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

THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST PASTORATE

OF

THE HOWARD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.





CHAPTER I.

  AFTER fifty years it is pleasant to review the history of the Howard church.



  The circumstances which led to its formation are a part of that history.



  Fifty-one years ago I was preaching in Monterey. It was the capital of the

territory, and was my designated missionary field. It was the army headquarters

and the residence of the governor. Quite a number of the officers, as well as

the governor, had their families with them there.



  They constituted almost my whole congregation and parish, the residents of the

town being nearly all Spanish-speaking people.



  When, later, the state of California was organized, and the capital was

removed from Monterey, together with the army headquarters, I quickly looked for

a more promising field.



  In October, 1849, in company with an army officer, I came on horseback to San

Francisco, and saw the city for the first time.



  I rode all over it, and studied it with curiosity and wonder. Five or six

ministers had already arrived here, and one or two very temporary houses of

worship had been erected, but the neighborhood of Stockton, Powell, and

Washington streets, where most of the families were then living, was the part of

the city where churches seemed likely to be built. There was a great concourse

of men landing from ships and getting outfits for the mines, multitudes of

others returning from the mines, some going home, and many crowding the

gambling-saloons that surrounded the Plaza on three sides.



  Business was transacted for the most part on Montgomery Street, which extended

southward only to California Street, and beyond that no street was opened.



  I went exploring in the direction of Rincon Hill to see what might be found in

that region. I found a succession of sand dunes or drifts lying nearly parallel

with one another, and in the direction of east and west. The winds of ages,

blowing strong and regularly through the long dry seasons, had drifted the loose

dry sand from the shore of the ocean, clear across the peninsula, and left it in

windrows along this low and level region, extending them clear down to the shore

of the bay.



  The highest of these sand-hills lay along what is now Market Street, and was,

as I remember it, at least sixty feet high, if measured from the present Market

Street grade.



  The others south of it were smaller, with narrow valleys between. Climbing to

the top of the one lying along what is now Mission Street, I looked down upon a

wider valley, refreshingly green, and protected from the ocean wind-currents.



  It was strikingly beautiful, and in wonderful contrast with the desert-like

sterility of the surrounding region. It is not strange that it came later to be

called "Happy Valley."



  Beyond it there were one or two sand-drifts, and then came Rincon Hill, solid

and permanent, the only feature of the landscape in that direction now remaining.



  Rincon Hill was covered thickly with a growth of tangled shrubbery and small

trees, principally oak, and so, to a large extent, were the sand-hills and the

valley.



  It is worth while to recall the topography of this part of San Francisco as it

was then, for it has been so completely and utterly changed, that otherwise its

memory would be forever effaced. Two or three years later the steam-paddy came

and shoveled these sand-hills into cars, and they trundled themselves down to

the bay on rails and filled in the water-lots on which stand our great business

houses to-day. But it so altered this part of the city, that it is very

difficult to describe it as it was. Among the shrubbery on the lee .side of the

sand-hills were, here and there, tents pitched by the newly arrived, who stayed

only long enough to make ready for the mines. A few immigrants, with their

teams, from over the plains were among those encamped, and some of them had

their families along. Their locations could be discovered by the smoke of their

fires rising above the chaparral, by which they cooked their meals.



  No signs of street surveys or boundaries of lots were visible, though the

surveyor had laid off the whole territory in blocks and lots, checked with

streets, but the stakes were driven down out of sight in the sand.



  Some people were bold enough to think that the city might grow that way in

time, and make this property valuable.



  It was owned largely by a few men, among whom were Messrs. Howard, Folsom, and

Brannan, and it was for their interest to have it come into use.



  So much I learned, on that October day, concerning a part of San Francisco

with which, as it turned out, I was later to become better acquainted.



  Returning to Monterey on horseback, as I came, I passed the winter of 1849-50

busy in my mission-work. My congregation remained the same through the winter,

with perhaps some additions. The day school which I opened in the preceding

March, and also the Sabbath school, were well cared for by Dr. T. L. Andrews,

besides which there was nothing of public interest going on, except the

collecting of some two thousand dollars for the beginning of a public library,

which amount was afterwards obtained. This was the first public library begun in

the state.



  Monterey, however, gained nothing in population from the great California

immigration, and the time was drawing near when the army officers and their

families would move away.



  In May, 1850, I mounted my horse to go to San Jose, to attend the spring

meeting of the Presbytery of Sail Francisco, which was organized in Monterey in

September, 1849, and to take part in the installation of Rev. T. Dwight Hunt as

pastor of the First Congregational Church, San Francisco.



  I remembered "Happy Valley," and rode over to see it again, when, lo! what a

change.



  The land proprietors had brought out a whole village of pretty cottages,

ready-made, from the East, and during the winter they had been put up and

prepared for occupancy.



  Most of them stood in rows on either side of Minna Street, between First and

Second streets. Minna Street was the center of the valley.



  Another row was on the south side of Mission Street, and other separate

cottages were located here and there in different parts of the valley.



  Messrs. Howard, Brannan, and Mellus had built themselves residences on Mission

Street, west of Third Street, and Captain Folsom had built his on Second Street,

south of Howard Street.



  There were also some residences here and there, of more or less permanence,

occupied by families, and children were to be seen playing among the sand-hills.



  Ought there not to be a church begun here? This was a question that occurred

to me at once. There were the cottages, now recently completed, and it was

evident enough that they would soon be occupied.



  A considerable number of people were already dwelling in the neighborhood, and

among them some families, and there was every indication that there would soon

be more. I thought the matter over seriously.



  On inquiring of a few Christian people in the city, whom I knew, I found that

there had been some visiting in that section of the city on Sundays for the

purpose of the distribution of tracts and Bibles and with reference to the

opening of a Sabbath school.



  This was done, as I learned, by T. J. Nevins, [1] agent of the American Tract

Society, and Mr. D. N. Hawley, a young merchant of the city. This increased my

interest in this section of the city as a mission-field, and before I returned

to Monterey I determined to test the matter a little further.



  Riding into the valley, I found that the carpenter-shop in which the work of

putting together the cottages had been done was now unused.



  This carpenter-shop stood in what afterwards proved to be the intersection of

Second and Minna streets.



  Securing the use of it for the next Sunday afternoon, I had notice given, as

well as it could be, that I should hold Sunday school there on the next Sabbath,

May 19, 1850, and preach at two o'clock in the afternoon.



  On the day appointed, after preaching to one of the young congregations in the

city in the forenoon, I rode over the sand-hills to the valley at the time

appointed, and hitched my horse to a small oak tree near the carpenter-shop door.



  Going in, I found that the loose lumber had been cleared away from the front

part of the room, boards were laid from chest to chest, and about a dozen people

were there, and a few children. [2] First came a Scripture lesson, and then a

short sermon, after which we made one another's acquaintance a little more

fully, and talked over the question of the wisdom of beginning a church in the

valley.



  There was one thing in favor of it, surely: it would not be building on

another man's foundation.



  It was determined to continue the Sabbath school, at least, and arrangements

were made accordingly. Some further examination as to helpers, and the prospect

of an immediate increase of population, led me to decide to come at once and

take up the work here, bringing my family from Monterey, and occupying one of

the cottages before described.



  With this in mind I returned as soon as possible to Monterey, and made

preparation for the removal of my family to San Francisco.



  By about the 20th of August, 1850, we were here, cozily settled in the cottage

standing by itself on Second Street, between Minna and Natoma streets.



  Securing now the use of the carpenter-shop for a chapel, it was first cleared

of lumber and tools and lined with white cotton cloth, as all buildings were in

those days. Then some very good settees were obtained for seats, and a

tastefully arranged pulpit completed the furnishing of the chapel. Our friends

from the other part of the city, who came to see us, said it was a much better

place in which to begin than the other churches had, that were organized in the

city the year before.



  So my work began in a very simple and primitive way.



  The morning was always for study, and the afternoon for exploration throughout

all the neighborhood, wading among the sandhills and through the thickets,

looking up the people and the children, and inviting them to join us in our new

church-enterprise, or else in wandering along the beach east of First Street,

where boats were moored, and men were making ready for the journey to the mines,

or repairing machinery of one sort or another, all of whom it was good to talk

with, and some of whom might be found helpful for a longer or a shorter time in

our new church-work.



  We at once commenced our mid-week prayer-meeting, which brought together

people who came from divers parts of the world.



  The Sabbath congregations gradually increased. The Sabbath school also grew,

though but few women and children had yet come.



  Confidence in the permanence of our undertaking began to increase, and drew

the attention of thinking people.



  Thorough exploration of the entire section was carried on by Mr. Nevins and

Mr. Hawley on Sundays, to bring in children, and if they were too small to wade

any distance through the sand, they picked them up, literally, and brought them.



  Meanwhile, some Christian people were found who were likely to remain with us

for a considerable period of time, and after a few weeks they were of the

opinion that it would be wise to join together and organize a church.



  In consultation, they found that the greater number were from Presbyterian

churches of the New School at home. Inasmuch as there was no church of this

order in the city, and there was readiness on the part of all to join in a

church of this denomination, it was decided that the church should be Presbyterian.



  Though but four of those proposing to unite in forming the church were

prepared to do so at this time, there were reasons why it was thought best to

effect the organization at once, and let the others join later.



  The four above referred to were Thomas J. Nevins, from the First Presbyterian

church, Buffalo, New York; Samuel Newton from the Congregational Mission church,

San Antonio, Texas; James Stuart, from the Presbyterian church, Sydney, New

South Wales; and John D. Munford, from the United Presbyterian church, Richmond,

Virginia.



  These four united in a formal petition to be organized into a Presbyterian
church.



  Accordingly, notice was given of the formation of the church on Sabbath,

September 15, 1850.



   "At that time," the record runs, "the above-named persons were constituted

and recognized a Church of Christ, according to the Standards and Rules of the

Presbyterian Church in the United States, Rev. Samuel H. Willey officiating, and

Rev. T. Dwight Hunt assisting."



  And over their own signatures these individuals say, "We do hereby give to the

church the name, 'The Howard Street Presbyterian Church, San Francisco.' "



  For certain sufficient reasons, the word "street" was, some years afterward,

dropped from the name.



  On the following Sabbath, September 22d, John D. Munford and Samuel Newton,

who had been ordained elders and had served in Presbyterian churches East, were

asked to serve as such, and also as deacons, for the time being, more especially

as neither of them expected to remain in California more than a short time.


Notes, Chapter I

   [1] Thomas J. Nevins was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, in 1795. He was trained for the profession of the law, and was admitted to the bar in 1823. He removed to Buffalo, New York, where he practiced his profession. He was an earnest Christian, and was always engaged in philanthropic work. He took a deep interest in the subject of public education and in the improvement of the Buffalo common schools. In 1850 he came to California. He was then somewhat past middle life. He did not come for gold, nor to practice his profession. He came as the agent of the American Tract Society, to try to supply a wholesome literature to the people who were flocking to this country.

  He began his work in San Francisco, distributing tracts and books, and visiting the dwellers in tents pitched outside of the business part of the city, and especially the families that were temporarily camped in the vicinity, and if there were children, he tried togather them into Sabbath schools, providing them teachers as best he could.

  He soon brought about the organization of the "Pacific Tract Society," and enlisted a great many young business men in its support. In this way his work was extended, through the influence of people friendly to his cause going to the mines, and good reading was distributed largely in remote parts of the country.

  He was a pronounced and active temperance man, and gave much time to gathering friends of the cause into temperance organizations.

  No sooner had our first legislature, in 1850, passed a law empowering the city to establish free schools to be supported by tax, than he began to agitate the question of immediate action on the part of the city authorities.

  They were somewhat slow to respond, because there were not a great many children then here needing schools.

  There were, however, some members of the board of aldermen who appreciated the situation, and were in favor of immediate action.

  They were business men, and asked Mr. Nevins, who was used to legal work, to present a draft for a law organizing the department of San Francisco city free schools. He did so, and in the fall of 1851 the law was passed, and Mr. Nevins was appointed superintendent to carry out its provisions.

  This he did very effectively, and a few schools were at once commenced. 

  But he did not stop with this. He discovered that there was a great deal of city property yet unsold, and he selected hundred-vara lots and fifty-vara lots and had them reserved from sale, to be used for school purposes. This could be readily done then, and in the years that followed this property became a rich inheritance, devoted to the free education of the city's children. In this service Mr. Nevins earned-the gratitude, not only of the people of his time, but of those of all succeeding generations.

  Mr. Nevins was one of the first to suggest the formation of the Academy of Natural Sciences.

  He invited those interested to meetings in his office, where for two years they were held weekly, and where were deposited collections and the correspondence with other associations.

  Early in 1862 he visited Nevada, and while there, at Silver City, he fell into a stream, and though he was rescued from drowning, he fell sick and died, January 14, 1862.



   [2] There were six children in all: four girls and two boys. Of this number, three girls — Harriet Redman, Isabel Redman, and Jane Crowell — are now living in this city or its vicinity.

  The first is Mrs. Sidney J. Loop of Alameda; the second, Mrs. Don Carlos Somers of this city; and the third, Mrs. J. L. Martel, also of this city. Of the others we have no certain information.



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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