Spear, Nathan, 1802-1849.

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.

From the guide to the Nathan Spear Papers, 1802-1849, (The Bancroft Library)