Los
Angeles County
Biographies
HON. JOHN CHARLES MACLAY
Hon. John Charles Maclay, well-known
throughout the San Fernando Valley, was elected the first chairman of the board
of trustees of San Fernando when the city was incorporated in August, 1911,
holding that office for two terms, and after a lapse of years was, in 1930,
again chosen mayor of the municipality, which he is thus serving at the present
time. He has resided in the valley for a
period covering nearly six decades and in former years was active as a merchant
and dairyman but is now retired from business.
John C. Maclay was born on a farm
near Stockton, California, January 20, 1860, a son of Alexander and Amanda
(Biel) Maclay, who were early pioneers of the San Joaquin Valley, having
crossed the Isthmus en route to the Golden state. They settled first near Stockton and
subsequently made their way to Santa Clara County, taking up their abode on a
tract of land near Saratoga. They later
took up a timber claim in the Santa Cruz Mountains on the San Lorenzo
River. Alexander Maclay was a minister
of the Methodist Church. He died in 1874
at Saratoga and the mother died at San Diego.
The educational advantages enjoyed
by John C. Maclay were those afforded by the schools of Santa Clara
County. In 1874, as a youth of fourteen
years, he accompanied his uncle, Senator Charles Maclay, to the San Fernando
Valley when the latter purchased the San Fernando Rancho of fifty-seven
thousand five hundred acres. They lived
in the west end of the old mission for a year.
John C. Maclay here engaged in farming until 1884 and has been continuously
identified with the San Fernando Valley since the beginning of its development
from a great wheat field. This was the
terminus of the railroad, and there were no buildings save the old
mission. In the six decades which have passed
since his arrival in the valley, Mr. Maclay has seen many municipalities
founded and was himself one of the incorporators of the city of San Fernando,
being chosen the first chairman of the board of trustees. For thirty years he was successfully engaged in
general merchandising and afterward turned his attention to the dairy business,
and through the wise and careful management of his interests he won the success
that now enables him to spend the evening of life in well earned
retirement. Mr. Maclay has sold all of
his property with the exception of the home place. In 1930, after a lapse of many years, he was
again selected as chairman of the board of trustees of the city which he helped
to found and which he is now giving a progressive and businesslike
administration in the mayoralty. Always
a staunch champion of the cause of education, he served as grammar school
trustee for a period of fifteen years and was high school trustee for two
terms. In his political views he is a
Republican. His career has been an
upright and honorable one in every relation and he has long been numbered among
the prominent and highly respected citizens of Los Angeles County.
On the 27th of February,
1900, at San Fernando, California, Mr. Maclay was united in marriage to Miss Isabella
Rice Granger, who was born at North River, New York, September 18, 1871, and
who accompanied her parents on their westward removal to the state of Oregon in
1884. Three years later the family home
was established in San Fernando, California, where William P. Granger, father
of Mrs. Maclay, became identified with the San Fernando Land & Water Company. Mr. and Mrs. Maclay were the parents of a
daughter, Fredericka Rice Maclay, who was born January 14, 1901, and died
February 18, 1920, when nineteen years of age.
Mrs. Isabella Maclay, the mother, figured very actively in civic affairs
of San Fernando for many years. She was
chairman of the Los Angeles district of the Federation of Women’s Clubs; member
of the State Landmarks Club; member of the Pioneer Society of San Fernando
Valley; charter member of the Elective Study Club; charter member of the
Woman’s Civic League of San Fernando, of which she was president for nine years
and after president emeritus; and member of the San Fernando Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
She devoted much time to charitable and philanthropic work and was
universally loved, so that her loss was deeply mourned when on the 26th
of November, 1930, she was called to the home beyond.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: California of the South
Vol. III, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages 171-173, Clarke Publ.,
Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis. 1933.
© 2012 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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