John Sullivan Deas

John Sullivan Deas (c. 1838 – July 22, 1880) was a Black tinsmith who helped found the salmon canning industry on the Fraser River in southern British Columbia, Canada. His cannery was located on Deas Island, which bears his name to this day.

Early life and career John Sullivan Deas was born in South Carolina, approximately in the year 1838. He made a name for himself as a tinsmith by 1856; he would have still been a teenage at this time.

San Francisco By 1860, he relocated to San Francisco where he shared an address with other Black South Carolinians, Louis and Susan Mortimer and Z. Deas. After selling the cannery on Deas Island, he moved to Portland, Oregon to rejoin his family and died only two years later. He was survived by his wife Fanny and seven children when he died on July 22, 1880.