San Francisco County CA Archives History - Books .....Chapter 2 1900 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 31, 2005, 4:36 am Book Title: History Of The First Pastorate Of The Howard Presbyterian Church CHAPTER II. MEANWHILE, with the church organization complete, and a congregation already filling our chapel, and a bright little Sabbath school, and also a society composed of such business men in the neighborhood as expected to remain some considerable length of time, [1] we went through the month of September and well into October. Mr. Howard had given us a lot on which to build a church, and it was part of my afternoon work to get subscriptions to a fund for the needed building. This took me a good deal into Montgomery Street when it was for the first time torn up for grading, and the upturning of all manner of decaying things trodden down in the previous winter's mud filled the air with malaria, and seemed to awaken in me the Panama fever, which had been lurking in my system for eighteen months, or from the time I was detained a whole month in Panama, during January, 1849. This laid me low indeed. It was near the middle of October, 1850. Of course, pretty much everything about my work stopped. The last thing I remember was hearing that the steamship Oregon was coming in from Panama, all gayly dressed with flags, bringing the welcome news that, at last, California had been admitted to the Union! And all I could do was to get my two hands out from under the bedclothes and try to clap them for a cheer. Then I fell into the nursing care of my precious young wife and faithful doctor,— Dr. B. B. Coit, — and knew little more for a month or six weeks. Life was barely saved, and from that exhausting sickness recovery was very slow. I was not able to take up work till March, 1851. During that four or five months of my sickness, several clergymen helped to keep my congregation together by preaching for me. Rev. Frederick Buel, agent of the American Bible Society, was particularly kind in preaching whenever he was called on, and the Sabbath school was well kept up by the teachers. But when, on recovery, I came to look after the plans and subscriptions for church-building, they were not to be found. Everything was done by the week or by the month in those days, and after a period so long as four months it was not strange that almost none of my subscribers obtained in October preceding were to be found. So all that work had to be started over again. The membership of the church now began to increase. On March 26, 1851, Lewellen A. Rogers and David N. Hawley [2] were received to membership. On April 9th, Mrs. C. B. W. Lansing, Mrs. Sarah Henrietta Redman, Mrs. Sarah Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Horswell were received on certificate, and Miss Maria Carr on profession of her faith. On June 1, 1851, Major Amos B. Eaton, U. S. A., and Oliver D. Freeman were received on certificate. And so the numbers gradually grew, as people began to feel settled for a long enough time to send for their letters and receive them. When all things were going fairly well in the church and congregation, the subscription for a church building was started again, with better prospects than before, since business in San Francisco had become more settled. But civil affairs and public morals were in a dreadful condition. Our municipal government exercised little or no control. The city was the resort of the most desperate characters. They seemed to come from all quarters. In February, two men entered a merchant's store and asked to see goods, and when they were shown, the men struck the merchant down, and, supposing that he was dead, robbed him of two thousand dollars and fled. This threw the town into a fever of excitement. One or two men were arrested on suspicion. As no criminals had been punished by due process of the law, the cry was for summary proceedings by the people. This was opposed by people of cooler heads, and with great difficulty the multitude was restrained for the time being. But excitement continued. Mass meetings were held. Suspicious characters were watched. Great dissatisfaction was felt with the city officers and courts. It rose to such a pitch, that in June, after trial, a culprit was hanged by a "vigilance committee." This state of things was largely owing to the fact that the citizens had concerned themselves so little with their duty to the city. Large numbers of the best of them considered themselves here but temporarily, — merely for a few months or a year at most,—and they did not feel themselves obliged to give time to voting or looking after city affairs. The natural result followed. There was no knowing what would happen next. Thoughtful people were anxious. Though the Christian congregations were small, and their places of worship were inconspicuous and not easy to find, the public mind turned to the pulpit for its help. The Alta California said, in June: "The state of public morals is so lax, crime so bold, law so impotent, life so insecure, property so unprotected, that the support of the pulpit and all the influences which it can possibly exert ought to be given at the present crisis to the correction of existing evils. The question is one of life and death, of success or ruin, of progress or destruction." The pulpit was not slow to respond. Indeed, it had already uttered its voice. These remarks just quoted from the Alta were part of its comment, one Monday morning, on a sermon of my own of the preceding day, which it published in full. My theme was one of urgency, entreating all citizens to give time and attention to city affairs, and do it at once. Similar subjects were discussed with great earnestness in all the city pulpits, and were urged everywhere by the ministry. The situation was perplexing. There was no foundation to work upon. The ordinary motives in favor of good order and the establishment of society on the right basis did not operate. Very few people took any permanent interest in the country or in the city. The population, as a whole, consisted of a mass of strangers, — nearly all men, — from many lands, and of diverse languages, having no thought of founding here a commonwealth. And the half-dozen ministers here — most of them young and inexperienced, and all of them without facilities of any kind with which to gain people's attention and exert an influence — were thrown upon their own individual resources. Each could organize around his own ministry little groups of Christians, as they could find among the strangers those of like faith and purpose. But beyond that they felt called on to exert their utmost influence, as citizens, in favor of law, and its honest execution by sober and able men. But that influence seemed utterly inadequate in the midst of the thoughtless, drifting masses, among whom so few gave a thought to the future of the country. It was sadly discouraging, also, to see the deterioration in morals and manners which was so marked in the case of a great many who were known to have come from the best circles of society in the Eastern States. It was utterly disappointing. There was, however, but one thing for the minister and his church to do; namely, with whatever facilities they could command to preach the gospel and live the gospel, and apply it to the public conscience. But there was many a day when, in his inexperience, the young minister keenly felt his three-thousand-mile separation from all men of experience, to whom he might refer when grappling with problems so new and perplexing. But with us the effort to get means to build a house of worship was pushed with energy. Our carpenter-shop chapel was full. The cottages in the valley were being occupied. A few families were arriving by each monthly steamer. But to hold the church and congregation together, we must have a house of worship. Therefore, business men and citizens generally were asked for subscriptions. And many subscribed, though some said that it was useless to try to build churches in California. The country was good for nothing but mining. Nobody knew how long that would last. People would not bring their families to a country like this. But men of the more intelligent class talked differently. Inasmuch as we had a lot, and proposed to build on it immediately, they would help us. And they did so with a generosity characteristic of that time. The subscriptions were to be paid in installments as the work progressed. And so it was determined to proceed with the work at once. First we went to ascertain the exact boundary of the lot. It was described as fronting on Howard Street, near the corner of what is now New Montgomery Street. But no grading had been done then, and, going upon the ground, we saw at once that a building located on that lot would be concealed by a sand-drift just north of it. So we asked Mr. Howard to give us instead the lot adjoining on the north, which would front on Natoma Street, and would place the building on the hill in a conspicuous location. This he readily consented to do, and then came the leveling and the preparation of the ground. Then followed the drawing on of the timbers, for the frame was to be firm and strong, built after the Eastern fashion, and straightway the carpenters were there with their tools, and the work of building was commenced. Notes, Chapter II [1] On Monday evening, September 16,1850, the Ecclesiastical Society to conduct the secular affairs of the church was organized by the following subscribing members:— Thomas J. Nevins. Otis Wilson. David N. Hawley. Samuel A. Hastings. James Stuart. E. B. Goddard. John C. Piercy. Stephen S. Smith. Samuel Newton. Lewellen A. Rogers. Henry M. Garcelon. W. A. Palmer, a lumber merchant from Maine, was present and took a deep interest in the establishment of the church, but inasmuch as he was just then about to return East, and was not certain whether he would return to California, he did not join the society. Mr. John C. Piercy was from New York, and came with his family to make his home in California, and was esteemed the more highly on that account. Later, he interested himself in municipal affairs, and was at one time a member of the city common council. [2] Mr. Hawley joined by letter from the First Congregational church, of which he was one of the charter members. He united with us from purely missionary motives. He was sorely needed in the Congregational church, then composed of only a handful of young men. But we were so much fewer, and were just trying to begin in a remote part of the city, that he consented to join us, and with much reluctance his associates consented that he should do so. He was at the head of the hardware firm of Hawley, Sterling, and Company, and as active and busy a man as there was in the city, but he somehow found time to do a great deal of Sunday school work, and work of every kind that was necessary in laying the foundation of a working church in a part of the city where no church whatever existed. He was a man who was never weary in well-doing. 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 File at: http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/ca/sanfrancisco/history/1900/historyo/chapter263nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/cafiles/ File size: 12.0 Kb