David Jacks (businessman)

David Jacks was born on 18 April 1822, in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, the sixth of nine children of William Jack and the first of three William had by his second wife Janet McEwan. Little is known of Jack's early life, though he may have worked at handloom weaving. In 1841, he migrated to America to join two older brothers on Long Island, New York. ==Career ==

After several years working as an army contractor in Brooklyn, where he reputedly met Captain Robert E. Lee, Jack read about the 1848 finding of gold in the Sierra Nevada. In November of that year he sailed with an artillery regiment to California, arriving in San Francisco in April 1849. Having invested in revolvers Jacks made a $4,000 profit upon landing in San Francisco, and then took up a job at the city's Customs House. He started cutting up large tracts of land south of Salinas into ranches for farmers to buy or rent. Jacks's business practices created a great deal of antipathy in the community. Jacks was a willing lender of money and of mortgages to those living on his land, but also was quick to foreclose. As a result, animosity toward him ran high, and it has been claimed he had to travel with bodyguards anywhere he went in Monterey County. The author Robert Louis Stevenson, after visiting Monterey, claimed that famed San Francisco orator Denis Kearney had suggested the residents should deal with Jack by having him hanged. In June 1874, Henry Cerruti, in the employ of Hubert Howe Bancroft, interviewed Dorotea Valdez, whose father was Juan Bautista Valdez, a member of the Portola expedition. Dorotea lived in a pueblo, which she asserted was illegally obtained by Jacks. When Cerutti asked her if she knew him, this is what she said:Jack was also involved in land development. In 1875, he donated land on the Monterey Peninsula to a Methodist retreat group, which founded the town of Pacific Grove, California. In 1874 he helped found the Monterey and Salinas Railroad to compete with the dominant Southern Pacific Railroad, though Jack eventually had to sell the line to the SP. There are competing claims to the origin of the name "Monterey Jack" cheese, including one by Domingo Pedrazzi of Carmel Valley, who argued that his use of a pressure jack gave the cheese its name. There are also claims that "Monterey Jack" cheese originated from the Victorine Ranch, south of Malpaso Creek in Carmel Highlands. ==Personal life and death==

David Jacks married Maria Christina Soledad Romie (1837-1917) on April 20, 1861, in San Luis Obispo, California and produced nine children, with only seven surviving childhood. In 1907, Jacks retired from the landowning business, turning his holdings over to a corporation controlled by his children. A devout Presbyterian, Jacks donated a great deal of money to religious causes later in life, including support of missionary work, as well as helping to found the Pacific Grove retreat. He was on the board of trustees of the University of the Pacific and helped to keep the school financially afloat in its early years. He died on January 11, 1909, at his home in Monterey, at the age of 86. He was buried at the City of Monterey Cemetery (or Cementerio El Encinal). ==Legacy==

Jacks last surviving heir, Margaret Anna Jacks (1874-1962), died in April 1962, and the remainder of his estate passed to various colleges and universities in California. The gift to Stanford University was the largest at the time since the founding grant, with two endowed professorships and a building in the main quad named for the family. In 1919, Samuel F. B. Morse became manager of the Pacific Improvement Company, and formed the Del Monte Properties Company which finally developed Pebble Beach and the surrounding resorts. Along with Monterey Jack cheese, many landmarks in and around Monterey are named for David Jack. These include Don Dahvee Park, and Jacks Peak, the highest point on the Monterey Peninsula, in Jacks Peak Park. ==Notes==