John Sullivan Deas (c. 1838 – July 22, 1880) was a Black

tinsmith A tinsmith is a person who makes and repairs things made of tin or other light metals. The profession may sometimes also be known as a tinner, tinker, tinman, or tinplate worker; whitesmith may also refer to this profession, though the same wo ...

who helped found the salmon canning industry on the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

in southern British Columbia, Canada. His cannery was located on

Deas Island Deas Island is a peninsula in the south arm of the Fraser River between Delta, British Columbia and Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. The peninsula is home to a regional park approximately in size. It is home to three historic buildings; Burr ...

, which bears his name to this day. In 2017, he was named one of 150 noteworthy British Columbians by

The Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published si ...

Early life and career

John Sullivan Deas was born in South Carolina in about 1838. He began advertising himself as a tinsmith by 1856, when he would have still been a teenager.

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. Deas worked as a tinsmith from 1860-1861 in San Francisco and was employed by Martin Prag, who also owned an establishment on Vancouver Island.

Victoria

By 1862, Deas was established in Victoria in the colony of Vancouver Island. By late 1868, he was operating a hardware and stove business called Birmingham House at the corner of Fort and Broad Streets.

Salmon canning

John Sullivan Deas entered the salmon canning business in 1871, when he was hired by

Captain Edward Stamp Captain Edward Stamp (5 November 1814 – 20 January 1876) was an English mariner and entrepreneur who contributed to the early economic development of British Columbia and Vancouver Island.Lamb, W. K. (2000). Stamp, Edward. ''Dictionary of Can ...

to make the cans for his pioneering canning business. Deas continued this work after Stamp died of a heart attack during a trip to England and eventually built his own cannery on what is now known as

in 1873. Labels for canned salmon produced at the cannery read "Fresh Salmon, John S. Deas, Frazer icRiver, British Columbia" and were lithographed by San Francisco firm G.T. Brown & Co. owned by Black artist

Grafton Tyler Brown Grafton Tyler Brown (February 22, 1841 – March 2, 1918) was an American painter, lithographer and cartographer. Brown was the first African-American artist to create works depicting the Pacific Northwest and California. Early life and education ...

. Deas was the lead canner on the Fraser River during this time and produced twice as much as his competitors during the 1872 and 1873 seasons. More competitors began canning businesses along the Fraser River in the years that followed, and Deas' canning business fell from its lead position. On August 19, 1878 Deas announced he had "sold all right, title, and interest in the fishery on Deas' Island, Fraser River to Messrs. Findlay, Durham and Brodie and my connection with the same ceases from this date." The business sold for fifteen thousand dollars.

Personal life

John Sullivan Deas married Fanny Harris from Hamilton, Canada West on September 4, 1862.

Pacific Appeal ''Pacific Appeal'' was an African-American newspaper based in San Francisco, California and published from April 1862 to June 1880. History ''Pacific Appeal'' was co-founded by Philip Alexander Bell, an African-American civil rights and antisl ...

, Volume I, Number 26, 27 September 1862. Retrieved fro
California Digital Newspaper Collection
Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deas, John Sullivan Black Canadian businesspeople American emigrants to pre-Confederation British Columbia 1838 births 1880 deaths