Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN G. MCMILLAN
The surveyor of Santa Clara county,
John G. McMillan, inherits from Scotch ancestors the sturdy qualities which
have won for him the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. He was born
in Rhode Island, July 11, 1851, a son of William Wallace McMillan, the latter a
native of Glasgow, Scotland, in which city he received his education,
graduating from the University of Glasgow. The elder man was a machinist, and
followed his trade in Scotland until his immigration to the United States. He
came to California in 1852 and engaged in mining in Butte county, near
Bidwell’s Bar, and in the spring of 1855 he sent for his family, who came west
by the Isthmus of Panama. He still makes his home in Butte county,
having survived his wife, formerly Sarah McCoy, who died in 1900. Both himself and wife were members of the Presbyterian Church.
The second in a family of four sons
and two daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are now living, John G.
McMillan was reared to young manhood in his adopted state and county, receiving
his education principally under the tutelage of his father.
At the age of sixteen years he taught school, devoting his spare hours to the
study of surveying and civil engineering. In 1878 he was elected county
surveyor of Sutter county, serving two terms and the
portion of a third in this capacity, when he resigned on account of ill health
and entered the employ of the Central Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific
Company. In 1884 he was the surveyor and assistant engineer for the
construction of the Market street system of cable railway. The following year
he went to Central America and spent about a year on the location and construction
of the railroad to the city of Guatemala. Returning to California he came to
Santa Clara county in 1886 as chief engineer for the
surveys for the construction of Stanford University. Upon the completion of the
principal part of the work he was elected county surveyor, and since 1890 has
served continuously, being repeatedly re-elected by increasing majorities. In
the last election the opposition declined to put a candidate in the field.
Mr. McMillan was united in marriage
in Mayfield, with Lizzie D. Weisshaar, born in San
Francisco, and a daughter of F. W. Weisshaar, an old
resident of Santa Clara county. They are the parents
of the following children; Bruce, Percy and Doris. Mr. McMillan was a Mason in Forbestown Lodge No. 50 (Butte county), in July, 1872, but
is now a member of Friendship Lodge No. 210, F. & A. M.; Howard Chapter No.
14, R. A. M.; San Jose Lodge No. 10, K. T.; a thirty-second degree Scottish
Rite Mason, being a member of San Francisco Consistory No. 1, A & A. S. R.
M. He is also identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a
member of Observatory Lodge No. 23, and is past grand of Yuba City Lodge and of
Mayfield Lodge. He belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
Knights of the Maccabees, Woodmen of the World,
Eagles and is also president of the Society of the Sons and Daughters of the
Pioneers. In his political affiliations he is a Republican, and has been active
for many years in the counsels of his party. Mr. McMillan has proved himself a
man of resource and ability in his public capacity,
and one capable of taking the lead in inaugurating systems which would be of
incalculable benefit to the people at large. One of his most noteworthy
movements was the inauguration of the concrete and stone bridge, while he has
also invented a valuable improvement in bridge flooring, which is being used
extensively throughout the state. He has recently completed an official map of
Santa Clara county, and has also enlarged division
maps of the county. In addition to the high place which Mr. McMillan holds in
the esteem of the people for his ability and system in the prosecution of his
work, he enjoys as well the confidence won by his fine personal
characteristics.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1306-1307. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.