John Bach McMaster was born in Brooklyn, New York, on 29 June 1852, to James and Julia Anna Matilda Bach McMaster. His mother was the daughter of Robert and Margaret Cowan Bach. Robert Bach had arrived in New York City from Hereford, England, in 1796; he became an enterprising merchant who specialized in medical remedies and eventually expanded his business into a major pharmaceutical firm. Bach was married to Margaret Cowan of Newry, Ireland, and they built a luxurious home in Brooklyn on the spot where one end of the Brooklyn Bridge now stands. Their daughter Julia was married to a promising young artist, Frederic W. Philip, but he died only four months after the wedding. After five years of young widowhood, in 1845, she married James McMaster.
James McMaster had a colorful past. Of Scottish descent, he was born in New York State and was reared by an indomitable widowed mother who ran a boardinghouse near Saratoga Springs. As a young man he drove a pack of mules across central Mexico, trading with Indians; later, with a half brother, he founded a banking house in New Orleans.
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