Santa Clara County CA Archives Biographies.....Hayes-Chynoweth, Mary Folsom  1825 - 1905
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Author: Eugene T. Sawyer (1922)

  MRS. MARY HAYES-CHYNOWETH.—The interest awakened by a visit to the beautiful
estate of Edenvale, with its sixty acres of well-kept grounds is heightened by a
knowledge of the wonderful personality who once lived and reigned there, Mrs.
Mary Hayes-Chynoweth, who, until the time she passed away, continued with
undiminished enthusiasm and power the remarkable manifestations of spiritual
life evidenced even in the years of her childhood. The deep religious fervor
that was one of her predominant characteristics came as an inheritance from her
father, Rev. Abraham Folsom, who was a minister of the Free Will Baptist faith.
Supplementing this inheritance there early came into her aspiring soul a power
which she accepted as a gift from God and which shaped the course of her useful
existence, and resulted in her efficient service as pastor of the True Life
Church of San Jose.

  In the early day Rev. Abraham Folsom left Vermont, where he was born and where
his parents, Daniel and Mary (Moody) Folsom had lived and labored. With a
pioneer instinct and an earnest desire to preach the Gospel in regions then just
opened to the civilizing influences of American settlement, he settled in
Holland, Erie County, N. Y., and there his daughter, Mary, was born October 2,
1825. Later he moved to Cuba, same state, and finally, when his daughter was
twenty-three years of age, he identified himself with the then sparsely settled
state of Wisconsin. While still a mere child the daughter had given evidence of
the possession of peculiar qualities. When she was five, two years after the
family had settled in Cuba, her little sister was accidently and seriously
burned on the head. Her frantic cries were continued in spite of every effort to
relieve her. About 1:30 in the morning the older sister was awakened, dressed
and came into the room where the little sufferer lay in extreme pain. As she
took the child into her arms, her cries stopped and soon she was sleeping
comfortably. As she grew older neighbors began to come to her for help in cases
of sickness. Many a page might be filled with accounts of her successful labors
in relieving the sick. One instance of the kind, occurring when she was ten, may
be mentioned among the many of a similar nature. A neighbor hurried to their
home one day, saying that he feared his wife was dead. Hastening to their home,
the child found the woman with jaws set, apparently in the embrace of death.
After rubbing the body for a time she asked for angelica, with which she made a
tea. The absence of a tooth in the woman's mouth enabled her to force a small
amount of the tea into the throat. In a very short time the sufferer returned to
consciousness and to health. The cure was remarkable when it is considered that
the child knew nothing of medicine nor the effects of angelica. The idea had
come to her as an inspiration and the physician on his arrival praised her
timely action, adding that the lady would have been dead had it not been for her
help.

  The environments of pioneer life and the limited means of the family prevented
Miss Folsom from attending school. Her entire schooling did not cover a period
of one year. Notwithstanding this privation, by research and reading she
acquired such a thorough education that her labors as a teacher were it
successful to a gratifying degree. When only twelve years of age, feeling that
she should not be a burden to her father, she desired to support herself by
going out to work, but her father persuaded her that she was too small for
self-support. A few weeks later she was called to the home of Mrs. Webster, a
neighbor, who was ill with inflammatory rheumatism. The remedies she suggested
were so prompt in action that the woman was able to take up her weaving within
two days. In this home she remained for a year as an assistant and afterward she
made her own way in the world. When in her eighteenth year she took up a summer
school that her brother, William A. Folsom, had taught the previous winter and
her success in the work led her to follow the profession for seven years. After
settling with her parents in Waterloo, Wis., she engaged in teaching there.
During the last two years of her work as an instructor her leisure hours were
largely devoted to prayer. Six months before the close of her last term the Fox
sisters had begun their promulgation of spiritism. In alarm lest relatives or
friends might be led into their doctrines, she prayed even more earnestly than
before, asking God to show her the truth and to reveal to her the immortality of
the soul. The answer to her petition was long delayed, but still she continued
in prayer, determining that naught but death should seal her lips until God
revealed to her the evidence she desired. With the close of her school on
Friday, she returned home. The following Sunday morning services were held in
the church near by and she prevailed on the other members of the family to
attend while she remained at home with her father. The homely task of
dishwashing was engaging her attention when she fell to the floor, crushed by
what seemed to her a hundred-pound weight At the same time she began to pray in
an unknown tongue, as impelled by the power of God. Her father questioned this
unseen power through his daughter and was there told of the work before her for
which she was to prepare herself and in doing so do the will of God. By a
careful study of the miracles related in the Bible and comparing with her work,
all became convinced that the divine spirit had blessed her in answer to her
prayers. For two years she was under the divine influence, praying unceasingly
and deprived herself at the request of the controlling power of all substantial
food except bread. With the indwelling of the holy spirit there came wonderful
power in healing the sick and alleviating pain. From the regions round about
came the sick and suffering in such numbers that she had not time for all. Calls
came to her from Whitewater, East Troy, Waukesha and other Wisconsin towns,
where she was invited to preach in churches and schoolhouses. Contrary to her
wishes in the matter of remuneration she was finally prevailed upon to accept
all gifts voluntarily offered, as by doing so it would confer a benefit upon
those whom she helped. The money thus received and her salary as a teacher were
given toward paying the interest on the mortgage on her father's farm. Indeed,
in all the years of the continuance of the family circle, she contributed to its
maintenance, proving herself a devoted daughter.

  At the age of twenty-eight years Miss Folsom became the wife of A. E. Hayes.
In addition to taking charge of their home at Waterloo, Wis., and rearing their
three children, E. A., Jay O., and May Hayes, she preached as the spirit guided
her. Often a large number of people would come to her home for religious
instruction, and invariably she ministered to their bodily needs as well as
their spiritual necessities. About 1872 she made her first visit to California.
After the death of Mr. Hayes, she accompanied her sons to Santa Clara County and
purchased the place that is now beautiful "Edenvale," situated on the Monterey
Road, about seven miles south of San Jose. From the beginning of her residence
at Edenvale thousands visited her to seek counsel and throughout her remaining
days she continued her ministrations to body and soul. Her second husband, T. B.
Chynoweth, an attorney of San Jose, died about one year after their marriage,
and from that time to the day of her death, her life was given wholly to
religious labors. Her sons have become prominent men in the Santa Clara Valley
and as owners of the San Jose Mercury and Herald wield a large influence in the
permanent upbuilding of this portion of the state. The family have become
wealthy, prosperous and honored, and much of their riches has been devoted to
spreading the primitive Gospel before the world. This wealth came direct to Mary
Hayes-Chynoweth as a reward for her unselfish Christian labors. Her life record
has no duplicate in America, and notwithstanding her great wealth, she lived
humbly and was constantly doing good among the people who knew and appreciated
her example and noble work.

  The True Life Church, founded in 1903, has in its membership an earnest body
of cultured people. The ceremony of organization, November 22, was simple, yet
exceedingly impressive, and brought to the thoughts of the onlookers memories of
the New Testament narrative of the founding of the early Christian Church. The
declaration of principles was read and subscribed to, after which a board of
trustees were elected to serve one year and the articles of organization were
adopted. On the day of the founding of the church, Mr. E. A. Hayes read the
statement of brief, previously signed by those who proposed the organization of
the movement. It read as follows:

  "We, the undersigned, for mutual help in spiritual development and in order to
more effectually spread the knowledge of the truth, hereby associate ourselves
together as the True Life Church of San Jose, Cal., and declare the cardinal
principles of our religious belief to be as follows:

I. "We hold that religion consists in pure and holy living and unselfish doing,
and not in professions. 

II. "We believe in God, the Creator and Ruler of the universe, and in Him only
as the author of salvation for every human being, through developing Himself in
each soul to the fullness of the Christ life as shown forth in the New
Testament. We believe that it is the destiny of every human soul, when he so
wills and labors with sufficient diligence to that end, to develop to the same
purity and spiritual power as Christ is represented in the Bible to have reached. 

III. "In order to reach that end a constant dual effort by each individual is a
necessity.

  "First: Each one must pray unto God for an increase of His Life and power
within him, and must desire as the chief of all valuable possessions to have
incorporated in life and character all that is pure and holy in thought, word
and deed.

"Second: Each must resist with all his will the promptings of his lower nature,
and overcome as rapidly as he can the temptations to evil. 

IV. "We are convinced that the Christ standard of perfection in human life is
possible for each one of us and that spiritual light and wisdom come as results
of growth and the overcoming of the physical elements in each nature, because of
the manifestations of God's life and power which have been brought to the world
through Mrs. Hayes-Chynoweth. Among other things she has healed the sick by the
laying on of hands when no human agency could alleviate their sufferings; she
has preached the Gospel without previous study, but as the truth was given her
through inspiration at the time; she reads the human heart as an open book, and
knows its yearnings and needs which God helps her satisfy and supply; she has
had revealed to her the whereabouts of the wealth hidden in the earth, as well
as many of the mysteries of the spiritual world. God is no respector of persons
and what He has done for Mrs. Hayes-Chynoweth He will do for all of His children
who work for the spiritual life with the same zeal and singleness of purpose
with which she has worked.

  "We each pledge ourselves to do all in our power to overcome the physical
elements in our natures and to grow from day to day in purity and godliness; to
do everything we can to add to the interest of the meetings of this
organization, and to induce as many others as possible to attend them in order
that they may be benefited with ourselves."

  Since its organization the True Life Church has grown in numbers, in zeal and
effective service, and through the publication called "The True Life," has
become a well-known factor in religious circles. With the deepest friendship
toward all denominations and all sects striving to upbuild the world
spiritually, Mrs. Hayes-Chynoweth endeavored, with all the power of her
forceful, prayerful life, to lead people to return to the doctrines of the
Scriptures as preached by the Apostles. Up to the time of her death, she
retained her activity, mentally and physically, and continued her
self-sacrificing efforts in helping the poor and needy.

  Mary Hayes-Chynoweth passed from this, earthly sphere on July 27, 1905,
beloved by all who knew her and mourned by her family and a large circle of
friends. The following tribute paid by Dr. Eli McClish, president of the
University of the Pacific, tells in simple words of her noble and
self-sacrificing work and the high esteem in which she was held:

  "Today we come to stand by the side of the casket containing the remains of
our neighbor, our friend, and the friend of humanity. For eighty years she has
walked, from her humble parsonage horn through the paths of Wisconsin, out by
the Great Lakes, across the plains to California, about the highways and byways
of this county, and particularly about the beautiful home at Edenvale,
everywhere scattering words of kindness, ministering in tender grace by
sympathetic and healing touch to rich and poor, man or woman of any race, that
she might help; and now, more eloquent than any words that can be uttered is
this silent tribute of your presence. are those unbidden tears on your cheek,
and the hushed lips that have so often moved in the utterance of truth. And what
shall we say? How does it come that the largest church in the community is
packed to its doors at this presence? I answer, because of what she was. In the
first place, she was preeminently a religious woman. Not a graduate of a school,
not a philosopher in the so-called sense of philosophy, not a philanthropist in
the sense of having her name numbered as the founder of colleges or planter of
eleemosynary asylums for the needy, but as a devoted religious woman. Her
religion was not ecclesiastical, but was an expression of spiritual reality;
faith in the unseen, which rendered her faithful. Her only recognition of a
faith that was worth anything was a faith that makes one faithful. She was not
careful about the articulation of a creed, but she was intensely careful about
the soul being open to God and responsive to His Spirit. The true life was what
she aimed for, whether as a girl teaching school in Wisconsin, as a mother in
her home, or as a grandmother ministering to the little children about her knee.

  "She had two great dominating thoughts. You, possibly, are as familiar with
them as I am. She believed in God and the human soul. She had no doubt of them,
she had experience with both of them. She believed that there were many things
that she did not know, but she believed that the law by which we comprehend God
is the law of love. and that the law by which it shall unfold itself until it
shall become like the Father is the law of love; and so, without the
articulation of a creed, she insisted that we should hold ourselves as the bud
on the rose, whose soul it is, receptive to the sun that shines for it and the
breeze that blows upon it, open and receptive, so that under the divine sun and
air we will come to be beautiful and fragrant and helpful; and so she taught
that more important than the talk about God is the knowing God in the intimacy
of the soul, and allowing the life to be unfolded by the direction and movement
of the Divine Spirit; for God is not a far-off God, but immanent within,
transcendent without, everywhere present with the strength of the Father and the
tender grace of the mother.

  "In the second place she was an apostle. You remember our Lord selected out of
his disciples the apostles. I suppose it was no arbitrary selection. Some seeds
grow into trees and develop foliage green and luxuriant but do not scatter
seeds. Others as they grow gather energy from the sun and soil and dew and rain,
and transmit it into the ripening flower, until with distended capsule it bursts
and sends its seeds everywhere. There are men who spontaneously gather truth
that they may enrich others by it. She never sought truth for truth's sake, but
for humanity's sake. What cared she about philosophy? Let us find the truth that
will feed the child, that will inspire the man, that will give him integrity,
that will enable him to help humanity. That is the truth that she hunted, not to
see its beauties as one turns a diamond, but a truth to be put into other lives
to make them beautiful with the consciousness of God ....

  "I noted her last words were, "I have never harmed anyone.' How she thought of
humanity, of the tenants on the place! I was touched today as I saw one after
another, men and women and children, enter the silent room and then return with
the highest tribute that man can pay, the tribute that cannot be expressed
except by the unbidden tear. All out in the cottages, out in the park, the
little children knew her, the toilers knew her, and they knew that she tried to
live the True Life.

    " 'No angel, but a dearer being, all dipt in angel instincts,
    Breathing Paradise, and yet all native to her place.'

  "A comforter to those in sorrow, healing by her sympathetic touch those who
were sick, harming none, helping all, she went through her eighty years of life
and came down to her grave like a shock of corn in its season. Her name will
linger; those dumb lips will speak. In the language of the apostle. 'She being
dead yet speaketh.'"


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

HISTORY OF SANTA CLARA COUNTY CALIFORNIA
WITH
Biographical Sketches
OF
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth
and Development From the Early Days to the Present

HISTORY BY
EUGENE T. SAWYER

ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME

HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 
1922


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