John Deighton
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
bar owner who was born in Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The Gastown
Gastown
Gastown is a national historic site in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the northeast end of Downtown adjacent to the Downtown Eastside. Its historical boundaries were the waterfront , Columbia Street, Hastings Street, and Cambie Street, which were the borders of the 1870 townsite survey, the proper...
neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia is named for him.
Deighton started out as a steamship operator for many years of his early life. However he was forced to pursue other lines of work once he developed health problems (swelling of the legs and feet).
Between 1862 and 1867, he ran a bar in New Westminster
New Westminster, British Columbia
New Westminster is an historically important city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and is a member municipality of the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It was founded as the capital of the Colony of British Columbia ....
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. It was quite prosperous due to the Cariboo Gold Rush
Cariboo Gold Rush
The Cariboo Gold Rush was a gold rush in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Although the first gold discovery was made in 1859 at Horsefly Creek, followed by more strikes at Keithley Creek and Antler Horns lake in 1860, the actual rush did not begin until 1861, when these discoveries were...
of 1862, but by 1867, business slowed down and he had to close it down.
He later opened a bar on the south side of Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet
Burrard Inlet is a relatively shallow-sided coastal fjord in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Formed during the last Ice Age, it separates the City of Vancouver and the rest of the low-lying Burrard Peninsula from the slopes of the North Shore Mountains, home to the communities of West...
at the behest of his old friend, Captain Edward Stamp
Edward Stamp
Edward Stamp was an English mariner and entrepreneur who contributed to the early economic development of British Columbia and Vancouver Island...
, the owner of the Hastings Mill
Hastings Mill
Hastings Mill was a sawmill on the south shore of Burrard Inlet and was the first commercial operation around which the settlement that would become Vancouver developed in British Columbia, Canada....
. He later named it the Globe Saloon. He came to the area with little more than $6 to his name, a few simple pieces of furniture, his native wife (whose name has been lost to the years), and a yellow dog. The bar was built by idle sawmill workers in exchange for all the whiskey they could drink in one sitting (the nearest drinking hole was 25 miles away). His patrons were mainly sailors and workers from the nearby sawmill. This bar was demolished when the townsite of Granville was established and was afterwards rebuilt as Deighton House.
Deighton's native wife died. He married her 12-year-old niece Quahail-ya, also known as Madeline or Matrine. Brother Tom Deighton and his wife took over the business in 1874 and John began working the steamship that plied the Fraser River
Fraser River
The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada...
. However, after a family quarrel a few months later, John resumed management of the saloon and operated it until he became ill and died at the age of 44 on May 23, 1875. He is interred at the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminster, British Columbia. The location of the monument is 49°13.322′N 122°53.815′W (WGS84).
Deighton was known as Gassy Jack because of his talkative nature and his penchant for storytelling. The name stuck and the area around his bar is now known as Gastown.
He was succeeded by his son with Quahail-ya, Richard, who was derisively nicknamed the "Earl of Granville". Richard was born simple-minded, Qua-hail-ya was disinherited, and Richard died before Jack's meager estate (about $300) was probate
Probate
Probate is the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person by resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under the valid will. A probate court decides the validity of a testator's will...
d.