William’s son David was born in Crieff on April, 18,1822. In his early years he was said to be a somewhat solitary youth who had few friends. This may have been an indication of his independence and single mindedness that would reveal itself in later years.

Little is known about his early life in Crieff, but he did work for a while in one of the handloom weaving shops, which existed in Crieff at the time. David clearly had aspirations, which he probably felt he could not achieve in Crieff at that time, and by the age of 19 or 20 years, he decided to emigrate to America, which was fairly common practice in these days. Indeed, David’s brothers, Peter, James, and John had emigrated a number of years before him, although Peter returned to Scotland a short time after. James and John however, settled in the Long Island area of New York and became successful storekeepers.

It has been written elsewhere that Jack left Crieff in 1841 following the death of his father, in order to lessen the burden of his widowed mother. This is inaccurate as his father lived until 1855. After following his brothers out to America, David worked for seven years for an army contractor in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then in Fort Hamilton, New York. One of the regular visitors to his store at that time was one Robert E. Lee who visited the store to inspect ‘caisson wheels’. Lee of course went on to become General Lee, a famous leader during the American Civil War. Jack got to know him well and is said to have liked him.

In 1848 Jack read of great wealth to be found in California around the time of the California gold rush. Like most men of his age at that time, he decided to go there and give it a try. Before he left, he invested his total savings of $1,400 dollars in revolvers which he intended to sell on to law —abiding and lawless alike, thinking that both would pay a handsome price for such items at that time in Californian history. He arrived in San Francisco in April, 1849 where he sold his entire investment in revolvers for $4,000 dollars in the first 48 hours, making a 286% profit in the process. He immediately made his way to the Gold Mines, but found little success. Returning to San Francisco he gained employment as an Inspector in the Custom House earning 100$ a month. His capital of $4,000 dollars was put to good use. He lent portions of it at an interest of 2% a month.

In 1850 a business trip took him to Monterey, then a small town with a population of less than 1,000. He saw potential in the town however, and moved there the following year. At first Jack was employed by Joseph Boston, who operated a general store on Olivier Street. Jack also boarded with Boston at his residence on Van Buren Street. Jack very much admired Boston and his position in the community. Boston’S house was a wonderful old house with a history of its own and Jack vowed that one day he would own the property which he eventually did.

Next, Jack clerked for two years for another Scots pioneer James McKinley who owned a dry goods store in Monterey. At the same time, Jack who was very ambitious carried out various farming enterprises, hiring men to cultivate land for him. He became involved in the growing of potatoes which he felt sure would be successful. However, a combination of a falling market and being ripped off by schemers and speculators led to this enterprise petering out. An example of his failure around this time is when he was forced to sell hogs he had purchased for about $3,000 for $50 dollars.

Following the death of his father, Jack returned home to Crieff in 1856 to visit his family, perhaps feeling pangs of homesickness. He left his meagre holdings in the hands of agents and went to Scotland for a year during which time he raised the headstone in memory of his father at his grave in Muthill Churchyard. He returned to California in 1857.

About this time, the chapter in David Jack’s life, which led to his becoming one of the country’s largest and richest landowners, was about to occur. David Jack was about to engage in an enterprise, along with his partner, Attorney, Delos Ashley which would result in him becoming a landowner far beyond the wildest dreams of any Scottish laird, but which would lead to his being reviled by some.

In 1830, the Mexican government had granted 30,000 Acres of land to the City of Monterey. When California became a state and the United States took provenance of the town, a problem facing the new governor was how to settle the land claims of the former Mexican province. Under Mexican law there were three main dispositions of land; first, the large "ranchos", countless acres of land granted to the early Spanish settlers and their descendents, second the mission properties including the church, its gardens and outbuildings with additional acreage to be held in trust for the Indian neophytes; third the pueblo lands which were allotted for use of the community and its citizens.

After the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1851, at the conclusion of the Mexican — American war, a board of three commissioners was appointed to hear the cases within a period of two years. This would prove very difficult for those who had to provide funds for the legal action and travel necessary for the hearings. Because of the confusion, delay, and appeals, it was nearly ten years before the appeals were settled.

In 1853, the "pueblo" of Monterey hired Attorney Delos Rodeyn Ashley to legitimise its claims to 29,698.53 acres of land before the United States Land Claims Commission in San Francisco. He was successful and presented a bill of $991.50 to the city fathers. However, the treasury cupboards were bare. The State Legislature therefore passed a bill, which allowed the Monterey city government to auction off its town lands in order to pay off the debt owed to Ashley. The auction took place at 5PM on February 9, 1859 on the steps of the Colton Hall. All 29,698.53 acres of Monterey pueblo lands were auctioned off. The sole bidders at this auction were David Jack and Delos Ashley. The total selling price was $1,002.50 all of which was given to Ashley. Ashley sold his interest to Jack a number of years later.

Many have speculated since, that Jack and Ashley engineered the entire purchase, from the start. Therefore Jack came to own 30,000 acres of magnificent, scenic countryside surrounding Monterey as well as the town itself.

The City of Monterey tried twice, unsuccessfully to reclaim its lost lands. The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which eventually ruled in Jack’s favour. This event became known locally as ‘THE RAPE OF MONTEREY’.

Jack embarked on what appears to have been an almost obsessive taste for land acquisition. He soon learned that the Californians in the Salinas were more adept in their saddles than they were in business, many of them hard pressed for money because of dry years when they had been forced to sacrifice cattle, and they were lax in the matter of taxes. Jack began to pay overdue taxes on good land, allegedly without troubling to notify the owners. When the inevitable showdown came, he simply pointed out that he was within his legal rights, and that if they paid him with interest they could have their land back. He also foreclosed on defaulted mortgages. This, he again allegedly did, by pinning foreclosure notices on outlying reaches of the respective properties. If English speaking, the notices were posted in Mexican and vice- versa. Piece by piece was added to his holdings through mortgage and tax sales and other shrewd practices. At his height JACK was said to own around 100,000 acres of Monterey County Lands.

Due to these practices however, Jack incurred the enmity of the native peoples and others. Indeed the locals are said to have placed a curse on he and his family that they should have no issue who would benefit from what they considered to be his ill-gotten gains. Those who lost their lands to Jack considered him a Land Thief, but Jack considered them to be ‘squatters’ on his property. This led to the formation of an organisation calling themselves ‘The Squatters League of Monterey County’. In 1872 the League wrote to Jack;

"…You have been the cause of unnecessary annoyance and expense to the settlers…now if you don’t make that account of damages to each and every oneof us within ten days, you son of a bitch, we will suspend your animation between daylight and hell"

Around this time the famous author Robert Louis Stevenson was visiting California and heard the stories surrounding Jack and his land acquisitions. In his book ‘ACROSS THE PLAINS’ Stevenson wrote;

‘ In the meantime however, the Americans rule in Monterey County. The new county seat Salinas City, in the bald, corn bearing plain under the Gaelano Peak, is a town of purely American character. The land is held, for the most part, in those enormous tracts which are another legacy of Mexican days, and form the present chief danger and disgrace of California; and the holders are mostly of American or British birth; We have here in England no idea of the troubles and inconveniences which flow from the existence of these large landholders, - land thieves, land sharks, or land grabbers, they are more commonly and plainly called. Thus the town lands of Monterey are all in the hands of a single man. How they came there is an obscure, vexatious question, and rightly, or wrongly, the man is hated with a great hatred. His life has been repeatedly in danger. Not very long ago, I was told the stage was stopped three evenings in succession by disguised horsemen thirsting for his blood. A certain house on the Salinas road, they say, he always passes in his buggy at full speed, for the squatter sent him warning long ago. But a year since, he was publicly pointed out for death by no less a man than Mr Dennis Kearney. Kearney is a man too well known in California, but a word of explanation is required for English readers.

Originally an Irish drayman, he rose, by his command of bad language, to almost dictatorial authority in the state; throned it there for six months or so, his mouth full of oaths, gallowses, and conflagrations; was first snuffed out last winter by Mr Coleman, backed by his San Francisco vigilantes and three gattling guns; completed his own ruin by throwing in his lot with the grotesque green backer party; and had at last to be rescued by his old enemies, the Police, out of the hands of his rebellious followers. It was while he was at the top of his fortune that Kearney visited Monterey with his battle cry against Chinese labour, the railroad monopolists, and the land thieves; and his one articulate counsel to the Montereyans was ‘to hang David Jack’. Had the town been American, in my private opinion this would have been done years ago. Land is a subject on which there is no jesting in the West, and I have seen my friend the lawyer drive out of Monterey to adjust a competition of titles with the face of a captain going into battle and his Smith and Wesson convenient to his hand’

All the hassle generated from the purchase of the pueblo lands seems to have been too much for Jack’S partner Ashley and in 1869 he left Monterey after selling off his holdings to Jack. His reasons for leaving are probably best summed up in a letter that he wrote to JACK as early as 1862, when he wrote; "Why don’t you leave Monterey for a place where a man can have a dollar and not be envied"

However, Jack stayed on in Monterey and continued to amass land. The pueblo lands alone consisted of some of the richest and most valuable property in all California consisting as it did of the present day cities of Pacific Grove, Del Rey Oaks, and Seaside, the Del Monte Forest, Ford Ord, and the spectacular coastline of 17 mile drive. His land also comprised the area of Pebble Beach, best known nowadays of course, for it’s Championship Golf Course. Jack owned many of the historic Spanish, and Mexican adobes of Monterey as well as properties extending far into the inland valleys behind the Monterey coast. The highest point of the Monterey peninsula stood on his land and is still known as ‘Jack’s Peak’. Indeed, there is ‘Jacks Peak County Park’ which overlooks the spectacular Monterey Peninsula and is located about two miles from scenic highway 68. A natural reserve, the park’s 525 acres of ridge top is set amidst native Monterey pines. The abundance of trees, flowers, and wildlife, found at Jack’s Peak make it the destination for any nature enthusiast. Linda LARSON, a guide with the Department of Parks and Recreation, Monterey, is in no doubt how history should remember David Jack. She states; ‘He was indeed a controversial figure, but, as far as we know, broke no laws. It is very important I believe, to be very careful about passing judgement on people such as he who came from a different time and a different culture. He is certainly not atypical of the high-powered businessmen of his day. He also contributed a great deal to this area as did his children.’