It would actually be my husband. He has a McGlashan family [actually two of them, that married each other.] I sort of knew there was this John McGlashan but didn't know he was related until the other day I was given access to the diary of Ed McConnell. In it he talks about his courtship of Charlotte McGlashan the sister of John McGlashan. The lady who sent me the diary has John McGlashan married to Jessie Guthrie, and a son John that is why I thought you might be talking about the same John McGlashan.
John and Charlotte had sisters and a brother: Alexander, Margaret, Jean, Peter, Mary all of whom are referred to in the diary. Margaret and Peter were early settlers of Canada and Mary stayed in Scotland. I have all of their births except Charlotte I think; and their parents [Alexander and Charlotte] and Charlotte's parents.
So is your John McGlashan the one who went to the gold rush? I ordered a book called *The California Gold Rush Overland Diary* by Bruce McKinstry and in it he quotes from "the unpublished diary of John McGlashan." Ed McConnell's diary specifically states that John went to California in 1850 [and came back]. The lady that sent me the diary is a descendant of Ed McConnell.
Thanks for responding after all this time!
And my husbands connection is that Margaret, John's sister, is my husbands great great grandmother.