Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Nathan Spear Papers,
- Dates:
- 1802-1849
- Creators:
- Spear, Nathan, 1802-1849
- 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.
- Extent:
- Number of containers: 2 boxes
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Nathan Spear papers, BANC MSS C-B 106, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Background
- Biographical / historical:
-
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.
- Acquisition information:
- Forms part of the Hubert Howe Bancroft Collection.
- Physical location:
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 1997
- Date Encoded:
- Machine-readable finding aid derived from paper by means of scanning and OCR; OCR file edited for typographical errors before encoding; finding aid encoded by Xiuzhi Zhou. Date of source: Unknown.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
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.
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481