Santa Clara County
Biographies
CAPT. JOHN McALISTER
Conspicuous among the extensive and successful fruit growers of Santa Clara county is Capt. John McAlister, the owner of one of the finest orchards, and one of the most attractive home estates to be found in San Jose. A man of keen intelligence and superior business attainments, he has been actively identified with the leading industries of the Pacific coast, not only as a horticulturist, but as a successful mine owner and operator, and as a navigator and ship owner. A native of Scotland, he was born May 20, 1842, in Buteshire, in the Frith of Clyde, which was also the birthplace of his parents, Capt. Angus and Mary (Bannatyne) McAlister. Following the footsteps of his father, Capt. Angus McAlister was for many years engaged in the coasting trade, owning his own vessel. He was a man of fine physique, of commanding stature, and served for many years as captain of a military company. His father-in-law, Ebenezer Bannatyn, was a farmer by occupation, and spent his entire life in his island home.
The only survivor of a family of six, all sons, John McAlister was brought up in Scotland, where, in private and night schools, he acquired a thorough knowledge of naval architecture and drawing. His health becoming impaired, he turned his attention to seafaring pursuit, shipping before the mast, and working his way up to master of a vessel. In 1865 Captain McAlister sailed around Cape Horn to Valparaiso, and in the same year went to Victoria, British Columbia, where he engaged in mining in the Caribou mines. He prospected and speculated, and for several years he received $8 a day as mine superintendent. He was very competent, being able to survey under and over ground, and in the Ballarat mine made seven taps without an accident. On one occasion during an accident in the tunnel of a mine, he slid down a rope for sixty feet to assist the panic-stricken miners. He met with many hairbreadth experiences and escapes as a miner. He was interested in mines in different places for about eleven years, and was very successful in his operations, realizing a handsome fortune. Subsequently building, at a cost of $105,000, the steamer Alexander, Captain McAlister cruised for a couple of years in the waters of British Columbia, Alaska and California. The Alexander was a very large tub boat, one hundred and seventy-five feet, with a capacity for towing three ships at a time. Selling her, he built a fishing boat, and for a few years was engaged in the salmon fishery business, being located in Victoria, British Columbia, for eleven years, where, in partnership with Mr. Harrison, he had a cannery, and was also engaged in mercantile business. While located in Victoria, Captain McAlister went to England, and thence to India, where his brothers were carrying on a large manufacturing business, in which he was financially interested. Disposing of his interests in that country, he returned to Victoria.
In 1892 Captain McAlister located permanently in San Jose, which he had previously visited, and in 1893 bought a large orchard of about forty acres on Bascom street. He afterward bought ten and one-half acres of adjoining land for building purposes, and erected a large house, which was subsequently burned, but was soon replaced by another equally as commodious and convenient. His magnificent orchard is devoted to the raising of apricots, prunes, cherries and pears, and in addition to the land that he owns, Captain McAlister rents forty acres of adjacent land for the raising of hay. He is carrying on a very extensive and lucrative business as a horticulturist, having his own dryers, etc., on his ranch.
In Glasgow, Scotland, Captain McAlister married Mary Sim Kelso, a native of that city, and they have two children, namely; John James Alexander and Robert Angus. Politically the captain is a stanch Republican, and socially he belongs to the Caledonian Society of British Columbia. Captain McAlister has always been noted for his courage and bravery, and has several times proved himself a hero in times of danger. Once when he saved the lives of many miners, and again, when the boat on which he was a passenger caught fire, and he helped to save the thirty-three survivors that escaped death, the remaining one hundred and twenty-seven people losing their lives.
Transcribed
Joyce Rugeroni.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 666-667. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Joyce Rugeroni.