San Francisco County

Biographies

NATHAN S. BACHMAN

Nathan S. Bachman.—The wholesale dry goods firm of Bachman Bros., San Francisco, so well and favorably known, consists of the following members: Messrs. Herman S., Nathan S., David S. and Leopold Bachman. They are natives of Germany, and came to the United States in 1846, 1848, 1850 and 1861, respectively.

At the time of his arrival on American soil, Nathan S. Bachman was in his thirteenth year. He attended school for a few years and subsequently became a clerk in a New York house, and later at Mobile, Alabama. He arrived in San Francisco in 1854, and, in connection with his oldest brother, Herman S. Bachman, started their wholesale business, then a small one, on Sacramento street. They were there only a year before they were compelled to seek larger quarters. As time elapsed the firm made five successive moves, each time into larger rooms, until they moved into their present store, Nos. 10 and 12 Battery street. The history of the house shows an increasing prosperity from its commencement. They have sailed safely through all the business panics and all the excitements of the early history of this city. They had been in business only a year when, in 1855, the great failure of the Adams Company occurred and several of the banks suspended. In 1856 came the great struggle in San Francisco for law and order, and Mr. Bachman became a member of the Vigilance Committee. Through the earnest efforts of this organization the good order and good name of the city was preserved. (For detailed account of this, see city history in this book.) The trade of the firm now extends all along the coast and to the Sandwich and South Sea Islands.

Nathan S. Bachman was united in marriage, in 1863, to Miss Pauline Speyer, a native of New York. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., in all its branches, and has long been connected with the Board of Trade, and had the honor of being one of its directors during the past five years. He has also taken an interest in and connected himself with several of the charitable societies of the city, and interests himself in the good government growth and prosperity of San Francisco.

Transcribed by Donna L. Becker

Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2, page 141, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.

California Biography Project

San Francisco County

California Statewide

Golden Nugget Library