David Jacks

David Jacks (18 April 1822 – 11 January 1909) was a powerful Californian landowner, developer, and businessman. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to California during the 1849 Gold Rush, and soon acquired several thousand acres in and around Monterey, shaping the history of Monterey County in the first decades of American possession. He is also credited as being the first to market and popularize Monterey Jack cheese. He was born David Jack, but took to spelling his last name "Jacks" once in California. He started cutting up large tracts of land south of Salinas into ranches for farmers to buy or rent. Jacks's business practices created a great deal of antipathy in the community. Jacks was a willing lender of money and of mortgages to those living on his land, but also was quick to foreclose. As a result, animosity toward him ran high, and it has been claimed he had to travel with bodyguards anywhere he went in Monterey County. The author Robert Louis Stevenson, after visiting Monterey, claimed that famed San Francisco orator Denis Kearney had suggested the residents should deal with Jack by having him hanged.

In June 1874, Henry Cerruti, in the employ of Hubert Howe Bancroft, interviewed Dorotea Valdez, whose father was Juan Bautista Valdez, a member of the Portola expedition. Dorotea lived in a pueblo, which she asserted was illegally obtained by Jacks. When Cerutti asked her if she knew him, this is what she said:Señor Jacks is the owner of the pueblo. In my opinion he is a very mean man, a cunning rascal, and pious hypocrite. He is such a miser that he even denies his own wife and children the comforts of life. At the present time, Jacks considers himself a millionaire. But as soon the railroad begins to operate, many foreigners will come to settle here. Rest assured that is when Señor Jacks will receive the punishment he deserves. All we want is for some clever lawyer to take the pueblo land away from him. The American authorities sold land that did not belong to them in order to pay off the debts. This is land that nobody had the right to give away because it rightfully belongs to every man woman and child who was born in our town. When the pueblo owned the land currently owned by David Jacks, people could just go out and gather the wood they needed. Our horses and cattle could graze everywhere and nobody bothered them. Ever since this evil man obtained possession of our land, he has placed fences everywhere. Even the famous well where the pirates landed in 1819 is surrounded by a fence. Señor Jacks is a natural born enemy of everything related to our history. He even tried to gain possession of the crops by the bridge. There is a live oak tree near those crops and it is under that very tree that Fr. Junìpero Serra said his first mass on June 7, 1770.

There are competing claims to the origin of the name "Monterey Jack" cheese, including one by Domingo Pedrazzi of Carmel Valley, who argued that his use of a pressure jack gave the cheese its name. There are also claims that "Monterey Jack" cheese originated from the Victorine Ranch, south of Malpaso Creek in Carmel Highlands.

In 1907, Jacks retired from the landowning business, turning his holdings over to a corporation controlled by his children. A devout Presbyterian, Jacks donated a great deal of money to religious causes later in life, including support of missionary work, as well as helping to found the Pacific Grove retreat. He was on the board of trustees of the University of the Pacific and helped to keep the school financially afloat in its early years.

He died on January 11, 1909, at his home in Monterey, at the age of 86. He was buried at the City of Monterey Cemetery (or Cementerio El Encinal).

Legacy Jacks last surviving heir, Margaret Anna Jacks (1874-1962), died in April 1962, and the remainder of his estate passed to various colleges and universities in California. The gift to Stanford University was the largest at the time since the founding grant, with two endowed professorships and a building in the main quad named for the family.

In 1919, Samuel F. B. Morse became manager of the Pacific Improvement Company, and formed the Del Monte Properties Company which finally developed Pebble Beach and the surrounding resorts.

Along with Monterey Jack cheese, many landmarks in and around Monterey are named for David Jack. These include Don Dahvee Park, and Jacks Peak, the highest point on the Monterey Peninsula, in Jacks Peak Park.