San Francisco County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter 14 1900
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Book Title: History Of The First Pastorate Of The Howard Presbyterian Church

XIV.

  So THE year 1859 glided swiftly by, while the church was full of social and
spiritual life within, and was watching with helpful hand the growing college
school in Oakland, together with other outside undertakings.

  During this year some new questions came up for consideration. Our house of
worship had been a good deal damaged in being lowered from its first elevation,
and showed plainly the need of extensive repairs.

  Just then a young congregation of another denomination offered to buy the
church property for their own use.

  Terms of sale were agreed upon between them and the trustees, and we began
looking for a lot on which to build anew.

  But our purchasers found before long that they were to be disappointed in some
of their expectations of means, and they feared that they would not be able to
meet payments according to the contract.

  The result was that the sale failed of consummation, and left the question
again open, what it was best to do.

  It was finally determined, early in 1860, to enlarge and thoroughly repair the
building, adding twenty feet to its length, and finish under it lecture-rooms,
Sunday school rooms, etc.; also, to reseat the audience-room, and refurnish the
church throughout.

  In pursuance of this plan the church building was given up to the workmen on
the 12th of April, 1860, all the church services being suspended until the work
of reconstruction should be completed.

  But during this time the members of the church and congregation were by no
means idle. It was no small undertaking at that time to raise the money to pay
for so extensive improvements. Plans were proposed and discussed, and finally
adopted, in which every man and woman, and almost every child, was expected to
take part.

  When the enlarged audience-room was completed, and before the new seats were
put in, on May 17th a floral fair was held in it, continuing an entire week. The
room was fitted up and made beautiful in many ways.

  There were booths, and evergreens and flags, and tasteful tables supplied with
fruits and flowers, — with things useful and ornamental, especially in the way
of needlework.

  Choice music was provided, both vocal and instrumental.

  The fair was open day and evening, but care was taken that not an
objectionable feature should be allowed to have place, not one.

  The fair was thronged, and the social enjoyment of the occasion was very
manifest.

  The proceeds were eminently satisfactory, and showed the generous interest
taken by the public in our success. It was the first time in the history of the
church that it had held a fair or festival.

  On the last Sabbath in July, the reconstructed church was opened for worship.

  The Bulletin, giving an account of the occasion, said: —

  "The spacious building was filled by a large congregation at an early hour.

  "The services were increasingly interesting to the close. Rev. Edward S. Lacy
conducted the opening services,, and Rev. Dr. W. C. Anderson offered the
dedicatory prayer. The sermon was preached by the pastor, Rev. Samuel H. Willey.
    His text was Matthew ix, 36: 'But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved
with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as
sheep having no shepherd.'

  "In the sermon the preacher referred to the religious history of San
Francisco, detailing the circumstances of the opening of the Howard church ten
years ago, located then on a sand-bank, far remote from the business part of the
city. He contrasted it with the pleasant surroundings with which the reopening
was effected on the same spot, but now in the very center of the city."

  The account proceeds to say that the house of worship is one of the neatest
and pleasantest in the city, and is well furnished throughout, having five rooms
in the basement for lecture-room, Sabbath school rooms, etc.

  "The church is now in a very influential position.

  "With remarkable unanimity the pastor and people have labored together for the
last ten years.
  "While all the pioneer churches in California have been obliged to seek new
pastors, Mr. Willey is one of three who have remained with their first charge to
the present time."

  About this time a special interest had sprung up, among many singers in the
city, in the ancient church music, both tunes and anthems, and a large choir of
men and women enjoyed practicing them.

  After a while they were asked to sing this music in public, and let others
enjoy hearing the sacred music of their great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers.

  They consented, and remembering that our congregation had been under unusually
heavy expenses, they offered to sing first in aid of our church funds.

  So Platt's Hall was engaged and fitted up for the occasion.
*•
  The costumes to be worn by the singers were those of the time when the music
was in use in the services of religious worship.

  As might be imagined, there was no little curiosity to see and hear them. It
was advertised as "The Old Folks' Concert," and was given on the evening of
August 20, 1860.

  Platt's Hall, the largest hall in the city, was crowded with people. Then came
the novelty borrowed from antiquity.

  The singers, men and women, took their places on the platform, dressed in the
costumes of a past century, — a quaint and curious company, presenting a
spectacle very interesting in itself, to say nothing of the singing that followed.

  The present seemed to be lost out of mind, and we were all living in an age
long gone by, and with people materialized from the portraits on our walls and
from the pictures in our books of history.

  The audience was intensely interested in the singing of music of which none of
them had ever known anything, except from tradition.

  It was simple and inartistic, but some of the anthems were stirring and
inspiring enough. We could hardly realize that we were hearing the sacred
melodies so precious to good people of a former century, in this far-away land,
which was scarcely known, even by name, in their day.

  The concert was a decided success in every way, and yielded a generous sum to
our church treasury.

  And now, with the better accommodations of our reconstructed house of worship,
the church took up its work anew and with fresh vigor. The Sabbath school,
especially, found its new rooms of great advantage, and it immediately increased
in numbers to fill them. It continued to hold its prominent place in the
church-work.

  At this time the Sabbath evening service was given to the school once a month.
On these evenings there were brief addresses, reports, missionary anecdotes, and
much singing by the school, all which brought together large congregations, and
added to the usefulness of the school.

  On one of these occasions, a sketch of the history of the school was given by
Mr. Wales L. Palmer, one of the young men who had recently united with the
church. In that sketch he said: —

  "The first session of this school was held on May 19, 1850. There were present
three teachers and six scholars. Habitual visiting on the part of Mr. David N.
Hawley and others brought up the number in attendance in one year to sixty-four
scholars, making the school one of the largest in the city. A large portion of
the scholars at this time brought in were those under bad influences at home.
But the children were attracted by the kindly manner of the teachers. We have
knowledge now of six girls (not the first six of 1850) who were at this time
induced to attend.

  "Of these, two were without father, but had a dissipated mother, who often
drove them from the house to seek protection wherever they could find it.

  "Two others were urged, almost with force, to forsake the Sunday school and
the course they were there taught to pursue. But neither threats nor persuasion
could induce them to forgo the pleasure they experienced in the Sabbath school.

  "The bad influence of six days could not obliterate the impression of the
short sessions of the school and the hasty visits of the teacher. These girls
have all grown to womanhood in lives of virtue, and are happily married, while
some of the parents fill dishonored graves and others are lost sight of.

  "The practice of visiting was continued, and in about three years' the number
of scholars increased to one hundred and fifty, which was the largest average
reached. For four years more, and down to 1857, the school was under the control
of most efficient teachers and officers.

  "Those of us who have since come forward to take an active part in the school
owe them an especial debt of gratitude.

  "In 1856 a Bible class was formed, led by the pastor, consisting of eleven
young men of the congregation.

  "Together they studied the Acts of the Apostles, the Book of Job, also
Revelation, and, later, the Shorter Catechism. Eight of the class joined the
church on confession of their faith before the study of the catechism was
completed.

  "The members of that class now have largely to do with the affairs both of the
school and of the church. The past is our inheritance, arid we must transmit its
influences unimpaired to the future."

  The church at this time seemed to have a good prospect of permanence in the
field where it had grown up. The congregation was made up principally of
families, and the entire section of the city around it was inhabited by families.

  Both the northern and the southern slopes of Rincon Hill were covered with
homes, many of them expensively built, and more were building, all the way to
South Park and beyond. And in that level region the people could enjoy the
hourly, or perhaps the half-hourly, service of the omnibuses that ran on the
plank-roads from the city to the Mission and back. These conveyances could not
climb hills, and so the drift of population was along these lines. Cable-cars,
which subsequently changed all this, had not then been invented. But at that
time it seemed likely that, all this region would be filled with a residence
population.

  There was no thought, either, that the city's business would so extend itself
as to reach the neighborhood of our church, and occupy it with stores and
warehouses and manufactories.

  So we expected that the church would grow there, and be permanent.

  In the enlarged church accommodation, the work of the pastor was materially
increased, and he gave himself to it with renewed singleness of purpose. The
months of autumn and of winter passed swiftly, well occupied in diligent and
earnest church-work.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PASTORATE OF THE HOWARD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 
1850-1862

BY REV. SAMUEL H. WILLEY
THE FIRST PASTOR

SAN FRANCISCO: THE WHITAKER AND RAY COMPANY (INCORPORATED)
1900

COPYRIGHT, 1900
BY
SAMUEL H. WILLEY


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