John Sullivan Deas (c. 1838 – July 22, 1880) was a Black tinsmith who helped found the salmon canning industry on the Fraser River in southern British Columbia, Canada.
[5] By 1860, he relocated to San Francisco where he shared an address with other Black South Carolinians, Louis and Susan Mortimer and Z.
[5] 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.
[5] By late 1868, he was operating a hardware and stove business called Birmingham House at the corner of Fort and Broad Streets.
[6][7] After selling the cannery on Deas Island, he moved to Portland, Oregon to rejoin his family and died only two years later.