John Parrot had quite a life

He had traded in hides and tallow in Mexico long before the gold rush. He had been named U.S. Consul at Mazatlan in 1838. This honorary position brought prestige, but it did not include any pay.

While Parrott was given the respect that his wealth and position commanded, he was not without his flaws. It was known he had fathered at least two children by different Mexican women. Some of his business dealings in those early days would have been called smuggling today.

Nevertheless, when he arrived in San Francisco, Parrott was already established as a respectable and influential man. He became a banker and accumulated real estate in San Francisco and elsewhere. He invested in many different successful business ventures. He had originally been from the South, and became a typical southern conservative businessman.

Unlike some other San Franciscans of the time, Parrott never revealed the extent of his wealth, so it was rumored he was richer than many of the others.

While on a business trip to Alabama, Parrott met the sister of one of his associates. She was 18 years younger than he, but John was immediately attracted to her. They were married in the Catholic Church in 1853, and Parrott brought her back to California.

John Parrott built the requisite mansion in the City, and in 1859 he bought an estate in San Mateo from Frederick Macondray. It bordered today’s El Camino Real into the hills to the west. Parrott called the place Baywood. He indulged his fancy for thoroughbred horses, and imported cattle and other animals for his 377-acre country home. After nine years, he replaced the modest single-story house with a larger home in keeping with his position. Of course this was only a summer place, but it had hydraulic elevators and was designed along French Second Empire lines. Nevertheless, they were not known as party givers. Family and church were their main interests.

John and Abby Parrott had eight children. There were six girls and two boys, but one of the boys died in infancy. John did not neglect his responsibility for his Mexican born son and daughter, either. They were brought here and educated at boarding schools appropriate to their father’s wealth. In fact, his son, Tiburcio, took over the Parrott Bank when John retired.

The Parrotts were naturally concerned with seeing to it that their many daughters married well. In this, too, they were successful. Two married into French nobility and one wed an English nobleman. Two others made good American alliances; one married a local judge and another a West Point trained Army officer. Their son and remaining daughter both married into another local banking family, solidifying a business alliance. Even Parrott’s illegitimate daughter married a wealthy English physician.

Parrott died in 1884. The San Francisco home was destroyed in the earthquake and fire of 1906, and after that Abby Parrott made San Mateo her home. Abby had promised John never to turn away a hungry man, so she regularly fed 50 to 100 at her back door. A special campground was set up for this purpose. By her death in 1917, it was estimated she had fed 300,000 destitute people.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 750 Middlefield Road, Redwood City.<