Page By Thomas
Ray McELroy Thomas Ray McElroy
home Page
Database: Full Context of Albert Williams, S.F.,
CA Pastorate, and 1849-54 Combined Matches
With all practicable dispatch, the church edifice ordered was Constructed
in New York, and forwarded via Cape Horn. It arrived in November 1850.
The cost of the building, including all the fixtures, pulpit, pews,
chandeliers, and rich-toned bell, was all defrayed in New York, chiefly by the
friends of Mr. Alfred DeWitt, connected with the Scotch Presbyterian Church, Dr. James McELroy, pastor. The freight was defrayed from the treasury of the church. A
change of the Church site, for one more eligible on the west side of Stockton
Street, between Broadway and Pacific streets, was made, and a contract forthwith
entered into for the Erection of the building. The work went on apace. The frame
was raised and partly covered, When a most severe rainstorm broke upon the
city. Strenuous efforts were made to “stay” the building, but in vain; and all
was prostrated in a heap of ruins. Nothing daunted, however, arrangements were
at once made by the trustees to reconstruct the building. Many of the valuable
materials had been Destroyed, but what with supplying the deficiencies and the
additional labor and enhancement of expense, the happy [p.43] completion of the
structure was effected. This church edifice was a marked object of admiration
in the city. It was the first constructed according to accepted ecclesiastical
rules, a beautiful early Gothic building, with porch and belfry. Its capacity,
on the ground floor and in the gallery, afforded seven hundred and fifty
sittings. On the 19th of January 1851, the church was opened for
dedicatory services. It was overcrowded on the occasion. As many as entered
were prevented from attendance for want of room. In connection with the event, it
was noticed that thirty-two Ladies were present, the largest number of the sex
ever before collected in one place of worship in the city. My sermon on the
occasion was preached from Isaiah LVI. 6, 7: “Also the sons of the stranger,
that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him and to love the name of the
Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it,
and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and
make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their
sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a
house of prayer for all people.”
Highly prized, as this church edifice naturally was, more than
this was its distinction, namely, that it was the scene of marked progress in
[p.44] church interests, a growing prosperity in increasing, permanent numbers
and strength.
The destructive fires of San Francisco in the early days were
periodical inflictions, which seemed to mark the city as doomed. They had their
beginning in ‘49, and made a part of the crowded incidents of that eventful
year. The destroying element was the more sweeping in its effects by reason of
the combustible materials of its buildings, high winds, and an insufficient
Fire Department, together with a defective supply of water. The most noteworthy
fire of 1849 occurred at the close of that year, on the 24th of
December. It broke out at four o’clock in the morning, in an “Exchange” on
Kearny street, opposite the Plaza, consumed that large and costly building,
communicated with the adjoining larger structure, known as the Parker House,
and burned it, with other smaller buildings in the vicinity, to ashes. The
fabulous incomes from the rents of those principal buildings—from the Parker
House $10,000 per month, and from the Exchange in proportion—show the great
pecuniary losses sustained.
The next great fires were those of the 4th and 14th
of May, 1850. These swept over the central business quarters of the city, and
were sufficient to crush the average courage of men. Yet, [p.45] while the
ashes were still glowing with heat, rebuilding was commenced upon the ruins.
The fourth great fire took place on the night of the 17th
of September, 1850. Again, to an extraordinary degree, were the endurances of
the community tried. Before morning, the fire had done its completed work, and
destroyed property valued at millions.
So frequent and periodical were the fires that they came to be
regarded in the light of permanent institutions. Fears of a recurrence of the
dread evil, in view of the past, were not long in waiting for fulfillment. On
the anniversary of the fire of the 4th of May 1850, came another on
the 4th of May, 1851, the fifth general fire. The city was appalled
by these repeated calamities. In addition, more, it began to be a confirmed
conviction that they were not accidental, but incendiary. On the 22d of June
1851, the sixth, and, happily the last general fire, and severest of all,
occurred. The fact that the point of the beginning of this fire was in a
locality quite destitute of water facilities, with other attending
circumstances, left hardly a remaining doubt of its incendiary character.
To the congregation of the First Church in general, in the
burning of its church edifice, and, in addition, to a large number of its
individual members, many of whom lost their all in this [p.46] fire, the event
was deplorably ruinous. The fire began in a small frame house on Pacific
Street, between Stockton and Powell streets, in the rear of the church, on the
same block on which it was situated. When first discovered, a bucket of water
might have extinguished the fire, but the preventive was not at command, or
timely efforts to apply it were neglected. The time was Sunday morning. At the
first bell ringing for the eleven o’clock service, looking out of my north
study window, from my residence on California Street, I saw a dark cloud of smoke
rising from the region of the church. In anxious haste, I left for the
threatening scene. On Stockton Street, I met a friend, who reported the fire as
already beyond control, and our church beyond the power of preservation. Very
many of the congregation was on the way to the church service at the beginning
of the fire. The choir had made special preparation for the music of that day.
I reached the church in time to assist members of the congregation in saving
the books, organ, and other moveable articles, and last of all, helped to
detach the pulpit and bear it to a place of safety. Meanwhile the fire had
begun its destructive work upon the west pulpit end of the building, and from
the burning masses around had gained such power that in a few minutes the entire
structure was enveloped in the [p.47] consuming flames. The eastern Stockton
street front, supporting the belfry, last gave way, and the bell loosened from
its lofty height fell into the street and was broken in the fall. In so brief a
space of time, the church for which we had waited so long, and in the use of
which so much gratification had been derived, was entirely destroyed.
Of course, a conflagration so extensive, with Broadway as its
northern limit, southward to the Plaza, and eastward to the line of the Bay,
entailed most oppressive losses, and was attended with many striking incidents.
Our friends, De Witt and Harrison, saved their large warehouse on Sansome
Street, with its valuable contents, protecting it with blankets saturated with
many thousand gallons of vinegar. Others of our people lost their all. Late in
the afternoon, I went outside of the burnt district, seeking such of my
congregation, as had been extreme sufferers. Not to mention other cases of
misfortune, I traced one family, consisting of a father, mother, and two
daughters, to their place of retreat, a small room, in the middle of which was
the small remnant of articles contained in a blanket, saved from a fully
stocked store and a dwelling pleasantly furnished, together with much prized
heirlooms from former generations. Only on the previous day, an additional
supply of goods had been added to the stock of the store, all of [p.48] which,
according to wont, was fully paid for, but all in a moment was lost.
The lesson of this great fire was not neglected. With the
impression of risks from incendiaries, and the fear of repetitions of what was
believed! To be villainous incendiary work, hundreds of citizens were
organized! As a corps for patrolling the city, especially in May and
June 1852, as a precautionary and preventive measure against incendiarism.
Mechanical labor, building materials, and many other articles of
merchandise, rose to greatly enhanced values as a consequence, as had been the
case in other preceding fires. Rents were greatly advanced, alike for stores
and residences. In the case of the latter, dwellings in the vicinity of, and
less commodious than my own residence, readily commanded $300 per month.
Again, the congregation was obliged to seek temporary
accommodations. Once, on Sunday evening, June 29th, we worshipped,
by invitation, in the First Baptist Church. On the first and second Sundays of
July, service was held in the Supreme Court Room, Marine Hospital building, on
Stockton Street. The place was small, and a change was made to the Superior
Court Room, St. Francis Hotel, larger but insufficient in capacity.
The spirit of sympathy and the appreciation of religious
institutions, which prevailed in the [p.49] community, found utterance in the
public prints. Unasked expressions of this interest appeared editorially. One
of the classes represents so truly the state of the case, including the plans
of the congregation looking to rebuilding of the church, that I transfer it to
these pages.
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. —We learn that the congregations, which were
accustomed, to assemble at the Presbyterian Church, which was consumed by the
conflagration of Sunday, last, are taking steps to rebuild, in a more permanent
manner, a Temple dedicated to the Most High. We are glad to see this. We are
well pleased to chronicle to our friends abroad, that while crime stalks
through our city, in too many instances unpunished, while good citizens feel
constrained to band themselves together for the protection of their lives and
property, while it has been deemed necessary in some instances, in different
portions of the State, to visit the guilty with the terrible penalty of death,
in order to strike terror into the breasts of scores of felons in our midst,
there are still so many amongst us who remember the duty they owe their
Creator, who are willing to assist with their means in the erection of a Temple
to be dedicated to the living God. Such a movement, made at a time when nearly
all are oppressed with heavy losses, will inspire a greater confidence in us
abroad than any other, which could be made. It will be seen and understood that
we desire to do our duty, and that we regard the amenities of life more than we
prize a few paltry dollars. Let the good work progress, and our word for it,
the money thus spent will return fourfold to the generous donors. —The
Pacific Star, Jan. 25, 1851.
A much longer delay than appears necessary occurred before the
rebuilding was accomplished. It was at once decided to rebuild. Time was lost
[p.50] in the changing of plans. A brick or stone structure, which would be
fireproof, was first proposed. To this plan, the great cost involved was an
objection, which seemed insuperable. Next, it was suggested to erect a frame
church, the exact duplicate of that which was burned, a proposition that was
received with much favor. This plan was seconded by Mr. Thomas Chambers, of the
house of John DeWitt & Co., New York, at the time in San Francisco, who
offered to supplement the contributions of the church for this object, if necessary.
On account of the supposed great risk in the frequency of destructive fires,
objections against an elaborate Gothic style prevailed. Finally, it was decided
to erect a plain building upon the church-site—hardly wisely, I thought—a very
plain building it was, constructed in eleven working days, and opened and
dedicated for divine worship on the second Sunday, 12th, of October,
1851. In capacity for sittings, it was the equal of the former building. The
pulpit was that which I had assisted in saving from the burning church, as
also, many of the pews and other furniture were relics of the past. This
building, unexpectedly, and almost undesired, stood through all the remainder
of my pastorate, a witness of much spiritual growth and center of extended beneficent
work. [p.51] First Visit to San Jose´--San Francisco Protestant Churches in
‘49-- Arrival of Roman Catholic Priests—Frederick Buel San Francisco Bible
Society.
Keeping in view the interests of education, and having secured a
substitute teacher for a week, at the close of May 1849, in company with a
friend, I made my first visit to San Jose´. The journey was performed in the
usual mode of travel, on horseback. Barring the fatigue, the trip was very
gratifying. At San Jose´, as in other places, which I had visited, the
appreciation of the cause of popular education was all that could be desired,
and encouraging hopes in its behalf were assured.
In this route, through the whole distance of fifty miles, the
opportunity was enjoyed of seeing the country in its unchanged condition, as it
had come into the possession of the United States. We partook of a noonday meal
at the hospitable residence of Don Francisco Sanchez, and rested the first
night at the house of Mr. Whistman, ten miles distant from San Jose´. In the
morning of the second day, we renewed the journey across the proverbially
fertile lands of Santa Clara Valley, and through leagues of mustard, whose
yellow, flowering tops were, though we were mounted, [p.52] high as our heads.
At no point of the way was the traveled, hard-beaten road enclosed, and no
bridges spanned the intersecting creeks. Nor any enclosures, indeed, were seen
upon any of the ranches by the way, save the usual California corral.
Near San Francisquito Creek, a plowman was engaged, in very primitive
style—with the sharpened point of the bough of a tree drawn by a pair of oxen,
with yokes fastened by leathern thongs to their horns—imperfectly, very
superficially disturbing a patch of ground in a seemingly vain effort of
husbandry.
San Jose´, too, though astir with the common gold excitement, was
unchanged from its external Mexican character. So also appeared the Mission of
Santa Clara, whose surrounding surfaces were ridged with the ruins of the walls
of adobe tenements, which had served the purposes of dwellings and storehouses
in the times of thousands of Indian neophytes. In San Jose´, adobe public
edifices for the use of the constituted Pueblo, and adobe residences with adobe
enclosures, the inevitable open plaza, unique caballeros in serapes
and broad-brimmed sombreros, women in their rebosas, gaily
caparisoned horses, with here and there the cumbersome carreta, were the
prominent features arresting attention.
The Arcade was Kimball H. Dimmick, Esq., one of the late captains
of Stevenson’s Regiment. [p.53] This official seemed quite at home in his chief
place of authority, to which not a little dignity was imparted by reason of the
gold-headed staff of official rank in his possession, which had received the
benediction of the Franciscan Fathers. To this cane, as the Arcade informed me,
was given such popular respect, that, in the hands of a lad bearing an order of
arrest, it was sure to hold and unresistingly lead a culprit to the jusguardo.
An instance of a special form, in the exercise of judicial authority, occurred
at the time of this visit. A Californian in the vicinity of San Jose´ was found
guilty of a misdemeanor, and the occasion was availed of to inflict the penalty
of banishment upon the offender, according to a Mexican custom. Captain Dimmick
seemed not loth to follow this precedent; and, for some reason, prejudice
against the place or otherwise, yet with a gratification which was undisguised,
by virtue of his authority, he sent the unfortunate criminal, in banishment for
one year, to Benicia!
The Rev. J. W. Douglas, Presbyterian, (New School,) a passenger
on board the pioneer steamer California, was settled in San Jose´,
filling the two-fold office of preacher and teacher. Not remaining over Sunday,
I had no opportunity of witnessing the evidences of religious interest in the
town. Not long afterward, I was gratified with the information that Mr. Douglas
had organized a [p.54] Presbyterian Church, which, under its different pastors,
has ever maintained a prominent rank in the Protestant family of churches.
As in reference to Sonoma, so to this visit to San Jose´ belong
reminiscences of novel scenes and the increase of permanent, cherished
acquaintanceships.
The example furnished in the organization of the First
Presbyterian Church of San Francisco had the effect of leading soon to other
Protestant Church organizations in the city. The first to fall into line was
the First Baptist Church, the Rev. O. C. Wheeler, pastor, on the 24th
of July. The Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, the Rev. F. S. Mines,
rector, was the next, then, the Methodist Episcopal (now First M.E.) Church on
Powell street, the Rev. W. Taylor, pastor; next the First Congregational
Church, pastor the Rev. T. Dwight Hunt, in the organization of which, by invitation,
I took part, on the first Sunday, 2d, of September. It has ever seemed strange
to me that Mr. Hunt, a Presbyterian, did not adhere to the formation of a
church of his own religious faith. The last church formed in San Francisco in
1849, near the close of the year, was Grace, Episcopal, the Rev. J. L. VerMehr,
rector.
In June 1849, two Jesuit priests, Messrs. Blanchet and Langlois,
arrived from Oregon, and laid the foundation of St. Francis Church, on Vallejo
[p.55] Street. Their place was near my own residence in the American House, on
Stockton Street, and soon I made their acquaintance. Mr. Blanchet, after a
short time, returned to his former field. With Mr. Langlois, my acquaintance
continued and became intimate, as it was also agreeable. He had been stationed
at the posts of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Not having enjoyed the advantages of
a systematic education, he told me it was his wish and purpose to seek such
benefits in an institution in Canada. He was unsophisticated and earnest, and
at all times ready to coo die. Pirate in efforts to promote good morals and the
public welfare. At my invitation, he took part in a temperance meeting held in
the Public School House, June 30th, but excused himself from
speaking in behalf of the cause, only on account of his imperfect acquaintance
with the English tongue. In honor of his truly catholic spirit and pious zeal,
I recall his successful effort in causing the suppression of a
Sabbath-profaning circus near his place of worship, and also his countenance given
to our Biblie society, and his permission accorded to the free circulation of
copies of the Holy Scriptures, in the Spanish language, among the Spanish Roman
Catholic population. The edition used was that issued from the press of the
American Bible Society, translated from the Latin Vulgate, with the imprimatur
of high Catholic authority. It is a question whether it was wise to discontinue
[p.56] the publishing of a version, which found so free circulation. At a later
day, a friend of mine heard in St. Francis Church the Protestant circulation of
the Bible publicly denounced. Many copies of the Vulgate in Spanish, however,
had passed into the hands of Sonorians, sojourning in the city, and were taken
by them, on their return, to their homes in Mexico. Of this version, I had a
supply at my own residence in 1850, and I had frequent opportunities of
observing the avidity with which the Sonorians, as they were made acquainted
with the fact by my young son, sought for copies, and thankfully received them.
When later, before the public prohibition, there was an influence
used to prevent the circulation of these volumes, the tables were turned by the
challenging question, “Do you not know that the United States flag flies here
now, and the Bible is free?”
In this connection, I may record the formation of the San
Francisco (since California) Biblie Society, which took place on the 28th
of October 1849. The leader in this cause on the Pacific Coast was the late
Rev. Frederick Buel. Mr. Buel arrived in San Francisco on the 10th
of October 1849. He came a lay member of the church; as such, he was introduced
to me by the Rev. S. I. Prime, one of the secretaries of the American Biblie
Society, and also in this capacity commended as, in the view of that Society,
“more likely to [p.57] be acceptable to the people of California”. I refer to
this expression as one of the common mistakes in judgment entertained
respecting the actual character of our early California population. For, no
class was then more heartily welcomed, and no persons were more respected than
the clergy was. Our Presbytery put emphasis upon this fact, in its prompt
action in receiving Mr. Buel into orders. Having been received into my Church
as a member, by transfer from the Congregational Church of Litchfield,
Connecticut, I had the privilege of introducing him to the Presbytery, and as a
graduate of Yale and proficient in theology, he was first licensed as a
probationer, and afterwards ordained to the ministry of the gospel.
The public meeting, at which our Biblie Society was formed, was
held in the Methodist Episcopal Church, on Powell Street. I was expected to
preside, but having been delayed beyond the time of its opening, by what is
technically styled a “providential call,” in this instance the marrying of two
couples, the Rev. Mr. Hunt presided. Cheerfully and zealously this work was
entered upon, a hopeful promise of its future success and usefulness. The first
President of the Society then organized was Mr. John M. Finley, a member of our
Church. The principal address of the evening was made by Frederick Billings,
Esq. [p.58]
Disturbance of the Public Peace—“The Hounds”—First Vigilance
Committee—Trial and Punishment—Arrivals by Sea—“No More Ta-tur”—Ministerial Association—Seamen’s
Friend Society—Benevolent Society—Last Hours of Two Men—The Rev. F. S.
Mines—First Marriage Ceremony.
The re-opening of the “Institute”, after my week’s vacation, was
unexpectedly delayed. To another, but necessary use the School House was
temporarily appropriated. On the Sunday of my absence, most flagrant outrages
were committed by an association of young men, generally known as “The Hounds”,
though they gave themselves a substitute name of “Regulators”. During the
preceding two or three months, sundry irregular acts had been committed by
them, though for a time attracting little attention. Ignobly they acted upon
the rule that “the world owed them a living”. Entering stores, and selecting
such goods as they pleased, they settled the account by ordering the bills to
be sent to Tammany Hall, a tent on Kearny Street, called their Headquarters.
Growing increasingly bold, while a busy community hardly noticed their
proceedings, they gave a finishing stroke to their reckless and violent acts,
in the afternoon and evening of Sunday, the 15th of July. In
fantastic costumes, [p.59] with banners flying, and armed, these reckless
marauders, with insolent effrontery, marched through the town to the slopes of
Telegraph Hill. There was congregated a population of Chileans and Mexicans,
upon whom they made burglarious and murderous assaults. The citizens then
became fully aroused. On the following Monday, a public meeting was held on the
Plaza. Addresses were made by Mr. Samuel Brannan, Captain Simmons, Colonel
Spofford, and Messrs. Gillespie and Howard. At once, two hundred and thirty
gentlemen enrolled themselves as a volunteer police force. Of the offenders,
nineteen were immediately arrested. For safekeeping, the prisoners were
confined on board the United States ship, General Warren, lying in the
harbor. A grand jury was empanelled. True bills of indictment were found.
Messrs. Wm. M. Gwin and James C. Ward were chosen as Associate Judges to assist
the Alcalde, T. M. Leavenworth, in the trial. F. J. Lippitt, Hall McAllister,
Horace Hawes, and Frank Turk, Esqs. were appointed Prosecuting Attorneys, and
P. Barry and Myron Norton, Esqs., were assigned as counsel for the defense.
The principal trial was the case against Samuel Roberts, a leader
of the “Hounds”, upon the charge of assault with intent to kill. Other specific
charges were conspiracy, riot, and robbery. Full examinations of witnesses were
made, the [p.60] defense being allowed all proper privileges. Able arguments
for the prosecution and defense followed. A jury, composed of true men, after
considering the case, gave a unanimous verdict of guilty against the prisoner.
Following this case, the trial of the others was taken up. The
charges against these men were similar to those in the case of Roberts. Their
trial also was in form the same. The result was a summary conviction of the
accused.
In passing sentence upon the criminals, the Court exercised a
considerate leniency. Although the crimes might have justified severer
punishment, it was thought the ends of justice, as Mr. Gwin afterwards remarked
to me, would be sufficiently vindicated, and order and peace preserved by the
milder form, which was pronounced and carried into effect, in imprisonment for
various terms.
This episode of the crimes and punishment of the “Hounds”, it is
to be observed, marks the first quasi Vigilance Committee of San
Francisco.
Again, these days of excitement ended, the city resumed its
accustomed quiet, and renewed its active business. The experiences passed
through left the truthful and salutary lesson, that the intelligent and
energetic citizens of San Francisco were able to maintain and enforce an
orderly government. The good effect, indeed, was [p.61] apparent in succeeding
years. In 1853, at the appearance of a renewal of acts of outlawry, a simple
public notice to convene a Vigilance Committee caused a complete check to the
incipient violence and crime.
The “Institute” was, after the brief delay, reopened for the
second and last term, after which pressing parochial engagements obliged me to
relinquish secular teaching.
Increasing arrivals by sea became, in the months of June and
July, a very noticeable feature; and, in company with a fellow-voyager, Mr.
Charles A. Gurley, of New London, Connecticut, it was a pleasant pastime, at
the close of the day, to ascend Telegraph Hill, and mark the changes taking
place in the harbor. Seldom did we fail to have a view of arriving ships coming
up from the Golden Gate, borne onward by the usual favoring afternoon breeze,
and, rounding North Point, their decks filled with a living freight of earnest,
hopeful gold seekers, ending their long, tedious voyages from far distant
ports, at the anchorage in front of the city. When first these excursions
began, there were less than a dozen square-rigged vessels in the harbor.
Steadily the number grew, until, at length, the surface of the Bay was darkened
by a crowd of shipping at rest.
From the American House I removed in August, [p.62] ‘49, to a
small adobe building on Powell Street, and, as sole occupant, with invited
guests at my pleasure, I enjoyed greater quiet and independence. Here began my
experience of taking meals at a restaurant. A colored professional cook, with
an experience of many years as cook and steward on shipboard, had opened an
eating establishment in a tent on Pacific Street. The attractions of the place
acquired notoriety. By the favorable report of friends, I was led to join them
at the tempting table. The variety of dishes was necessarily small, but the
paucity was compensated by the quality of the expert, a la cuisine. An
extra dish at any time was a special gratification. As when, upon a time, our
sable host passed around the table behind his guests, and with a fork in one
hand, transferred from a dish borne with the other, a small boiled potato to
each of our plates. The size of the esculent was hardly greater than that of an
English walnut. Potatoes cost money then, and “Uncle Peter” had graduated his
supply with mathematical exactness to the demand, of serving all alike. The one
distribution exhausted his store. Of this we had assurance, for when my
esteemed friend, Mr. Caldwell, beckoned him to his side, and in a subdued tone
said, “Uncle, another potato, if you please,” he was answered, “Plenty meat and
bread; no more ta-tur.”
Not the least gratifying, among other Christian [p.63]
fellowships at the time, and in such novel circumstances, were the cordial
gatherings and interchanges of the brotherhood of Protestant clergymen in San
Francisco. The sphere in which each of us moved was wide, and on this account,
all elbowing and jostling were unknown. In his own field, each one of us was
sufficiently occupied. However, this was not the only reason. If ever-true
fellowship in a common cause existed, it had place in this early intercourse of
the pioneer clergymen of 1849. Very soon, and, as it seemed, very
spontaneously, the friendships of our calling took form in a cordiality of
reunions. Distinctly we were classed as follows: The Rev. J. L. Ver Mehr and F.
S. Mines, Episcopalian; the Rev. O. C. Wheeler, Baptist; the Rev. William
Taylor, Methodist, and the Rev. T. Dwight Hunt and myself, Presbyterian.
However, in the frank communions of our band, no distinctions were manifest.
Every Monday morning, we were accustomed to meet, by turns, at the residence of
one of our number. These meetings were characterized by a harmonious
intercourse and fellowship, whose fruit appeared in concert of action. Common
plans of usefulness were devised. Of these undertakings was the formation of
the San Francisco Seamen’s Friend Society, of which Captain Bezer Simmons was
President. Its object was chiefly to maintain a religious service for the
benefit of the [p.64] seamen of the port. By a division of labor, in rotation,
the clergy conducted divine service on ships’ decks, on Sunday afternoons,
continued stately for a series of months, in 1849-50, unless prevented by the
rains.
Another necessary and useful association, which, in the same
manner, came into existence, was the Benevolent Society, which extended its aid
to the various cases of want ofttimes presenting their importunate claims.
During the severe rainy season of 1849-50, many were the demands made upon the
charitable by the unfortunate sick and destitute. And not only generous contributions
from individuals were made towards the needed relief, but it was also a most
honorable act of the city authorities which gave employment, at remunerative
wages, to the unfortunate, who, without these aids, might have perished.
In this connection, but not as included in the special work of
the Benevolent Society—only one of many calls upon my time and attention—I
recall the incidents of visits paid to two sick and dying men, in September,
1849. Word was sent to me by their kind benefactor, Mr. J. H. Jones, who had
provided them with shelter and medical attendance that, in an outbuilding at
the rear of his auction room on Sacramento Street, were two men lying
dangerously ill. At once, I responded to the call, and found the report of
[p.65] extreme sickness too true. One of the men was a Scotch seaman from
Fifeshire. He gave good proof of the fact of his early religious training and
its permanent impressions. Still, called suddenly and unexpectedly face to face
with death, he was in deep anxiety as to his preparation for the change
awaiting him. The other was a Virginian, who had, from his early days, been a
wanderer in various lands. Unlike his fellow-sufferer, however, so great was
his insensibility that little if any concern about his approaching end was shown,
though my conversation with him was as plain and direct as in the other case.
After prayers, I left them. It was then evening. The next day, I again visited
them. They were sinking rapidly. I renewed my conversation and prayers with
them. The same contrast of mental states was marked: the American, sad to say,
was dull and listless; the Scotchman, on the contrary, calm and peaceful, was
communicative and happy. His last words to me, on leaving, were thanks that I
had visited him, and a hope to meet me in a better world. Thus the good old
ways of his Presbyterian parentage received the seal of blessing in his last
hours, as its teaching and the holding of it in faith had not been abandoned.
Both of the men passed away in the evening of this last visit.
The first breach in the fellowship of our [p.66] ministerial
association was caused by the lamented death of the Rev. Mr. Mines, between
whom and myself special intimate relations existed, as fellow-students in the
Theological Seminary of Princeton. While in that institution, Mr. Mines was
among the most zealous of revivalists. When the disruption of the Presbyterian
Church took place, his connection was chosen with the New School side. Later,
he transferred his relation to the Old School branch, and next to the communion
of the Episcopal Church, in which he ranked as a High-churchman. Meeting in a
common field of labor in San Francisco, our former friendships were renewed,
and continued until death separated us. He used to say to me, “You are a
High-churchman as Dr. Miller taught us, regarding the divine right of
Presbyterianism, as I believe in apostolic succession”. “Yes, I believe,” I
replied”, in an apostolic succession of principles.” “A succession of straw!”
was his answer. I said, “Oh, no! Not so.” In the exercise of a patient
submission and cheerful hope, as consumption did its fatal work, my brother
awaited his looked for end. Often I visited him, at the breaking of his morn
and the passing away of earth’s shadows. In my last interview with him, his
gentle, characteristic spirit shone brightly; and on parting, he begged me to
convey to our ministerial brethren his love, “though”, he needlessly added, “I
think them in error.”[p.67]
The disproportion of the sexes was a marked feature of the times.
Hence, marriages were few. Circumstances render the first marriage ceremony I
performed in California memorable. The observing eye of Elder Caldwell noticed
among our congregation in the Tent a young gentleman and lady, who passed to
and from in company. The young man was an acquaintance of Mr. C., who took
occasion to suggest the propriety of his being married. “Can’t afford it”, was
the answer. Mr. C. said, “I will see that the ceremony shall not cost you
anything”. The suggestion was heeded. Shortly afterward, I was called upon to
marry the couple. Mr. C. remarked to me that he would assume the obligation of
the fee, the amount to be determined by what I should afterward receive. On the
22d of July 1849, I joined in the bonds of marriage Frederick Hathaway and Mary
Elizabeth Smith. A second marriage service was performed a month afterward. The
happy groom placed in my hand as a fee an ounce, sixteen dollars. Mr. C., on
learning the fact, said, “Let it rest till the next, and then strike the
average.” The next fee was $20, and following for the fourth and fifth, I
received $24 each, and “striking the average” myself, I considered the
obligation of Mr. C. discharged. [p.68]
Church Progress—Suffering Immigrants and Relief—Captain C. M.
Weber, Stockton, and the Rev. James Woods—Town-Building and Town-Sites—Visit to
Sacramento—The Rev. J. A. Benton—Mutineers of the Cutter Ewing—Attempted
Homicide of Passed-Midshipman William Gibson—Naval Court and Incidents—Clemency
of Commodore Jones—Execution.
A respected friend once paid me the honor, alluding to the
absorbing passion of the community in secular pursuits, to say to me, “Mr. W.,
I do not see how you could have courage to organize a church in such
circumstances”. The end in view in our undertaking was sublime; the means and
work involved were not strange, but the old, tried, and successful methods of
the Church of God in all ages. The organization embodied energetic life. Its
constituents were happy and cheerful, and appeared to share in the spirit of
good Mr. Caldwell, who was wont to say, he was “content to worship in a Tent,
sitting upon a bench”. It was our custom to observe bimonthly communion
seasons, at which, on each recurring occasion, an increasing accession of
communicants was witnessed. Such manifest favor, and growing numbers and
strength, causing cheerful satisfaction, might well overcome the temptations to
discouragement from any [p.69] external sources. With a sincere and heartfelt
devotion, it was our lot to experience an unhindered growing progress, in all
the essential elements of church work and usefulness.
A rumor reached our city in the autumn of ‘49, that a body of
overland immigrants had arrived in the Sierra Nevada, in extreme want and
exposure. The tragic experiences of the ill-fated Donner party were recalled,
and at once, our citizens took steps to send forward necessary assistance and
supplies. Placards, the draft of my pen, were circulated, calling a public
meeting, which was held. Nevertheless, while thus engaged in the work of
relief, General Smith, by appropriating $100,000 for the object, superseded the
benevolent action of the citizens.
Many century of population, old and new, in the country, called
for the services of clergymen. The excitement in town building prevailed
extensively, and new town-sites, with promises of future results, offered
opportunities also for forecasting occupation. These facts were noted by the
Rev. Mr. Woodbridge and myself, and made the subjects of communications to our
Board of Missions. We made these facts the basis of appeals for a large
reinforcement of helpers in this growing field. And this, though we had
information that our brother, the Rev. James Woods, was on his way to join us,
making with his family the [p.70] long, tedious voyage, in a sailing vessel,
around Cape Horn. The delays of this route were trying as well to ourselves as
to our brother.
Yet, for Mr. Woods I had the good fortune to be instrumental in
preen die; nagging an important position in the flourishing town of Stockton.
In the summer of 1849, I made the acquaintance, in San Francisco, of Captain
Charles M. Weber, long a resident in the country, the fortunate proprietor also
of the Stockton town-site. To that place, Captain Weber gave me a pressing
invitation to transfer my residence. This my relations already entered into in
San Francisco did not justify. Nor could I forego my many necessary engagements
to make the temporary visit, which he desired. The opportunity, however, I did
avail of, in those first and subsequent friendly interviews, to bespeak and
preserve a patient waiting for Mr. Woods. When, at length, in early January
1850, this brother arrived, this purée die, gaining, together with letters,
which I gave and procured from friends for him, prepared the way for his
favorable introduction to his successful pioneer work in Stockton.
The business of town building, on paper, was signally brisk
subsequent to and as the result of the first year’s successes in the mines, and
also in the view of a rapidly increasing population. At mining camps, along the
watercourses, and [p.71] generally here and there, this form of enterprise
showed itself. A new town-site, projected, surveyed, and advertised, was among
the frequent new events of early times. Each last promised of course claimed
superiority over all predecessors and rivals. It was a natural prompting, as
opportunity offered, to ask in those places, what was always cheerfully given,
a promise of a church site. In Benicia, which afterward, in its failure of
realizations, was spoken of as the “City of Promises”, this advantage, by the
wise action of Brother Woodbridge, had been secured? Then Benicia was the
rising rival of San Francisco. However, over its claims a shadow was cast by
another competitor, high-sounding and triumphant, over San Francisco as well,
at the head of deep-sea navigation—New York of the Pacific. It would have
seemed a flagrant dereliction of duty, if space for a Presbyterian Church had
not been obtained in the new metropolis. Other incidents in connection with
like ephemeral enterprises it is unimportant to mention.
With stronger grounds of hope and expectation, I made a brief
visit to Sacramento, in November 1849. From a so-called embarcadero,
that place had grown to be a town of importance, as the Centre of intercourse
and trade with the mining regions. A number of Presbyterians made a part of its
population. Their affinities for their [p.72] own denomination, it was
supposed, would lead them to welcome an effort to establish there a
Presbyterian Church. To further such a purpose, if practicable, was the special
motive of my visit. I found the Presbyterians as reported: some of them persons
of high social standing in the community; but to the proposal to form a
Presbyterian Church the objection, and only one, was made, that their
connection had been already formed with the existing Congregational Church. The
object I had in view was reluctantly abandoned, and the founding of a
Presbyterian Church in Sacramento was postponed to a later period.
During this visit, I was pained to find the Rev. J. A. Benton of
the Congregational Church, with other friends, particularly Mr. B., seriously
ill with malarious fever. At the time, I invited Mr. Benton to accompany me to
San Francisco, trusting that the change would contribute to his recovery.
Though not then, afterward, upon further solicitations, I was pleased to
receive him as a guest of “The Manse”, and especially to note, that after a
brief sojourn in our city and Monterey, his health became fully restored.
This round trip was made the more agreeable by the company of
Commodore Jones and his son, lieutenant, and Lieutenant Leroy, of the Ohio.
I first saw the veteran Commodore in the harbor of Sausalito, where the
sagacious commander of the [p.73] Oregon, after passing through the Golden
Gate, first anchored under the guns of the flagship. Not needlessly, Captain
Pearson took this precaution against an apprehended risk, which became a fact
in the mutiny of the crew, almost as soon as the steamer’s anchor touched
bottom. Instead of liberty, which the men sought, in order to reach the mines,
by the consent of Commodore Jones, imprisonment was the lot of the mutineers,
who were transferred to the stronghold of the Ohio, and held to complete
their contract in the return voyage.
Often afterwards, it was my privilege and honor to enjoy the
hospitalities of the Ohio and her courteous Commander, as the frigate
lay at anchor in front of our city. I had frequent opportunities for observing his
watchful interest in public affairs. For the preservation of order and peace,
and the sustaining of the local government, his services deserve the deep
obligations of the country. His coo die; operation with the Military Commander,
General Smith, and with the civil Governor, General Riley, was uniform and
effective. To his higher honor, it is to be added, his influence was ever
exerted on the side of good morals and the vital cause of religion. I cannot
but retain the profoundest sentiments of respect and admiration for his
intelligence, statesmanship, loyalty to his country, and an unswerving defense
and support of the right. [P.74]
The word of Commodore Jones was law. His requests enforced
obligation. So I could not refuse his invitation to me, in common with the Rev.
Messrs. Ver Mehr, Hunt, and Wheeler, together with the Chaplain of the
flag-ship Savannah, to a professional service, on board of which vessel,
in the harbor, five mutineers were confined, awaiting the execution of their
death sentence. The unhappy criminals were a part of the crew of the cutter Ewing,
United States surveying schooner, commanded by naval officers, lying in the Bay
of San Francisco. In the evening of the 11th of September 1849, a
boat from the Ewing was ordered to land a party of visitors in the town.
The boat was manned by these five men, in charge of Passed-Midshipman William
Gibson. The landing having been made, while returning and in the stream, the
men arose upon their officer, and in a desperate struggle threw him overboard,
Mr. Gibson dragging one of the men by his cravat overboard with him. The men in
the boat rescued their comrade. They repelled every attempt of Mr. Gibson to
seize hold of the boat and save himself: and, tauntingly leaving him to drown,
they rowed off, affecting a temporary escape. Providentially the impending fate
of Mr. Gibson was prevented. Floating in an ebb tide of four knots past the
city front, when in his exhaustion he was just ready to sink, his [p.75] cries
for help were heard on board a merchant vessel, and from it a boat put off, and
by the flash of its oars was guided to his rescue, and in a state of
unconsciousness he was taken on board and conveyed to the shore. Under the very
skilful treatment of Dr. A. J. Bowie and other surgeons, at four o’clock the
next morning consciousness was restored.
The escaping criminals were arrested near the mouth of the San
Joaquin River, brought to the city, and tried on charges of desertion, mutiny,
and attempt to murder and all convicted and sentenced to suffer the penalty of
death.
Two days only intervened between the date of our summons to the
service of ministering spiritual counsel to the doomed men and the time
appointed for their execution. They were all young, and the sad spectacle of
their condition, in the freshness of their youthful manhood, was painful in the
extreme. Their crime, the guilt of which they seemed keenly to feel, was the
culmination of a purpose, it was said, formed at the time of their enlistment
in Valparaiso, of deserting and seeking the gold mines. The brief two days of
preparation passed, issuing in the confessed contrite penitence of the
unfortunate men, and their resignation to their doom.
The fatal morning arrived. To each of the five clergymen one of
the condemned was assigned, to [p.76] be attended upon in his last moments. Ten
o’clock came, an hour of life to the unfortunate men remaining. At that moment,
the men were presented before Commodore Jones, on the deck of the Savannah,
the flagship. In suppressed tones the Commodore addressed them, announcing that
according to the request of two of their number, self-confessed, as the more
guilty, he had decided to reprieve three of them, (naming them,) commuting
their sentence to a temporary penalty. The petition, it was understood, had
been written by Hall McAllister, Esq., one of the counsels in the trial, and
did honor both to his heart and intellect. The reprieved, upon one of whom it
had been made my duty to wait, all fell upon their knees at the feet of the
tenderhearted Commodore, and most earnestly thanked him for his clemency.
The closing scene is soon told. Both of the ill-fated men said
they were prepared to die. One, whose name was given as John Black, an Englishman,
twenty-eight years of age, was taken in a boat to the cutter Ewing by a
naval squad, the Rev. Mr. Wheeler accompanying; the other, Peter Black,
so-called, a Scotchman, aged only nineteen, on board the Savannah, was
attended to the staging under the yardarm by Dr. Ver Mehr, whose tender words
addressed to the youthful victim, “Don’t cry, don’t cry,” seem still to linger
[p.77] in my ear. Gunfire—the swirling ascent—all was over.
No words of mine are needed to add to the sentiments of respect
universally felt for the brave and generous Commodore, who is so intimately
associated with the pioneer times of California. Yet, in grateful appreciation,
I desire to be held as not the least in obligations, for many a remembered
token of friendly regard. [p.78]
Every thing in outward conditions seemed strange, and in some
particulars, the contrasts with the Atlantic seaboard amounted to opposites.
The seasons seemed reversed: Winter appeared to have usurped the place of
summer. The dry season was regarded as an insuperable drawback to the
cultivation of the soil, and the country, it was concluded, could not be
agricultural. For the pioneers who arrived by sea, and had just passed through
the heated tropics, and who, by reason of a defective knowledge of the country
as well as their relaxed physical condition, were lily prepared to meet the
chill, summer trade-wind of the coast, excuses for their utterance of grumbling
complaints may be allowed, to which those who arrived at a later date can lay
no claim. The mornings in San Francisco were sunny and warm; the evenings,
foggy, blustering, and chill. Warm flannels at all times, and extra clothing in
the evening, were an absolute necessity. In addition, this not only outside in
the open air, [p.79] but also within doors. Not only tents and canvas houses,
but, in general, the frame tenements, were without the conveniences for fires
to impart artificial warmth. A walk which I often made, from the lower and
central part of the town—in the vicinity of Portsmouth Square—at the close of
the day, to my lodgings in the American House on Stockton street, called also
after the name of the proprietor, “Merrill’s-on-the Hill,” in nearly a direct
course, across unoccupied portions of blocks, was a test, in driving dense fogs
and against sweeping cold winds, of the discomforts of Summer afternoons. Nor
was the American House—popular as a public resort—proof against the general
chilliness. For they are too, in the absence of full protection, as the cold
wind and the fogs penetrated the crevices of the house, were heard the not
infrequent depreciatory exclamations: “This is your Italian climate!” “This,
your new Eden!” “Paradise!”
Yet, withal, prejudices and complaints gave way to a general
satisfaction; and this more especially, when it was found that no serious
disturbance of the healthy functions resulted, but, on the contrary, a bracing
stimulus imparted effective vigor to the constitution. A cheerful company often
gathered of an evening in the spacious dining hall, which was also the sitting,
and some times a sleeping room of the “American”. A humorous [p.80] English
guest, Mr. Pope, “the Pope,” he was sometimes called, enlivened the intercourse
with his witticisms, not sparing a great, unsightly drum around which the
guests gathered, vainly seeking warmth, of which it was the supposed receptacle
from a basement cooking stove beneath; as, for example, when “the Pope”
disturbed the general equanimity by saying, “I would I were a pancake,” looking
longingly at the drum. “Why, Mr. Pope?” “That I might have a chance at the heat
inside.”
In regard to this hotel, it may be said it was marked by several
striking features. The American, whatever the number of guests or applicants
for entertainment, was never full. Rooms filled, the dining room was opened,
and its tables and spaces under the tables were occupied, beds being supplied
by the inevitable companion blankets of travelers. The proprietor was also
noted for keeping things moving. The building was never finished; guests were
transferred from room to room at will; and the rooms themselves were subjected
to repeated overhauling. If at any time I went out for a few hours, I was never
sure of finding things the same on my return. On one such occasion, I found my
premises seized and possessed by a carpenter, commissioned by the obliging
landlord to make alterations which he considered needful. A conversation
ensued. My [p.81] intruding friend was very communicative, told me he had been
in the country more than two years, came with Kearney’s regiment, etc. Then
this dialogue: Myself—Are you a Mormon? Carpenter—Yes. Myself—From
what part of the country are you? Carpenter—Connecticut, near Hartford. Myself—How
did you become a Mormon? Carpenter—Well, I was first a Methodist; then I
was a Millerite two years; and then I joined the Mormons; I believe there is
good in all, do-ant y-e-u?
“A clean bill of health”, it was the boast of the times, was the
possession of the country when first entered by the pioneers. Such, in general,
was doubtless the fact. Various causes led to the introduction of sickness. Of
those who made the voyage via the Isthmus of Panama, and in the transit
had seemed to escape the malaria of the region, some contracted the seeds of
disease, which afterward produced their fruits in a cooler climate. Others were
victims of exposures in the gold mines, through the combined influence of the
heated atmosphere of ravines and the chilling waters of the mountain streams in
which the gold washing was performed. Of this class, I witnessed many
instances. The reward of labor in fabulous returns of the precious metal was
marred by the entailment of intermittent and other complaints, not the least
afflictive of which appeared in [p.82] various types of rheumatism—the fruit of
exposures. At the opening of the winter of 1849-50, many miners were impelled
by the storms of that season to seek retreat in San Francisco, where, in
drenched tents and cloth houses, the dangers to health and comfort were renewed
and hardly less severe.
That much sickness and frequent deaths occurred in such
circumstances—the usual fatality of new colonization’s—is not strange. My
experience in visitations of the sick and dying, as also in the burial of the
dead, was various as the times. In reference to burials, it was my lot to
witness, at different times, all seemingly possible degrees of outward
circumstance, from the lowest forms with aspects of cold indifference, to the
most showy of elaborate pageantry. Of the latter class I may not give examples;
of the former, rare it is true, index of a phase of disintegrated society,
belonging to the incidents of 1849, was the funeral of a young man, Mr. T., who
had died on board the ship Humboldt, in the harbor of San Francisco. He
was not a member of the company, which owned the Humboldt and rounded
Cape Horn. However, had been taken on board at Acapulco, at which port the ship
touched. He was then ill of consumption, the final cause of his death. In the
wareroom of Simmons, Hutchinson & Co., I performed the funeral service, in
the presence of a [p.83] considerable number of the Humboldt’s
passengers. The coffin was then placed in a plain cart, and driven, the driver
only with myself accompanying, to the burial place at North Beach, where our
number was increased by the solitary gravedigger. Such was the end of a
stranger.
The burial places of San Francisco have had their succession of
changes. In the infancy of the city, though outside of business quarters, they
were near the Centre. The most distant was one already referred to, on the line
of Powell Street, near North Beach. Another was on the southeastern slope of
Telegraph Hill. Still another was on Russian Hill, so called on account of the
use of its summit as a Russian burial place, in the time of the Russian Fur
Company’s establishment in San Francisco. All these were availed of in 1849,
and later. The time came when the authorities, in view of the extension of the
city, set apart the large gore of land bounded by Market, McAllister, and
Larkin streets, for burials, and gave to the plot the name of Yerba Buena
Cemetery. When first opened, it seemed remote, and as to access in any
direction, could be reached only by passing over a succession of sand-hills.
However, this, too, has passed away, and the plot is now, in part, the site of
the New City Hall.
Before, however, Yerba Buena Cemetery came into disuse, a private
corporation, consisting of [p.84] Nathaniel Gray, Frank B. Austin, and William
H. Ranlett, was formed, and a large tract of one hundred and seventy-three
acres was obtained for a city of the dead, and called (since changed to Laurel
Hill) after the name of the prominent conical elevation near, Lone Mountain
Cemetery. This strikingly expressive and appropriate name was chosen out of
many different titles, and as the conclusion reached in a council of advisors,
in which I took part. A notable event was the inauguration of this cemetery,
appointed to take place, under the direction of the proprietors, on the 30th
of May 1854. Nearly the entire day was given up to observance of the
inauguration The only available route to the cemetery, before any of the direct
streets were opened to it, was along the Presidio road to a point near the
garrison, and thence up and over the high dividing ridge stretching out to
Point Lobos. Throngs of citizens, in carriages and on horseback, and some even
on foot, in succession, wended their way to the scene of absorbing interest.
Although the scheme was under the control of private persons, the
occasion was considered one of public interest; and accordingly, the Mayor of
San Francisco, C. K. Garrison, Esq., presided, and in the name of the city,
made an appropriate acknowledgment of the occasion and its objects. By
invitation, it was deputed to me to take a [p.85] leading part in the
devotional exercises. Appropriate chants were rendered in the intervals of the
different parts. Especially interesting and ever memorable was the eloquent
oration delivered by our singularly gifted Pacific Coast orator, Col. E. D.
Baker. While every part of that oration was most fitting and impressive, and
passage after passage thrilled the hearts of the large assemblage gathered in
“The Dell,” especially sublime was that of which the theme was the
resurrection, and which was closed with a recitation, in truest pathos, of the
stanza from Dr. Watts:
God my Redeemer lives,
And often from the skies
Looks down and watches all
my dust,
Until he shall bid it rise.
Little did we think that so soon, in his own case, would be
fulfilled the prophetic description he then gave: “Here future generations
shall bring the warrior who has given his life for his country; here shall be
brought the remains of the statesman, who shall be remembered by the liberty
which he helped to create and the institutions which he aided in bringing to perfection.”
Calvary Cemetery, (Roman Catholic exclusively,) situated south of
Laurel Hill Cemetery, was established in 1860.
A surprise and a pleasure, which was much appreciated by many
Californians, was the [p.86] Thanksgiving service of 1849, appointed by
Governor Riley. It was understood that for this observance we were indebted as
well to the suggestion of the Governor’s Secretary of State, Capt. H. W.
Halleck. The day, 29th November, was by many duly observed. A
thanksgiving service was held by the First Presbyterian Church in its Tent, at
11 A.M. A good attendance. The text of my sermon was: “He thanked God, and took
courage”. Acts XXVIII. 10. Nor was the usual thanksgiving dinner omitted by the
good people of San Francisco, in which all doubtless distinguished themselves.
However, the best of all, I think, was enjoyed around the hospitable board of
Mr. C. V. Gillespie, at which, with Dr. Turner, Mr. Billings, and Captain
Macondray, I was an obliged guest. The close of a sumptuous entertainment was
enlivened by one of Dr. F.’s bon mots, when in pleasant irony he rounded
off the lively conversation of the feast by saying: “About this time, our
friends at home are gathered together at their thanksgiving dinner, and, their
thoughts turned toward us here, they are saying, ‘Poor fellows in California!
They have nothing to eat or drink.’”
Not as a politician, but as a citizen interested in all that
concerned the rising commonwealth, I could not fail to share in the common
solicitude felt in the right ordering of public affairs. I had watched the
signs of unrest shown in a natural [p.87] impatience under the existing forms
of civil government. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had continued the forms of
the Mexican Republic when not in conflict with the Constitution of the United
States. To some holding office, under the names and with the irresponsible
authority of the Mexican regime, the existing state of things may have
been satisfactory, but not so to all. Hence, the attempts to establish more
liberal institutions in better harmony with American usages. The rival
governments, known as “District Assemblies”, which sprang up in San Francisco
and a few other towns, were the expressions of an opposing sentiment of
dissatisfaction. However, all this was brought to an end by the efficient
action of Governor Riley, who ordered the dissolution of the “illegal”
Assemblies, and at the same time took the initiative towards the formation of a
State Government for California. On the 3d of June, the Governor issued his
proclamation providing for the election, on the 1st of August, of
delegates to a Constitutional Convention, to meet at Monterey, the Capital, on
the 1st of September, for the purpose of framing a State
Constitution. The entire scheme of forming a State Government was also
projected by the Governor; voting of the people on the ratification of the
Constitution; the election of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, members of a
State Legislature, [p.88] and representatives in Congress; and the convening of
the Legislature on the 15th of December; all of which was carried
into effect, with the inauguration of the State Government in all its
departments. These important movements formed the crowning civil exploits of
the pioneer year, and the setting in motion of the wheels of government was the
fitting, final act of 1849.
With the cause of public education, I had a special sympathy, and
by suggestions to members of the Constitutional Convention, contributed, I
believe, somewhat to the liberal views and action of the body, which had effect
in their noble advocacy and support given to the cause. The same personal
interest in a matter so vital to the welfare of society, prompted me to desire
to be present at the opening of the Legislature in San Jose´, the new seat of
government.
There were two routes to the Capital: by land, on horseback, and
by steamboat, on the Bay to Alviso and thence by stage. The rainy season had
set in with uncommon severity, and rendered the roads impassable. To meet the
existing demand, an extra effort was made, and two steamboats, so-called, were
brought into requisition. One was the little Mint, a miniature pattern,
so crank that she was nearly capsized in the trip. The other, the Sacramento,
was a scow, supplied with an engine, originally intended for dredging [p.89]
for gold in the Feather river, which proving impracticable, a deck and paddles
were added, and she was transformed into a passenger and freight craft, and
employed in trans-shipments from sailing vessels on the Bay, between the mouth
of the Sacramento river and Sacramento City. In this service, in the summer and
autumn of ‘49, the Sacramento played a useful part, notwithstanding
sundry witticisms perpetrated at her expense, one of which was that, in one of
her trips, “she had put into the port of New York-on-the-Pacific in distress,
being out of wood and water”.
Preferring the Sacramento rather than the Mint, I
committed myself to the former for passage, with a company largely in excess of
her meager accommodations. The only shelter was a small, square cabin upon the
stern. There, by turns, were quartered members of the Legislature, and
candidates for various offices, among whom were half a dozen or so aspirants
for the United States Senatorships, and, not least, a bridal party, Col. E. J.
C. Kewen’s.
About nine o’clock on the morning of the 12th of
December, we left the wharf of San Francisco. Progress was slow, about four
miles per hour, but all was well until mid-afternoon, when for a short time
almost a panic occurred, at the report that the boat had sprung a leak and was
filling with water. Such was the fact, but the water entered [p.90] not by a
leak in the hull, but through an opening in the stern, around the rudderpost. A
westerly wind had raised a “sea”, and the waves beating against the stern had
gradually poured their crests through the opening. Whereupon, the prudent
master ran the vessel under the lee of San Mateo and anchored until the breeze
abated. A calm night followed, and resuming the voyage, the next
morning—twenty-four hours out—found us moored beside the mud bank of Alviso.
Thence, in sundry vehicles, we were ploddingly transported through deep mire
over the “stage” portion of the route, and at four P.M., we were set down in
the ancient Pueblo, to find lodgings as best could be done.
On Saturday, the two branches of the Legislature were partly, and
on Monday following, fully organized. During the first week, Governor Riley
having resigned the office which he had honorably and usefully filled, Governor
P. H. Burnett was installed in office, as also the Lieutenant Governor, John
McDougall, and Colonel J. C. Fremont and Wm. M. Gwin were chosen United States
Senators, and the business of legislation was entered upon.
It seems needless to add, the pioneer year 1849 was crowded with
important enterprises and changes in the many “first things” of California. The
general facts, and not the details of those [p.91] events, need only to be
referred to, while it is proper to add, those only who witnessed and
participated in them can adequately appreciate the reality. Change followed
change, insomuch that we became accustomed to change. A new surprise was a
usual morning experience. The person who in a dark night stumbled, in one of
the streets, into a mortar bed, and gave an equivocal utterance to his feelings
on recovering himself, exclaiming, “I wish San Francisco were finished,”
expressed a common desire for relief from excitements, ofttimes a burden and
weariness.
During the Summer of ‘49, a circle of my friends, so they
reported, one evening were conversing upon the teeming fullness of incidents
which had already occurred, and it was remarked by one of the number that
nothing but an earthquake was wanting to complete that fullness, and at that
very moment an earthquake shook the house in which they were sitting. They felt
the tremor, but unused to the sudden visitor, formed many conjectures
respecting the fact and its cause, among which was the suggestion that it was
the dropping of Lieutenant Blair’s foot upon the floor from a chair, on which
it had been resting, which caused the tremblor.
To the veritable earthquake must be added a severe conflagration,
in San Francisco, on the 24th of December 1849, forerunner of the
terrible [p.92] desolations, which swept over the city, in 1850 and 1851, in no
less than five subsequent, general fires.
What with the surging masses of all nationalities who entered
California in ‘49, and the many experimental and permanent schemes of industry,
and foundations of religious, social, and charitable institutions, the
incipient, progressive, and final steps in the formation of a State government,
with its wheels set in motion, together constitute a series of benign efforts
and gratifying results, and, all in all, a full-rounded year of success. [p.93]
Winter of 1849-50--Communion Season and Incidents—“A Regular New
School Blue Presbyterian”—Annual Review—Presbytery of California—The Press of
San Francisco—The Watchman—Family Reunion—Visit to Oregon—Dedication of
the Presbyterian Church of Clatsop Plains—Two Deeply Lamented Deaths—Cholera in
San Francisco—Ecclesiastical Councils—Second Meeting of the Presbytery of
California and Installation.
It is impossible to exaggerate, in any attempt, the story of the
inconveniences incident to the extreme rainy season of 1849-50. Streets which
were used by vehicles were miry, and most of the tenements of San Francisco
miserably uncomfortable. A similar condition of things prevailed throughout the
State. Although much suffering was alleviated by the kind interposition of the
charitable, it was painful to witness the adverse conditions of many suffering
acute fevers, whose best shelter was a tent drenched with the pelting rains.
Recovery in such circumstances seemed a miracle. The City Hospital was a noble
beneficial institution, and the city’s lavish assistance in behalf of the
dependent reflected upon the authorities the highest honor. The charities
bestowed through the Benevolent or Strangers’ Friend Society, and by the direct
action of the Masonic [p.94] fraternity and other social organizations, as well
as private benefactions, were all that could be expected in any community; in
existing circumstances among strangers and for the relief of strangers, the
more praiseworthy because unselfish. Well do I remember, though I need not
relate, my own repeated exposures during the stormy 1849-50, when duty called
me to the couch of the sick and the last rites over the dead. Riding, if the
means had been at hand, was out of the question, and walking even, next to an
impossibility. In the performance of these services, I visited often, during
his lingering sickness, Dr. Bybee of Memphis, Tenn., a member of the church of
my friend, the Rev. Dr. John H. Gray. In his case, the value of “a good hope
through grace” was manifest, and in life and death, he felt the supports of the
divine Savior in whom he trusted. On one of the most stormy days of the season,
the 8th of January 1850, his funeral took place, from his place of
residence on Jackson Street. Many friends of the deceased, including his
brethren of the Masonic Order, accompanied the remains, borne by the only
carriage employed on the occasion, to his grave. The burial was on the summit
of Russian Hill, and our walk in the heavy rain and through the miry way to the
base of the hill was both difficult and disagreeable. How difficult and trying
the walk was I can testify, for [p.95] often, though selecting my way as best I
could, I sank in the mire to the top of my boots. In that season of sickness,
it was my own lot to contract an intermittent fever, which proved a long
continued affliction; yet not so affecting my general health and vigor as to
prevent me from the regular fulfillment of the duties of my office; and this,
although a Monday’s chill invariably followed Sunday’s exertions.
Often, in connection with the public services of our Church, were
seen striking instances of religious sensibility. Especially was this witnessed
in the case of devout persons for the first time enjoying the privilege of
Christian ordinances in their new and strange home. Again and again, have I
seen, from among those who had just arrived from a trying, long journey
overland, or from a no less trying experience of the sea, having safely escaped
the ravages of cholera and fever, strong men bowed, overcome by their tender
and grateful emotions, and weeping with tears of joy through the entire
services. On one occasion, perhaps the nature of the service contributed to the
effect—it was a communion season on the first Sunday of February, 1850--a
gentleman worshipping with us for the first time, and seemingly wrought up to a
pitch of uncontrollable emotion, at the close, came forward, grasping my hand,
and introduced himself to me, Mr. J. McK note: "McKlroy" a line of McELroy Very often miss read as
"Muklroys changing c u " Thomas Ray McElroy mmcelroy@cox.net
"Cannot read. late from [p.96] the good Presbyterian city of Pittsburgh,
as a “Regular New School Blue Presbyterian,” evidently confused and hardly
knowing what he said. On the same occasion, we were permitted to rejoice over
the addition of a member to our Church, by an original profession of faith—a
very interesting young Hollander, who, in an attendance with us, was moved to
make this Christian consecration.
The following is the entry, as a review, in my Notebook:
“February 5th, 1850. Just one year has passed since I embarked at
New York for this new land. It was for many reasons a dark day, when I felt
myself suddenly torn away from my home and friends. Soon I was persuaded that a
wise and gracious hand was leading me onward. The little which I have been
enabled to do in the cause of my blessed Master, during the past year, although
it does not satisfy me, yet proves a source of conviction that I have been led
in the path of duty.”
The Presbytery of California, upon the arrival of the Rev. James
Woods, in January 1850, having a quorum of members, at an early practicable
day, the 20th of February 1850, held its first meeting in Benicia.
The opening sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Woodbridge, from Ps. LX. 4:
“Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed
because of the [p.97] truth. Selah.” A very appropriate and excellent
discourse, setting forth Christ as the banner, and our denominational interest
in bearing it forward. The sessions were continued through two days, occupied
in forming plans of systematic effort, and were closed with an interesting
installation service, constituting Mr. Woodbridge pastor of the Church in
Benicia.
With the advent of Americans and their possession of California,
came the establishment of the Press, index of their civilization and its
essential appendage. A little more than a month after the hoisting of the
United States flag, the Rev. Walter Colton and Dr. Robert Semple, in August,
1846, issued the first number of the Californian in Monterey. Nine
months afterward, the publication was transferred to San Francisco. At the
close of 1846, Mr. Samuel Brannan began the publishing, in San Francisco, of
the California Star. At a later date, the two papers were blended in
one, and the publication continued to the beginning of 1849, when, as its
outcome, the Alta California was established, the sole journal of the
town, and, happily surviving the fall of many others which have had a temporary
existence, continues still a leading commercial authority. Subsequent to the Alta
California in 1849 and onward, arose the Pacific News, Journal of
Commerce, Herald, Courier, Picayune, and other papers. [p.98]
Very clever were the writers connected with the early San
Francisco Press, who are readily as well as pleasingly recalled. Not to exhaust
the list, I note the names of Gilbert, Kemble, Soule´, Lawrence, Livingston,
Durivage, Brinsmade, Nugent, Farwell, Ewer, Bartlett, Robb, Lull, Crane, Wells,
Washington, Nisbet, not omitting ever-brilliant Lieut. Derby, (Phœnix,) whose
letters gave so great entertainment? With their numerous gratified readers, I
was one, and not the least, in obligation for the pleasure enjoyed, because, in
appreciation of the sacrifices of my profession, some half-dozen papers, for a
considerable period, were gratuitously left at my door.
Early in 1850, prematurely perhaps, it occurred to me to commence
the publication of a religious newspaper. That my motive and object in this
regard may appear, I transfer to the present volume my introductory leader:
When some months ago, the wishful purpose to issue a religious
newspaper from this point was disclosed to a small circle of ministerial
brethren, the ready response was made, “print it”. Other friends have since
said, “prints it.” Now, though awhile hindered, we are permitted to execute our
cherished desire to “print it”. Quite assured it is both timely and encouraging
to add a religious journal to the issues of the periodical press in this
country, we entertain no apprehension of being regarded, in any quarter, as an
intruder; while, as an organ of intelligence to a large body of friends of
religion and sound morals, both in this and other States, we cherish for the Watchman
the [p.99] fond expectation of a kindly greeting. An assumed concession of the
benign influence of pure religious faith and morals in society is our high
vantage ground, which we take in combining with other ministries for imparting
a correct moral tone to social organizations, that acknowledged instrument of
power in modern times, the Press. The field of Christian ethics is our
appropriate and prescribed province; and, embracing also whatever subsidiary
aids are found in congenial topics connected with the cause of learning and
matters of general intelligence, our aim and desire alike are to contribute to
the healthy and safe advancement of the public welfare of this growing
commonwealth. The true well being of society, it is hardly needful to say,
cannot be secured without having regard to the great moral truths and precepts
inculcated in the Bible. And our earnest wish is, that this new State may early
adopt for its motto the Bible truth: “Righteousness exalted a nation, but sin
is a reproach to any people”.
The design, which received the approval of my brethren, I was
enabled, upon the occasion of the first anniversary of my arrival, to carry
into effect. On the 1st of April 1850, I issued the first number of
the Watchman, a religious monthly of eight pages. Many “pleasantly said
things”, as friend Robb of the Stockton Journal put it, greeted the
appearance of the paper. The expense, $150 per number, was almost entirely my
own. Still, it was my intention to persevere with the publication, until
hindered by a destructive fire, and, renewing the effort, finally stopped by a
second fire, which also consumed the office in which it was printed. With the
fourth number, and copy prepared for [p.100] another issue, the first religious
newspaper published on the coast came to an end.
At the date of my departure for California, so little was known
about the country, and so much uncertainty existed as to the question of
comfortable means of living, that it seemed best to make the experiment alone,
leaving the question of being joined by my family to further developments. The
return of my dear friend Captain Bezer Simmons to “the States”, for a brief
visit, in the discharge of a sad duty, was the favorable opportunity for the
gratification of a cherished desire. I was doubly obliged, indeed; for in
making the voyage to California, my wife and two children were assisted by both
Captain Bezer and his brother, Captain Nathan Simmons, a better man, he said,
than himself—they were both good men; and under their charge, my family was
safely landed in San Francisco from the steamer Tennessee, on the 20th
of June, 1850.
With the increasing population of the city and our own enlarged
accommodations in the Superior Court Room, the congregation was proportionally
increased in numbers. In these circumstances, my parochial duties were
multiplied. Church growth and prosperity are not attained without work—hard
work. It is needless to say, such effort the circumstances demanded. I could
not decline manifest calls of duty. The saying of [p.101] Cotton Mather, “The
opportunity of doing a duty makes the doing of it a duty,” I remembered, and
endeavored, as far as in my power, to fulfill. This series of activity and
constant draft upon my system allowed no rest for recuperation, and a
recurrence of chills and fever continuing, an enforced vacation was by medical
advice regarded necessary. In September 1850, an invitation came to me from the
Rev. Lewis Thompson, of Clatsop Plains, Oregon, through my friend Mr. W. H.
Gray, of the same place, to take part in the dedication of the Clatsop
Presbyterian Church. This request, in connection with the seeking of health,
led me to take a voyage to Oregon. On the 23d of September, I embarked with my
family on board the steamer Panama for Astoria. Landing at that place, we
were hospitably entertained by General John Adair, Collector of the Port, a
firm Presbyterian; and on the 28th were accompanied by him in an
Indian canoe across Young’s Bay and on the peninsula to the residence of Mr.
Gray. On those fertile plains resided a community whose life and habits were an
exact likeness to the manner of their late eastern homes in New York and
Pennsylvania. Conspicuous among the number was the venerable ruling elder,
“Father” Condit, a worthy example of the piety, which he professed and adorned.
The youthful pastor, Mr. Thompson, fresh from his theological studies in
[p.102] Kentucky, in a true missionary spirit, had crossed the continent, and
in that rural scene cast his lot, and gathered as a faithful shepherd a
spiritual flock. The zeal of pastor and people was signalized by the church
edifice, which they had reared, a monument of pious devotion to the God of
their fathers. And when, on the Lord’s Day, they assembled in their sacred
edifice, formally to set it apart for the worship of Almighty God, it was a
palpable fact that the house of God was dear to them. If in any degree my visit
proved a gratifying to those people, so also was my own pleasure enhanced by
meeting with them and ministering to them in their church and homes. The object
I sought, a restoration of my health, was likewise gained in that pure, mild
climate
Again, we were the obliged guests of General Adair in Astoria,
and with him, in a small steamer in which he had an interest, ascended the
Columbia, Grand River of Oregon, and the Willamet, as far as Portland. Our stay
in Portland was brief. The town was young and small. Only very limited clearing
had been made, and primitive forest trees shaded many of the buildings in the
place; and standing pools of water here and there were more than probable, they
were actual sources of disease. Returning to our home and work, we enjoyed the
pleasure of a passage on board the good steamer Oregon, which had landed
me first [p.103] in San Francisco. This ship had brought on her last voyage the
important news to California of her admission as a State into the Union. Copies
of the New York Tribune extra, September 11th, 1850, brought
by the Oregon, contained the following announcement:
We are at last enabled to send the news so long awaited by our
fellow-citizens on the Pacific Coast. California is admitted into the American
confederacy, and to day takes rank as the thirty-first State of the Union. The
bill for her admission was brought up in the House on Saturday, and after a short
discussion, passed as it came from the Senate. The fifty-seven votes against
the bill were all from the ultra Southern members. The representatives from
California, who have been long in waiting, will probably take their seats to
day. The news has been received everywhere with the most unbounded
satisfaction. At Washington, minute guns were fired on Saturday evening,
followed by a display of fireworks. In this city, many of the hotels and public
offices hoisted the national flag in token of rejoicing.
If in the Eastern States the admission of California was welcomed
with so great enthusiasm, much more to Californians the fact, as it became
known, excited a more intensified interest. The scene in San Francisco, as
described to us by Captain C. P. Patterson of the Oregon, upon the
receipt of the news among the enthusiastic citizens, was one of the wildest
excitement. Business places and homes were vacated. At the mere view of the
approaching steamer with a display of all her bunting, the entire population
was in the [p.104] street, moved as by a common impulse. Rivals and even
enemies forgot their differences, grasped each other’s hands, embraced, and—as
truth it must be recorded—rushed, many at least, into drinking places, and
according to prevailing custom, “more honored in the breach than the
observance,” gave expression to their highly-wrought cordiality in free
convivial indulgences. Our arrival at San Francisco was in time to take part in
the imposing pageant of the authorities and citizens in celebration of the
great event, on the 29th of October.
During my absence, my pulpit had been regularly supplied, and in
other respects, the interests of the Church had been zealously fostered.
Particularly, I may note a favorable change of our church-site, preparatory to
the erection of the building soon expected, to Stockton Street.
But, with much to gladden my heart on returning with restored
health, and meeting with evidences of the prosperity of my Church, I was deeply
grieved to learn that in the interval of my absence, we had suffered a painful
bereavement in the death of our esteemed Captain Bezer Simmons. He was ill when
I left the city, and the evening before my departure, with my wife, I visited
him, little thinking it was the last time we should see him on earth. Nor was
this our only bereavement. During the same period [p.105] another valued friend
and member of our congregation had died, away from the city—Mr. Knowles Taylor,
brother of the sainted James Brainerd Taylor. This brother’s prayers and
addresses had been especially edifying in our social religious meetings. In the
mutual confidences and hopes of our society, we had looked to both of these
good men for support and encouragement; and their loss to us could not be
regarded as less than a great and painful affliction.
Resuming my parochial duties, I had soon need for an extra
measure of strength, when, in that autumn of 1850, San Francisco was visited by
the fearful scourge of cholera. Already, at the date of my return, reports had
reached the city of its progress overland and appearance in Sacramento. A few
days only elapsed, and the dreaded pestilence was upon our community. One of
its earliest victims was a personal friend and prominent merchant. Word of his
dangerous condition came to me, and at once, I repaired to his bedside in the
St. Francis Hotel. As in all similar cases, which it had been my lot to
witness, the intellect of the patient was unclouded. In a very brief space of
time, he had been brought to the gates of death, for his recovery was beyond
hope. The anxiety of his mind in regard to his eternal state was intense. This
was my first and only visit, for I remained with him about two [p.106] hours,
and with my own hands closed his eyes. Yet, in that brief interview, it was my
happiness to offer to my friend, upon the assured authority of the divine word,
the promise of everlasting salvation through a crucified Redeemer. He was
attentive, and joined earnestly in my prayers. His paroxysms were intensely
severe, but the strength of his will enabled him to rise above all sense of
pain, absorbed in a deeper involved question. At my mention of his pious
mother’s many fervent prayers in his behalf, his countenance relaxed and
brightened, and he said, “That is the most encouraging word you have spoken”.
Not without reason I felt, when his spirit took its flight, his prayer, “Lord,
remember me in thy kingdom,” was heard and answered. Daily, and hourly almost,
during that cholera season, were my visits made to the suffering, and daily I
performed the solemn rites of the burial of the dead.
In December, 1850, the ladies of our congregation, ever helpful
in furthering its interests, in order to assist in defraying the expenses
incurred in the erection of our church edifice, held a Fair—the first Church Fair
of California. The effort was a marked success. The use of the Armory of the
California Guards was obtained. The receipts on two evenings only, were, for
admission, one dollar each, $570, and in donations [p.107] and net value of
sales, $3418. A desire for a continuance of the Fair a longer time was
expressed by friends of the cause, but grateful for the generous reward of
their labors, the ladies were satisfied with the “enough” received.
The first Congregational Council I was unexpectedly called to take
part in met in San Francisco, June 26th, 1850, for the installation
of the Rev. T. Dwight Hunt over the First Congregational Church. Besides, there
were present the Rev. J. A. Benton and the Rev. S. H. Willey: one
Congregationalist and two Presbyterians, to constitute a Presbyterian clergyman
a Congregational pastor.
A second Council I attended in Sacramento, on the 5th
of March 1851, and assisted in the installation of the Rev. Mr. Benton over the
Congregational Church in that city.
The Presbytery of California held its second session in San
Francisco, in September 1850, and at that time, my formal installation in the
Pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church was consummated. [p.108]
A Busy Period—Dedication—Orphan Asylum Society—Renewal of
Crime—Vigilance Committee of 1851--Executions—Whittaker and Mackenzie—Review of
1851.
During December 1850, and January 1851, a busy scene of activity
was witnessed at the site of the First Presbyterian Church. All the materials
of the building had come to hand, complete in quantity, and duly fitted and
marked for its erection. Being the first church edifice in the city constructed
according to a strict ecclesiastical design, the progress of work on the
building was watched with a lively interest, not only by the members of the
First Church, but by the community generally, by whom it was regarded with
pride, as a mark of progress. The style was of the early Gothic order, and
singularly tasteful. The seeming disadvantage we had suffered in so long a
delay, compared with other congregations which had for some time occupied their
several houses of worship, such as they were, was more than compensated by the
quality of our church building.
At length, the finishing touches were given to the sacred house.
When, on Sunday, the 19th of [p.109] January, 1851, the congregation
entered it for the first time, I was permitted, with a joyful heart, to take up
the language of the Psalmist, and say, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let
us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O
Jerusalem.” The sitting capacity of the church provided for a congregation of
seven hundred and fifty, which number, long as the building stood, was the
usual attendance upon the Sunday morning and evening services. The same period
was marked by intense church life and constant activity. Though highly favored
in its commanding position, its advantages were not hoarded for selfish
gratification, but employed as means to useful ends. The zeal of the Church was
proof of the spirit, which animated and molded its organization. All this was
known and felt. The employment of its strength in beneficent work was a
distinguishing feature. Its income was in excess of its ordinary expenses, and
as a society and through its individual members, aid was often rendered to new
or struggling churches, and other benevolent objects, outside, as well as in
behalf of causes connected with our own denomination. Its charities were,
proverbially, broad and catholic.
In the review of those times, I recall the remark made to me by
an English gentleman, a member of the Independent Church, who, while [p.110]
residing in the city some two or three years, identified himself with the First
Church. Speaking of the general character of this Church, Mr. H. said, “In all
his extended travels and observation, he had never seen or known an instance of
such remarkable prosperity”.
Among the incidents connected with visitations of the sick in the
winter of 1850-51, was one of special interest. The City Hospital, on the north
side of Pacific street, between Montgomery and Kearny streets, was a retreat
not only for the sick supported by the city, but also for persons possessed of
means, who sought in its provisions medical attendance and care. Of this latter
class, was Mr. William Crockett, of Nashville, Tennessee? This gentleman was
stricken down with fever, and became an inmate of the hospital in February
1851. He had warm personal friends, who gave him most friendly and careful
attentions. Of the clergymen visiting the hospital, the Rev. William Taylor was
the first to become acquainted with him in his sickness. Mr. Crockett had been
reared a Presbyterian, and, true to the peculiar faith of his fathers, he
expressed a wish to see a Presbyterian minister, and through Mr. Taylor I was
asked to visit him. He was all in intelligence and culture that could be
expected in one whose family and associations ranked among the most respectable
in his native State. [p.111] My visits were received with marked interest, and
from first to last the engrossing subject related to his spiritual welfare.
Though he had never been a communicant, he was well informed as to the saving
doctrines of the gospel, and was thus brought near to the kingdom of heaven. A
more sincere seeker of an assured interest in the saving grace of Christ, I
think I never have seen. Disease meanwhile was making steady, fatal progress.
His first desire, in the prospect of his approaching end, was to be an accepted
believer in the Savior; and second to this, he wished to be received into the
communion of the Presbyterian Church, the church of his fathers. The evidence
of his fitness to enter into this relation, I did not doubt, and at his
bedside, to myself, and Mr. Caldwell, representing the Eldership of the First
Church, on the 18th of February, the formal profession of his
Christian faith was made; and he was enrolled a member of our Church, sealing
his covenant engagement by partaking of the Lord’s Supper. He departed this
life in peace, and in assurance of the life everlasting.
It is a lasting honor of our Church in its beneficent work that
it bore an important, indeed the principal, part in the founding of the
Protestant Orphan Asylum of San Francisco. By its prompt action, and in the
favorable history of that eminently popular and successful institution, [p.112]
this Church is doubly distinguished. The origin of the institution is the
following. In January 1851, Mrs. Nathaniel Lane, a respected member of the
First Church, during a call at my residence, was the first to make the
suggestion, which led to the organization of the Ladies’ Orphan Asylum Society.
This lady spoke of the importance of making provision, such as she had been
familiar with in New Orleans, for the care of orphans. The subject was at once
taken up and communicated to other ladies of our congregation. But not
confining the effort to ourselves, while the prompting and first movements had
this source, the coo die; operation of ladies of all the Protestant churches of
the city was invited and secured. A Protestant, undenominational association
was the result. It was agreed to hold a public meeting, for the purpose of
forming the proposed society, January 31st, 1851, in the First
Presbyterian Church. Due public notice was given. I wrote for publication in
the Alta California an item on the subject, and also drew up a
Constitution for adoption at the meeting. The programmed was carried out as
agreed upon among the original advisers. The meeting was held, attended by a
goodly number of ladies. I was present by invitation. The Divine favor was
invoked upon the undertaking, the Constitution as prepared was adopted, and
under its provisions [p.113] the Ladies’ Orphan Asylum Society was regularly
inaugurated, and put in operation by the enrolment of members and the election
of officers. The first staff of officers was the following: Mrs. Albert
Williams, President; Mrs. S. H. Willey, Vice-President; Mrs. J. Boring,
Treasurer; Mrs. J. H. Warren, Secretary. The Managers were Mrs. R. H. Waller,
Mrs. William Taylor, Mrs. O. C. Wheeler, Mrs. C. V. Gillespie, Mrs. J. Joyce,
and Mrs. A. Dubbs. Trustees: Charles Gilman, Stephen Franklin, D. L. Ross.
Matron, Mrs. Wilson.
Not too soon was this Society formed, for at once it was needed
to take care of a few dependent orphans. During the first year, the number
under its charge was eight. A dwelling on the southeast corner of Folsom and
Second streets, belonging to Captain H. W. Halleck, was occupied as an Orphans’
Home, by the generosity of the owner, free of rent, until 1854, when the Asylum
building was completed. The cost of the Asylum was about $25,000, which amount
was contributed by the liberal friends of the institution. The board of
management, under whose efficient supervision the old north wing of the Asylum
was constructed, was composed of the following persons: Mrs. Albert Williams,
President; Mrs. J. Boring, Vice-President; Mrs. R. H. Waller, Treasurer; Mrs.
C. V. Gillespie, Secretary. Managers: Mrs. Alfred DeWitt, Mrs. [p.114] David
Gillespie, Mrs. William Leffingwell, Mrs. Henry Haight, Mrs. A. M. Pettit, Mrs.
T. Dwight Hunt, Mrs. F. W. Macondray, Mrs. S. R. Throckmorton, Mrs. I. P.
Rankin, Mrs. J. H. Titcomb. Trustees: Charles Gilman, Stephen Franklin, D. L.
Ross. Matron, Mrs. Wilson. In 1854, the number of orphans in the institution
was twenty-four.
This brief notice of facts, familiar to all contemporaries,
covers a part only of the history of the diligent and efficient efforts of the
benevolent ladies engaged in the good cause of providing for the orphans. For a
period of two years and more, the officers were in the habit of holding
semi-monthly meetings at my residence; and for the honor of all concerned, and
not less the credit due to the lady participants of the First Church, I am
happy to bear my humble testimony to the zeal and fidelity with which their
oversight of the Asylum and its interests was maintained.
The Summer of 1851 witnessed, not only in San Francisco, but also
in the interior towns, an appalling outbreak of violence and crime. The lesson
of the punishment of “The Hounds” of 1849, was either unheeded or unknown. The
latter was more probably the fact; for a new element of disorder and vice had
entered the country subsequent to those scenes of outlawry and their
punishment. [p.115]
With pleasure, I note the accession to the population of the
country of very many estimable people, from ‘49 onwards, from “the colonies” of
Australia. But from the same regions came also many of the worst specimens of
ignorant and debased men and women ever witnessed within the pale of civilized
society. This class, with all its varieties, had been subjects of the strong
penal administration of the British government. In San Francisco, they were
congregated in that portion of the city known as Sydney Valley. They were ex-convicts
and ticket-of-leave persons, and as a moral pestilence, their advent was an
unwelcome infliction upon our community. From Sydney newspapers, kindly sent to
me by the Rev. Dr. Lang, and others put in my hands by friends in San
Francisco, in making the rounds of my visitations, I was able to identify, by
name, instances of the ticket-of-leave class; and could not be mistaken as to
the precedents of many, by report, beyond the sphere of my own observation. And
more, the evil embodied in that class did not cease with their own generation.
That evil parentage transmitted its kind to an evil descent—a prolific source
of an evil brood—from which, as I have been informed, and as I believe, in
large part, the outcome is witnessed at the present day in the genus hoodlum.
Referring to the ex-convict classes of 1849 and [p.116] 1850, the
history of many of their number has contributed to make a dark chapter of
criminal records and statistics, which have rendered the times of the Vigilance
Committee of 1851 memorable. As in the case of “The Hounds”, the outrages of
the Siderites had a gradual development, which more and more increased in
boldness and extent. Daring in design and reckless as to measures, they became
a terror in the community. Burglary and murder were their crimes. The slingshot
and firearms were their weapons, and the darkness of night was the cover sought
for their villainous deeds. The authorities being powerless or indifferent in
the circumstances, an indignant body, composed of the best class of citizens,
formed a secret organization on the 8th of June, 1851, determined to
rid the community of the base miscreants. The arrest of John Jenkins, a
notorious criminal, quickly followed, and on the early morning of the 10th
of June, he was hanged from a projecting beam of the Custom House on the Plaza.
On the afternoon of the 11th of July, James Stuart, after a
confession of his many crimes, was executed on Market Street Wharf, in the
sight of a large concourse of people. At Sacramento and other interior towns,
the example of San Francisco was followed, in popular measures for the
punishment and suppression of high crimes. Two more executions took place at
[p.117] the hands of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee. The notorious
burglars, Whittaker and McKenzie, were arrested and taken in charge by the
Vigilance Committee. By an adroit action, they were wrested from the committee
by the Sheriff of the city and lodged in the Broadway jail.
It was my habit, in the Summer of 1851, to hold a religious
service at 3 P.M. on Sundays at the jail. On Sunday, the 24th of
August, as usual, I was at the jail, accompanied by Police Judge Waller and
other friends, as also, for this once, by my young son and daughter. Upon
entering the jail, unexpectedly I met five or six other visitors in the office,
gentlemen of my acquaintance, who, in order, as I suppose, to remove any
occasion of surprise and excuse their presence, remarked to me that they felt
an interest in observing the faces of prisoners. Unsuspecting any risk, the
prisoners were released from the cells and seated, for the service, upon
benches, in the court, enclosed by a plank fence. After singing, while I was
offering prayer, a gentle tap from the outside upon the door of the court was
responded to by one of the guards, that no admittance was allowed during the
service. But the door being ajar and opening inwards, a pressure from without
made way for the immediate rush of a number of persons, who at once, led by
those [p.118] who had been inside to watch and mark their victims, seized the
two men, and in a moment, in the midst of great excitement, hurried them
outside, placed them in a close carriage, and at a fearfully rapid rate, they
were driven to the Committee Rooms on Battery street. There, from projecting beams,
without any delay, the two men were hanged. These were the last of four
executions at the hands of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee. Other
criminals who fell under its power were banished by the committee from the
country, and many more dangerous characters, alarmed by the summary proceedings
against their class, prudently exiled themselves. Deeply as the measures of the
committee may have been regretted, in the view of their extraordinary
character, their salutary effect was for a long time visible.
In the early part of 1851, the occupied business portion of the
city was all on the north side of California street. Residences, also,
excepting a few scattered instances, were confined within the same district. It
is an indication of this state of things, that when, in the Spring of ‘51, I
purchased a building lot, and erected a dwelling for myself, on the north side
of California, above Dupont street, an Elder of my church said to me, “If you
go so far away I will visit you as often as I can, but cannot promise often to
do so.”[p.119]
No feature of the early times of California history is more
marked than the every-varying conditions, which entered into the common
experience. Not less checkered was the history of our church affairs in the
memorable year of 1851. That year opened with brightest prospects, as we were
preparing to occupy our beautiful church edifice. The unwonted prosperity
attained during the five months of its existence—on some accounts eminently
successful period—constitutes a portion of the history of the First Church
peculiarly pleasant to remember. Then came the sudden reverse caused by the
destruction of the church in the disastrous fire of the 22d of June. The
pecuniary loss to the congregation as a body was severe. Much heavier losses of
property fell upon individual members of the Church. The business houses and
dwellings, with their valuable contents, of many of our people were consumed.
Removals to other portions of the city—a special incidental benefit to its
southern portion—were another of its results. It was also a serious drawback to
us, that no hall or room survived the sweeping fire of sufficient size to
contain our congregation. The best accommodations possible were found in the
temporary Superior Court Room, previously the dining room of the St. Francis
Hotel. Very distinct and grateful impressions remain with me of the constancy
shown [p.120] by the officers and members of our Church during this trying
period. At that time the United States ship St. Mary’s was lying in the
harbor, and her Christian commander, Captain Hudson, was one of the most
regular of attendants upon our religious services. Mr. O. D. Squire was the
faithful leader of our singing. And there was still another, who then, as ever,
gave us encouragement by his heartiness and helpful aid, F. H. Wells, Esq.,
still held in highest esteem in the list of friends. There our Church services
and Sunday School were held until the rebuilt church was ready for our
use.[p.121]
Christian Work among the Chinese—The Rev. Messrs. W. G. Canders,
Robert McCoy, and Joshua Butts—Welsh Church of San Francisco—Founding of the
Presbyterian Chinese Mission—Sunday School Third Anniversary—Church of Santa
Clara—Synod of the Pacific.
A new department was added to the list of causes in which the
First Presbyterian Church was embarked, in supplementary foreign missionary
work among the Chinese. From the date of the first public gathering of Chinamen
in our city, on the 20th of August, 1850, under the auspices of a
committee, consisting of Mr. Frederick A. Woodworth, the acting Chinese Consul,
and Mayor John W. Geary, and myself, for the distribution among them of Chinese
books and tracts, religious and secular, both the pastor and members of the
First Church were accustomed to take an active interest in the welfare of these
people. We were in the habit from time to time of visiting the resorts of the
Chinese, distributing the Chinese publications, which had been forwarded to us
by our friends in China. In such service, we met, in general, a cordial
reception. Our gifts were rarely declined. Only one instance, indeed, do I
recall, in which either opposition or indifference even was encountered, and
[p.122] in that case logical consistency was maintained, which held the shrewd
recusant firm in his rejection of the proffer made of a portion of the New
Testament. In September, 1851, Mr. Buel, Bible agent, and myself, made the
rounds, one evening, of the Chinese quarter in Sacramento street. In a Chinese
gambling place, among some twenty persons, a young Chinaman gave us the
exceptional rebuff, with the reply, “No good”. We said, “It is good”. “Good for
you”, he answered, “bad for me”. On our further adding, “Good for us, good for
you”, he ended the colloquy by saying, very politely in manner, “No good, no
bad; no bad, no good”.
Of the number of Chinese then in the city, were some who had been
instructed in Mission Schools in their own country. The first Christian
Chinaman I met with was Achick, who had been about three years in the Morrison
School, Macao, under the charge of my friend, the Rev. Samuel R. Brown, and two
years more in the school of Bishop Smith of Hong Kong, by whom he was baptized.
The intelligent answers of this young man to questions regarding Christian
doctrines were peculiarly gratifying. Frequently he and others of his
acquaintance came to see me in my residence. The next step in this interest was
the formation of a Bible Class connected with our Sunday School, originally
composed of Achick [p.123] and his three companions, afterwards considerably
increased, and taught by Mr. Thomas C. Hambly, one of the ruling Elders of the
Church. This movement, undertaken in the Winter of 1851-2, was initiatory to
the establishment of the Presbyterian Chinese Mission of San Francisco.
The Rev. Wm. G. Canders, of Tennessee, was added to the number of
Old School Presbyterian ministers in 1850.
In the expectation of further increase soon to our number, in
January, 1852, I wrote to the Presbyterian newspaper, stating the
possibility of our having, in connection with our ministerial force in Oregon,
a Synod of the Pacific. The Synod of the Pacific was constituted by the General
Assembly of 1852. At the same time, I pressed “rather the want of more
ministers, according to former entreaties”.
On the 14th of April, 1852, the Rev. Robert McCoy of
Tennessee, and the Rev. Joshua Butts of New York, was landed from the steamer Northerner
in San Francisco. The day following their arrival, I communicated the fact to
the Presbyterian, together with the following remarks: “A wide field is
open before these brethren. Their places of settlement and labor will be soon,
I trust, determined; and still there will remain many inviting locations for
others, who I hope will speedily follow them.[p.124]
“We are strangely impressed with the apparent slowness of heart
in your region, to believe the reports which we have sent forward to you of the
spiritual wants of this land. At this date of the history of our State, its
geographical and social character, we think, must be pretty well understood.
Whatever opinion may be held upon the propriety of the emigration of business
men hither, it must seem there should be no question as to the loud and earnest
call for the exercise of the true missionary spirit, in bringing to these shores
the blessed influences of the gospel of Christ.
“In regard to the number of our own citizens expected to arrive
the present season, we seem not likely to be disappointed. Many, we know, will
come, expecting to remain only a year or two at the farthest. But the result
will be similar to that which belongs to the history of the past. Men change
their minds sometimes; and in this case especially with good reason. Indeed, it
has come to be a matter of so frequent occurrence, that we hardly heed the declaration,
made by those who leave us, after a brief sojourn here, of an intention never
to return again. A few months only pass away, and their faces are seen again
among us. But even granting that the population of California is and for a
while may be transient, as to individuals, in the aggregate it is permanent
[p.125] and increasing. Hence the basis of our claims upon the missionary zeal
and efforts of the Church. Who will care for the souls of these thousands?”
The constant growth of San Francisco made an ever-widening scope
for my own labors. In its earlier and later periods, both the pastor and
members of the First Church were ready to welcome to a share in the
responsibilities of their arduous field coo die putative undertakings. This
spirit of unselfish zeal was not confined to the recesses of the heart, but
showed itself, as the further history of pioneer career proves, in
corresponding action when the opportunity came.
The beginning of the Welsh Presbyterian Church of San Francisco
was in the Summer of 1852, and under the auspices of the First Church. The Rev.
William Williams, a Welsh minister, had arrived in the city. There were in the
First Church several Welsh members, and these and others in the city,
cherishing their traditional attachment to the language and religious forms of
their ancestors, proposed to organize a Welsh Presbyterian Church, under the
ministry of the newly arrived Welsh minister. This measure being submitted to
the consideration of our Church Session, a cordial approval was given to it.
First, a room was hired as a place of worship on Dupont street. There, whenever
convenient, I met with, and, in English, assisted in their religious services.
Funds [p.126] were contributed, and at length, in the Summer of 1854, a church
building was erected for their use. At the dedication services, it was my
privilege to preach the customary sermon. With some interruptions to the
continuity of its public services, this church organization is still in
existence, and exercising a happy influence in the community
The interest, which the Church early manifested in the spiritual
welfare of the Chinese, was continued. The Bible Class, which had been formed
for their instruction, was not regarded as sufficient. A more extended scheme
was called for, and also a more ready and effective appliance of instruction,
through the instrumentality of a religious teacher skilled in the Chinese
language. Thus were we prompted, in the Session of the Church, to open a
correspondence with our Board of Foreign Missions in New York, and propose an
extension of their Chinese Mission by establishing a branch in San Francisco.
The proposal was promptly acted upon and adopted, and we were duly informed by
the respected Corresponding Secretary of the Board, the Hon. Walter Lowrie,
that the plan would be carried into effect. A returned Missionary from China,
the Rev. William Speer, was commissioned to take the charge of this Mission
work. In October, 1852, Mr. Speer arrived. His own account of [p.127] his
reception was communicated to an eastern newspaper, the Presbyterian
Advocate, as follows: “The missionary work among the Chinese has proved
very interesting thus far. I have been very cordially received by this people.
Many of our Mission scholars from Canton, Hong Kong, and Macao, and merchants,
and others that I knew, are here engaged in trade or mining. I have not yet
opened a chapel, but am engaged in visiting their sick, distributing tracts,
and preparing the way for future active labors amongst them. The Chinese
language comes back to me much more easily than I had expected. Much sympathy
is expressed in the work by our Christian friends here.”
A temporary chapel was soon after provided and fitted up in an
“upper room” on Sacramento street. Stated religious services and a Sunday
School were there maintained. A benevolent lady of the First Church having
volunteered to teach in the Sunday School, Mr. Speer came to me saying he felt
embarrassed, in the view of the prejudice of the Chinese against “the sex,”
about accepting this offer. Yet, he did accept it, and the experiment was only
favorable. Long since that kind of prejudice here came to an end; and more, I
believe female teachers have the preference now among the Chinese.
Next in order in the history of this Mission [p.128] came the
organization of the Presbyterian Chinese Mission Church, which was effected on
Sunday afternoon, November 6th, 1853, in the First Church, and in
the presence of a large and deeply interested assembly. The attendance of
Chinese on this occasion was also numerous. It was my privilege to address the
small Christian band of eleven, the Rev. Mr. Speer my interpreter, and receive
their solemn vow, “With the help of God, I do;” and also, in the case of Lai
Sam, ordained the ruling elder, the same sacred promise, with its added
responsibilities.
In this connection, it may be also noted, that as the need of a
permanent Mission House, with a chapel, was pressing, steps followed which, by
the earnest and liberal agency of the First Church, with assistance of friends
of the Mission belonging to other communions, resulted in the erection of the
commodious Mission building on the corner of Stockton and Sacramento streets,
completed and occupied at the close of 1853. A balance of unsettled obligations
remaining was met by the generous donation of a liberal member of the Board in
New York, and the title of the entire property was conveyed to the Board of
Foreign Missions.
The history of this useful Mission among the Chinese, not only of
San Francisco but also throughout all the Pacific Coast, is alike [p.129]
interesting and honorable to the Church which originally led, and chiefly
contributed to its establishment. More I might add to the record of its well
doing in this behalf; less would be chargeable as an ungrateful omission.
The activity of the First Church, which could not at any time be
said to have been intermitted, showed itself palpably in good works and
results, after we had become fairly settled in the rebuilt church. Especially
interesting was our large Sunday School—large for the times. On the occasion of
the third anniversary of the school, I addressed to each scholar a printed
circular letter as a token of the design and hope of the school.
MY DEAR CHILDREN:
Just as if I were speaking to you, I now write a short letter, to
be printed for you, that you may keep and often read it.
I have been glad to notice how well you have attended upon the
Sunday School. It must be, therefore, that from your teachers, the
superintendent, and myself as well, as I have occasionally addressed you, you
have received much religious instruction. You can now remember, doubtless, a
great deal of scripture truth, which you have learned from your teachers and
bible lessons, and other useful knowledge from your Sunday School library
books. I trust, therefore, you feel it has been a great privilege to be in the
Sunday School.
What I write to you all, my dear children, I address to each one
of you particularly. I wish you often to think of the reason why you are in the
Sunday School. It is that you may learn to love and obey the Savior, who
himself [p.130] loves little children, and is ever ready to bless them. And
what you have often been told I repeat, hoping as you read it in this letter,
you will the better remember it: That now is the time, while you are young, to
learn the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation; and
now also is the time to commit to memory the Shorter Catechism, the Ten
Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed. And do not omit, my
children, the duty of daily morning and evening prayer, and asking God to give
you what you pray for in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a great mercy that none of your number has been called away
by death during the past year. Yet, my children, you should remember, you may
at any time sicken and die. Then strive to be ready at all times for death.
Many little children have died loving their Savior, and they are now with him
in glory. If you should die young, may the same happy end be yours. Believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ, repenting of and forsaking your sins, and you shall be
saved. I earnestly hope you will, every one, practice what you here learn, and,
as your lives shall be spared, love the Savior and keep his commandments, so
that when, sooner or later, you shall die, you may all be taken up to heaven.
Your Affectionate Friend,
THE PASTOR.
Third Anniversary of the First Presbyterian Church Sunday School,
1852.
The general prosperity of the congregation, after the temporary trial
and depression caused by the burning of our first church edifice, revived and
was manifest, as before in the time preparatory to and during the occupancy of
our first church building. Though outwardly not ornate, as the first was,
within were tokens of the Divine [p.131] favor, in large assemblages and
profitable religious services. The spiritual fruits appeared in a larger
addition to the enrolled communicants of the church, in 1852, than during any
previous year. Still my health and strength, equal to the demands upon me, were
continued, and, grateful for these blessings, I was never more happy in
responding to my many, many calls of duty.
At the request of a few Presbyterian families residing in Santa
Clara and its vicinity, I visited the region and organized a society under the
title of the Presbyterian Church of Camden, (since changed to Santa Clara,) so
called after the name of the former residence of a part of the members in the
State of Missouri. Soon after the organization, the Rev. Robert McCoy, of
Tennessee, became the minister of the church.
An important advance in ecclesiastical organization was effected
by the action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, in session in
Charleston, South Carolina, May 22d, 1852, in passing an order for the
formation of the Synod of the Pacific. The Presbytery of California was
detached from the Synod of New York, and divided by setting off a portion under
the name of the Presbytery of Stockton. The Presbytery of Oregon was associated
with these two, and thus the new Synod was constituted. By appointment also of
the General Assembly, the first session of [p.132] the Synod was held in the
First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, and was opened with a sermon by
myself, from 1 Timothy, III., 15: “The church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth.”
The annual meetings of the Synod continued to be held during my
pastorate in 1853 and 1854, in the same church, and notwithstanding the
distance and expense involved, by a special effort, I was able to secure a
representation from the Presbytery of Oregon, and thus complete a quorum. The
vastness of the field of the Synod, in connection with the comparatively small
number of its ministers, was suggestive of the great need of more laborers, and
of special earnestness and fidelity on the part of the few whose lot was cast
in circumstances so commanding.[p.133]
Period of Excitements over Land Titles—Rainy Season of
1852-53--Flour Monopoly—Marriage Incidents—The Scotch.
In all the period embraced in the present review, the excitements
of the community upon special disturbing questions were many and great.
Sensational surprises and embarrassments marked distinctively the early times.
A rapidly increasing population, new social elements, greed, ambition, and
competition, all the new lines of enterprise and adventure, and, not least,
monopoly, with all the resulting conflicts, may be well supposed to have been,
and indeed were, antagonistic to good order, quiet, and established system, not
to say also hindrances to the more vital interests of morality and religion.
More or less, all social elements were in a state of agitation prior to repose.
Rest, all pervading and complete, was the exception; unrest the rule. A month
or even a week free from excitements was a novelty. Thus was our city
distinguished by a periodicity of disturbing events.
After the District Assembly of San Francisco had been dissolved
by Governor Riley, came another rival power to that of the Alcalde, the [p.134]
Colton Judgeship, with its new distribution of land grants; following this, the
“Peter Smith Judgment” and large sale of city property; and the Santillan land
claim, for which the subsidized agency of my quondam acquaintance of the
Mission Dolores was employed, and soon after the fact, the simple-minded Padre
sought a home in Mexico; and then the Liman tour land claim, which attempted to
overthrow a large portion of the possessory titles of the city, a claim which
likewise kept the city in suspense, and involved earnest work in defeating it,
a result largely due to the efficient service of Mr. E. F. Northam, in
collecting adverse evidence, but not settled until many thousands of dollars
had been paid, in compromise, to an attorney representing the claim.
The scenes of agitation and conflict enacted in connection with
questions of city land titles in Alcalde grants and onward, if fully described,
might fill a volume. Into the particulars or merits even of these questions, it
is not in place here to enter. As facts of history only are they referred to at
present. There were times in which it was felt, there was no absolute certainty
in any of the city land titles. As I once heard the eloquent Gregory Yale,
Esq., to whom I was ever pleased to listen, in a legal argument, remark, “There
is here no spot of ground whose title is not clouded, as no summer day is
without its [p.135] clouds”. Mr. W. S. Clark once said to me, and this was long
before his adversaries had ceased fighting his titles, that he had spent over
two hundred thousand dollars for defense in Court expenses. The question of the
“Peter Smith” case involved not alone the indebtedness of the city for hospital
dues, but also the serious loss of a valuable domain. Right or wrong—I suppose
it was right—it appeared to me at the time plainly the interest of the city to
pay the amount of Dr. Smith’s claim. My convictions on the subject I endeavored
to impress upon one of the members of the Common Council, insisting upon the
wisdom of such a policy of liquidating the judgment in the case, (some sixty
thousand dollars, I think,) and save the valuable property at the time in
jeopardy. The final reply of the gentleman was, “It is better that the city
should own no property.” The day of sale arrived. It had been industriously
urged that the judgment of the Court was invalid. Bids were made in hesitation
and doubt, and property was sacrificed, in its prospective value, sufficient to
constitute a princely municipal endowment.
Other agitating questions arose in connection with City Slip and
Water Lot Sales, and Extensions of the City Front, which invoked legislative
action and the authority of courts. Street grades were ever subject to change,
inasmuch as they [p.136] were made in sections, and not with reference to a
general system. The “Hoadley Grades” were the first established upon the basis
of a comprehensive plan, and even these, the best ever made, must needs be
altered to sub serve the interests of property holders. Change of grades,
indeed, was so frequent, especially in the lower portions of the city, that the
very term became a by-word. Upon one occasion, the subject gave cause for a
witticism. A derrick was raised on Montgomery street, for some purpose not
easily comprehended, which, as a matter of course, attracted the attention of passers-by.
While one and another gave expression to conjecture, a waggish person solved
the question by, “I guess it is to raise the grade of Montgomery street.” When
the city authorities passed an ordinance for the opening of Merchant street,
from Portsmouth Square to the waterfront, an indignant objector said, “With
twenty-five thousand dollars I can get any block in the city diagonally
divided”. Thus, the good and the bad were alike subject to criticism.
Annoying as were the troubles in land questions when confined to
the sphere of legal gentlemen, courts, and entailed expenses, this was not all.
Scenes of violence and tragic consequences, sometimes, colored these disputes.
A dark chapter of incidents in which a resort to [p.137] arms was had, might be
written. When private rights, or claimed rights, were invaded, and under the
cover of darkness, upon untenanted lands an enclosure was made and a shanty
erected, the intrusion provoked often a violent assault, with force of arms and
fatal result. Happily, the milder measures of reason and law were the
prevailing methods of determining the knotty questions of land titles.
The Winter of 1852-53 was made memorable by its extreme storms
and heavy rains—a repetition of the rainy season of 1849-50, with additional trying
experiences. In San Francisco, again the streets more resembled quagmires than
proper thoroughfares. The inconveniences suffered were indescribably great. In
the State generally, the season was attended with similar and, in some
respects, more trying scenes. Rivers overflowed their banks, towns were
flooded, Sacramento was again inundated, an infliction the more disastrous
because the town had just previously been almost wholly destroyed by fire.
Communication between interior towns was interrupted, and in some cases
rendered impracticable. Miners in their isolated camps were reduced to the
point of starvation. In the higher altitudes of the Sierra, snowshoes and
packing upon the shoulders of men were resorted to. As a consequence of these
untoward conditions, high prices of all [p.138] articles demanded for
consumption and use ruled extravagantly high in all the interior, and
especially in the upper mining regions. Besides, the Winter of 1852-53 was
marked by a systematic, strongly supported monopoly in the flour market, by
which the ruling rate of that needed article rose in San Francisco to fifty
dollars per barrel—an enhancement oppressively felt both at the center of the
oppression and throughout the country. Such were the anxieties involved in this
attempt—successful for several months—to control the market, that a member of
the association told me, although he had realized hundreds of thousands in the
scheme, he could not be induced to subject himself again to such a strain. At
this time, in the more isolated portions of the State, the current price of all
the ordinary articles of food, such as flour, rice, coffee, and sugar,
commanded two dollars per pound. As an incident of the times, it is remembered
that the Chinese laborers in our city, employed in erecting the granite
building on the northwest corner of Montgomery and California streets, having
acquired a taste for “Melican” bread, insisted upon being supplied with that
article, instead of their common diet of rice, a full supply of which for their
consumption had been provided.
If my pastorate had been thus far a busy scene of activity, it
was not less, but more so, after the [p.139] era of special “events” in
California history had passed away. The later period of the pastorate was
marked by a more uniform routine character of recurring duties. Yet, with the
growth of the parish and a constant increase of surrounding population, demands
of service were in a corresponding degree multiplied. The exposures in outdoor
engagements amid the rains of 1852-53, so similar to the rainy season of
1849-50, were an additional draft and burden upon physical endurance. In that
trying period, my health began again to give way, not strangely unequal to the
exhaustive power of both exposure and labor. Here was the beginning of that
loss of nervous energy, which, notwithstanding all medical appliances, resulted
in a state of extreme physical prostration. The experiences of this illness,
from which an ultimate recovery, by a long continued rest and change of scene,
was attained, less interesting to the reader than myself, I need not relate.
Of the pressing character of the multitude of professional
services, which duty called me to perform, a most vivid impression remains.
Here and there, in season and out of season, by day and by night, time and
services were sought for and given. Some of those services, not strictly in the
line of my profession, I might have been excused from performing, such, for
example, as [p.140] seeking and obtaining situations for persons who were alike
destitute of employment and means. I would not advise my brethren of the
ministry to take upon themselves, as a rule, such a supplement to their sacred
vocation, though for them and myself, I confess, the motive for the action is
very strong, if not irresistible, when appeals especially urgent are addressed
to us. It is due, however, to add that, besides my extended acquaintance with
citizens of standing and influence, which lessened the degree of efforts
necessary in individual instances, the universal disposition was shown to
favorably respond to my applications; and this, I have reason for believing,
sometimes, when places not existing were made in order to afford needed relief.
From first to last, such was the noble generosity, in the wide sphere of my
acquaintance and intercourse, of the businessmen of San Francisco. To name
them, on account of their number, were impossible; to select from that large
number for special notice and illustration, might seem invidious.
With an almost exclusive male population at the first, the
character of that population was distinguished generally by a high order of
intelligence and worth. Exceptions there were, a fact not surprising, when it
is considered that the prospect and hope of gain, appealing to all classes
alike, gave impetus to the rushing tide of [p.141] immigration. The persons and
classes with whom it was my happy lot to become associated, fresh from the
culture of their eastern homes, were fit to found and adorn a State. These were
mostly in the prime of manhood. There were few, very few gray hairs then seen.
Such an assemblage of educated, active, strong men, rarely brought together in
any land, it was a pleasure to look upon, as it was my own privilege weekly, in
the congregation gathered before me and justly prompting admiration.
But the disproportion of males and females was, year by year,
changed. The married men who came to the country alone, having determined to
make their permanent residence in California, either returned or sent to their
former homes for their families. Thus was our general society, and in
particular the First Presbyterian Church society, made more and more to assume
the wonted aspect of civilized life, in the welcome presence of pioneer mothers
and daughters. Nor were the youthful unmarried men behind their seniors in a
desire to improve their own condition and that of their chosen new home. They,
too, either returned or sent for the gentle ones, their selected brides. Often
I was called upon to perform the marriage ceremony on board a newly arrived
steamer, or from the steamer at my own residence. A gentleman, in view of the
fact that [p.142] ladies were so soon taken possession of, while he was left to
pine in his solitariness, proposed to “anticipate his rivals by boarding an
incoming steamer outside the Heads”. It was my privilege in four years of the
pastorate, 1851-54, to marry one hundred and fifty couples, an agreeable
service which clergymen are generally prompt to perform. The number of my
marriages in 1849-50 was proportionally less, ex necessitate rei. It was
largest at the close of my pastorate. In a few instances, parties desiring to
enter into the marriage relation were not so fortunate as to command an
official solemnization of the ceremony. A case of this character was published
in the papers of the day, to wit: that at Rush Creek, Butte county, in 1853, “a
marriage extraordinary” took place. Neither a magistrate nor clergyman was
available in the exigency. But not to be frustrated, in the presence of a
company of more than one hundred persons, with the accompaniment of a band of
music, the marriage contract was entered into as follows:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
County of Butte,
THIS AGREEMENT, made and entered into by and between Robert Ross
and Christiana Deitch—To all whom it may concern: Know ye, that we have, this
twenty-seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and
fifty-three, taken each other as husband, wife, and hereby [p.143] acknowledge
the same binding in law and equity. In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set
our hands and affixed our seals, on the day first above written.
Done in the presence of
witnesses.
ROBERT
ROSS, [Seal]
CHRISTIANA
DEITCH, [Seal]
More fortunate were our San Franciscans, seeking matrimony, in
having at hand a clergyman or magistrate. A point, this, of some importance,
when delay would have involved impatience. As when, on a certain occasion, a
Scotch friend called upon me with his countryman, a shipmaster, in middle life
or more, for whose marriage he desired to engage my services. In the course of
the ensuing conversation, and in order to bring the negotiation to a definite
form, I asked the candidate the question, “When do you propose”—referring to
the ceremony; the would-be happy Captain interrupting, evidently mistaking my do
for did, while I was the innocent cause of betraying him into his
confession, with a most becoming, modest, and almost blushing frankness,
replied, “Two or three days ago.” My intercourse, I am here led to remark, with
my numerous Scotch parishioners was fraught with many a pleasant incident,
while on their part it was a custom to appropriate to my parochial charge the
title of “The Scotch Church.”[p.144]
Increase of Church Officers—Church Organ—Young Men’s Christian Association
of San Francisco—Yankee Enterprise—New Church Edifice Proposed—Privileges of
Travel—Commodore John D. Sloat—Captain Patterson, the Cholera, Lieutenant
Derby—Mission Church—Resignation—Organization of Calvary Church—Religious
Influences Appreciated.
In 1853, a culminating progress was visible in the numbers and
strength of the First Church, and in its personnel, likewise, including
persons of influence—the occasion and means afforded for multiplying the number
of its official representatives, and thus augmenting its working force. On the
6th of April, 1851, Mr. Nathaniel Gray was ordained and installed a
Ruling Elder of the Church, and at the same time, Messrs. J. B. Roberts and G.
I. N. Monell were constituted Deacons. This deaconate was opportune for the
administration of the Relief Fund of the Church, as occasion demanded, in aid
of the sick and unfortunate of the parish. Again, on the 26th of
January, 1852, the Church Session was increased by the installation of Judge
Royal H. Waller, and Messrs. Thomas Hopkins and Thomas C. Hambly; and to the
Board of Deacons, Mr. E. R. Hawley was added. Increased efficiency was, by
these appointments, imparted to the systematic, [p.145] benevolent measures of
the Church. The foundation of a Missionary Fund was laid, on the first Sunday
of 1852, when, at the evening church service, fifty dollars were contributed
for the object; and, thereafter, monthly offerings were made in continuance of
the scheme. From the avails of this Fund, the Session was enabled, from time to
time, to make appropriations in aid of church work outside of our own limits,
yet confined to California. Among those appropriations was one of one hundred
dollars, in aid of the erection of the Welsh Presbyterian Church edifice in San
Francisco. Thus equipped with active leaders, and liberally supplied with
pecuniary means, the beneficent efforts of our Church maintained a steady
progress, and were attended with gratifying results.
The music of the First Church was improved, in 1852, by the
substitution of a pipe for a reed organ, which until then had been used. I was
informed by the organist, Mr. Pettinos, that an Erben organ was offered for
sale in the city, Mr. P. at the same time expressing a wish that it might be
secured for our Church, and offering himself fifty dollars towards the
purchase. I bought the instrument for a reasonable sum—eleven hundred
dollars—and obtained the assent of the Trustees of the Church for the making of
alterations in the building for its accommodation, [p.146] at an additional
expense of one hundred and thirty dollars. About half of the aggregate expense
was reimbursed to me by voluntary gifts of individual members of the
congregation.
It was my privilege to be one of the founders of the Young Men’s
Christian Association of San Francisco. This cause, ever since I heard in New
York, in 1832, the strong advocacy of a Scotch lay brother in its behalf, had
retained an abiding interest in my mind. In view of the need of such an
instrumentality, especially in San Francisco, I was prompt to give to the
proposal of organization a special attention. The meeting with this object in
view was held in the First Presbyterian Church, and the draft of a Constitution
was made by myself. At that meeting, July 18, 1853, the Young Men’s Christian
Association of San Francisco was formally instituted.
In the present connection, it is not to be overlooked that this
season of religious progress in our sphere as a Church was synchronous with a
period of specially marked prosperity in our city and State at large. The
paramount enterprise of mining was at the time eminently successful. Real
estate commanded enhanced prices. Rapid and great strides were made in
improvements. To some of my English acquaintances the activity and stretch of
Yankee enterprise was simply wonderful. Riding one day with an English party
[p.147] over the Mission Plank Road—gratis then, because we were part of
a funeral procession on the way to Yerba Buena Cemetery, but at other times
subject, as with my one-horse rockaway, to a toll rate of a half dollar for the
privilege—referring to the telegraph line stretched along the side of the road,
and then reaching to San Jose´, one English gentleman asked another, “How long
do you think it would be before John Bull would construct such a line?” and was
answered, “I think about twenty years.” This plank road was built, as also the
first wharves of the city, when lumber commanded the astounding price of three
hundred dollars or more per thousand feet. The gold product at the time was abundant,
and circulated freely. Large remittances, too, were made abroad through
established agencies, and I remember being informed by a commander of one of
the Pacific Mail Company’s steamers, that having made careful inquiries, on his
voyages to Panama, he was certain returning Californians bore away with them an
average to each of three thousand dollars.
It may not be thought specially meritorious to be generous in
gifts of money when it is abundant; but it is noteworthy that in such circumstances,
and should be remembered to the credit of the times, the Church and its
peculiar cause and work were not neglected. At that time, and [p.148] in its
existing conditions, it seemed to me any really good and commendable object
could be accomplished. So, I thought and felt with reference to a needed new
church edifice for the First Church, and it is my pleasure to add, when, in the
Winter of 1853-54, it was proposed to carry the matter into effect, a prompt
and hearty favorable response from leading persons in the congregation was
given. The crowded state of our edifice made such an undertaking a demand; the
financial ability of the congregation made it a possibility. So, the scheme
became a subject of general interest in the parish. Plans of procedure were
suggested. The question of a new and larger church site for a new and larger
church edifice was mooted, these and all the points involved were reviewed, and
all under the conviction of the necessity for the movement and with the
expectation that the object in view could and would be attained. This work,
however, for special reasons, was postponed to a later but not distant day.
My personal cares and burdens found occasional relief in the
enjoyment of privileges of short trips and journeys, in the making of which it
is, as well, my pleasure to acknowledge the great kindness shown to me by
obliging, generous friends. Doubtless, to other clergymen similar favors were
extended. I can never forget the [p.149] hearty hospitality of the owners and
commanders of the lines of steamers plying upon our inland waters—Messrs.
Charles Minturn, Thomas Hunt, and Lieutenants Maynard and Blair, owners, with
the brothers Van Pelt and Wood Hutchins, commanders. It seemed to be regarded
by the gentlemen named as a personal favor to themselves to accept their
standing, and occasionally special invitations to feel at home on board their
boats. And this kindness was the more appreciated and availed of, when in
declining health I had need of all the recreation possible. So, in the later
period of my pastorate, it was a relief and benefit, at the close of day, to
step on board a bay and river steamer, and proceeding as far as Benicia, there
meet a returning boat, which landed me in the early evening in San Francisco.
In a passage to Benicia, in May, 1852, on board the steamship Golden
Gate, I had the honor of the company of the veteran naval chief, Commodore
John Drake Sloat, and received from him the account of his grand exploit, with
his flag-ship Savannah, in the race with Admiral Sir George F. Seymour
of the Collingwood, and the great event of his hoisting the United
States flag in Monterey, which I have retained for use in my history of the
“Conquest of California.” And other excursions, shorter and longer, I made; two
of remembered interest among the mining towns.[p.150]
At the close of 1853, by the invitation of Captain W. H. Dall, of
the mail steamer Columbia, I joined a company of gentlemen on board that
ship, known as the Company’s Yacht, ordered on a cruise in search of the
delayed steamer Golden Gate. In this voyage, we looked into all the
harbors southward from Monterey to San Diego, and at this place found the
vessel in a disabled condition. Among the passengers of the Golden Gate
was the recently appointed Missionary Bishop of California, the Rev. Dr. W.
Ingraham Kip, who completed his voyage with us on board the Columbia.
This trip was rendered especially agreeable by the sociability of our own
select party in social gatherings and after-dinner conversations. If the wit
and humor of our cheerful companions, J. P. Haven and Thomas G. Cary, had
possessed the remedial efficacy of Lieutenant Derby’s magic verbal
entertainments, I ought to have been restored from all my bodily infirmities.
Referring to Lieutenant Derby, Captain C. P. Patterson was
accustomed to relate how deep were his obligations to him for the part he
performed among a large panic-stricken company of passengers during one of his
voyages from Panama to San Francisco. Cholera had broken out in his ship. At an
intermediate port, the Lieutenant took passage for the remainder of the voyage.
“Never so glad in my life, Derby, to [p.151] see you”, was the welcome given,
and next came a sumptuous lunch in the Captain’s stateroom. “And now you must
give a talk to my terrified passengers.” Seating himself upon a dining table,
the Lieutenant soon gathered around him a crowd of listeners, who, by the
remarkable power of diversion he possessed, were made to forget their danger
and overcome the “symptoms”. “So,” said Captain P., “I kept him telling stories
to the end of the voyage, and cholera and all fear of it disappeared from the
ship.” Lieutenant Derby said, he “never worked so hard in his life”.
Again, in the Spring of 1854, the First Church took part in a new
church enterprise in San Francisco. The Rev. James Woods having, on account of
ill health, been obliged to leave Stockton, took up his residence in our city.
And here he projected, and, under the auspices of the First Church, carried
into effect, the establishment of a Mission Church. A lot was leased as a site
for a chapel on the southwest corner of Geary and Mason streets, and a
building, which still stands, was speedily erected and dedicated for the uses
of divine worship. Under the supervising authority of our Session, a Board of
Trustees for the Mission was appointed, also, consisting of members of the
First Church. Although this enterprise was only temporarily sustained, having
[p.152] been discontinued on account of an unfavorable effect of San Francisco
climate upon Mr. Woods’ health, the effort was not in vain.
Another church enterprise, which has maintained a continuous and
prosperous career, about the time now under review, had its origin in the bosom
of the First Church. This was the organization of Calvary Presbyterian Church,
San Francisco. The Session of the First Church was advised of the proposed
measure and asked to give its approval, which was done; and also was requested
to address an official letter, embodying this assent, to the Rev. W. A. Scott,
D.D., of New Orleans, with whom a correspondence had been opened with reference
to his removal to San Francisco, and becoming the minister of a new church,
which request also was complied with. And, upon an intimation that a personal
letter from me was desired on this subject, I wrote to Dr. Scott, assuring him
of my acquiescence and cordiality in the plan of establishing another
Presbyterian Church in our city. A visit of Dr. Scott to San Francisco, in the
Summer of 1854, resulted in the organization of Calvary Presbyterian Church, on
Sunday, July 23, 1854. Of the sixty-three original members of Calvary Church,
nearly every one had been connected for a longer or shorter period with the
First Church, either enrolled in its communion or enjoying its privileges.
[p.153] And yet, though parting with so many of its influential members and so
much substantial strength, the First Church retained a strong organization,
with its characteristic force of vital energy, and still held its commanding
position in the sisterhood of Protestant Churches.
A crisis in my incumbency of the pastorate, which was for months
foreseen, at length arrived. Labors of such continuance and degree—a friend
called them fourfold—with their imposed burdens, had issued in extreme bodily prostration.
I had literally no relief from my pastoral routine, except for remedial effect,
through the five and a half years of this engagement. Indisposition had become
chronic. With most prudent care, I continued on my watchtower, and as I was
able, met my various calls of duty. My own convictions and the judgment of
friends, of the propriety of my seeking relaxation, were confirmed by the
counsel of my esteemed friend and medical adviser, Dr. B. B. Coit.
It was a question in my mind whether my retirement should be
temporary, or final by a dissolution of the pastoral relation. As to the
former, an uncertainty as to the length of time, which might be required for a
renewal of health, if possible, seemed to render that alternative inexpedient.
The latter course, though it involved the rending of ties of unusual interest,
the rather [p.154] commended itself for my choice, not alone from family and
personal considerations, but especially from a regard for the interests of my
beloved Church, which might suffer loss on account of a protracted absence.
Accordingly, after mature reflection, on the 1st of July, 1854, I
addressed to the Session of the Church my letter of resignation, to be placed
before the congregation, and to take effect after the fall meeting of Presbytery.
While it was my habit to give to my pulpit instructions a
comprehensive scope, and keep back nothing, which might be profitable, two
points especially I ever sought to make prominent. The first was the importance
of an intelligent conception of religious truth, in order that my hearers might
be able to give a reason for the hope that was in them; and secondly, the
importance of holding the religious principle, in holy scripture described “the
mystery of faith,” in a pure conscience, assured that whoever does this will
not be left to die in impenitence. I am persuaded that my brethren of the
evangelical ministry, contemporary with me, in all fidelity held forth the
great doctrines of divine truth, touching human accountability in the present
life, and the issues of the future state.
Both the fact and practical bearing of early church influences in
San Francisco, and, as well, in other portions of California, are matters of
[p.155] interest not to be overlooked in the sum of leading characteristics of
those times. Though some may affect to treat these things with indifference,
nevertheless it is a truth that such influences exercised a potent sway in the
heterogeneous communities, which marked the early period of American
settlement. Not only Christian ministers then present, but Christian laymen
also, bringing with them religious principles and habits, and both associated
in a common cause of holding up to view the sublime standard of religion, and
coo die; prating in efforts to make it a rallying point and its obligations a
paramount duty in individual and social life, were a real and confessed and
appreciated power for good in the land. I well and gratefully remember that at
my first arrival, the spiritual labors of the Rev. T. Dwight Hunt, during the
previous five months of his ministry in San Francisco, were spoken of as highly
beneficial in the community. It is also a fact well known and acknowledged,
that as other clergymen became united in the labors of their sacred vocation,
and gathered communions of faithful men, and earnest Christian work was seen in
the planting of churches and their affiliated institutions of sympathetic
charity, the effects were most salutary in the conservation of the best
interests, in order, morality, and government, of the body politic. For a
summary exhibition of [p.156] leading facts in those early times, a paper of
mine, for the reprint of which it may be said it is a fresh utterance of those
time, is herewith presented, in the form in which it was adopted by the Presbytery
of California in its session in Benicia, February 21, 1850.
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER AND
CONDITION OF CALIFORNIA.
Narrative of the State of Religion within the
Bounds of the Presbytery of California.
We are moving amid strange scenes. The outlines even which our
imaginations had drawn of things expected, have been quite displaced by other
impressions which experience has traced. We allude not here, in our position
and circumstances, to the physical features of the country—its more than
anticipated beauty and grandeur, and its more than anticipated supply of the
conveniences of life and appliances of human enterprise—in regard to which a
favorable change of opinion has occurred; but to the more gratifying views, on
the whole, of its moral and religious condition, which, by a closer inspection
and an actual experience, has lost much of its foreboded evil character.
First of all, as a Presbytery, it becomes us gratefully to
acknowledge the gracious care, hitherto, of that merciful Providence which
turned our faces, not without purpose and desire, [p.157] hitherward; and the
sure guidance and protection of the same Providence in bringing three *
of our number safely to the field of our labors; and the signal favor by which
we have been welcomed to our different places of service, with a cordiality
both pleasant and encouraging, assuring us of a desire and demand alike, for
the ministrations of the gospel.
“The harvest is truly plenteous.” “The field is white also unto the
harvest.” Many are the localities now unsupplied with gospel ordinances; and
some in which though the permanent population is small, opportunities are
offered for the dispensing of the word to vast multitudes in their transient
movements to and fro. A happy compensation is thus possible for the untoward
features of an unsettled and a migratory people. For if fewer persons are at
any one time brought under the influence of the gospel ministry, yet within a
given period, a much greater number than in ordinary cases, will be reached.
With caution and diffidence, we venture to give utterance to our
opinion upon the question of [p.158] the moral and religious standard of
California. We are constrained, however, in the view of facts as they have come
under our observation, to declare our belief that the character of the
professors of religion here, exhibits melancholy marks of deterioration. With
whatever good intentions and resolutions all may have left their distant homes,
both on their way hither and now here, many alas, have turned aside from the
strictness of the gospel of Christ. Probably not more than one-half, to speak
with qualification, of the professors of religion now in the country,
voluntarily make themselves known as such; and of that moiety, very many
manifest no special interest in the religious institutions and prosperity of
the country; and consequently the burden of anxiety and toil in sustaining
Christian enterprises is devolved upon a very few church members, coo die
perating with whom it is gratifying to state, in the temporal support of the
gospel, are many estimable persons, who, though they make no profession of a
religious character, are pleased thus to show their appreciation of these
useful instrumentalities.
Yet much good is to be expected, through the efforts of those few
alluded to, whom no allurements of gain or pleasure have turned aside from the
simple purpose of their hearts, to sub serve the interests of the reign and
glory of Christ in [p.159] the earth. In the midst of most exciting scenes, and
in actual contact with busy secular enterprises, they are enabled to hold on to
their steadfastness, and retain the good reputation they had, in other places
and associations, for fidelity in their Master’s cause and service. They disguise
not their badge of Christian profession; they are not hindered in running well
the Christian race; and in all the duties of a holy vocation, they exhibit
pleasing examples of consistency and zeal. The presence and influence
particularly of Christian ladies in our communities, known by the ornament of a
sincere and exemplary piety, and coo die; perating, as it is their
characteristic habit, in all pious and useful causes, we regard as one of the
most gratifying traits of our religious character and condition.
But much is required to be done. The moral evils, which cast
their gloomy shade over the social masses, though by some their picture may
have been overdrawn, are hardly liable to the hazard of exaggeration. We have
no apology to offer for the vices which exist among us, and which, in their
luxuriant increase, are brought forward with an astonishing rapidity; nor do we
acknowledge any constraint upon our liberty, in all suitable times and methods,
to lift up our voice against them. They exist; and under the circumstances of
the case, they are not other than might be expected. They are the result of
easily [p.160] traced causes: the character of the motives which prompted the
greater part of the immigration to this country; the classes of persons, as they
are the most susceptible of these influences, who were first and most
powerfully moved by them; the various national character and habits of the
immigrants; the deficiency of customary external restraints upon evil
propensities; and the corrupting power of evil examples. In the view of such a
state of things, so portentous, as they also prove, prolific of evil, vice, and
crime, though much to be deplored and not at all extenuated, are not unlooked
for existences; and only that a special Providence, by means of vigorous and
stringent judicial administration, and the very selfish regards existing, has
interposed, might have been far more painfully prevalent.
These are the aspects of a land now attracting, and deservedly,
the attention of a large portion of the world. Commerce and the various
branches of human enterprise have, as by a divine hand, led the way, in this
movement, to the Church. Here is a new scene of its progressive developments.
In such circumstances, it is called to the great and responsible labor of
localizing and diffusing the influence of the gospel. We have among us the
elements and the foundation of a Christian State; and the germs of institutions
and influences designed doubtless to contribute in an unparalleled manner to
the diffusion of the more liberal [p.161] principles and usages of free
institutions, and the blessings of civilization and Christianity throughout the
world.
But we are oppressed by a view of the magnitude of the
responsibility devolved upon the Church, in the present state and progress of
affairs. The interests of a most rapidly increasing population, and of such
varied character, within the limits of California; and more, the interests of
unnumbered multitudes upon the islands and both shores of the Pacific, with
whom a frequent and an intimate intercourse is open, present a field of
philanthropic and Christian enterprise such, we do not say as has never before
been spread before the Church, but such as we fear the Church will neither duly
appreciate nor adequately occupy. Let the laborers, who are few in this field,
be increase; above all, let ceaseless prayer, in the view of the missionary
aspects of this new course of colonization, be made in behalf of the kingdom of
Christ; for, though checked by many disheartening causes, we do still “thank
God, and take courage.” And we urge upon our beloved Zion and our
fellow-Christians generally, the earnest and strong exhortation, “Let us go up
at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it”.[p.162]
Close of the Pastorate—Note to the Session, and Reply—Resolution
of the Church, and Letter of the Trustees—Action and Resolutions of the
Presbytery—Farewell Discourse.
Special ties of interest ever bind the relations between a
Christian pastor and his spiritual charge. Intimate and sacred are their
associations. Friendships and confidences and tenderness sympathies are the
interchanges of their fellowship. If such are the marks of a pastorate, in
general, it is easy to suppose, in peculiar conditions, it may partake of a heightened
interest. Such is indeed the fact, when the parties are drawn and held together
by mutual affinities; when common labors and trials are undergone; and when the
same purposes and aspirations are the animating, inspiring motives of action.
The pioneer pastorate, in five and a half years of mutual friendly
intercourse—on account of thickly crowding events a seemingly prolonged
period—with hopes and expectations sometimes more than realized, and results
gladsomely cheering to the heart—but not without an alloy of smitten joys, to
impart a pensive coloring to scenes otherwise only happy—the pastor, in
peculiar circumstances, “calling” his congregation, instead, in the [p.163]
convention sense, of being “called:” all these, and more, served to invest this
pastoral relation with an enhanced import to all concerned. The usual steps in
dissolving a pastorate were formally taken in order. The several papers hereto
annexed furnish the concluding history. These render further statements
unnecessary. The sentiments breathed in them are all that heart could wish, and
are cherished tributes to a relation and its offices, to which ever and anon I
turn in grateful remembrance. Unwilling at the time of the dissolution to let
the occasion pass without a special personal notice, in great bodily weakness,
I prepared and delivered my brief farewell sermon.
RESIGNATION.
TO THE RULING ELDERS OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF SAN
FRANCISCO.
Beloved Brethren—As you are already aware, the impaired state of my health
requires rest and cessation, for a season at least, from pastoral labors. Not
knowing, in the view of these circumstances, how long an absence may be
necessary, nor what changes of the future may occur, I think it best that my
pastoral relation be dissolved, that both the congregation and myself may be
left at liberty; and accordingly, I hereby signify my wish that the
congregation may unite with me in requesting the Presbytery to which we belong
to grant this my desire, and terminate the connection I now hold with the
Church which you represent.[p.164]
With assurances of my best esteem and regards for yourselves
personally, and many thanks for your uniform kindness in our pleasant official
intercourse, and with a continued affectionate and prayerful interest in behalf
of the Church over which we have jointly presided,
I remain ever yours, in
Christian bonds,
ALBERT WILLIAMS.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 1st,
1854.
SAN FRANCISCO, July 4th,
1854.
REV. ALBERT WILLIAMS.
Dear Brother—We have received your letter of the 1st of July
instant, signifying your desire, on account of impaired health, requiring rest
and cessation, for a season at least, from pastoral labors, that the
congregation over which you preside would unite with you in requesting the
Presbytery to which we belong to terminate the pastoral connection you now
hold.
We regret exceedingly that your health should render it
necessary, and more especially at this particular juncture in the affairs of
the Church, should compel you to retire from the labors and responsibilities
which you have so long and ably discharged, in the origin and continuance of
the first Protestant Church in this city.
But we have great comfort and satisfaction in looking back over
the five years and upwards in which you have, with the most unremitting
diligence, watched over the interests of the Church and society, in all that
concerned their welfare and progress, both spiritual and temporal; and have
great pleasure in bearing testimony to your fidelity and constant devotion to
the best interests of the Church and congregation. The sick have been visited,
and those who were in prison are witnesses of your counsel, warning, and
admonition; the poor and friendless have been objects of your care and
solicitude; the afflicted have been [p.165] comforted in their distress and
anguish of mind, and the dying have been directed to the “Lamb of God which
taketh away the sins of the world.”
And in all the relations you have sustained in the Church and
congregation, your bearing has been honorable, manly, and independent, and
characterized by meekness, charity, and a Christian spirit.
When we have, as a community, been passing through scenes of
unusual violence and bloodshed, you have remained at your post, unmoved by
popular tumult and disorder, faithfully declaring “all the counsel of God”.
In your deportment and intercourse with the world, your
ministrations in the pulpit, and in mingling and coo die; perating in the
various religious and benevolent enterprises which have originated in San
Francisco during your residence here—in all of which you have been active, and
in many a leading spirit—your course, for its wisdom and discretion, has been
such as to commend the Presbyterian Church and society to the public confidence
and respect. The Church, which was originated under the most
unfavorable circumstances, in the midst of the confusion and bustle caused by
the restless spirit of gain excited by the discovery of gold in California, and
composed at first of six communicants, now numbers over one hundred and fifty,
besides those who have been removed by death and those who have been dismissed
and recommended to the fellowship of other churches. We have also a flourishing
Sabbath School, of one hundred and fifty scholars, under excellent teaching,
already bearing precious fruit, and promising a rich harvest in the future.
Under such circumstances, our own hearts constrain us to acknowledge that you
are making no ordinary personal sacrifice in separating yourself from a field
of labor so full of promise in the future, and from a Church and congregation
for whose temporal and spiritual welfare you have so long and [p.166]
successfully labored, and we most cordially sympathize with you in this painful
trial. But regarding it as inexpedient in a country like this to leave the
pulpit vacant for an uncertain period, a sense of duty to the Church as well as
yourself, constrains us to accede to your request, at a convenient time, to
bring the question proposed before the congregation for their action.
We beg also to assure you of our high respect for your uniform
courtesy, kindness, and counsel, in the relation you have sustained to us as
members of your session, in which unity and the entire harmony have prevailed.
Feeling sure that should you leave us, you will carry with you the
best and kindest sympathies not only of the Church and congregation, but of the
community among whom you have moved and mingled in this city, we affectionately
commend you and your family to the Great Head of the Church, praying that He
will richly reward your labors of love among us, and do for you and them
“exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”
We remain truly and
affectionately,
Yours in Christian bonds,
W. W. CALDWELL,
R. H. WALLER,
NATH’L GRAY,
THOS. HOPKINS,
THOS. C. HAMBLY,
Ruling Elders.
ACTION OF THE CONGREGATION.
At a meeting of the congregation of the First Presbyterian
Church, August 20th, 1854, the following resolution was passed:
Resolved, That this congregation, in the view of the ill health of their pastor,
the Rev. Albert Williams, and knowing it to be his earnest desire to be
released from his pastoral labors, will not oppose, though with sincere regret
they acquiesce in the application he designs to make before the
Presbytery.[p.167]
Further, on motion, a committee, consisting of G. W. P. Bissell
and Frederick Billings, Esqs., and Dr. W. O. Ayres, was appointed to address a
letter to the Rev. Mr. Williams, expressive of the feelings of the congregation
in this their action.
LETTER OF THE COMMITTEE.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., 22D
AUGUST, 1854.
REV. ALBERT WILLIAMS.
Respected and Dear Sir—You are aware that the parishes of the First Presbyterian Church
have voted to unite with you in requesting the Presbytery to terminate the
pastoral connection, which has existed between yourself and the Church since
its organization. This action of the parish was based upon your letter
addressed to the Session, and by them laid before the congregation. The letter
made known considerations of health, requiring, for a season at least, that you
should rest from pastoral labor, and involving the necessity of your absence
from the State for an uncertain period. The parish had no fear that their
action, under the circumstances, would be misconstrued to indicate any want of
respect and affectionate regard for you, or any forgetfulness of your long,
arduous, faithful, and successful efforts in behalf of their Church, and of
Christian education in the city. They knew that, as the first and only pastor
of the early established and first Protestant Church in San Francisco, your
consistent Christian character, your devotion to your high and responsible
office, your zeal, energy, and successful labor, were too widely known and well
appreciated, to allow, either in the parish or out of it, a thought that your
attachment to the Church, with which you had so long been identified, had grown
cold, or that the Church had lost its affectionate regard for you.[p.168] But with this the parish were not satisfied.
They were unwilling that the pastoral relation should be dissolved without a
direct communication of the kind and friendly feelings entertained towards you
by them; of their sense of obligation to you, under Providence, for the
establishment of their Church, and its continuance during all the vicissitudes
and embarrassments of our city, and without a hearty assurance of their respect
and earnest good wishes for the future We have been appointed a committee of
the parish to address you a letter on their behalf, and we are happy to be made
the channel of assuring you that though you cease to be the pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church of San Francisco, it will never be forgotten that you were
its founder, and for more than five years its faithful guide; that you have
labored in season and out of season for its prosperity; and that under your
zealous but prudent supervision, the Church, and the great doctrines of which
it is the exponent, have been commended to the people of San Francisco and the
State. Wherever life may lead you in the future, bear with you the conviction
that your labors with us have not been in vain; that your name will ever be
associated with our Church, and that those who have known you here will
remember you with grateful recollections.
Expressing, as well for the parish as for ourselves individually,
the earnest wish that you and your family may ever enjoy health and happiness,
and that a long life of continued usefulness may be granted to you,
We are, with much respect,
Your friends,
GEO. W. P. BISSELL,
FREDERICK BILLINGS,
WM. O. AYRES.[p.169]
ACTION OF THE PRESBYTERY.
At a meeting of the Presbytery of California, held in San
Francisco September 21st, 1854, the Rev. Albert Williams applied to
be released from the pastoral charge of the First Presbyterian Church of San
Francisco.
Mr. Nathaniel Gray appeared in Presbytery as a commissioner from
the congregation, and presented their action in the view of this application.
Resolved, That this congregation, in the view of the ill health of their
pastor, the Rev. Albert Williams, and knowing it to be his earnest desire to be
released from his pastoral labors, will not oppose, though with sincere regret
they acquiesce in the application he designs to make before the Presbytery.
Whereupon, the Presbytery passed the following preamble and
resolutions: Whereas, The Presbytery have heard the request of the
Rev. Albert Williams, for the dissolution of the pastoral relation between
himself and the First Presbyterian Church of San Francisco, on the ground of
enfeebled health, and also the assent, through their commissioner, of the
congregation to this request; therefore,
Resolved, That the pastoral relation of the Rev. Albert Williams to the
First Presbyterian Church of San Francisco be and hereby is dissolved, on and
after the second Sabbath of October next; and that the Rev. Frederick Buel
preach in that Church on the third Sabbath of October, and declare the pulpit
vacant.
Resolved, That in granting this request, the Presbytery deeply
sympathizes with the Rev. Albert Williams, in the afflictive providence, which
has rendered it expedient for him to make this request.
Resolved, That this Presbytery bear testimony to the constant zeal and
devotedness with which Mr. Williams has labored for the good of the First
Presbyterian Church, from its organization on the 20th of May, 1849;
and express their earnest desire that God will continue to follow his labors
with rich spiritual blessings to the congregation he has long and steadily
served.[p.170]
Resolved, That the Presbytery commend, with their cordial sympathies and
earnest prayers, the Rev. Albert Williams and the First Presbyterian Church of
San Francisco to the favor and keeping of the Great Head of the Church, our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Resolved, That a report of these proceedings be furnished for publication
in the Pacific and Christian Advocate, of this city, and the Presbyterian
of Philadelphia, and the New York Observer.
SAN FRANCISCO, October 11,
1854.
REV. ALBERT WILLIAMS.
Viewing records 424-433 of
561
Dear Sir—As the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church, and
representing, we are confident, the wishes of the congregation, and of all who
listened to the interesting and appropriate Farewell Sermon preached by you on
Sunday last, we ask a copy of the sermon for publication. With assurance of
respect and friendship.
We are your obedient
servants,
FREDERICK BILLINGS,
G. W. P. BISSELL,
W. O. AYRES,
ROYAL H. WALLER,
T. F. GOULD,
JAMES H. HESSE,
Trustees of the First
Presbyterian Church.
SAN FRANCISCO, October 12,
1854
Gentlemen—I place at your disposal my Farewell Discourse, not feeling
justified in withholding it when requested by your authority.
I remain,
Yours respectfully and
truly,
ALBERT WILLIAMS.
TO FREDERICK BILLINGS, G. W. P. BISSEL, Esqs., And others, Trustees,
etc.[p.171]
FAREWELL SERMON. DELIVERED SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1854 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown
of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his
coming? For ye are our glory and joy .—I. THESS. ii., 19, 20.
CHRISTIAN BREATHERN:
The circumstances of our gathering this morning are special; and
they warrant a special character in the present discourse. In nothing, however,
which the occasion may prompt me to say, would I divert your attention from the
ever-appropriate themes and reflections of the Sabbath and the sanctuary.
Rather would I, on this occasion, in the use of such inspiring and elevating
words as these of the Apostle, strive to invest everything I may utter with a
seriousness, and spirituality, and eternal moment, which may preserve not only,
but heighten the tone of our sacred and devout sentiments. For I trust, my
brethren, that notwithstanding the many imperfections of the past, “I have not,”
in any important feature or degree, “kept back that which was profitable to
you;” nor “shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God.” And
therefore, it is needless for me, on this occasion, to occupy your time in
statements even of the outlines of Christian [p.172] doctrines and duties. I
think you will bear me witness, that of the many sermons I have delivered, in
each one I have endeavored to embody distinctly and intelligibly some
fundamental and essential part of saving truth; and in all of them there has
been a prominent exhibition of the nature and grounds of our hope in Christ, as
the divine Savior. But this is not to assume that I have preached,
or you have embraced these doctrines of the saving scheme of the gospel as
heartily and improvingly as should have been done. Alas, there is much to
regret in the misimprovements of the past, which, if it were in the power of
this day’s services wholly to amend, who has that is here present would not
most earnestly strive after so desirable a consummation?
The necessity of “redeeming the time,” I trust we shall see the
more clearly, and feel the more impressively, in the view of that high standard
of hopes and results which, as in all the gospel, so especially in our text, is
set forth as connected with the design, and nature, and due effect of Christian
ordinances, through the efficient operation of the Spirit of all grace. “For
what,” asks our Apostle, “is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not
even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our
glory and joy.”[p.173]
What grounds of such blessed assurances the Apostle had, in
regard to the Thessalonians believers, you learn both from the account of their
conversion and exemplary conduct, given in the history of the Acts of the
Apostles, and also in the commendatory notices of them in the Epistle to the
Thessalonians Church. We must dissociate, in our minds, from those who gave the
Apostle so great satisfaction, those others in Thessalonica, who, at the first preaching
of the faith of Christ in that city, not only remained in unbelief, but
violently opposed both the Christian cause and its apostolic advocates and
promoters; and not content with resisting and endeavoring to subvert
Christianity at home, even followed the Apostles to other cities of Greece,
with the same evil intent and open hostility, infusing into others’ minds their
own persecuting hostility.
A blessed success, notwithstanding, attended upon the labors of
the Apostle and his associates, as in other places, so also in Thessalonica.
The brief but expressive record of the fact is thus given by the sacred
historian: “And some of them (the Jews) believed, and consorted with Paul and
Silas, and of the devout Greeks (Gentile proselytes) a great multitude, and of
the chief women not a few.” St. Paul also, in his Epistle to the Thessalonians,
bears witness in a good report: That he thanked God always on their behalf,
that [p.174] the gospel came not to them in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; that the word of God which was
preached to them, they received not as the word of man, but (as it is in truth)
the Word of God working effectually in them that believe; that their example,
in its happy influence, going forth beyond their own neighborhood, became a
pattern and encouragement to all who believed also in Macedonia and Achaia;
that in the trials and persecutions they were called to suffer, they remained
steadfast in the Christian faith, so that the Apostle could write to them, “We
ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in
all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure;” and that, looking
beyond the present, there was found in existing faithful endurance, “a manifest
token of the righteous judgment of God, that they would be counted worthy the
kingdom of God, for which also they suffered;” and more, there was a certain
promise, that of the Lord they should receive the reward of the inheritance,
inasmuch as they “served the Lord Christ;” and finally, as a summary of all
these exalted confidences and hopes, that “in the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ,” in the unerring judgment and sentence of the Omniscient Judge, they
would be the “hope,” the “joy,” and “crown of rejoicing”—“the glory and the
joy”—of the apostolic ministry. [p.175] Let it not be accounted strange, my
brethren, if this day I should aspire to participate in the exultation and joy
of the Apostle, and all in the gospel ministry, over any just occasions of
grateful satisfaction and hope. Have I not these grounds of cheering
encouragement in this Christian congregation? With no constrained or improper
boasting on your behalf, my friends and brethren, I cannot but express it as my
honest and sincere conviction, that from the first our organization has been
highly favored in having embodied and connected with it so goodly a number, as
I believe, of persons possessed of an intelligent, firm, and zealous piety.
With such a conviction and grateful recollection, I look back upon the
incipient nucleus of this church. And even now, I cannot repress a feeling of
heartfelt admiration, that at that early day, with so few numbers, there was
found the practical faith which could then in the name of God set up “our
banner;” and when, with all that faith and hope which found their safe reliance
only in the covenant grace of God, it was not foreseen by any “whereunto” in
extent and usefulness that infant germ and plant of piety would grow. And I
remember being asked about that time, by one who was a looker-on and not with
us, “How we expected to build a church for our use?” I confess I could hardly
tell. But I could look back [p.176] with some degree of confiding hope upon
promises like the one made on board our steamer, as she approached this our
destination, by one of the original members of our church, that he would give
one hundred dollars the first year towards the building of a church in San
Francisco—a truly liberal offer for the time—and, as I publish no names, I may
also add, in the view of the motive and munificence of disposition which
prompted that offer, and then, as ever since, have been witnessed in deeds of
benevolence, it is grateful to know that with the willingness there has been
bestowed, in the favor of Providence, the ability to appropriate, not hundreds
only, but thousands to the Church and its kindred charities. From the first, a
gratifying prosperity attended upon this church organization. The number of its
communicants steadily increased, and in the midst of all the changes occurring
in consequence of the transient character of our population, there was a
gradual increasing aggregation of strength and numbers in the congregation. The
trials of new church enterprises, in such circumstances as those of the
earliest times of this city, it is difficult to exaggerate. None but those who
have passed through them can fully know them. What with the ever-shifting
character of the population; and hope disappointed in some; and in [p.177]
others the annoyance of much talking, and proposing, and planning, with a
little promising and no doing; the excitement of business and the eager pursuit
of personal ends of gain and ambition; of many, the few only who could spare
the time, even if they had the disposition, to devote their attention to these
interests; and some who made, or had made their religious professions, but
lamentably turned aside and far away from them—with these and other interposing
obstacles, I have also the sad remembrance, that that destroying hand which,
sooner or later, cuts down all our hopes, removed from us, in the early days of
the Church, those upon whom we leaned in a warrantable confidence, and whom we
felt, for the sake of the Church, we could not spare from our number. Yet
were the interests of the Church sedulously cherished, a constant and growing
regard for its welfare was maintained, not to say the project of the erection
of a church edifice kept in view, and at length, under many discouragements,
yet with wonderful success, consummated. Highly favored was the
congregation in all the period prior to its entering our sanctuary, in having
the gratuitous use, though subjected to the trouble frequently of change, of
convenient places for holding public worship. It was not until the third
Sabbath (the 19th) [p.178] of January,1851, that our first church
edifice was completed and opened for the worship of Almighty God. For the
prosperity, which attended the congregation during the continuance of that
building, a gradual preparation had been made in its increasingly flourishing
condition up to the time of entering the new church. To many in San Francisco
and California, that structure, tasteful and attractive, is well remembered
with the more pleasing impression and livelier interest, from the fact that it
was the first of churches in this city and State erected with any special
regard to taste and style in architecture. But it was not long spared by that
devouring element which so repeatedly laid the greater and more valuable
portions of this city in ashes. As a congregation, we were made to experience,
how sadly and heavily many now present will recollect, the reverse, which that
last general fire, of all the most widely felt by the resident population,
produced. The loss was not that of the church edifice alone, though in that
respect it was by no means inconsiderable; but added to this were the
scattering of our congregation, the heavy personal losses of many of our
people, the want of any suitable and commodious place of holding religious
services, and what was the most embarrassing of all, a pervading feeling and
fact of inability, in the kind which could have been wished, [p.179] to
rebuild. This plain and unpretending structure in which we now worship—with the
pulpit, and chandeliers, and a part of the pews saved from the first
church—while it has answered the purpose of a sanctuary for the congregation,
and has been to the present time too good to be torn down, is itself an
evidence of the discouragements of the Summer of 1851, subsequently to the
great fires of May and June of that year. It is not, I trust, with
any feeling of murmuring or complaint, that I recite to you to day that darker
portion of our history. The will of God be done. And the piety, which reared
that “holy and beautiful house”, could and did, I believe, as cheerfully
present and ascend with the incense of its costly sacrifice, and offering
devoted and acceptable to God. From the time of the destruction of the first
church, the gatherings and services of the congregation, awhile diminished in
numbers, were regularly kept up. Dating from the period of the completion of
this present edifice, the congregation again rallied in numbers and strength,
and spiritually has since, more than before, prospered; and, without boasting,
but only in the statement of a fact, I may add, has maintained, in the number
of its communicants, its leading position among the Protestant churches of the
city and State. And with less of outward [p.180] circumstance and show, than in
these days of improvement are wont to be desired in connection with the public
worship of the sanctuary; with even less of external conveniences than many of
ourselves could have wished, yet have we not learned, and well, in the
heightened spiritual pleasures of the house of prayer, in the word of God, the
prayers, and praises, and sacred songs of Zion, that it is the truth which
enlightens, and the spirit sanctifies, and a pure spiritual devotion alone
bears the soul of the worshipper away and upward from earth to heaven; while
assuredly
‘T is not the pageantry of
show
That can impart devotion’s
glow,
Or sanctify a prayer.
Such, I am certain, has been the experience of the worshippers in
this humble sanctuary of the Most High and his people. And were our Apostle
even present, he would, I am persuaded, apply to such as you anew, as I am
prompted to apply his words of exulting congratulation: “For what is our hope,
or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” But this is not
because you can worship profitably and pleasantly, and thrive also, in a plain
sanctuary. I have other grounds of confidence regarding you:[p.181] In
your observing and attendance upon the weekly prayer meeting, which has been to
us a blessed conservative and improving ordinance and service. In your care of
the religious instruction and training of the children and youth of the
congregation—it is an interest which could not be too zealously cherished; and
pleasantly may we remember the constant labors of a score or more in the sphere
and duties of the Sabbath School, and Bible classes in connection with it,
which, from the first, have furnished evidences of your zeal; and upon the
Bible truth taught, either directly from the word of God or indirectly through
our catechisms, pleasing proofs also of the Divine blessing have been bestowed.
And while our distinctive character in doctrine and polity has been well
known, and we have been careful to avoid all compromises with fundamental and
essential error, not among yourselves alone has your Christian zeal been
manifested. I rejoice in the fact that your sympathies have not been so
restricted, but rather that your hearts and hands have entered, in union with
others or by yourselves, into all the projects and useful walks of life, open
before you. Some of the charitable institutions of the city have had their
origin among you; while, to further the interests of education and missions,
and the Bible and Tract causes, and the City Sunday School Union, [p.182] you
have not fallen behind the most zealous and active in well doing. In such
things I do truly rejoice, being most gratified in having seen you ever aiming
and striving to act upon the rule of “doing the greatest good to the greatest
number”. It is interesting to look upon this Church as taking its place among
“the first things” in the modern history and improvement of California. Many
beginnings of new enterprises in this country has it been my lot to witness;
many of our mere social and civil organizations and institutions, which have
sought the alliance and fostering care of religion. I regard especially the
early establishment of our churches here as auspicious omens for this land, in
its future prosperity, magnificence, and glory. I look upon the great
institutions of the country, with the government of the Union over it, as the
more interesting, because the institutions established have been inaugurated
under the high sanction and sacred influence of Christianity. The august
Convention in 1849 acknowledged and invoked the aid of religion in forming a
constitution for this State; the first public Thanksgiving in November, 1849, a
most agreeable surprise, made proclamation of our dependence upon the care of
Divine Providence, and of the gratitude due for the blessings, common and
special, of our social and religious welfare. So have our legislative bodies,
and [p.183] public occasions, in various pageants and celebrations, proved that
prayers here are not confined to churches, but are proper and necessary, and
this is a prevailing public sentiment, for all times and interests. These are
happy omens for the future. Indeed, beneath all the ruffled agitations of
society, and the strafes and excitements of the times, there has been a deep,
steady under-current of morality and religion; and though, as is usual in this
world, the best influences do not make the most noise, yet is there the more
silent yet powerfully. Operative influence of the Church and its institutions,
continually helping forward, on these shores, the great cause of truth and
righteousness. But upon these subjects, I may not longer occupy your attention.
I come before you to day in peculiar circumstances. This closing service, in a
relation, which for five and a half years has subsisted between us, but is now
to be sundered, tells me that henceforth my direct, active labors among you
cease. I have contributed as I could, in my place, to the aggregate of those
efforts by which, hitherto, the interests of the cause of Christianity, and
with it of general morality and virtue, have been maintained among us. I have
no overweening satisfaction or self-granulation in the little which it has been
my part to do in this peculiar sphere of service. But, looking upon the results
of the efforts of the Christian [p.184] ministry and Christian people of this
city—in the view only of those results which are now visible, not to speak of
those right hand services which the left hand may not know, and the many
offices of charity and friendly assistance, and visitations of the sick and
afflicted, and burials of the dead, which come within the sphere of the
Christian laborer—you must and will conclude that the pastoral office among us
is no sinecure. But none of my respected associates in the Christian ministry
in this city or State, nor myself, will complain that the burdens upon us have
been heavy; that the cares and anxieties of our calling have made constant
demands upon our time and strength; that, what with our pulpit services, which
have been only an inconsiderable part of ministerial labor, and many other
public and private engagements, we should some of us need, and Providence point
to the necessity upon us, to seek a temporary relaxation and repose. I speak of
these things, not as though you knew them not, but because you have known them;
and to an extent, which I cannot but say it is grateful to remember, you have
appreciated them most favorably, and given many expressions of the respect in
which the Christian ministry in this land is held. By the promptings of
religious instinct and principle, our churches have been built and our asylums
founded, and charity [p.185] full handed has bestowed her lavish gifts upon the
unfortunate. Such favor, as the common sentiment of the people, has been, from
the beginning of our sojourn upon this coast, shown towards religious and
benevolent causes. Thus, an additional example is furnished to the world of the
reproductive power of religious principle, and of the just grounds of
confidence and hope which accompany the colonization of a Christian
people. I cannot refrain, on this occasion, from giving utterance to my
heartfelt, grateful acknowledgments of the many undeserved and unexpected
expressions of kindness and esteem towards me, from this congregation and the community
in general. And I take this occasion to thank especially the congregation at
large, and my esteemed associates in the government of the church, the Ruling
Elders of the congregation, for their respective communications recently
addressed to me, which, I have only to say, are filled with more of
commendation than I could have expected, not to say desired. I can hardly, even
at this present moment, seem sensible of the fact that the formal tie, which
has so long, so harmoniously, and so pleasantly bound us together, is so soon
to be dissolved. But assured that the providence of God has clearly indicated
this course and issue, I need not say I have felt, and do feel, it is best that
it should be so.[p.186] To all of
you, beloved hearers, my early and later friends; to the members of the
congregation generally; to the Superintendent of the Sabbath School, its
teachers and scholars; to the members of the Church; to the Trustees of the
congregation; to the Ruling Elders of the Church; to each and all, I tender the
assurance of my respectful and affectionate regards. And as my most
deeply impressed and abiding solicitude, it is the sincere and earnest desire
of my heart, that though henceforth our lives may be variously directed, yet at
length, when all our wanderings shall have ceased, in that better land, in
which there are no farewells and no partings, we may meet again.[p.187]
Reflections on the Past—Early Immigration and Trials—Novel Features—The Chief
Place of 1849--Formation of the State Government—High Wages and
Housekeeping—Fifteen per Cent. per Month—Gumption—Moral Standard—Public Men and
Leaders. The past of California—not alone of the more remote period of
isolation and imperfect occupancy of our brothers of the Spanish race—during
the time of its possession and development under the genius of the flag and men
of the great Republic, is not without its monuments of history: some, in this
changeful human life, of departed friendship and worth. Many, very many of the
active generation whose intelligence and enterprise founded the State, have
passed away. The work of a high civilization and holy religion was auspiciously
begun by the pioneers. Upon the proud fabric reared by intelligent skill,
signal contributions of effort, strength, and life itself, have been bestowed.
Some planned, and others toiled. The foundation being laid, here a stone was
prepared and deposited, and secured with the firm cement; there, a graceful
arch was shaped and a cheerful window added to the structure; and higher and
higher the work ascended. But as it advanced, amid the long, busy lines of
[p.188] toilers, by the exhaustion of wearying exertion and pressure of an
insupportable burden, one and another grew faint and fell. A pioneer has
dropped from his relaxed hand his implement of labor: he sleeps his last sleep.
And still the work has continued, carried onward by other pioneers and their
associates towards completion, when every beam and floor, roof and ceiling,
support and ornament, in their several places, consummate the noble work. The
esteemed dead lived not, labored not in vein. With the accumulations of their
agency, and over their ashes, a higher stage of progress was attained, upon
whose plane a higher and still higher end is sought. Labor is not in vain,
though accompanied by pains and tears. The great problem of the world is
performed in an onward march of individual and social life, through life’s
manifold changes.
The loved, the lost, the
absent, and the dead,
Were with me then. Albert Williams, S.F., CA Pastorate,
1849-54
The startling report of the gold discovery, wherever heard,
turned all eyes wistfully toward the new field of fortune. Many essayed to
undertake the venture that did not. The anticipated trials which deterred
multitudes from the attempt and were borne by the venturesome, though often
referred to, have never perhaps been fully comprehended by the
inexperienced.[p.189] Long and tedious voyages by sea, around Cape Horn,
were attended with unwelcome delays, through storms and calms. Not less wearisome,
and even more vexatious, were the overland journeys, which put to the trial all
the powers of endurance, and bonds of obligation, and virtue of patience and
mutual forbearance; and often broke down the barriers of good-fellowship, and
opened up breaches of friendship, variances, feuds, and final separations. For
the journeys by sea and land to the new gold regions, almost all of the early
adventurers were grouped in associated companies. The reasons which induced
such concert were drawn from considerations of economy, protection, and mutual
assistance, not only en route, but in supposed benefits of coo die;
operation in mining and trading enterprises. Of the three hundred, my
fellow-passengers, in the Crescent City from New York to Charges, all
except sixteen belonged to fifteen variously named mining and trading
associations, each numbering from seven to thirty members. From December, 1848,
onward, vessels sailed from New York and other Atlantic ports, bearing their
complements of passengers, who, generally, were also owners, and their assorted
freights, always including the last invented and most improved gold-washing and
gold-saving machines. The more provident of adventurers also before their
departure took the precaution to [p.190] inform themselves concerning the use
of chemical tests, in order to prevent mistakes of gathering base metals
instead of pure gold. The Winter of 1849-50 was, to such as chose the overland
route, the season of preparation for their long and arduous journey. Routes were
selected, and purchases made of wagons, teams of horses or oxen, saddle horses
and packhorses, and provisions and arms. The preferable route, of course, to
those who were bold enough to face the inconveniences of the Isthmus transit,
and the more threatening danger of Isthmus malaria, and bear its greater
expense, was the new steamer route so timely opened. That great enterprise was
a most welcome provision for an urgent demand, and laid many voyagers to and
from California under deep obligations to its enterprising proprietors, Messrs.
Howland & Aspinwall; as the same great line of steamers, continued by their
successors to the present time, not displaced by the magnificent continental
railroad, is yet a popular mode of travel, availed of by persons of leisure and
seekers of variety and comfort. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company must ever be
held to occupy a prominent place among the instrumentalities for promoting the
settlement and growth of California. Trials along this route, incident to the
circumstances, may and do occur. But ample provision being made for the
convenience of [p.191] travelers, no just occasion of complaint was left, and
no cause of discomfort.
With rare exceptions, the early overland journeys were attended
with hardships and trials, which descriptions, though often essayed, have
rarely, if ever, fully portrayed. It has been said that these wayside
experiences removed many a doubt concerning the Bible doctrine of total
depravity, and taught the lesson how selfish, perverse, mean, faithless, and
utterly unamiable and formidable man may and does become, when base passions
are allowed to obtain the mastery over him. A New York bookseller and
publisher, whom I had known in his business, called upon me and gave the result
of his overland troubles: His company was disbanded, and there was not one of
his late associates with whom he would be willing to be again brought into
fellowship. “Not quite so,” he added; “there is one exception—yet he in his
rage killed one of the animals belonging to the party, and in a fit of passion
threw a hatchet at one of the men.” Trials to which principles and character
are subjected, are not the least of the evils suffered in the present life.
It was permitted to me, on account of my early arrival, to
witness not the very beginning, but the first great wave of the incoming
immigration, which in 1849 swept over the country. The [p.192] population on
the 1st of January, 1849, and little increased until after the first
steamer arrivals from two to four months thereafter, is estimated to have been
26,000, to wit: Californians, exclusive of Indians, 13,000, Americans 8000, and
foreigners 5000. At the end of 1849, the arrivals during that year, aggregating
from 80,000 to 90,000, made a total population at that date of about 110,000.
Those arriving by sea, generally proceeded at once to the goldfields, and there
met the overland immigration upon the open, common ground, and in the common
search and struggle for gold. A trial, at least, of gold mining, which was
their original object, was made by nearly all, whatever may have previously
been their employment—in the professions, or in mercantile, mechanical, or
agricultural pursuits. Thus new communities, temporary or permanent, were
formed in the interior, while at the ports and in the valleys of the seaboard,
the settlements and towns were at first only slightly augmented.
California seemed, indeed, to Americans, in many of its aspects,
a foreign country. The presence, at the century of population, of a
proportionally large number of native Californians, reminded us of the fact of
their recent ownership of the land. The Spanish language, too, was heard in
familiar speech, acquired as a whole by such of our people as had been for a
longer time [p.193] residents, or caught up by others recently arrived, in its
familiar phrases: esta bueno—it is good; si, sen˜or—yes, sir. The
strange coloring of physical features and of social life gave an air of romance
to scenes of daily observation. All was excitement in business, in the new and
strange, in hope and ambition—a whirling maelstrom almost; a scene upon which
strangers looked wildly, as they beheld it for the first time. And with reason
might the question have been asked, Can settled, fixed purposes coo die with
the manifold interests, aims, and projects of communities without any seeming
bond of union?
With the confidence which facts and history inspire, there is
claimed for the year 1849 a chief place for eventful incidents, stirring
changes, and accomplished designs. Its history of progress is not that of
barbarous, savage hordes, by a gradual process of improvement and growth. The
germs, the life principles of government and order, were borne with the
adventurous pioneers, and were an essential part of themselves. All that was required
was the work of selection and combination to form symmetrical and stately civil
and social institutions. These, in due time, arose out of the seeming, but only
seeming chaos. In the midst of the wildest of natural scenery and promiscuous
gatherings of men, if necessity required, as a friend related to me in his own
case, for the [p.194] adjustment of private rights and redress of injuries, a
court could be suddenly constituted, with all essential forms, to define and
enforce the behests of justice.
The truth of the general statement, that order and quiet, and
security of life and property, were characteristic in the country, is
confirmed, as by other authority, by the official reports of Governor Mason and
Governor Riley, the latter of whom I quote in his letter to the Secretary of
War, Aug. 30, 1849: “Before leaving Monterey, I heard numerous rumors of
irregularities and crimes among those working in the placeres; but on
visiting the mining regions, I was agreeably surprised to learn that every
thing was quite the reverse from what had been represented, and that order and
regularity were preserved throughout the entire extent of the mineral
districts. In each little settlement, or tented town, the miners have elected
their ladles and constables, whose judicial decisions and efficient acts are
sustained by the people, and enforced with much regularity and energy.” In San
Francisco, valuable property, exposed in frail structures not only, but lying
by night as well as day unprotected on the street, was undisturbed. It was
dangerous, it was also accounted mean, to steal.
Universal doubt and uncertainty existed at the date of my arrival
with regard to future steps [p.195] towards the establishment of a general
government over the territory. Congress had failed to provide a government.
California was agitated over the question. What was probable, or even possible,
could not be foreseen. Tentative measures, originating in a desire to change
the existing Mexican forms, had been put forth in some half dozen towns, by the
establishment of District Legislative Assemblies. But these were felt to be
insufficient, if not positively objectionable. Very soon after my arrival,
spending an evening at the residence of Mr. C. V. Gillespie, I there met a
number of gentlemen, residents of San Francisco. Among them was the lamented
Edward Gilbert, of the Alta California. Inquiries were made of me
respecting the probable course of the Taylor administration at Washington
towards California. I was able to reply that just before leaving the East, I
heard the new government would probably suggest an independent movement of the
people of California for the formation of a State Constitution. A marked
surprise followed this announcement, expressed by all present, and especially
by Mr. Gilbert, who remarked, “Such a procedure, without the usual mediate
territory, being without precedent, is impossible”. Yet, a month or two
afterward, the arrival of the Hon. Thos. Butler King, charged from Washington
to further this scheme, confirmed the truth of my [p.196] report, not to say,
the measure became sooner than expected an accomplished fact.
Referring to minor but not indifferent matters, labor in general,
being in demand, exacted extreme wages; often, in necessary cases, these were
beyond the means of employers, or of adjudged propriety. “Carry it yourself,
then,” was the oft-heard answer of an independent porter, refusing the offer of
a half dollar from one just landed in the city, and asking three dollars for
the insignificant service of removing a trunk a short distance. More heavily,
the burden of high wages pressed upon housekeepers, when cooks commanded one
hundred and fifty dollars per month. When in my own family I had need of help,
I began by paying ninety dollars per month, and ended, at the close of my
pastorate late in 1854, with the rate of sixty dollars per month. My family
expenses for water and milk were equal—each, one hundred and fifty dollars per
annum. The fact of high servants’ wages in ‘49, together with the scarcity of
supply of servants, deprived our San Francisco society of three of our justly
admired ladies, Mrs. Colonel Geary, Mrs. Major Ogden, and Mrs. General Persifer
F. Smith. The inconvenience to the family of General Smith was the more
annoying, because a domestic was brought under an engagement from the East, and
not only her own passage was defrayed, but in addition [p.197] that of her
brother, which ought to have secured the performance of the contract, but
failed under the first tempting offer of advanced wages. When making my
farewell call upon the ladies of the military family, on the eve of their
departure, a conversation occurred, in which a gloomy foreboding of our future
was expressed. General Smith remarked to his wife, “I think, forty years hence,
the situation will be so changed that you can return and live in California”.
“Yes,” was the answer, “in about that time.”
New York, it was remarked, gave shape to the modes of mercantile
business. And yet, the skilled, careful merchant, from old established marts, looked
with astonishment at what he considered reckless in transactions and ruinous in
results. Very young persons, too, embarked in business, occupied the places,
and did the work usually in the hands of men of mature age and large
experience. The current speech about “thousands”, was a temporary check upon
hope. Happy, it was thought, was the man who had “money in his purse”; or what
was even better, a fortunate holding of merchandise in demand; or, wanting
these, was well furnished with physical strength, and a resolute, courageous
heart. In the circumstances, often I was reminded of a conversation, which I
overheard in New York, when “California” first began to be an exciting [p.198]
topic. Two gentlemen, sitting near me in a restaurant, were discussing the pro
and con of the question, and referring to one and another acquaintance
who had caught the “gold fever,” the conversation was closed by the remark of
one, “Well, I think whoever goes to California should have plenty of money,
plenty of wind, and plenty of gumption.” The order in which the several
conditions were stated, was wisely given in the climax of the scale. Mr. John
M. Finley once said to me, “Did you ever hear of a country whose rate of
interest was fifteen per cent. per month?--and yet we can pay it.” In many
things, the situation was unparalleled. The movements of the times were often
like the progress and effects of a tornado. Causes in operation were singularly
powerful. By irresistible forces, men were borne onward. Some were caught in
whirling eddies. The excitements were too powerful for imperfectly controlled
minds. The more conservative instincts and restraints were over-borne. As in a
storm, tender trees of the forest fall, and the sturdy, deep-rooted stand; so
the morally strong of the early times survived, while the irresolute and weak
became prostrate wrecks.
Of the evil and the good, each had its place. Whatever departures
from the right occurred, a standard of just principles was recognized. Though
the Church and religion received not [p.199] from all the heed, which was
desired, neither the one nor the other was spoken against; both were commended.
The sacredness of Sunday was acknowledged. On secular days only, in the times
referred to, were lines of travel in operation. On one occasion, I noticed the
sailing of the Panama steamer advertised for Sunday, and meeting the agent, Mr.
R., referred him to the customs prevailing at the East. A day or two afterward,
meeting the gentleman on the street, I was accosted with the words, “Mr. W.,
the steamer will leave on Monday”. It is not denied that secular work was
performed, but it is also true that when it was the case, an apology was felt
to be due to prevailing religious sentiment, such as the excuse of necessity.
As to the consideration of gain, the miner was one of the majority who charged
another with “meanness” for mining on Sunday, as if not satisfied with the
profits of work on secular days. As events group themselves in eras and
epochs, so likewise in social movements, classes and individuals become
conspicuous. Looking backward through a period dating from the dawn of an
awakened interest of the American government and people, looking to the
extension of their territory to the Pacific, many names of men distinguished in
the line of events, stand out in bold relief. In 1792, Captain Gray of Boston
[p.200] discovered and entered the river Columbia, so called after the name of
his ship. President Jefferson, after the purchase of Louisiana, commissioned
Lewis and Clarke to traverse and explore the Far West. American trappers and
hunters made still more extended excursions. Astor and Hunt established a
trading post on the Columbia. Bonneville explored and mapped a continental
belt. The example of explorers and hunters led the way of other adventurers.
Christian missionaries were among the foremost in proving the practicability of
a route to Oregon. The scientific expeditions of Fremont and others followed in
the train. Permanent settlements of Americans and Europeans began, and were
increasingly made on the seaboard and in the valleys of the west. California
became the scene of civil revolutions; Americans were involved in them, and
rose to prominence in the commotions of the country. The Bear Flag of
independence was unfurled and triumphant in the northern district of the
territory. The American navy, with the aid of this revolutionary movement, in a
brief, effective war of conquest, acquired full possession of California in
behalf of and for the United States.
More and more, as time rolls on, the heroes of these successive
events will be appreciated. More especially will those who figured in the
scenes of the American acquisition claim due recognition. [p.201] These are
herewith referred to, not all, but leading representative men, who deserve all
honor for their courage, firmness, and devotion in the cause of liberty and
equal rights. Of the earlier names may be mentioned—Stearns, Larkin, Warner,
Wilson, Williams, Wolfskill, Dana, Graham, Richardson, Leese, Spence, Hartnell,
Yount, Lassen, Neal, Semple, Merritt, Ide, Ford, Leidesdorff, Reading, Hensley,
Snyder, Bidwell, Walker, Mellers, Howard, and the prince of pioneers,
ever-honored Sutter. The heroes of the conquest under the flag of the Union
were Sloat and Stockton, the chief, with Mervine, Beale, McLane, Marston,
Minor, Renshaw. Of the army, were Kearney, Fremont, Gillespie, Burton,
Stevenson, Sherman, and Halleck. In the succeeding naval command were Shubrick,
Biddle, and Jones; and in military and civil control, Kearney and Fremont,
ending the military government of the territory, by the exceptional aid of
Halleck as Secretary of State, under the administration of Mason, Smith, and
Riley. Nor should I omit to record the gratifying fact, that in the
transition of California from the authority of the Mexican flag to that of the
United States, native Californians vied with the heartiest of Americans in
loyalty to the new rule over them and their territory. When resistance to the
invading power could no longer avail, party, strife, [p.202] and opposition
were all suppressed. Thenceforward, in power and office under the provisions of
the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and as well in forming a State Constitution
and administering a State government, were seen, side by side with their new
associates, Vallejo, Covarrubias, Castro, Pico, Carillo, Coronel, De la Guerra,
Dominguez, Rodriguez, Pedrorena, Bandini, Arguello, Noriega, Alvarado, and
Sepulveda. The native Californians, a part of those here recited, as members of
the Constitutional Convention were valuable coadjutors in that body of
intelligent men. Their speeches were brief and pointed, and the good sense and
appreciation of the work proposed which they manifested, with their earnest
desire for harmony and union, gained for them deserved respectful
attention.[p.203 Predictions, Sombre and Bright—San Francisco: A
Dream—Increasing Productions—Statistics of Agriculture, etc.—Trade and
Commerce—California and the Orient. The early, rapid growth of San Francisco
was a wonder to its own citizens, as it has ever seemed a wonder to all the
world. Its wastes became the scene of busy men, hurrying to and fro. At once,
it took rank as the metropolis by the sea, at the gateway of the Orient as of
the Occident. The mountains from their golden streams poured into it their rich
treasures. The great oceans were its highway of commerce, and from all lands,
the merchandise of the nations supplied the means of its material changes and
advancement. California without industrial arts and products was a dependence
of commerce. Thus by means of foreign supplies, not only San Francisco, but all
the towns and camps of the country grew apace. Many were the predictions of the
times respecting the future of California. They were of all degrees and colors,
from the deeps of distrust, and forebodings of sudden general collapse, to the
most extravagant fancies of prosperity and fortune. Some foresaw the end of
gold mining; others feared a famine; on account of the [p.204] Summer dry
season there could be no agriculture, only a general failure was foretold. On
the other hand, was the fond dream that success in every hope and expectation
would assuredly fall to the lot of all who were so fortunate as to touch the
golden shore. A fellow-passenger of mine was troubled by the estimated cost of
commissions he would be obliged to pay for the transportation of his gold.
Nearly every gold-seeker set a limit to the time necessary to realize his
fortune, when he would return with his weight in gold to the happy home he had
left. Highly wrought fancies of what San Francisco and California would become
in the vastness of their opportunity were likewise indulged—daydreams of the
imagination, as fleeting as they were unsubstantial. Is California,
indeed, a fairyland, that it gives such scope and prompting to flights of
fancy? By the stimulus of its surroundings, all Californians, all visitors in
California, grow more or less sentimental. Nor is this a recent fact. There is
inspiration in all its variety of scene in nature. The real is sufficiently
poetic, without resorting to the fictitious. So a gentleman, denying the charge
of untruthfulness from a California source, remarked, he believed no one could
spend two days or more on the Isthmus without contracting the vice of
story-telling. In fact, he found himself exaggerating a little. Ere the
gold discovery, [p.205] there came to the denizens of California glimpses and
visions of a glowing future, in new creations of convenience, taste, and
beauty. Such is the following remarkable prophecy regarding San Francisco, a
reprint from the Californian of December 8, 1847, an offering from the
graceful pen of Mrs. Dr. V. J. Fourgeaud.
SAN FRANCISCO—A DREAM.
On a calm and lovely November evening, a weary and travel-stained
pilgrim from the far Atlantic shore, borne onward by that restless and
indomitable spirit which characterizes the Anglo-Saxon race, laid himself down
on a solitary spot on the shore of a vast and beautiful bay. No living thing
was visible, save the wild bird, as it winged its flight through the air, a few
deer grazing quietly on the hills, and occasionally a timid rabbit leaping from
thicket to thicket. Exhausted by fatigue, and lulled by the gentle ripple of
the bay and the distant murmuring of the Pacific waves, he soon slept. He
dreamed, and lo! “a wilderness of building” rose before him; a stately city,
thronged with busy multitudes; its streets bordered with noble edifices; its
wharves crowded with the merchant princes of every land; its harbor filled with
the vessels of all nations. Here, the bold eagle of America, beside its well
known ally, tri-colored France—there, the proud pennon of England beside that
of China; the flags of Russia, Holland, Spain, Turkey, all flaunting gaily in
the fair sunlight. Steamers were wending their way in every direction; and not
the least conspicuous among them was the little Fairy, the first which
ever puffed over these waters. A confused jargon of many tongues was around
him, requiring a [p.206] learned blacksmith, master of fifty languages, for an
interpreter. “Where am I?” demanded he of one near him. A stare was the only
reply of an “elliptic-eyed” inhabitant of the land of many letters and few
ideas. He turned to another, a brisk and vivacious little man of a very
mercurial appearance. “ Je ne vous comprend, Monsieur,” said he, with a
gracious smile and bow. Perplexed and bewildered, he wandered on, and soon
entered a magnificent public square. “Where am I?” again asked he of one whose
visage reminded him of home. “Where are you? Why, Old Rip, you must have been
taking a twenty years nap among the mountains not to know that. Why, man, this
is Portsmouth Square—that the theatre—this is the Bank of San Francisco—yonder
the University of California—the Court House, with the learned lawyers around
it; there is the principal road to Monterey; here Orleans and Boston, via
Tehuantepec, and here come the rail-cars rattling on.” “What news from the
East?” “Read for yourself”, replied a passenger; “here is a New Orleans paper,
only thirteen days old. That’ll do. But there’s the gong of the City Hotel.”
“Do you stop there, stranger?” “What, there! in that splendid building?” asked
he, in looking up to the fifth story of an elegant edifice, whose classic front
extended along the entire square; “why yes, and nowhere else can such good fare
be found; truffles, oysters, mushrooms, pates a la mode de Paris, birds’
nests, etc., a la mode de Chinois; beef, beans, and potatoes, a la
mode d’ Amerique; hock, burgundy, and champagne; besides wines from the
vineyards of our own California—all that a man can desire. Come!” From the
dinner table, he was conducted through brilliantly illuminated streets to the
opera. There, in a luxuriantly cushioned and elegantly draped box, he was at
once rapt in elysium, by those “linked notes of sweetness” which would “create
a soul under the very ribs of death”, and at the same time transported to the
seventh heaven by [p.207] the varied loveliness, which surrounded him. While
thus astonished and entranced, the cry of “Fire!” “Fire!” “Fire!” broke upon
his ear. The engines soon rushed to the rescue; the vigilant firemen poured in
a stream of water, which suddenly dispersed the dream of our pilgrim stranger,
and lo! he was again on the solitary shore, with a pitiless storm beating on his
unsheltered head. “Coming events” had but “cast their shadows before”. And yet
it must be admitted, the moderate forecasting of sober minds has been
accomplished, and perhaps more than fulfilled. The country has been gradually
filling up with an enterprising population; great areas of land have been
brought under cultivation, and made to yield golden harvest; industry and art,
in multiplied forms, have made rapid strides of advancement; established cities
and towns, and rural cultivation as well, have given permanency to business and
comfortable homes. The history of California, as a whole, is one of
transcendent prosperity. Wonderfully have the energies of the people been
exercised, and with surprising consequences. Within the bounds of vision, from
an elevation in San Francisco, the eye sweeps over a marked scene of grandeur
and beauty: the magnificent bay, the hill-ridge of Contra Costa, and the
extended, undulating plain beneath and bounding the eastern shore of the
harbor. That view often arrested attention in the early days, when no ferry
across the water made it accessible. There lay the vast, [p.208] untrodden
wilderness of green oaks, while outside, very few and far between, could be
seen the low, tile-covered casa of a Castro or Estudillo. There, in that
large grove of oaks, we said, is the site of the future “Brooklyn” of San
Francisco. And so it has proved. There has risen, not “Brooklyn,” but
fitly-named Oakland, a city of forty thousand inhabitants, with its many
imposing churches, schools, and other public buildings, and with Berkeley on
its northern border and the State University, crowning with gems of structure
its landscape.
What of improvement is seen from this stand-point, by enlarging the
boundaries of vision and taking into view the entire State, differences or
contrasts between the present and the past everywhere appear. So soon, within a
period of thirty years, large, prosperous towns have been built up at intervals
in all parts of the land—San Francisco, the metropolis, of three hundred and
fifty thousand inhabitants, with Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Marysville, San
Jose´, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Rosa, Petaluma, and others,
century of surrounding settlements and industries. Harmless and in vain were
all the ill omens uttered by unhappy croakers. Often the vulgarism was heard,
“The bottom is dropping out,” as applied to the production of gold. When gold
was reduced in quantity, silver was discovered, and [p.209] produced
sufficiently to make good deficiencies. Were gold and silver together lessened
by diminished production, there has arisen more than a supplement of that loss
in the accumulated agricultural productions of the State. And still more, were
these last and the others to fall off in quantity, by the sum of fruits of
various kinds, the total value of products throughout the State will be more
than maintained.
According to latest reports, the total amount of acres of land
enclosed is 6,319,864; and of land cultivated, 3,576,366. The product of wheat
raised upon 2,352,213 acres, 35,385,579 bushels; of barley, from 678,957 acres,
13,224,060 bushels; and from 125,442 acres, 1,958,737 bushels of oats; of rye,
from 12,517 acres, 204,608 bushels; from 78,511 acres, 1,620,743 bushels of
corn; of buck-wheat, from 1629 acres, 45,010 bushels; from 4667 acres, 252,337
bushels of peas; from 616 acres, 468,025 pounds of peanuts; of beans, from 6708
acres, 142,333 bushels; of castor beans, 255,000 pounds, from 255 acres; 160,024
tons of potatoes, from 36,499 acres; of sweet potatoes, from 1859 acres, 11,129
tons; from 1047 acres, 71,745 bushels of onions; of hay, 1,432,593 tons from
726,088 acres; from 270 acres, 308,070 pounds of flax; of hops, 2,666,648
pounds, from 1573 acres; from 301 acres, 201,300 pounds of tobacco; of cotton,
12,800 pounds, from 50 acres; [p.210] of sugar beets, 14,152 tons, from 1681
acres. Butter, 10,188,818 pounds; cheese, 3,199,420 pounds; wool, 24,031,047
pounds; honey, 1,036,490 pounds. Value of fruit crop, $4,454,914; bearing lemon
trees, 12,460; bearing orange trees, 55,606; bearing olive trees, 5603; acres
of grape vines, 82,661; gallons of wine, 6,194,292; gallons of brandy, 237,495;
breweries, 182, and gallons of beer, 14,442,191. Horses, 232,539; mules,
23,864; horned cattle, 679,268; sheep, 6,171,644; cashmere and angora goats,
64,729; hogs, 363,842. Grist mills: steam-power, 86; water-power, 69; barrels
of flour made, 1,961,880; bushels of corn ground, 437,512. Saw mills:
steam-power, 229; water-power, 106; feet of lumber sawed, 492,263,130; shingles
made, 116,222,700. Quartz mills, 261; tons crushed, 631,065; mining ditches,
1053, and miles in length, 55491/2; irrigating ditches, 772; acres irrigated,
199,080. Woollen mills, 11; pounds of wool used, 3,003,000. Coal, 137,278 tons
mined. Railroads, 74, and 1857 63/100 miles in length. Assessed value of real
estate, $317,330,063; of improvements, $103,124,361; of personal property,
$126,240,281; total valuation, $546,694,705. Gold and silver production
received in San Francisco in 1878, from the Pacific Slope, west of the Rocky
Mountains, $81,154,622. In the same year, coinage at the San Francisco Mint,
$50,186,500. Estimated total population, (1876,) 905,583; registered voters,
195,300.[p.211]
To this exhibit of industries, compiled from the Report of the
Surveyor-General of the State, 1876-7, must be added in an average of the
whole, in order to cover the present condition, probably ten per cent. of gain.
With an increase of the population of the State, has been more than a
proportional advance in the development of its available resources.
Improvements are often upon a magnificent scale; but in both great and small
areas, collectively, marked strides of progress have been made. The variety and
extent of productions from the soil, already of large proportions, are
constantly extending. Nearly all the European species of grapes have been
introduced. Cinchona, tea, and coffee are under cultivation, the last now
fruited. Melons of large variety, peaches, plums, pears, figs, and olives,
berries of the different kinds, strawberries throughout the year, all thrive in
perfection. Orange belts have been increasingly discovered and occupied. On the
slopes of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, in the latitude of San Francisco,
oranges, lemons, and limes are grown, untouched by frost, when it has
occasionally blighted these fruits in the southern counties. Bananas thrive in
the southern districts, and also in picturesque Sonoma Valley. Chestnuts of
American, Italian, and Spanish varieties, almonds, English walnuts, the French
præparturiens walnut, the kaki or Japan [p.212] persimmon, with the tropical
cherimoyer, grenadillas, and sapota fruits (experimental,) and many other
fruits and nuts, have been transferred to a new home on the Pacific shore. Not
without reason, it is predicted that soon the united production of fruits and
nuts will equal the wheat product. Dried fruits of California—raisins, figs,
prunes, not to name more—are conspicuous in our markets, and in considerable
quantities find sale abroad. It need not be accounted strange, with such facts
before him, that a Californian stops to think of the great difference and
contrast between the present and past, separated by hardly one-third of a
century.
As commerce and trade were essential parts, with mining for the
precious metals, of the early enterprise of California, so still, with
agriculture and the mechanic arts, they hold their place, and an enhanced
position in the plans and measures of the country. Once, ships brought all our
merchandise to our ports, and carried nothing away. Far different is now the
fact. Once, as the people of all lands came to our shore, they brought with
them the necessaries and conveniences of life—food, clothing, houses, and
implements of industry. Still the representatives of the nations flock hither,
but in changed conditions. Imports no longer hold an exclusive place, as once
the precious metals were the only exports. By degrees, [p.213] home production
has arisen. The fact began to be palpable and make its impression when the soil
yielded to the husbandman its teeming product of golden wheat. Chilean and
Richmond breadstuffs long since disappeared from our markets. Facts and
figures, indicating the marked turn affairs have taken in commerce and trade
are herewith given from the annual review of the San Francisco Commercial
Herald, of January 30, 1879: Wheat product of 1878, 22,500,000 centals;
wheat and flour exports in 1878, 9,530,673 centals; wheat and flour exports for
twenty-two years, 100,000,000 centals; merchandise export values by sea in
1878, $34,155,400; tonnage movement of the Central Pacific RR. in 1878,
2,190,000,000 pounds. Values of exports of merchandise, other than treasure,
for 1878, from San Francisco to different ports: New York, $4,315,919; Great
Britain, $16,076,668; Germany, $109,176; Australia, $814,667; New Zealand,
$231,155; Hawaiian Islands, $1,582,747; Japan, $596,176; China, (including
209,611 barrels of flour,) $3,109,320; France, $1,342,272; Belgium, $46,169;
South America, $660,410; Mexico, $1,696,086; Victoria, $1,365,716; Panama,
Central America, South Africa, Brazil, Russian possessions in Asia, Singapore,
Manila, Calcutta, Penang, Batavia, and Society, Marquesas, Navigators, Fiji,
Flint, Ladrone, Gambier, Fanning, and Marshall Islands, $1,708,913.[p.214] This showing of the amount and relations of
California commerce, speaks volumes for the productive resources of the State,
and the wide and far-reaching extent of international trade. The place our
State occupies among the producing and commercial communities of the world was
not overstated in early times, and the point it has reached already in the
march of advancement is sufficient to satisfy the most hopeful expectations.
Its relations are with all the world. The names of foreign ports embraced
in this summary statement show the far-reaching extent of the commercial
relations of California. In her magnificent harbor, each season, are gathered
fleets of grain-bearing ships, seeking freights for distant voyages. More
important still are the many lines of steamers from San Francisco as a centre,
coastwise and across the Pacific, keeping open constant communications and
furthering systematic exchanges. First to be noted, deservedly, is the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company, whose ships still hold their connection, touching at
Mexican and Central American ports, via Panama, with New York, and also
maintain regular lines with Yokahama and Hong Kong, with British Columbia and
the ports of Puget Sound, and Honolulu, Auckland, and Sydney. The Occidental
and Oriental Steamship Company, alternating with the P. M. S. S. Co., run
semi-monthly [p.215] ships to Japan and China, connecting at Yokahama with
steamers for Shanghai. The Oregon Steamship Company and the Pacific Coast
Steamship Company dispatch every five days one of their ships to Astoria and
Portland, and the latter Company run almost daily steamers to California ports
south of San Francisco. The California Steam Navigation and other Companies keep
open communication by steam with different points on the coast and inland
waters. The railroad enterprises of the State, in addition to the Central and
Southern Pacific Companies, bring nearly all the interior towns into close
communication with each other and with San Francisco. The changes produced by
the two thousand two hundred miles of railroad facilities, now in operation
within the State, are far more and greater than the present limits can
describe. Very naturally, the trade of California with the opposite shore of
the Pacific originated. Soon as the news of the discovery of gold reached its
ports, ships lying in them were loaded and dispatched to the California market.
Arriving at a time when goods of all kinds almost were in demand, cargoes were readily
disposed of, and the vessels returned for second loadings. Here was demand,
there supply. An active though limited trade with China engaged leading
mercantile houses in San Francisco. Finley, Johnson & Co., [p.216] Osborn
& Brannan, G. B. Post & Co., and others, embarked in the trade.
Articles of American and European growth and manufacture, in the Chinese market
found their opportunity to meet the new demand. Products of China, tea, sugar,
rice, and fruits, were sent in quantities. This course of trade became settled.
The importance of the business was felt and commented upon. At length,
communication with China by steamships was mooted. Mr. J. W. Osborn, of San
Francisco, was foremost in urging upon the United States government the
establishment of a mail steamship line between San Francisco and Hong Kong. The
end was accomplished. Looking back to its commencement, it is seen that in the
track of the newly-opened trade, the Chinese themselves came to our shores. At
first, this number was few—so few as hardly to attract attention. Like other
immigrants, they came as adventurers. They were importers and jobbers. Very few
were in other employments. Nearly all were merchants. They were intelligent and
by their orderly demeanor, they commended themselves to the public confidence
and respect. Their number steadily, though slowly increased. In the Summer of
1850, there were about one hundred Chinese in San Francisco. The first public
recognition of their presence in our city was made an occasion of general interest.
Consignments of [p.217] Chinese books and tracts, secular and religious, having
been sent to us, it was suggested by their consular agent, Mr. Frederick A.
Woodworth, that a public distribution should be made of the publications among
the resident Chinese. Arrangements were accordingly made by a committee
consisting of Mr. Woodworth, Mayor Geary, and myself. In the afternoon of the
28th of August, 1850, their entire numbers assembled, and were
conducted in procession, two by two, to a large platform on Portsmouth Square.
In their rich, national costume, not omitting the costly fan to shelter them
from the sun, they were objects of marked observation. In turn, they were
addressed through Ah Sing, the interpreter, by Mr. Woodworth, Mayor Geary, the Rev.
Mr. Hunt, and myself. The several speakers united in expressing the pleasure
shared in common by the citizens of San Francisco, at their presence, the
encouraging omen of opening friendly intercourse with their country, the hope
that more of their people would follow their example in crossing the ocean to
our shore, and finally charging them with a message to their friends in China,
that in coming to this country they would find welcome and protection. The
dignified manners and general attractive bearing of the “China boys,” as Mr.
Woodworth familiarly styled them—others said they bore the appearance of
Mandarins—called [p.218] forth universal commendation. The California
Courier, making note concerning them, expressed the general sentiment: “We
have never seen a finer looking body of men collected together in San
Francisco. In fact, this portion of our population is a pattern for sobriety,
order, and obedience to laws; not only to other foreign residents, but to
Americans themselves.” Such sentiments continued to be held concerning
the Chinese sojourning in San Francisco. The interest felt and shown in their
behalf was common to our citizens—to business men, to politicians, if there
were any, and to the humane and philanthropic generally. The First Presbyterian
Church led in efforts to throw around the strange people Christian influences,
by attracting them to its Sunday School. The establishment of the Presbyterian
Chinese Mission of San Francisco followed in 1852. A second general expression
of interest in the Chinese was shown by a numerous attendance of merchants and
other prominent persons upon a course of lectures on the Chinese by our
Missionary, the Rev. William Speer, in the Winter of 1852-53. That favor, at
the end of the course, was embodied in a series of resolutions, unanimously
adopted by a large assemblage of the solid men of the city. One of the
resolutions, in keeping with the rest, was the following:[p.219]
“Resolved, That we regard with pleasure the presence of a
great number of this people among us, as affording the best opportunity of
doing them good, and through them of exerting our influence upon their native
land.”
Albert
Williams, S.F., CA Pastorate, 1849-54
The import of this resolution is apparent. A high ground of
social and moral relations to the strangers from China on our soil is here
assumed. Special opportunities are recognized, and peculiar obligations
confessed. These look beyond the narrow sphere of private and selfish aims and
interests. The opportunity consists with the very presence of the people, and
the obligation to confer benefits upon them accompanies this privilege. In
whatever respect they are inferior to us, it is acknowledged to be our duty to
impart to them, for their own better civilization and the elevation of their
countrymen, our own advantages. Such being the principle involved in the
resolution, its practical effect at once was witnessed in the meeting, which
adopted it. Liberal subscriptions were made towards the establishment of a
Mission in which secular and religious teaching would be furnished to the
Chinese. In the business relations of our city at that early day, it
was considered a most important point to secure the trade of the Orient. The
position of California, facing the great oriental countries, was regarded as
most favorable for [p.220] such an achievement. So, in the ordering of events,
every step towards such a result was hailed as a valued acquisition, and every
expedient, which could be devised with that object in view, was earnestly sought
after, and, if possible, secured. The material advantages to California and the
United States of friendly relations and active business with China have, of
course, been influential considerations in regard to this whole question. Under
the influence of such motives, worldly but not sordid, the opening of more
Treaty ports in China, amended Treaties, and finally the Burlingame Treaty,
were successively approved and welcomed, without a dissenting voice, all over
our land. And now, forsooth, a change, an agitation, an incipient revolution
shall I call it, has happened. The new attitude on the Chinese question, with
all respect to those who have espoused it, seems, in comparison with the past,
only a palpable contrast and contradiction to former professions and
commitments—a dissent, amounting to a denial, of convictions once held
unimpaired. One is led to inquire, Have principles once regarded sound and
established become obsolete and void? For my own part, I have endeavored to
look calmly and impartially upon this question and its pending conditions, and
can see no reason for the abandonment of the ground heretofore confided in as
holding eternal principles of right.[p.221]
The present review of the Chinese question will resolve itself into the
form of statements, and by their logic leave issues to be determined. An
attitude of the present will be compared with one of the past. It cannot have
escaped observation, that in the stages of the present controversy, the old
mistake of multiplying reasons has been committed by partisans warring against
Chinese immigration. For example, the Chinese will not become permanent
residents, and they are not desired to become such; they will not assimilate,
and are not wanted to assimilate; they are an inferior race, and they supersede
the Caucasians in labor; they will not be naturalized, and are prevented from
becoming naturalized. The opponents of Chinese immigration call for
a radical change—a modification of measures may be admitted, if needed, for
restraint—the undoing of all the past in international negotiations and their
results. In the past, the Chinese were invited and encouraged to come to
our shores: now they are opposed in their coming, and are unwelcome intruders.
In the past, the Chinese were asked to come as laborers: now their competition
in labor is an evil, and only an evil. Thus, the issue is joined as to
numbers and labor; or, in another form, labor as the chief, and numbers the
subordinate question.[p.222] In 1876, the Joint Committee of the two Houses of
Congress met in San Francisco to investigate the Chinese question. The
committee was composed of Senator Morton, chairman, and Messrs. Sergeant,
Piper, Meade, Cooper, and Willson. One hundred and thirty witnesses were
examined, and their testimony is contained in a report, covering over twelve
hundred printed pages. The committee make, in the view of the whole, as their
own conclusion, the following remarks: Although the subject by this means
was pretty fully covered, and the inquiry, perhaps, exhausted, the conclusions
to be drawn from the mass of testimony may be different to different minds. In
the opinion of the committee, it may be said that the resources of California
and the Pacific Coast have been more rapidly developed with the cheap and
docile labor of Chinese than they would have been without this element. So far
as material prosperity is concerned, it cannot be doubted that the Pacific
Coast has been a great gainer. From the sworn testimony before the Joint
Congressional Committee, some views of prominent and influential citizens
regarding the labor question are selected. Alfred Wheeler, land-owner and
farmer, stated as his belief, “that the immigration of the Chinese has been
vastly beneficial to the growth of California, and is greatly beneficial to
every white man, woman, and child in the State; that the white laborers are
vastly benefited by that immigration instead of hurt by [p.223] it; and that
Chinese labor has greatly increased the demand for white labor, opened avenues
to white labor which never would have existed but for it, and can be
illustrated in a dozen matters.” William F. Babcock testified, “in a new
country cheap labor is absolutely necessary. The effect has been beneficial,
and will continue to be beneficial; instead of driving out labor by cheap
labor, it increases it. Labor begets labor. The strong feeling or prejudice
against Chinamen here, arises from politicians, office-holders, and foreigners
as a general thing. Very many of our politicians pander to this low taste, you
may call it, and join in the outcry, in order to get the foreign vote and
popularity among them. There is no real conflict between Chinese labor and
white labor in this State. As to cleanliness, if you go down to Battery street,
at four o’clock in the morning, you will see two or three hundred Chinamen
waiting to go into the factories; and if you will look at their hands and feet
and necks, you will see them as clean and neat-looking people as you ever saw
in the world. They are different from the lower white classes.” Donald
McLellan, of the Mission Woollen Mills, said: “We pay our white men from one
dollar and seventy-five cents to six dollars a day, and we pay the Chinamen
ninety cents a day. The Chinese are large consumers of the goods we
manufacture, blankets [p.224] and underclothing. Cotton can be raised here very
well, but is not, because the price of labor is too high.” Dr. Arthur B. Stout
stated that “the frugal life of Chinamen gives them more immunity from disease.
The death-rate is greater among the whites than among the Chinese.” W. W.
Hollister testified: “As to the proprietors, I think there is a common
sentiment and feeling in favor of the Chinamen. They are our last resort. They
fill the places, which other laborers will not willingly fill. They perform the
menial labors of our households, and in general do so much of our commonest
toil, that they pave the way for the higher labors of the better races. Without
them we would, if not actually come to a standstill, suffer extreme
embarrassment in all departments. With the labor of these Chinamen, numbering
from fifteen to thirty in different branches of my business, I am able to give
work to twenty to fifty laborers of other nationalities. They do not often fill
the positions sought after by others.” S. H. Dwinelle said: “The prejudice
against Chinese immigration is strong among the laboring classes. Outside of
them, I do not think it is very strong. I find that farmers in the interior are
always ready to employ Chinese, and in many instances, they tell me that they
prefer them to white labor. I have heard some of them say they could not move
their crops without the assistance [p.225] of the Chinese. I do not know that
there is any more perjury among the Chinese than among some others.” Charles
Crocker said: “I think the presence of Chinamen here affords to white men a
more elevated class of labor. I think if the white laborer understood and
realized his true interest, he would be in favor of the present proportion of
Chinese labor in this State. I believe the law of supply and demand will
regulate itself if they are left alone. I believe eight-tenths of the people
would vote for the amount of Chinese labor there is here now, if the question
was argued calmly and deliberately before the people.” F. W. Macondray and R.
G. Sneath testified that, in very large mercantile transactions with Chinese
merchants, they “never lost a dollar by them.” B. S. Brooks testified: “The
proportion of foreign-born voters in San Francisco is about 55 per cent. It is
mainly in that element that this violent opposition exists, but not all of that
class are in this opposition. A good many of them are quite content to take
their chance with the Chinese or any other immigrant who comes here. In the
country, those who are opposed to Chinese immigration are a very small
minority. In this city, the Chinese are insulted, assaulted, beaten, and
killed. In the interior, probably, they have suffered more than even here.”
Frederick F. Low said: “Chinese labor here is free; in my opinion, [p.226]
there is no surplus of labor; Chinese labor is not any cheaper in comparison
than white labor in the eastern States. The Chinese do not come here as peons,
under contract.”
On the other hand, in strong terms, it is, on medical authority,
declared that disease, in most loathsome forms, prevails among and is
propagated by the Chinese. Portions of the Chinese quarters in San Francisco
are referred to for proof of their offensive mode of life, their over-crowded
spaces, uncleanly habits and conditions, and a generally disgusting state. On
the labor question, opponents charge that the Chinese interfere with and
prevent white labor; that by their cheap living and economical habits, they
reduce the price of labor, degrade labor in general, and as a class, should not
be allowed to compete with the labor of those whose mode of life is more
expensive. The large number of Chinese already in the country, and the
probability that many more will come, are looked upon with alarming
apprehension. In every aspect of the case, the presence of the Chinese is
regarded by their opponents as undesirable, and demanding prevention. Such, in
substance, are the views on this subject held and expressed by many at the
present time. What the policy of our people should have been towards the
Chinese among us, is suggested [p.227] by one who has had a long residence in
China, and made frequent visits to California. S. Wells Williams says:
No measures were taken by the rulers of California or San
Francisco to compel the immigrants to live with some regard to their own health
and the public comfort; but when they became “nuisances” to others from their
overcrowding, then the whole blame was put upon them, whereas the chief fault
lay with the municipality for not teaching them how to live properly. Further,
a wise policy would have led the city and State authorities to educate suitable
men in the Chinese language, who could have acted as their interpreters and
translators, and thus maintained an intelligent intercourse with these people.
This reasonable course would have shown them that their condition was
understood, a way prepared for them to improve, and proper persons appointed to
help them in all suitable ways. Nothing of the kind has ever been done, though
measures are taken in several other States to aid Germans, Norwegians, etc., in
understanding our laws in their own tongue, so that no mistakes may be made.
Yet no class needed it so much as the Chinese, and none would have been more
likely to accept the laws when they understood them.
Great changes have occurred in the past thirty years, not alone
on our Western shore, but as well in the Orient. Japan has taken position in
the family of nations, with grand auguries of future advancement. Exclusiveness
has run its career in China. That vast country has thrown open its door to the
commerce of the world. Western science has been enthroned in Peking. Its
government has acknowledged the value of Western [p.228] literature and art, by
sending forth her sons to draw light from other suns in America and Europe.
California has proved an efficient helper of so great changes. Her opportunity
for subserving the ends of a providential mission, in this regard, was never
greater than now. A retrograde movement is not to be so much as entertained in
momentary consideration. Our policy and our duty alike are to adhere to our
early determination; and under the inspiration of our resolve, “that we regard
with pleasure the presence of a great number of this people among us, as the
affording the best opportunity of doing them good, and through them of exerting
our influence upon their native country,” discharge our whole duty to the once
strange people, but now so no longer, whom a sovereign Providence has sent to
us.[p.229] Benevolence—Sanitary Commission and Incidents—Systematic
Charities—Common Schools—Colleges—Libraries—Literature and Music—Distance and
Time—Religious Societies—Presbyterian Churches—Concluding Remarks.
The generosity of the people of San Francisco and California
requires no eulogy. Its marked example in this regard has received due
appreciation. Particularly was this the case with reference to the part taken
in the interests of the noble Sanitary and Christian Commissions during a
pressing emergency. The occasion of the first meeting, held September 14, 1862,
for the purpose of organizing a branch of the Sanitary Commission, is
memorable. It was on a Sunday evening, in Platt’s Hall. The spacious building
was crowded. It fell to my lot to open the meeting with prayer to Almighty God,
the God of our fathers, for his favor and blessing upon the undertaking. Most
eloquent and stirring patriotic speeches were made by Eugene Casserly and
Frederick Billings, Esqs. The enthusiasm of the grand assemblage was wrought up
to the highest pitch. J. McM. Shafter and Edward Tompkins, Esqs., followed with
short, pointed speeches. The eloquent Rev. T. Starr King was [p.230] upon the
programmed to make the closing address. What can he say after the speeches
already delivered? was whispered through the house. The truth is, he did not
attempt to make a speech, and yet what he said gave a culminating effect to all
preceding efforts. He remarked, it was not intended to ask for subscriptions at
that time, but a committee would call upon those present at an early date, and
receive their donations. Then, turning towards the chairman, Mayor H. F.
Teschemacher, he added: The President will give one thousand dollars; the
Pacific Mail Steamship Company will give one thousand dollars; the California
Steam Navigation Company will give one thousand dollars; Ophir Mining Company
will give one thousand dollars; and every Vice-President on the platform—there
are about seventy—will give five hundred dollars each. Either the sagacity of
Mr. King foresaw, or his prompting dictated the result; for the outcome of
applications, a surprise to many, proved him, in nearly every instance, a true
prophet. This was the beginning of the lavish contributions hence bestowed upon
that worthy cause. The truth is, our beginning was marked by the spirit of
affluent generosity. The history of the past is illuminated with tracks and
glowing lights of beneficence. Monuments of overflowing charity are seen on
every hand in San Francisco, in the Protestant [p.231] and Roman Catholic
Orphan Asylums, the Home of the Ladies’ Protection and Relief Society, and St.
Luke’s, the German, and French Hospitals, and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and
Home. The enumeration, both of classes and distinctive names, may be vastly
extended. Benevolence has been systematized, and made to play a part in all the
wide range of society. No organization is complete without it. Possibilities of
suffering and want are accepted as certain, and provision anticipates the fact
of need.
The San Francisco Benevolent Society has the organization of a
broad public charity. It is sustained by private subscriptions, and
appropriations from public funds. It dispenses its gifts to families and
individuals, without regard to nationality or religious belief. Distinctive
social organizations of great variety exist. Each church especially, has one or
more schemes of charity, as an essential part of its plans and objects. On
every hand, one sees Orders and Fellowships, Unions and Leagues, and all of
them are more or less beneficial in their spirit and scope. Not that San
Francisco is more benevolent than other cities, but the increase and growth of
its charities in so brief a period, are, to say the least, not behind any in
rate of progress. They have grown up with the churches and social
organizations, in trades and professions, for the sick and [p.232] unfortunate,
along all avenues, for landsmen and sailors, in military and civil spheres; and
finally, in our truly cosmopolitan community, as every nationality has its
distinct organization or club, so has it also a plan of mutual assistance. With
most commendable liberality, these organizations are supported by private
contributions, and, when necessary, by public fairs. It is safe to say, no one
need be left to want in San Francisco, nor will be if his necessities are made
known. The benevolence of the people is proverbial.
For no other object, it has been truly said, has the State of
California been more solicitous than popular education. In no other cause has
the State made a more free and abundant provision. By means of its liberal
endowments, every child and youth enjoys the privilege of obtaining an
education. From the common school and the rudiments of learning, he may rise to
the heights of a University course. For such a boon, intelligent, far-seeing citizens
began to provide in the Constitutional Convention of 1849. In the framing of
the State Constitution, the 500,000 acres of land usually given by the general
government to new States were appropriated for the support of schools. This
foundation, added to the aggregate of school sections of lands throughout the
State, formed the basis of financial support to a noble system of public
schools. By direct [p.233] taxation, also, the State still further provides for
the education of its youth. All endowments, combined, compose a generous
support of universal education in the State.
In framing the system of schools for the State and for San
Francisco, Mr. Thomas J. Nevins was prominent. His original draft of the plan
was the foundation of the scheme upon which has arisen, according to his
outline, the ascending series of higher education. Mr. Nevins was the first
Superintendent of the schools of San Francisco, and while in office, was
instrumental in securing valuable school sites for subsequent use. The liberality
of San Francisco towards its schools of different grades has ever been
manifested. At this date, the annual expenditure amounts to
$900,000. Toland Medical College and Hastings Law School
(Departments of the State University) were nobly founded and endowed by the
citizens whose names they bear. The Lick bequest furnishes millions for the aid
of charity, science, and the arts.
Other institutions of learning have commanding rank in the city.
St. Mary’s and St. Ignatius are liberally endowed Roman Catholic Colleges. The
Presbyterian Church has its City and University Mound Colleges and Theological
Seminary. Private Grammar Schools and Academies for boys [p.234] and girls are
numerous. The largest public libraries are the Mercantile, Mechanics’
Institute, and Odd-Fellows, each having about 35,000 volumes. The Law Library
has 18,000 volumes. The People’s Free Library has been recently opened, under
the auspices of the city government. Means of literary and musical culture
abound. Societies for these purposes exist independently, or more numerously in
connection with churches and other associations. The reputation of San
Francisco for eminence in musical taste and execution, seems not nor likely to
be abated.
One loses the impression almost, that he is in a new field of
human enterprise, surrounded by so many marks of advancement. In this goodly
city of San Francisco, instead of the three thousand five hundred of population
thirty years since quartered here, one is now in the midst of three hundred and
fifty thousand, with the whole aspect of things changed. Thirty years ago, a
month for a voyage or correspondence from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and
New Orleans, was a much abbreviated time. Then an improvement came through the
Butterfield and Salt Lake Stage Lines, and still another and most exciting
advance, in limit of news to ten days’ time, through the Pony Express and
telegraph combined. With the continental telegraph, we were no longer [p.235]
isolated, but in proximity to the great century of the world. By the great
achievement of the overland railway connections, the waters of the Pacific and
Atlantic seem only by a short distance separated.
Great material progress has been accomplished, but that is not
all. Advances have been made in more than travel by steamships, swift coaches,
rushing railroads, and news by telegraph; and more than wonderful mechanic
arts, and piles of stone and mortar, warehouses and wharves, gold, silver, and
merchandise; proud palaces, or humbler yet comfortable abodes; more than
anything secular. For over all this fair city, are quite one hundred sacred
century—churches and chapels for the worship and service of the living God:
nearly one hundred sacred piles, sermons to passers-by, and fanes for devout
worshippers within their hallowed walls. The various religious societies
of San Francisco, according to their denominations, are as follow:
Baptist--6 churches, 1 Mission chapel, and 1 Chinese Mission.
Congregational--5 churches, and 1 Chinese Mission. Protestant Episcopal--9
churches, and 4 Missions, including 1 Seamen’s Mission. German Protestant--5
churches. Hebrew Synagogues--6. Methodist Episcopal--12 churches, and 1 Chinese
Mission. Presbyterian--13 churches, including 1 French church, and 1 [p.236]
Chinese Mission. Roman Catholic--13 churches, and 10 chapels in colleges,
convents, etc. Mariners--1 church, undenominational. Swedenborgian, 2 churches.
Unitarian--1 church. Universalism--1 church. Second Advent, Christian--1
church. Seventh-Day Advent--1 church. Disciples of Christ--1 church.
Independent German Congregation--1 church. Christian Brethren--1 church.
Russian--1 church. Friends’ Meeting--1 church. All the existing Temperance
Societies and Orders are represented in San Francisco. A late addition to the
number has been made of a Gospel Temperance organization. Various philanthropic
associations here have their seat.
More in detail, notices of the continuous history of the progress
and condition of our Presbyterian Churches are annexed. And first of all, with
devout thankfulness, I desire to acknowledge the special Divine goodness by
which the lives of the three original members of the Presbytery of California
have been preserved to the present time, attended with much loving kindness and
tender mercy. My beloved associates in many an essay of Christian work, the
Rev. Dr. Sylvester Woodbridge and the Rev. James Woods, are still active in the
gospel ministry, and the writer is trying to do all the good he can.
The degree of our Church growth is tested in [p.237] a single
view and statement. Eleven years ago, the number of Presbyterian Churches
existing throughout all the Pacific Slope, from the Rocky Mountains to the
Pacific Ocean, was sixty-two. At the present time, the number is increased to
two hundred and twenty. This consummation is incidentally, and more or less
directly connected with and due to the possession and developments of
California and the relations of industry and enterprise, which have been formed
in and from our metropolis as a centre. Thus, the interspaces have become
dotted, first with camps, and then with more permanent settlements; and where
the world has gone, the church has followed. Confidence in the living truth,
through the efficient grace of the divine Savior, has never been disappointed.
The productive power of the word of God lives and abides for ever.
The First Presbyterian Church of San Francisco has ever held its
place and influence for good. Changes have passed over its constituent members.
Of the Ruling Elders in office, at the close of my pastorate, two, W. W.
Caldwell and R. H. Waller, have departed this life. One, T. C. Hambly, is a
resident of Philadelphia. Two, N. Gray and Thos. Hopkins, with others, are
still members of the Session. The three Deacons of that date are all living,
and are acting Ruling Elders in different Presbyterian Churches in San
Francisco: J. B. [p.238] Roberts in Calvary, E. R. Hawley in Howard, and G. I.
N. Monell in Central Church. So, from time to time, have the members of the
First Church gone out from its communion to form or strengthen other churches.
Not only the churches of San Francisco have drawn supplies, but others also,
the churches of Oakland largely, from its vital forces. And still this oldest,
mother church has continued and prospered and performed noble works of well
doing. It is still true to its characteristic steadfastness. Calvary
Church, which has ever been a strong organization, relatively leads all other
churches of our faith in San Francisco.
In Sept., 1850, Howard Presbyterian Church was founded by the
Rev. S. H. Willey, in connection with the New School branch of the Presbyterian
Church. This church has a history of zealous and important work, in its own
field, and in the planting and largely supporting of Mission Churches. It
established Larkin Street, Westminster, and Olivet Churches of this city, and
aided other Mission enterprises in the interior. Now, by a happy reunion of the
divided Church, the churches of both branches are blended in one general
organization.
The complement of city Presbyterian churches, doing good service,
are Larkin Street, Westminster, Central, Olivet, Memorial, and St. John’s and
[p.239] Woodbridge, (both recently formed and vigorous,) with the Welsh,
French, and Chinese. Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley, four churches and one
Chinese church, with San Francisco make a common cause.
A lay-Presbyterian Union, and the Occidental Branch of the
Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, and other kindred agencies, belong to the
schemes of the Presbyterian churches of San Francisco. For their career of
usefulness and measure of success, to Him who has led and blessed them is all
the glory!
On this new field of secular and Christian enterprise, a few
brief years ago, ourselves strangers in a strange land, we cast our lot. Here
our homes and altars were reared. We were the representatives of the nation,
but the flag of the American Union was over us, and the God of our fathers was
with us. It was well for the young State that among the many adventurers
attracted to its shore, there were not a few who were strictly religious—whose
religion was one of principle, and its seat in the heart, mind, and conscience;
not dependent upon place and associations, but always in force, “like an angel,
vital everywhere.” And there were others, who, although not personally so much
under the habitual control of the principles and habits of religion, were still
more or less imbued with its instincts [p.240] and sentiments. And, as a whole,
it was a leading wish that society should take upon itself the best forms of
order and propriety. It is not sufficient to say that such a procedure was not
opposed, it was acquiesced in; still more, it was desired. The public welfare
was not sought at the sacrifice of the public honor. A State Constitution,
without a recognition of the supremacy and all-directing providence of God, was
an impossibility. Then as now, and now, perhaps, because it was so then, the
first utterance of the Constitution declares: “We, the people of California,
grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings, do
establish this Constitution.” There inheres still in the body politic, more
than equipoise of moral goodness. The moral leverage of California was then,
and still is adequate to uphold and further any desirable and proper movement
for the maintenance of right, virtue, and truth.[End Document]
“This page is in fond memory of Mary Ivy Love Attey my grandmother,
her son Major Jack Keyte and my uncle life time a recognition of the supremacy and all-directing providence of God
They Past to us and I now pass to those that follow us”
Transcribed for McELroy, Keyte, Rector, Attey, Walker, Family Recherché,
that date back to the time of the Prosecutions with the sole intent to pass on
the Splendor of their Heritage.
The Scottish Irish McELroy in America and their Ancestors past,
present, For the McELroy child yet unborn by Thomas Ray McELroy
year 2000 mmcelroy@cox.net
Database: Full Context of Albert
Williams, San Francisco California Pastorate, 1849-54
VOTE FOR THE CLANPAPPY 
