Daniel Wadsworth Coit was born in Norwich, CT on November 29, 1787. During his teen years he became an apprentice in the import business Gilbert & Aspinwall in New York City. In 1808, he became an independent businessman. While in New York he, also began receiving some elementary art training from a professional artist specializing in water colors and sketching.
During the year 1818, the ongoing war between Peru and Chile appeared to present a potential business opportunity. In an association with his cousins, G.G. and S. S. Howland, Daniel W. Coit became the onboard representative of a shipload of firearms bound for Peru. Though the attempt to sell the shipment of firearms to the Peruvian government fell through, it allowed Coit to establish residence in Lima. After a few months he obtained permission from the Peruvian government to export cocoa to Europe. During his twelve month residence in Lima he continued to hone his skills as a pencil sketch artist of local landscapes.
Coit set sail for Spain with a shipment of cocoa in 1820. This marked the beginning of the expansion of his business and artistic ventures in Europe. While in London, he entered a business relationship with Fredrick Huth & Company, merchants involved with international trade. As a representative for the company he not only consummated business transactions throughout Europe but also frequented the numerous art galleries on the continent.
After twelve years abroad he returned home to Norwich in 1832. During the next fifteen years his business relationships in New York sustained him financially. In 1848 banker William Aspinwall sent Coit to Mexico to look after the business affairs of his bank in Mexico.
While in Mexico news broke of discoveries of vast amounts of gold in California. Coit engineered a plan with a Mexican company representing the Rothschild’s of London to exchange Mexican dollars for gold dust. He traveled by ship and landed in the nascent city of San Francisco on April 1, 1849. He was impressed with the beauty of the landscape and the coastline of his new destination. During the next three years, he filled his sketch books with pencil renderings of the early years of the city of San Francisco.
To view the pencil sketches of 1849 Gold Rush era San Francisco by Daniel W. Coit visit the Otis Library’s Fickr site of historical photographs.