San Francisco County
Biographies
William F. Nelson, one of the early business
men of San Francisco, came to the city in 1850. He is a native of
Denmark, born in 1828, and came to the United States when a small boy. He
resided three years in New York, with an uncle, then went to sea as a sailor
boy, and sailed constantly until twenty-one years of age; spent twenty months
on a whaling ship and passed through many severe storms at sea, and when
eighteen years of age was the mate of his ship. When he came to
California he came as a sailor, at $1 per month, that is to say, he worked his
passage; so many people were coming to this coast that the ships were manned in
that way.
After arriving in San Francisco, he was engaged in steamboating
on the Sacramento river, from San Francisco to
Sacramento and Marysville, and return. He then went to the mines at
Coloma and on the north fork of the Feather river.
After a few months spent in the mines, without great success, he returned to
Sacramento and worked at $18 per month in the mercantile establishment of
Simons, Tyler & Co. After spending a year and a half with them he
started on his own account, in Sacramento, an ice-cream saloon, met with good
success and accumulated in about two years $30,000. On November 21, 1852,
the great fire nearly consumed the whole city. He, with many others
suffered heavily in the fire. He started his business again, but the
inhabitants felt the effects of the fire, and he did not do as much business.
Soon afterward the great flood came upon them, and in the spring of that year,
1853, he came to San Francisco and for fifteen years kept a restaurant and
hotel. In 1868 he started his first store, hardware and crockery and a
part of the time while in business in San Francisco he resided in Alameda county, at Alvarado.
He was united in marriage to Sarah Smithcyst, a
native of New Jersey. They had two sons, born in San Francisco: one
died when a year old, and the other, William A., is now his father's partner in
the hardware and crockery business. Mrs. Nelson died, and he was married
the second time, to Antona Tintman,
and they had one daughter, Emma. This wife also died, and Mr. Nelson was
again married, and has two more children, Lucy and Harry.
Since 1853 he has resided or had his business constantly on Jackson street in this city. During his career here he has been the
owner of much valuable city property, and has done his share in building up the
city. He obtained the franchise for the Sutter street railroad, one of
the first street railroads in the city. He furnished the first means to
start it. Mr. Nelson has met with several heavy losses, but through no
fault of his own, and he is just as worthy a citizen as if he had kept all of the
money he has made during his long business career. In politics he is a
Democrat, and has taken a high degree of intelligent interest in the affairs of
the country. He is a member, and has been one of the directors, of the
Territorial Pioneer Society of California, and he still takes a deep interest
in the State in which he has lived since it was admitted to the Union.
Transcribed 1-25-05
Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source:
"The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 1, pages 692-693, Lewis Publishing Co,
1892.
© 2005 Marilyn R. Pankey.