San
Joaquin County
Biographies
JOHN DUNCAN McKELLAR
Over a quarter of a century has
passed since John Duncan McKellar came to California and he has watched its
development through all these years, noting with interest the changes that have
been wrought as its natural resources have been developed. His labors have largely been put forth along
agricultural lines until about three years ago when he retired to his home in
Stockton, 1126 South California Street.
He is a Canadian by birth, having been born at St. Thomas, Ontario,
October 20, 1853, the son of John and Mary (Thompson) Duncan, natives of
Glasgow, Scotland, who immigrated to Ontario, Canada, and were farmers near St.
Thomas. The mother died when John D. was
a little child. The father afterwards
removed to Saginaw, Michigan, where he followed farming until he died. Of this union two children were born, Mary
who resides in Detroit, and John D., our subject. He came to Michigan in 1861, remaining a
short time, then went back to Ontario where he
attended school. In 1871 he came to
Saginaw, Michigan, and was employed at lumbering, getting out logs and driving
them down the Titbowasse, Old Gray, Salt and Tobasco rivers.
Young, agile and strong, he could ride the logs with ease and swim like
a duck and became an expert in the art of snubbing the rafts of logs. He was employed in this line for a period of
eight years; then he followed sawmilling near Mason, Michigan, and during the
threshing season he was in that line of work.
Desiring to see the west, in 1881 he came out to Wood River, Idaho,
where for three years he engaged in sawmilling.
In 1884 he arrived in Stockton and
worked on Roberts Island for A. S. Blossom and Ira Saunders, and while there
passed through the trying times of the floods when the levees gave way and
flooded the entire island; he recalls the time when Chinamen used wheelbarrows
to repair the breaks in the levees. By
hard work and economy Mr. McKellar saved some money and finally began to farm
for himself and at different times farmed from 400 to
1,700 acres of grain. He farmed the
Woods brothers’ land, the John Wilkinson ranch, land on the middle division of
Roberts Island; also the Keagle place, now the
Westgate property, farming the latter place of 960 acres for eight years. One year he used five Holt harvesters and
harvested 60,000 sacks of grain. One
season his crop of 1,644 sacks of grain sold for forty-four cents a central,
and he lost a year’s hard work. During
the later years he raised large quantities of pink, Lady Washington and
cranberry varieties of beans, which proved of great profit. He owned a farm on the island where he
resided until wishing to retire. He sold
his place and located in Stockton in October, 1918, purchasing his present
comfortable home on South California Street.
Mrs. McKellar was in maidenhood
Sarah Cook and was born in Jasper County, Missouri; her marriage ceremony
occurring in Stockton, October 17, 1899.
She was the daughter of Frank and Elizabeth (Abbott) Cook, natives of
Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively.
They were farmers in Jasper County, Missouri, where they spent the
remainder of their lives. This worthy
couple had six children, three of whom are living. Mrs. McKellar, who is the
third oldest, came to San Joaquin County in 1880. A woman of a pleasing personality and much
business acumen, she has been a real helpmate to her husband. By a former marriage Mrs. McKellar has a
daughter, Mrs. Sallie Holman of Oakland.
Mr. McKellar is a strong Republican and he is greatly esteemed and
respected for the part he has taken in the development of this section.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
968-971. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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