Col. J. P. Jackson
Biographical Sketch of Col. J. P. Jackson - Research OnLine
COLONEL J. P. JACKSON
lawyer, journalist, politician and man of affairs, first saw the light in
Cleveland, Ohio, the State which has furnished during the last quarter of a
century a large proportion of the men who have been prominent in public life.
Here he lived until he was fourteen years of age, when he removed to Cincinnati,
where, after the usual course of preparation for professional life, he practiced
law for fifteen years. In 1857 he was married to Miss Anna Hooper, a native of
the State of Kentucky. They have had nine children, seven sons and two
daughters, five of whom were born in Kentucky and four in California. He took an
active part in the war of the rebellion, serving in the army of the Cumberland,
under Rosecrans and Buell, and from Pittsburg Landing to Corinth on detached
service under Grant. Fortunate in his early association with an unusual number
of men who have made their mark in life, he had occasion to measure swords with
many whose names have been historic in the daily forensic contests of the bar
and the platform. Always prominent as a public speaker he easily carried off the
honors and success which are peculiarly the rewards of his profession, and has
played a leading part in many important enterprises.
In 1867 he went to Europe to negotiate the bonds of the California Pacific
Railroad, and his service resulted in his coming to the Coast, where he assisted
in building the road and remained its President until it was bought by the
Central Pacific Company. After building two other roads, both of which were in
like manner sold out to the Central, he retired from the railroad business and
turned his attention to other enterprises. Deeply interested in politics, he has
stumped the States of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and California as an enthusiastic
and successful champion of the Republican cause, but has until now succeeded
remarkably in escaping the toils and trials of office-holding as far as he
himself is concerned. In 1864 he received the unanimous nomination for the
Governorship of Kentucky, and afterward declined a nomination to Congress from
the Sixth District of that State, when such nomination was equivalent to an
election. He refused an appointment to the commissionership of Internal Revenue
under Andrew Johnson, and also the position of First Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury under Grant. He has hitherto preferred the sterling activities of an
extensive business to the dignified retirement of official position.
His first enterprise in journalism was the management of the San Francisco
Evening Post, which he twice enlarged, changed it in politics from Democrat to
Republican, and made it a recognized power in the journalistic field. He is the
proprietor of the celebrated pleasure and health resort known all over the world
under the name of the Napa Soda Springs, described in the preceding section, and
has made a conspicuous success of the development and management of the large
business interests connected with that property. For some years past he has most
ably conducted that spicy and satirical journal, The Wasp, of San Francisco. The
sting of this lively and ubiquitous insect, though not fatally poisonous, is
credited with an effect the reverse of soothing, and that journal is certainly a
terror to evil-doers, even if it has no space to waste in the praise of them
that do well. It is an open secret that Colonel Jackson's objections to the
cares and responsibilities of official life have at last been overcome, and that
President Harrison, his early personal friend, has appointed him sub-treasurer
at San Francisco. His thorough business training and experience have admirably
fitted him for his position of trust, and Uncle Sam's millions will have no more
able or faithful custodian than he.
Source:
Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California. Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.
CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.