USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 37
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The First Baptist Church, Petaluma .- On Sabbath, the 17th day of July, 1853, in Bodega, Sonoma county, upon a call made by Rev. A. A. Guernsey, the following brethren and sisters presented themselves for the purpose of being organized into a Baptist Church : John C. Hughes, Jane Hughes, Worham Easley, Elizabeth A. Easley, Ari Hopper, Susannah Hopper. The Church was duly organized as the First Baptist Church of Bodega. Rev. A. A. Guernsey was elected Pastor, and Worham Easley, Clerk. Articles of Faith and Practice were adopted.
The next meeting was held August 14, 1853, when it was voted to hold meetings at such places as may be from time to time designated.
The Church held its regular monthly meetings at Bodega until the second Saturday in October, 1853, when it was voted to adjourn, to meet in Peta- luma. The meetings were continued in Petaluma statedly. On the Saturday before the first Sabbath in November, 1854, the Church, by vote, changed the name from the First Baptist Church of Bodega to the First Baptist Church of Petaluma. John C. Hughes and Worham Easley had been elected deacons September 10, 1853, and served as such since. Several new members had been received since its organization, so that the constituent members of the First Baptist Church of Petaluma were as follows :-
Rev. A. A. Guernsey, Pastor; John C. Hughes, Deacon ; Worham Easley,
Nicholas Carriger
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Deacon and Clerk. Members: Rev. A. A. Guernsey, John C. Hughes, Jane Hughes, Worham Easley, Elizabeth A. Easley, Ari Hopper, Susannah Hopper, Hannah Clymer, Susannah Lindsley, Margaret Corrothers, William Conley, Elizabeth Conley, Sarah Heald, Flemming Spencer, Nancy C. Renarde, Rachael G. Randolph, Israel T. Duval, Michael Barnes, Margaret A. Corro- thers, Elizabeth Hootin, Mary A. Thompson. In February, 1855, a move- ment was set on foot to secure a suitable lot and procure funds to erect a meeting-house. In March, 1855, a corporation by the name of the Baptist Church and Society was formed, with James Hogal, William Conley and Mr. Mathews as Trustees, Flemming Spencer, Clerk, and Deacon Michael Barnes, Treasurer. During the year 1857, a church edifice, forty by sixty feet, was completed, with a seating capacity of about four hundred. The same edifice, with some improvements, remains to the present time. The Rev. A. A. Guernsey remained pastor until August 1, 1857, when his resignation was accepted. During his pastorate, one hundred and seven members were added to the church, including the constituent members. During the pastorate of Rev. A. A. Guernsey, very successful protracted meetings were held at the Liberty school house, and camp meetings near Stony Point, where large accessions were made to the church by them. The church was without a pastor until November 14, 1859, when C. W. Rees was elected. He remained pastor until March 9, 1861. Seventeen members were received during his pastorate. Rev. H. Richardson supplied the church for six months from August 3, 1861. Rev. J. A. Davidson served the church as pastor from April 2, 1864, to February 11, 1865. Rev. B. S. McLafferty was elected pastor and commenced his labors the first of January, 1866, and continued until January 1, 1869. This was an era of prosperity to the church. One hundred and fourteen members were added to the church. Rev. James D. P. Hungate served as pastoral supply from February 11, 1869, to August 1, 1869. Rev. J. W. Johnson was pastor from October 6, 1869, to October, 1871. There were fifteen additions to the church during the pas- torate of Mr. Johnson. Rev. J. H. Ruby was supply from December 10, 1871, for about a year. The church depended upon supplies from this date until 1877, and was very much reduced in membership and discouraged in consequence. Rev. A. Hitchcock served as pastor from January 6, 1877. to November 30, 1878. During the labors of Rev. A. Hitchcock, a troublesome debt of several hundred dollars was paid, through the indefatigable labors of Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock and the church. Rev. Winfield Scott commenced his labors as pastor March 1, 1879, and is pastor at the present time. There have been twenty-three additions to the church since March Ist, and the church is prompt in meeting all of its financial obligations. Its present membership is seventy. It sustains a Sunday School, and is prospering. It has a good church edifice, which has been recently repaired and refurnish- ed, and is wholly out of debt.
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Rev. Winfield Scott was born February 26, 1837, in Novi, Oakland county, Michigan. He was the son of James B. Scott, a farmer. In 1845, he moved with his father's family to Ovid, Seneca county, New York. He entered the University of Rochester, New York, in 1855, and graduated from this institution in the class of 1859. He graduated from the Rochester Theological Seminary July 11, 1861. On the day of his graduation he was united in marriage to Helen L. Brown, of Spencerport, New York. Miss Brown was a talented, highly educated young lady, who had been teaching for some time in a ladies' seminary in Buffalo, New York. Soon after graduation he accepted the pastorate of the Second Baptist Church, Syracuse, New York, where he remained one year. Under the first call of President Lincoln for three hundred thousand troops he went to Seneca county among his his friends, and in seven days' time enlisted a maximum company for the one hundred and twenty-sixth regiment N. Y. V. I. Was mustered as Captain with his company in the United States Army, August 9, 1862. His church man- ufactured for and presented to him a beautiful sword, with the following inscription wrought into the blade: "Presented by the Baptist Church, Syracuse, to their Pastor, Winfield Scott," which Mr. Scott carried through the war and still possesess. He was severely wounded in the battle of Harper's Ferry, September 12, 1862, was taken prisoner and paroled. He returned to his regiment January 3, 1863, and did duty on crutches for several months. He was appointed Assistant Provost Marshal of Abercrombie's Division, with headquarters at Centerville, Vermont, and remained until the Army of the Potomac went to Gettysburg. In the battle of Gettysburg he was slightly wounded twice, and came out of the battle in command of his regiment. He commanded the one hundred and twenty-sixth regiment in several battles during the year 1863, and through the battles of the Wilder- ness, Po river, Todd's Tavern, Spotsylvania, in 1864. On the charge of May 12, 1864, of General Hancock's corps, he was struck in the breast over the heart, by a musket-ball, the force of which was spent on a handkerchief and testament in his side pocket. On the 18th of May following, while charging a battery he was struck by a shell and lost his right thigh. On account of this he was discharged at Anapolis, Maryland, in October, by order of the Secretary of War, special orders No. 265. He immediately returned to the Theological Seminary, and remained there till January 1, 1865, when he went to Leavenworth, Kansas, as pastor of the Baptist Church. He remained there for six years, building a beautiful church edifice, at a cost of sixty-five thousand dollars, and gathered a large and flourishing church. He accepted the pastorate of the church in Denver, Colorado, January 1871, and was elected Chaplain of the Upper House of the Colorado Legislature in January 1871. He remained in Denver four years, gathering a large church and building the chapel to a church at a cost of sixteen thousand dollars. He came to California
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in October, 1875, and soon after became the editor of the Evangel, the denominational paper of the Baptists. During the year 1877, he was pastor of the church of Los Angeles, California. In the Fall of 1878, was associate pastor with Rev. I. S. Kalloch, D. D., of the Metropolitan Temple, San Francisco, and by mutual agreement came to Petaluma in February, to take charge of the Baptist Church that had been closed for a year. He is now forty-two years of age, in the prime and strength of life, and full of heart, hope and good will. His wife has proven a true help-mate, a prudent and wise counsellor, ever entering heartily into sympathy with him in his life work. He has two children living-two daughters-one aged fourteen and one eleven. He has buried two younger children, one in Denver and one in Southern California.
The Bell in the Baptist Church at Petaluma .- The bell which hangs in the steeple of the Baptist church of Petaluma has a remarkable history; a history which will within a century make it as famous in California as the old Liberty Bell of Philadelphia. It is a pure metal bell manufactured by Hopper & Company of Boston, Mass., and weighs about eleven hundred and fifty pounds. It is the identical bell owned and used by the famous Vigilance Committee in the historic days of 1856. It was then rung by the Committee when William T. Coleman was its President. Those were days that tried the souls of San Francisco's best men; and days that tried the necks of San Francisco's worst men. At its faithful and significant call, the watchful servants of the people's interest gathered for council and for war. It sounded in its solemn toll the death knell of many a rascal and lawless villain. Its silvery tones proclaimed peace and victory to th: uprigh, and good, and struck terror to the hearts of the vicious, the lawless and bad. In 1858 the citizens of Petaluma, without regard to church, raised a fund to purchase a bell to be placed in the Baptist church, for the benefit of the church and the accommodation of the town. A committee of citizens went to San Fran- cisco and purchased the old Vigilance Committee bell of Conroy & O'Conner, paying five hundred and fifty dollars therefor. It was accounted one of the sweetest sounding bells in the whole country. When rung, it could be heard with distinctness from eight to ten miles. It was used by the citizens for a long while as a time bell and was rung at six in the morning, twelve noon and six in the evening. During the great excitement of the war of the rebellion, it was rung frequently when victory crowned the armies of the Union. This became-as was natural-a source of annoyance to many who sympathized with the South, and especially those who had paid liberally towards its purchase. Accordingly in 1864, everything was made ready and early one morning the historic and annoying old bell came down from the steeple and was conveyed quietly by a back street to a public warehouse, where strict orders were given not to allow any one to take it. This aroused the ire of the opposing party, and preparations were made for
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its recapture. The following day about forty, among them many of the leading business men, went at midday and took possession of the bell, and hoisting above it the American flag, it was taken through the main street and replaced in the church again where its silvery tones rung out loud and long and clear. The American flag was placed upon the steeple above it. Soon after, at the midnight hour, the old bell (as one party declares) sounded once, and its silvery tones were forever silenced. In the morning it was found that it had been broken. The other party say they "reckon" that the continual jubilee ringing was too much for it, and so it was shamefully broken. Ever since, the old broken bell has thugged away in the steeple, reminding the old residents by its dead tones of its significant history, and awakening the wonder of the new-comer why such an old cracked insti- tution is tolerated in such an enterprising town. Arrangements are being made by the Pastor of the church to dispose of it or have it recast. It really should be kept as a souvenir in the Pioneer Society of the State, for about it will gather in years to come historic memories and reminiscences that will be priceless in history. Who will see that it is secured and pre- served?
Methodist Church, South .- This church, which is situated on the south- east corner of Liberty street and Western avenue, Petaluma, was the out- growth of the labors of Samuel Brown, who came to this city by direction of the Pacific Conference, commenced preaching in the Fall of 1859, and finally established a church under the rules and regulations of the above- named body. The organization was represented by about twenty-five mem- bers, who held their first services in the Baptist church and McCune's Hall until the present edifice was erected in the year 1860. This structure is forty by sixty feet, built of brick, and has a seating capacity of two hundred and fifty. As has been remarked, Samuel Brown was the pastor from the Fall of 1859; these duties he continued until 1856, when he was succeeded by Rev. Joseph Emory for one year; Rev. J. C. Simmonds, 1863-4-5; Rev. A. P. Anderson, 1866; Rev. W. F. Compton, 1867; Rev. J. Alsanson, 1868; Rev. Samuel Brown, 1869; Rev. George Sim, 1870; Rev. B. F. Burris, 1871; Rev. - Mason, 1872; Rev. - Howell, 1873; Rev. S. W. Davis, 1874; Rev. J. K. P. Price, 1875-6; Rev. P. F. Page, 1877; Rev. R. F. Allen, 1878-9. The Church Trustees are: J. A. Payton, A. F. Bradley, M. H. Falkner, Samuel Jennison, F. W. Shattuck, J. M. Preston; Stewards: J. A. Payton, A. F. Bradley, M, H. Falkner, Samuel Jennison, Samuel Robberts, and J. M. Preston. The present membership of the church is seventy-eight, and the average attendance at Sunday-school is fifty-five, J. M. Preston being the Superintendent thereof.
St. John's Episcopal Church .- The lot on which this church stands was purchased by I. G. Wickersham and D. D. Carder on June 9, 1858, for the sum of two hundred dollars, and the building was therefore immediately
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proceeded with. The church is gothic in its style of architecture, with a seating capacity of from three to four hundred. The interests of the parish of St. John were first entrusted to Rev. G. B. Taylor, who after a time was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Smeathman, the vestry being at that period com- posed of Messrs. Huie, Wickersham, Carder, Weston, Sprague, Sweetland and Cooper. Messrs. Carder, Cooper, Sprague and Wickersham being nom- inated Treasurer, Secretary, and Wardens respectively. On January 29, 1860, the church was declared ready for consecration, which was duly done by the Right Reverend W. Ingraham Kip, Bishop of the Diocese of Califor- nia, before a large congregation. On July 15, 1860, the time for which the Rev. Mr. Smeathman had been engaged having lapsed, a successor was desired to take his place. One was found in the person of the Rev. Mr. Jackson, who was inducted to the pulpit of St. John's on September 23, 1861. On November 10, 1863, Rev. David J. Lee became Rector of the parish; he resigned, April 14, 1864, when Rev. George Whipple, a brother of the dis- tinguished Bishop of that name, occupied the pulpit temporarily. On December 18, 1865, it was resolved to call the Rev. George H. Jenks to the parish ; he remained until January, 1874, when the pulpit was filled from Sunday to Sunday till August 30th of that year, when the Rev. Thomas Smith entered upon the duties, which he resigned on July 9, 1876, and was succeeded by Rev. George B. Allen, the present Rector, in the month of November of the same year.
The Public Schools of Petaluma .- The people of Petaluma are noted for their interest in the cause of public education. Several private educa- tional institutions have been started at various times, with well trained instructors and extensive advantages, offering splendid opportunities for education. But the people have uniformly turned to the public institutions with their patronage, and for the education of their children, until now there is left, with the exception of the excellent school of the Sisters of Mercy, and of Miss Martin, which draw much of their patronage from the country, and average together not more than seventy or eighty pupils, none but the public institutions of learning. The history of these we shall essay to give in this short chapter. In so doing, we labor under some disadvantage, for in one of the great fires of Petaluma were destroyed all the records of the Board of Education, containing the data so valuable in compiling facts in relation to schools. We have, however, been aided by the memory of some of Petaluma's citizens, in acquiring what data we are able here to present.
The first public school was opened in a little wooden, one-room school- house, located on the site of the splendid edifice now occupied by the Gram- mar Department.
Among its early teachers was A. B. Bowers, well known to all old residents of the county, as the Sonoma county map man.
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This small house, surrounded by a paling fence, dusty and uneven streets, and unattractive grounds, could not long serve the purpose of the then rapidly growing town. It was enlarged several times, to meet the wants of the city, until in 1857 or 1858, it became patent to all that some better and more appropriate accommodation must be made for the constantly increas- ing number of pupils. At an election held for the purpose, a tax was voted to build a new school-house.
Dr. Samuel Brown, George B. Williams and W. L. Van Doren were then trustees of the school district which included much of the adjacent country, extending from San Antonio Creek to some distance east, west and north of town, and taking in the present districts of San Antonio and Marin, and portion of Bliss, Payran and Walker.
These gentlemen concluded that the better way to construct a school building for a growing city like Petaluma was to, in their plans, foreshadow some of the future wants of the department. They accordingly began the erection of a building which was destined to exceed in cost the amount voted by the people.
The wisdom of this act has been amply attested to by the subsequent growth of the schools. But the people of the district at that time were not possessed of sanguine faith in the prophetic visions of the worthy Board of Trustees, and when Messrs. Brown, Williams and Van Doren were compelled to pay the additional cost of some eight or nine hundred dollars, they, with an illiberality that has never since marked their interest in public education, and that leaves the only blot upon the history of education in the fair city, refused to vote an additional appropriation to reimburse the members of the Board.
The regard and gratitude of the people, for this act of these early friends of education, have been manifested in a touching manner since. In the cemetery at Cypress Hill stands a marble shaft, erected to Dr. Brown, on which is inscribed, "The Children's Friend." This beautiful tribute to the worthy man whose whole life was marked with noble interest in the educa- tion of youth, was erected by the children themselves, by ten cent subscrip- tions, and it speaks more than words the feelings which the self-sacrifice of those gentlemen aroused in the people of the city.
As I have said before, the increase in pupils was destined to fill even this building, and not many years elapsed after its erection in 1859 until it became too small indeed to accommodate the increase. Three one-class primary school buildings were crected in the suburbs of the city to accom- modate the primary pupils, and the city was divided into four districts for those who attended the primary grades. In 1870 the main brick building was altered from a six to a seven-class building, and in 1872 to an eight-class building.
In 1873 the Board of Education purchased for a high school the handsome
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Gothic edifice erected by Prof. E. S. Lippitt on D street, for a private academy, in 1868.
Teachers .- To attempt a list of teachers who have been employed in the schools would occupy too much space and probably be beyond our power. Among them were Mrs. A. A. Haskell, Mrs. J. E. Woodworth, Prof. E. S. Lippitt, who taught as principal for four years, Prof. Brodt, now of Oakland, Prof. J. W. Anderson, C. E. Hutton, C. H. Crowell, and J. W. MeClymonds. To the efforts of these much of the good condition of the schools at the present time is due.
Mrs. A. A. Haskell was for a long time one of the leading assistants in the school, and for a time Principal.
Prof. E. S. Lippitt, now engaged in the practice of law in this city, was Principal from 1863 to 1867. He was succeeded by Prof. Brodt, who taught one year and was succeeded by Prof. J. W. Anderson, now Principal of the Spring Valley School in San Francisco. Prof. Anderson is a man whose . administrative ability is excelled by no teacher in the State. He completed the task of systematizing the school work in the five years that he was Principal, 1868 to 1873. Of the fifteen teachers now engaged in the Peta- luma schools, ten were the pupils of Prof. Anderson during the time he was here, and all over the county, and in fact all over the State, do you find those who stepped from the school-room under his tuition into the school- room as instructors. C. H. Crowell succeeded him in 1873.
In this year the High School, which up to this time had been under the same Principal as the grammar and primary departments, was put under a separate Principal. Professor C. E. Hutton was chosen by the Board to take charge of it.
To Mr. Crowell's charge were assigned the grammar and primary depart- ments. Professor Crowell taught one year, and was succeeded by J. W. Me- Clymonds, who, at the end of four months, was elected Principal of the High School, to succeed Dr. T. H. Rose, the successor of Professor Hutton. M. E. C. Munday, the present ineumbent, succeeded Mr. McClymonds in November, 1874, and has held the position for the past five years. The schools under his charge are divided into eight grades, the first four constituting the grammar de- partment, and the last four the primary department. In his department are thirteen teachers, M. E. C. Munday being Principal and teacher of the first grade. The Viee-Principal is Mrs. J. E. Woodworth ; she teaches in the second grade. She has been in the department to the satisfaction of every patron of the school for the past fourteen years.
Miss Eliza Robinson has charge of the third grade; Miss Marilla Canun of fourth grade, Miss Rosa Haskins of the fifth grade, Miss Hattie Fuller of the sixth grade, Miss Sallie E. Hall of the seventh grade, Miss Jennie E. Davis of the eighth grade-all of these being teachers in the brick school.
In the High School building is a class composed of the overplus of grades
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of the brick school. This year it is composed of the overplus from the fifth and third, but next year it may be of some other grades, varying according to the manner in which the various grades fill up yearly. It is presided over by Miss J. E. Anderson, daughter of Professor J. W. Anderson, the former Principal.
There are also three primary schools already mentioned, situated in the suburbs of the city for the accommodation of the small primary pupils. One in East Petaluma is taught by Miss Helen Singley ; one on F street, by Miss Carrie Hammond; and one on the hill in the north-west part of the city by Miss Libbie Colvin.
On D street is a school provided in accordance with the provisions of the law for the separate instruction of colored children, presided over by Miss Louisa M. Dixon, also colored.
We take the following from the annual report of the Principal of the grammar and primary departments for the year ending June, 1879: Whole number pupils enrolled, seven hundred and twenty-eight; average number pupils belonging, five hundred and sixteen and six-tenths ; average daily attendance, four hundred and eighty-five and three-tenths; percentage of attendance, ninety-five; whole number of tardiness, one thousand, five hun- dred and seventy-six ; whole number of days absence, four thousand, eight hundred and sixty-eight.
The High School .- The High School was opened as a separate school in 1873, with Professor C. E. Hutton as principal. Professor Hutton remained in charge for one year, and then resigned to take a position as cashier of the Healdsburg Bank. He was succeeded by Dr. T. H. Rose, who taught but four months and resigned. J. W. McClymonds, who had been principal of the grammar department for four months. succeeded Dr. Rose, and continued as principal until he resigned in June, 1877, to engage in the dry goods business. Professor Hutton again took charge, and is the present incumbent, with his wife as assistant. Since the first year the school has required the labor of two teachers. We take the following from Professor Hutton's annual report for the school year ending June, 1879: whole number of pupils enroll- ed, seventy-four; average number of pupils belonging, fifty-eight and eight- tenths; average daily attendance, fifty seven and seven-tenths; per cent of attendance, ninety-eight and one-tenth. Pupils enter this school on a certificate of graduation from the Grammar School. The course embraces the usual academic work, and is the connecting link between the grammar schools and the university. It embraces all the studies necessary to fit one for any of the colleges of the university.
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