in Europe, Mrs. Balch acting as chaparon.
Margaret is now attending the Boston Latin School. Mary studied music in Boston
four years, after graduating from Mills; and she and Louise are taking a
business-college course in the same city.

  Mr. and Mrs. Jacks have been accustomed to keep a private teacher in their
family for their younger children, all of whom, as they grow up, are receiving a
thorough education in the best schools and colleges in the country. From the
foregoing hurried sketch, it is evident that the Jacks family is endowed with
great force of character. Industry, virtue and religion have been taught by the
parents, both by precept and example; and the lesson thus taught, in great
plainness and simplicity, has not been lost on the children. As they have
advanced toward maturity, where each is compelled to act for himself or herself,
they have not lapsed into indolence and inactivity, but have voluntarily kept up
their pursuit of knowledge, all according to their several preferences, in order
not only more fully to develop their characters-make their lives richer-but to
better fit themselves for greater usefulness in life.

  Among the many moral and economic maxims taught and lived by the parents, the
one, perhaps, most clearly enjoined, was, that it is not enough to teach and
preach the right, but that it is more to the point to do it; or, expressed in
other phrase, it is all very well and proper, and our duty, to pray that the
Lord will make the world better, but that we each are under obligation to
personally labor to make it better, i. e., to cooperate, according to our
several capacities, with the good Lord, in practically bringing about what we
pray for. For forty-two years, Mr. Jacks has assisted (to the extent of from
one-half to three-fourths of the cost of the same), in maintaining Methodist and
Presbyterian churches in the town of Monterey; and he has also taught a
Sunday-school class during the same long period. He believes large
organizations, like churches and schools, are effective agencies for doing good,
and therefore he believes in cooperating with them in their beneficent labors,
in every way possible.

  As has already been said, Mr. Jacks is a large land owner. In early times in
California, lands outside of towns or settlements were considered of but
comparatively little worth. They had been used mainly for pastoral purposes; and
when their owners had sold off their stock during the mining era, or it had died
in dry years, as sometimes happened, they did not care, or perhaps were not
able, to keep their lands and pay taxes on them; therefore, in many cases, it
could be said with perfect truth for many years, that, with the exceptions noted
above, vast tracts of land did not have a quotable value; and those persons of
clear heads, who had faith in, the future, and some means, could get lands
almost at their own price; and it is not altogether fair to attack the tenure of
title to land by contrasting its present with its former market value. As well
might the validity of title be questioned of lands owned by the Pacific
Improvement Company about Pacific Grove, by comparing their present market value
of $1,000 or $2,000 per acre with the petty price the company paid for them only
twelve years ago, of $5 per acre.

  As people slowly returned from the mines, and as the country gradually became
more thickly settled, and as the newcomers learned something of the wonderful
fertility of California soil, a demand for lands arose, and very naturally they
greatly appreciated in value.

  Of course the lands which Mr. Jacks bought, or had to take, or was besought to
take, many years ago, are much more valuable now than they were then. But it
should be remembered that money at interest, at the rates current in early
times, would have doubled many times over in the last thirty or forty years.

  In regard to the Monterey pueblo lands, the simple and indisputable facts of
history seem to be: (1) That the United States Land Commission confirmed these
lands according to certain metes and bounds, January 22, 1856, and the United
States District Court finally dismissed the appeal, June 6, 1858; (2) that D. R.
Ashley, Esq., was employed to prosecute, and did successfully prosecute
Monterey's title to these lands before the, Land Commission and the United
States Court, whereby the City of Monterey became indebted to him for such
services; (3) that in order to pay said indebtedness, the trustees, in
accordance with the necessary legal formalities, proceeded to sell the pueblo
lands at public auction to the bidder who would take the least amount of land
necessary to liquidate the then existing indebtedness of the city, to wit,
$991.50, and that the least amount bid was all of the pueblo lands, for
11,002.50 (indebtedness and fees), and the same were struck off to D. R. Ashley
and David Jacks; (4) that D. R. Ashley conveyed all of his interest in said
lands, by deed of June 28, 1858 (also April 8, 1862, to quiet title, and
September 14, 1868), to David Jacks; (5) that the act of the Legislature of
California approved May 11, 1853, authorized the trustees of Monterey to pay
indebtedness incurred prosecuting title before the Land Commission and courts of
the United States.

  While it is not the function of laymen, or of the historian, to pretend to
adjudicate land titles, it is competent from the purely historical standpoint,
to assume that a theory based on prima-facie data is tenable until it is
overthrown. Indeed a contrary assumption would be altogether in admissible. Mr.
Jacks has been in possession of these lands for some thing like forty years, and
his title to them has never, or not till very recently, been questioned in fie
courts. D. R. Ashley, who conducted the suit before the United States courts for
the confirmation of title, and who attended to the legal formalities of their
sale at a time when they had but little market value was widely known, both in
this State and in Nevada, as a very able and careful and conscientious lawyer.
It is hardly presumable, that, in taking the necessary steps to secure the
amount due him for services rendered to the city of Monterey, he would neglect
any of the formalities or acts which were required to make the sale regular and
legal. Therefore, until the courts decide otherwise, it is certainly permissible
to assume that the prima-facie view is the true view for laymen to take of this
matter, especially when such eminent lawyers as Williams and Thornton,
McAllister and Bergin and S. W. Sanderson indorse the validity of these titles.
Citizens may, perhaps, justly criticise the wisdom of the trustees in alienating
the public lands of the city even for the pressing purpose of paying its honest
debts, and insist that they ought to have devised or provided other means, but
of course they were obliged to do as they could and not as they would.

  Large portions of the pueblo lands of San Jose, Los Angeles, San Francisco and
Santa Barbara, were disposed of many years ago, for merely nominal
considerations, and the tenure of these lands, now worth millions of dollars,
depends on those sales, the legality of which has never been attacked. Whether
the conditions surrounding those cases were analogous to those of Monterey, or
whether the power of the city authorities to sell was substantially the same in
all these cases or not, of course are matters for the courts to decide.

  In politics Mr. Jacks is a Republican, and in religion a Scotch Presbyterian,
although he has affiliated and earnestly labored with other protestant
denominations besides the Presbyterians, especially with the Methodists.

  John Frederick Romie and wife, and two sons, came to Mexico from Hamburg,
Germany, in about the year 1835. They lived several years in Oajaca, where their
daughter Maria, now Mrs. David Jacks, was born. They afterward traveled through
the city of Mexico to Guadalajara, and to Tepic, where Mr. Romie followed his
business of tailoring with success till 1841. While living at Tepic, the party
which had been expelled from California (the Graham party) arrived there, and
its members told them much about California, its climate, etc., painting the
natural attractions of the country in bright colors and assuring them that they
could get all the land they wanted for the asking. But the consideration which
determined them to come to California was the health of their eldest son Ernest,
who, the doctors insisted, must go to a cooler climate. So that same year, 1841,
they came by way of San Bias, in the vessel Gertrudez, to California, landing at
Monterey, where they became permanent settlers. Here Mr. Romie followed his
tailoring business, having brought cloths with him from Germany to Mexico, and
thence to Monterey. Competent tailors were scarce here and he did a good
business as cutter, etc., hiring men to do the sewing. After the discovery of
gold, Mr. Romie went to the mines. He died at Placerville, in 1850. Mrs. Romie,
whose maiden name was Maria A. Frohn, was born in Hamburg, in 1801. She died in
Monterey at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Jacks, March 5, 1886, at the age of
eighty-five years. The sons of Mr. and Mrs. Romie are: Fred Ernest, who resides
in San Francisco; Charles T., of Soledad; and Paul T., of Salinas.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California.

Illustrated.

Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast from the
Earliest Period of its Discovery to the Present Time, together with Glimpses of
its Auspicious Future; Illustrations and Full-Page Portraits of some of its
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers, and Prominent
Citizens of To-day.



HENRY D. BARROWS,
Editor of the Historical Department.

LUTHER A. INGERSOLL,
Editor of the Biographical Department.

"A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendants."-Macaulay.


CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY.
1893.

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