Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Scope and Content
Biography
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Nathan Spear Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1802-1849
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 106
Creator: Spear, Nathan, 1802-1849
Extent:
Number of containers: 2 boxes
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Consists of letters and accounts and other commercial records of his store in Monterey from 1832 and in San Francisco from
1836. Some relate to partnership, 1836-38, with William Sturgis Hinckley and Jacob Primer Leese.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Nathan Spear papers, BANC MSS C-B 106, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Forms part of the Hubert Howe Bancroft Collection.
Scope and Content
The papers, which include correspondence, accounts, and invoices, were given to Hubert Howe Bancroft in 1878 by Spear's son,
William N. Spear.
Biography
Nathan Spear was born in Boston in 1802. In 1829 he went to the Sandwich Islands and in 1832, went to Monterey. He opened
a store and engaged in coastal trade with the schooner "Nicolás."
Spear, in partnership with Jacob Primer Leese and William Sturgis Hinckley opened a store in San Francisco in 1836, and moved
there in 1838, leaving his Monterey store in charge of William R. Warren. The partnership was dissolved the same year. Spear
continued the business, transferred the "Nicolás" to San Francisco, and bought the schooner "Isabel." He also built a grist-mill
with a machine for making shingles, and a turning-lathe. His nephew, William Heath Davis, was his clerk from 1838.
Spear was arrested during the Graham affair in 1840. In 1846 he was an unsuccessful candidate for alcalde of San Francisco.
Although he owned several town lots, he never became a Mexican citizen, and so obtained no land grant.
Ill-health forced Spear to move to Napa Valley in 1846. He returned to San Francisco late in 1848 and died at the home of
his nephew in October, 1849.