John William “Jack” Marchbank (1862 - 1947)
Jack Marchbank was born in DeSable, Queens, Prince Edward Island. 1) He lost a leg in the Idaho mines. “Peg-leg Jack” was reputed to be the only one-legged man to cross the Chilkoot.2) He operated a saloon and gambling establishment in Dawson in 1899 and then the casino Northern in Alaska.3) In Dawson and Nome he made a fortune in his saloons and gambling halls before moving to San Francisco in 1902.4)
Marchbank immigrated to the United States in 1903 and operated the casinos Northern and A Mon Chateau in San Mateo. He and Mary Ellen Porter married about 1906 and moved to Daly City around that time. He founded a newspaper, the Daly City Record, and became a beloved citizen. During prohibition he ran underground operations out of the back door of his roadhouses, and his newspaper’s endorsements of political figures bought him protection. He was operating the Millionaires Club in San Francisco in 1913. He owned the Tanforan racetrack about 1919 and was a prominent horse breeder by 1932. He built new barns at Tanforan to house 1400 horses in 1937. He and Mary Ellen divorced in 1943.5) Marchbank married his secretary, [Bernadette Loretta Jones] in 1947 and died seven months after the wedding. He left her an estate of five million dollars.6)