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The name it is said received its derivation from "Spall" English meaning shoulder; and "ding" to strike. It is supposed the name originated in the middle ages when battles were fought hand to hand, and the two handed sword found in the coat of arms of the name, seems to strengthen this view.
The subject of this sketch is of the eighth generation descended from said Edward Spalding, and was born in Saratoga, N. Y. , in 1863, the youngest son of the Rev. N. G. Spalding, a prominent clergyman of that place. His mother was Miss Harriet Dorr, daughter of the late Dr. Russell Dorr of Chatham, a collateral relative of Thomas W. Dorr, the champion and fearless leader of the movement known in history as the "Dorr Rebellion," which so called rebellion asserted and finally established the principle that manhood and not property was the proper and essential basis upon which should rest the right of suffrage, in the Commonwealth of Rhode Island. Mr. Spalding is a brother of Dorr Spalding, now deceased, Harriet Mabel Spalding and Dr. Warren Clyde Spalding of New York city, During his childhood the family removed to a suburb of Albany, N. Y., and at the age of fourteen he entered the Albany Boys' Academy, where he remained several years, later joining the senior class of the Union Classical Institute at Schenectady, N. Y., from which he was graduated in 1881. He entered Union College the same year becoming a member of the class of 1885 and taking the classical course.
Finding it impossible to expend the time necessary to complete an academic course he subsequently withdrew from his class and entered upon the study of law in connection with teaching, completing his studies at the Albany Law School, from which he was graduated in 1884, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws.
In the following year he began the practice of law at Albany where he has since resided and devoted his time strictly to his chosen profession.
In 1891 he married Miss Matilda Garretson Galbraith, daughter of Judge Thomas J. Galbraith, an able and distinguished lawyer of the West, whose decisions on the many intricate questions affecting mines and water rights have been widely quoted.
In 1892 Mr. Spalding was admitted to practice in the Federal Courts, thus preparing himself for more varied fields of professional activity.
He is an active member of the New York State Bar Association and has membership in several local and out of town clubs, societies and alumni organizations. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Spalding is a polished and forceful speaker. His addresses upon public occasions have been highly commended and have gained for him a place among the gifted and eloquent young orators of the city.
In politics he has always been a staunch and unswerving Democrat, having held active membership in the Young Men's Democratic Club and other political societies.
Mr. Spalding has never been a candidate for office though always taking a keen interest in politics. During President Cleveland's first administration he was appointed to an office under the Treasury Department, but was unable to accept it as it necessitated his removal from Albany and the abandonment of his professional interests, which were already growing large. He has devoted himself untiringly to his profession and has gained a wide reputation in the department of practice to which he has mainly devoted his energies. Among the notable matters with which he has been professionally identified was the claim of the United States against the government of Venezuela, which came before the International Court organized at Washington in 1894 by which an award of over half a million was rendered the following year in favor of the American claimants.
In 1895 Mr. Spalding formed a partnership in the practice of law with Mr. S. J. Daring, which has since continued under the firm name of Spalding & Daring.
Nathaniel B. Spalding is of English descent, the first of that name, Edward Spalding, having come to this country about the year 1620 from Lincolnshire, England, and settled in Braintree, Mass.
