Matthew Hall McAllister (1800–1865) was a judge, lawyer and sometime Georgia state official. A native of Savannah, Georgia, McAllister moved to San Francisco in 1850. In 1855, President Franklin Pierce appointed McAllister as the first presiding Judge of the newly created U.S. Circuit Court for California and Oregon; he served in this position until resigning in 1863. McAllister's son, Matthew Hall McAllister — best known as Hall McAllister (1826–1888) — arrived in San Francisco in 1849 and, over the course of nearly 40 years, became one of the most eminent and respected attorneys of his generation. This photograph of the father previously appeared in the March 1999 issue of the Mac-Alasdair Clan Newsletter.