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Finding Aid to the William Heath Davis Papers, 1840-1905
BANC MSS C-B 445
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Collection Title: William Heath Davis Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1840-1905
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-B 445
Origination: Davis, William Heath, 1822-1909
Extent:
Part I: 3 boxes and 5 volulmes
Part II: 2 microfilm reels
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.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English
Collection is open for research.
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.
[Identification of item], William Heath Davis Papers, BANC MSS C-B 445, The Bancroft Library,
University of California, Berkeley.
This collection of his papers was assembled from several sources: some documents removed from the T. W.
Norris, Robert B. Honeyman and Robert E. Cowan Collections of Californiana; some material purchased in
1956 from Miss Inez Estudillo; and photocopy and film from the California State Library in Sacramento.
Sources are noted on the folders.
William Heath Davis was born of a Boston sea-faring, ship-owning family, in Honolulu in 1822. Visiting
California as a boy, he returned in 1838 to clerk in a store in Monterey owned by his uncle, Nathan
Spear, and subsequently engaged in trading trips to Yerba Buena and the Hawaiian Islands. In 1845 he
settled in San Francisco, established his own business and became one of the city's most prominent
merchants and ship owners. In 1847 he married María de Jesús Estudillo, daughter
of Joaquin Estudillo, a wealthy rancher. In addition to his mercantile activities he was instrumental in
the founding of San Diego and Oakland. He died at Hayward, California, April 19, 1909.