[1][2] Born in London, Nathan migrated first to Australia in December 1839 and then for New Zealand on the Achilles, leaving Sydney for the Bay of Islands in February 1840.
In 1843, with fellow early settler John Israel Montefiore, he secured a grant of land on the corner of Karangahape Road and Symonds Street for a Jewish section of the Symonds Street Cemetery, Auckland.
[3] As his business prospered, he traded in kauri gum and tea and operated a bond store.
[3] Nathan served four terms as president of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation, between 1853 and 1883, and in 1884 laid the foundation stone of the synagogue on the corner of Princes Street and Bowen Avenue.
[3][5] Nathan died at his home, which he had built in 1863 in Waterloo Quadrant, Auckland City, on 23 August 1886.