JOHNSTON LECKY GRAVESITE AT SHASTA.

Note: this gravesite is located on private property in Shasta.

The headstone of Johnston Lecky (1809-1849) at Shurtleff Hill in Shasta. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.

The town of Shasta was established in 1848 as a sprawling tent community called Reading Springs which was surrounded by gold rush pandemonium as miners pitched up tents establishing the new settlement. A natural spring flowed near the community adding to its original name of Reading Springs. Reading Springs was named in honor of Major Pierson B. Reading (pronounced like the color red) the first European-American settler in Shasta County, California. The population at Reading Springs increased between 500 and 600 residents in September of 1849, near the end of Johnston Lecky's life on October 8, 1849. During the interim the name Reading Springs was changed to Shasta on June 8, 1850. It was named Shasta by Armstead C. Brown an early pioneer settler. Brown named the town Shasta because it was the nearest town to Mount Shasta. Siskiyou County wasn't formed yet in California until 1852. As Shasta grew, the early settlers made it a ramshackle community, but the town flourished.

On March 6, 1851, the town of Shasta became the county seat of Shasta County. Shasta was now a bustling city, and a future post office and a courthouse would be constructed soon. Locals would come to call it the Queen City of the Northern Mines or simply, the Queen City of the North, due to the many accommodations it boasted during its heyday. Johnston Lecky is well remembered by local historians in the area and what's known of him is that he caught the gold fever and came out during the California Gold Rush. Johnston Lecky became the first recorded death and burial in the history of Shasta County, California. He was a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. His burial is located on Shurtleff Hill in the present-day town of Shasta. I was fortunate to create and Johnston Lecky to my Find A Grave.com, account today, and honor him with a proper memorial. This posting is an extension of that memorial found at: Johnston Lecky (1809-1849) - Find a Grave Memorial.

Resources:

The 1944 Covered Wagon, published by Shasta Historical Society, page 40.

The 1945 Yearbook, published by Shasta Historical Society, page 2.

Solitary Graves - The Oakland Tribune newspaper  of Oakland, December 8, 1946

Report On Cemeteries and Lone Graves written by Beth Shuford. The 1965 Covered Wagon. Published by Shasta Historical Society, pages 40-42.

The "Cemetery Book" and Some of its Stories written by Beth Shuford. The 1973 Covered Wagon Published by Shasta Historical Society, pages 60-70.

Shasta County, California A History by Rosena Giles, published by Biobooks, ©1949, page 188.

Shasta's Growth, Prosperity and Decline, Part One written by Jeremy Tuggle. Published July 5, 2018.

Shasta's Growth, Prosperity and Decline, Part Two written by Jeremy Tuggle. Published July 5, 2018

Johnston Lecky Gravesite Photo. Courtesy of Shasta Historical Society.