My Genealogy Hound

JAMES POLLOCK JACK, retired, Bellevue, was born in that borough March 14, 1814, a son of James and Margaret (Pollock) Jack, who were born in Butler and Westmoreland counties, respectively. Andrew Jack, grandfather of James P., came from east of the mountains during the early part of the present century, settling at Jack’s run, which was named after him, and here he built a gristmill and a stone house. He was pilot of the steamer New Orleans (the first steamer on the Ohio, or built at Pittsburgh), which made her first voyage to New Orleans in 1811; he continued on the river for many years, making many trips to New Orleans and returning on foot. He died at Natchez, Miss., of yellow fever. James Jack, Sr., was in the dry-goods business for many years in Pittsburgh with Judge Davis. On one of his trips to New Orleans to buy goods he took his wife and child (our subject being then one year old) with him on a keelboat, but on arriving at New Orleans, just after the battle of Jan. 8, 1815, the English fleet held the river mouth and he was obliged to return to Pittsburgh. He, too, died of yellow fever on the lower Mississippi, when James P. was about five years old. The subject of these lines received a common-school education, and in 1832 went on the river as ship-carpenter. He then learned piloting and followed the river from Pittsburgh to St. Louis for twenty-four years. He was married to Sarah Kerr Graham, of Allegheny. Mr. Jack was a whig, voting for William Henry Harrison, and has since been a republican; he is a member of Kinley Lodge, No. 318, F. & A. M., R. B. Roberts Lodge, No. 530, I. O. O. F., and represented them at the grand lodge for about six years. Mr. Jack has a fine home and property, and is the oldest settler in Bellevue borough.