John Devcich-Saloon-1851
John Davis was born in the village of Sumartin on the Island of Brac,
Dalmatia, Croatia. September 20, 1825. There he resided for the first eleven
years of his life, when he took up the labors of a sailor, proceeded to Trieste,
and afterwards with an uncle, to Constantinople. From the City of Constantinople
he found his way to Odessa, in the Black Sea, whence sailed down the
Mediterranean to Marseilles in France, where, taking on board a cargo of wheat,
a return to the Adriatic was made. The next cruise was along the ports on the
Northern Coast of Africa, and, touching at the island of Cyprus, loaded with
wine and sailed for Trieste, whence he once more found himself in Turkey’s
capital; and finally loading wheat at Odessa for Liverpool. From this last port
our subject visited the Cove of Cork, in the south of Ireland, when he went to
Ardossan, Scotland, then back to the Black Sea; subsequently to Naples, Genoa,
the Black Sea, and Belfast. He shipped on board a British ship bound for Rio de
Janeiro. This was in 1837. He there left his ship, and, after a month, proceeded
to China and Liverpool returning to the Celestial Empire-- in short, he made
eight voyages in all between China and England. He then shipped in Liverpool for
New Orleans, in 1838, returning to England in the Spring of 1840. He then
engaged in the China trade until the discovery of gold in California, when he
came to the Pacific Coast in the ship Antelope, arriving in San Francisco on
June 16, 1849. Mr. Davis almost immediately proceeded to the mines at
Auburn, on the American River, Placer County, but at the end of three months
forsook the pick and rocker and established a pack-train between Sacramento and
the mines for the purpose of supplying the gold-seekers with groceries. Ill-luck
now commenced to make itself felt. Our subject was stricken with mountain fever;
during his illness his mules were stolen, and on final recovery, so disgusted
was he, he gave a Mexican his packing fixtures, and started to the Mariposa
Mines, ultimately returning to Stockton and San Jose, The Mission Delores and
San Francisco. Between the last two points naught prevailed but a wild
wilderness, through which he passed on foot, his horse having been stolen. Here
he met several wagons laden with victims of cholera, which was an epidemic
during the summer of 1850. After remaining three months in San Francisco, he
erected a house on what is now Commercial Street, and opened a restaurant and
lodging house, the Miner’s Exchange Saloon at 6 Commercial Street in
1851. He marred a girl from Scotland and had a large family. He was from the
Island of Brac., where he remained until 1851; in that year he sold out and came
to his present residence in Contra Costa County, where he remained until 1851;
in that year he sold out and came to his present residence in Contra Costa
County, where he owns four hundred and forty-two acres of land. Married in
Oakland, this being the first wedding of Westerns to take place in that city,
Anna Connor, a native of Scotland, and has six surviving children, viz: Frank,
John, Geovienia, Connor, Mary, and William. Mr. Davis, and his son John are
members of the Society of California Pioneers.