Career
Born near the turn of the 19th century in Saint Charles, Canada, little is known of his early life except that he worked for the Montreal-based Northwest Fur Company, joining them in 1816. He traveled to Fort William on Lake Superior and may have spent the 1818–1819 season in Athabasca. He left Canada with a group of merchants in 1820.
By 1824 Gervasio Nolan made Taos, New Mexico his home where he worked as a gunsmith.
Between 1829 and 1845, Gervais and Maria Dolores Lalande had 8 children together. In 1827, Nolan traveled from Taos to Missouri and back again with a group of fur traders.
When naturalization requirements were eased in 1828, Nolan was one of the first foreigners to request Mexican citizenship. His new status as a Mexican citizen allowed him to freely trap and trade in Spanish territory, and legally engage in trade with foreign nationals, including Americans.
In the winter of 1830-1831, he went on a trapping expedition with a group of Mexican citizens.
In the 1830s, Nolan shifted to mining, business and land acquisition. He opened a store and forge in the mining town of Real del Oro and acquired a small fortune by mining and commerce. In 1843, he was awarded 800,000 acres (3,200 km²) in the San Carlos River valley of southern Colorado.
He hired staff and placed much of the land under cultivation.
In 1845, Nolan obtained another 600,000 acres (2,400 km²) near the Red River. He returned to his New Mexico holdings and died there in 1857.
(Hafan, p 195–199).
