History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams, Part 50

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: San Francisco : Alley, Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1008

USA > California > Sonoma County > History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams > Part 50

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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Woods came to preach and to organize the church, there were in Santa Rosa about twenty houses, and a population of about two hundred. He says that, "during the Summer of 1856, measures were taken and prepara- tions were getting in readiness for the erection of a church edifice, but my health becoming very much impaired, I deemed it necessary, and so did my physicians, to seek a different climate. I left Santa Rosa in December, 1856, having preached there just one year. Had I remained it was the intention to have completed the church edifice during the next Summer, but when I left the enterprise was abandoned for the time-being." There was no Presbyterian service from December, 1856, till April, 1857, when Rev. Alexander Fairbairn, who remained till July, 1858, became the minister; he also occupied the court-house with his ministrations. Soon after Mr. Fair- barn's departure the church itself virtually disbanded, and Presbyterianism seemed to be extinct for more than a year, while there was no organization for nearly four years. Rev. Thomas Fraser moved to Santa Rosa in Decem- ber, 1859, and preached that Winter, as often as practicable, in the little old Baptist church, on the south side of Third street and east of D street, and also in the Methodist church on the same street, which last mentioned edifice, says Mr. Fraser, "one of my people, Henry Klute, helped to build." In the Spring following (1860) Mr. Fraser com- mnenced regular service in Santa Rosa, and in the Summer extended the work to Bloomfield and Tomales, occasionally going to Valley Ford and Bodega Corners. The Two Rock church was then organized. The Presby- terian congregation reorganized in Santa Rosa in 1862, in the Methodist church, and Mr. Fraser, with the Methodist ministers, occupied that house during his work in Santa Rosa, preaching half the time, the other half in different places, chiefly in Two Rock and Valley Ford. Mr. Fraser's father, the Rev. Thomas Fraser, Sr., spent the Winter of 1847-8 in Santa Rosa, doing his son's work. while he supplied the Presbyterian church of Port- land, Oregon. Mr. Fraser's labors of preaching in this section ceased when he undertook the general mission work for the church in the Fall of 1858. In the Spring of this year, through the action of the Methodist body, the Presbyterians found themselves with no church; Sabbath services were therefore discontinued from May, 1868, till July, 1869, and week-day meet- ings were held in Mr. Fraser's study-a small building still standing, near the corner of Fourth and A streets. Soon after this the building of a church was commenced, and Mr. Fraser continued to reside in Santa Rosa, until the Winter of 1871-2 he was enabled to watch the building operations. He writes: " It was a long, hard job and we wer; a gool while building; Robert D. Morgan and his brother (F. R. Morgan), Henry Klute, George Hood, and Capt. W. A. Eliason, built that church, and their names should be engraven upon it."

Mention has been made above of the reorganization of the congregation

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in 1862. We reproduce the accompanying document so that the names of those who made the good fight should be recorded: "We whose names are hereunto subscribed being members of the Presbyterian church, or desirous of becoming so, hereby unite in requesting you, the Rev. Thomas Fraser, to form us into a Presbyterian church in Santa Rosa." Then follow these names: George Hood, Henry Klute, C. W. Langdon, Mrs. Julia Hood, Mrs. Jane H. Spence, Mrs. E. J. Langdon, Mrs. A. Blythe, Mrs. Mary Q. Barnes, Mrs. Frances Bradshaw, Mrs. Hattie Hendly, Mrs. Louisa McDonald, Mrs. J. M. Fraser and Miss Isabella Fraser.

In accordance with the above petition the foregoing persons, thirteen in number, were organized into a Presbyterian church, the record states, on Saturday preceding the fourth Sabbath of July (i. e., July 24th), 1862, in the Methodist Episcopal Church North. The church was called the Old School Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa, in connection with the Presby- tery of Benicia of the Synod of the Pacific. The following entry in the sessional records, signed Thomas Fraser, will explain itself: "According to previous notice the church met in the Methodist house of worship of Santa Rosa on the Saturday preceding the fourth Sabbath of August (August 22d), when the following named persons presented letters of church member- ship and were received into communion with the church: Mr. David Morton and Margaret, his wife, from the Presbyterian church at Healdsburg; Mrs. Ann Cooper from that of Clarence, New York. Mr. R. S. Vail and Mrs. Emily Bond were examined by the pastor as to their religious experience and received into the communion of the church. Mr. David Morton was elected to the office of Ruling Elder. On the following Sabbath (August 23d) the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered and Mr. Morton ordained." Immediately following this entry is one signed by Rev. James Woods: Santa Rosa, February 21, 1864. Session mnet to-day, present Elder David Morton and Rev. James Woods, temporary supply and Moderator. Mr. Robert D. Morgan was received into the communion of the church by letter from the Protestant Dutch Reformed church, New York City." Mr. Morgan came to Santa Rosa in October, 1863, was elected to the office of Ruling Elder May 13, 1865, and on the 14th was ordained and installed. Early in the year 1864 Rev. T. Fraser went East to the General Assembly, his duties being taken up by Rev. James Woods, hence his signing the last quoted entry as Moderator. The following record we find made after Mr. Fraser's return, signed "R. D. Morgan, Clerk." "Santa Rosa, August 21, 1864. According to previous notice a meeting of the church was held this day in the Methodist church for the transaction of business. Colonel C. W. Langdon was called to take the Chair and R. D. Morgan to act as Clerk. It was resolved to elect four trustees to hold and take care of the church property. The following persons were elected Trustees of the Presbyterian church of Santa Rosa: Colonel C. W. Langdon, George Hood, Robert D.

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Morgan and David Morton. On resolution the thanks of the church were tendered to Colonel Langdon for the donation of a building lot.

The Rev. Mr. Fraser was invited to resume his labors as Pastor and sta ted supply of the church. After prayer by Mr. Morton the meeting adjourned."

Mr. Fraser continued to supply the pulpit every alternate Sabbath, or nearly so, till the Autumn of 1867, his father taking the duties during the succeeding Winter and Spring until the end of 1868. From that time till the new church edifice was completed, as has been already shown, there were no regular Sabbath services-a period of about two years. In the Spring of 1868 the erection of the church was commenced and in July, 1869, it was completed, at a cost of four thousand three hundred dollars. Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, D. D., of San Francisco, preached the dedicatory sermon. Immediately after the completion of the building, services were resumed, the Reverends S. T. Wells, F. Buell, Thomas Kirkland, R. McCul- lough and James Woods officiating on more than one Sabbath, while in the month of September, 1869, Rev. C. D. Roberts, and from October 18th to December 10th of the same year the Rev. Mr. Swift took charge of the con- gregation. From that time till March, 1870, there would appear to have been no regular services held. From March 27th, Rev. C. H. Crawford, from the Cumberland Presbyterian church, preached every alternate Sabbath till June 19, 1870, Rev. R. Mccullough alternating with him in the supply of the pulpit until May 30th. Rev. S. P. Whiting began his ministrations in October, 1870, and remained two years. On January 22, 1871, work was commenced on the parsonage, which was completed during the following Winter at a cost of about two thousand five hundred dollars. The following entry is found in the record book: " At a meeting held in the Presbyterian church in Santa Rosa January 5, 1873, it was unanimously voted that the Rev. F. M. Dimmick be requested to take charge of said church as acting Pastor for one year. On the 11th instant the Rev. F. M. Dimmick accepted the invitation given at the above mentioned meeting and immediately entered upon his duties as acting pastor. (Signed) R. D. Morgan, Clerk of Sessions." Mr. Dimmick, the present Pastor, preached his inductional sermons on the last Sabbath of 1872 and the first of 1873; on June 11, 1876, he was permanently installed, and has since occupied the pulpit with much honor to himself and credit to the congregation who sit under him. The church became self-sustaining in 1876 when it voted to settle a pastor. Its active membership now is from eighty-five to ninety. George Hood is Deacon and Treasurer of the church, and E. H. Smyth, Isaac Parsons, James B. Rue and C. F. Copeland are the Ruling Elders, who, with the Pastor, constitute the session of the church. George Hood, Henry Klute, James B. Rue, L. C. Patterson and David R. Fraser constitute the Present Board of Trustees. The church edifice stands on the northwest corner of Humboldt and D streets.

Me. Doyle

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The Church of the Incarnation (Episcopal) .- Like everything in primi- tive California history the origin of this church is interesting. In an carly day, Rev. Mr. Jackson preached in the old "Sonoma House," but no record is left of the service. In the Spring of 1863, Rev. Dudley Chase held a few occasional services, but these seemed to have no connection with the subse- quent history, except the baptism of children interested the father in the ultimate organization. In the Summer of 1868, a professional gentleman came to make Santa Rosa his home, and inquiring for an Episcopal church, not only found that there was no society of the kind in the place, but he discovered that there were not a few persons who had never heard of an Episcopal church. He was satisfied that there must be some of that denomina- tion here, but being a stranger he knew not where to find them. On writing to Captain Willlam Blanding, a zealous Episcopalian of San Francisco, and warden at that time of Grace church in that city, he received a reply that Captain Blanding would soon come to Sonoma county on business, and that he would bring with him Rev. Dr. Breck, and they would endeavor to see if they could not find Episcopalians enough in or about Santa Rosa to form the nucleus of a church. Dr. Breck and Captain Blanding came up in 1868. On moving about among the people, in company with Dr. Smith, they found Major John Brown, Mrs. Eliason and Mrs. Spencer, who were members of the Episcopal church, and W. H. Bond, who, though not a member by baptism, yet had his own children previously baptized by the Rev. Mr. Chase, as referred to above. These three persons, Mrs. Eliason, Mrs. Spencer, and Mr. Bond all had children whom they were desirous of bringing to baptism, and under the auspices of Rev. Dr. Breek, Captain Blanding and Dr. Smith, then a new resident of Santa Rosa. The Sunday following was appointed for the service of the Episcopal church, and for the office of baptism in the court-house. One of the boys was so alarmed at the novelty of the service that he darted out of the house with speed too great to be retained, and his baptism was postponed for a few days. Major Brown's children were bap- tized not long afterwards. This was the beginning of the continous services, and this gathering became the nucleus of the Episcopal church in Santa Rosa. Bishop Kip, whose jurisdiction then embraced the whole of California, appointed Dr. R. Press Smith and Professor Jones as lay readers, empowering them to read the service of the Episcopal church on any Sunday when no clergyman could be had. Regular services thus began in the Fall of 1868.

About the same period also a mission had been established by the Rev. Dr. Breck, embracing Sonoma county north of Petaluma. Application was made to the reverend Doctor, and it was found that Rev. James H. Smith, of the "Breck Mission," could come to Santa Rosa. He was greatly desirous of returning to the Eastern States; but his pledge on entering the mission bound him for a term of years to this coast, and he remained until the expi- ration of the time in Santa Rosa. He held service twice a month till the Fall

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of 1871. On the other Sundays there was lay reading by Doctor Smith or Professor Jones. Meantime a Sunday-school had been commenced in 1868, of ten or fifteen pupils, under Dr. R. Press Smith as superintendent, who continued in that office two years, when the number of scholars had increased to thirty. Professor G. W. Jones was then elected superintendent of the school. Rev. J. H. Smith left, and the Rev. George C. Lane was invited to the charge of the church. He continued one year. Ill health compelled him to retire, and in October, 1873, he went home to his friends in the East to die. Hitherto the services had been held variously in the court-house, in the North Methodist house, the Temperance Hall, and Klute's Hall; the court- house free, the others rented. Some gentlemen made an estimate that it would be as economical to build a church as to rent. During this discus- sion, J. P. Clark gave three lots for a church, on the corner of Fifth and Washington streets. These were sold and a lot purchased on Mendocino street. Five men, namely, Dr. R. Press Smith, Major John Brown, William H. Bond, Professor G. W. Jones, and C. H. Hannath, without other capital than the site for the church to go upon, determined to move in building. They were greatly encouraged by the energetic assistance of F. G. Nagle, while the generous liberality of Mrs. F. G. Hahman contributed much to the rapid progress of the work. The church was built during the rectorship of Rev. Mr. Lane. It was begun in the Spring of 1872, and finished in the Fall of 1873. It is small, but made so that it can be enlarged when desired, Within it is the most neatly finished church building in Santa Rosa, and in 1876, it became entirely free from debt.

The Rev. D'Estaing Jennings became Rector in November, 1873, and left in November, 1874. There was no minister after that time until June, 1875, though occasional services were held and Rev. Thomas G. Williams officiated a few weeks in the Spring of 1875. The Rev. Edward H. Ward became rector in June, 1875, and he continued about one year, when he left, having accepted a call to Marysville. During the same season (Summer of 1876) Rev. Thomas Smith had come to Santa Rosa to reside, and as the church had no minister he was invited to officiate, though he was not called to the reetorship. He continued until June, 1878, when he removed. There was no minister after that for one year, though an occasional service was held by some visiting clergyman. In the Summer of 1879 Frank P. Thomp-on, Esq., met Rev. Dr. Shepherd in Sacramento and invited him to visit Santa Rosa. This resulted in a unanimous call from the vestry for Rev. J. Avery Shepherd, D. D., to become the rector of the church. He assented and took charge on the Ist of July, 1879. Dr. Shepherd left the East, where he had a large church in Baltimore, only to be near his son, who had settled in San Francisco.

The lav readers of this church were Dr. R. Press Smith and Prof. G. W. Jones. The first Senior Warden was Dr. Smith, with W. H. Bond, Esq.,

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for Junior Warden. T. L. Thompson, Esq., became Senior Warden in 1874 and Senior Warden in 1876, with Prof. Jones for Junior Warden, which offices these gentlemen still hold. Dr. Smith was Superintendent of the Sunday-school from 1868 to 1871, Prof. Jones from 1871 to 1877, and Dr. A. S. Wright from that time to the present. The Sunday-school has greatly increased, numbering nearly one hundred pupils. It has always been flourishing, and is now one of the best in the State. The Church of the Incarnation appears to be well founded, and bids fair to be a very pleasant and prosperous church.

The Brotherhood of the New Life .- The following account of this Brother- hood is gleaned from the columns of the Sonoma Democrat :-

A new form of religion is almost certain to attract attention, and find followers, no matter what may be the principles it advocates, or how absurd may be the tenets it proposes.

We have, near Santa Rosa, a founder of a new creed, whose followers are more numerous than we at first supposed, and of whose religious opinions, until recently, we have failed to understand, and thinking that a brief and succinct account of him and his teachings might not prove disinteresting to our readers, we present the following :

Thomas Lake Harris was born at Fenny, Stratford, England, May 15; 1823, and was brought by his father to America in 1827. His father settled in Utica, New York, and engaged in mercantile business.

Mr. Harris' mother died when he was quite young, and he was thrown upon his own resources to obtain an education. At an early age he exhibited strong religious.tendencies, and a poetical imagination, and at the early age of seventeen he began to write for the newspapers, and soon afterwards became known as a frequent contributor to the press.

When twenty-one years of age, he renounced his inherited Calvanistie faith and entered the ministry of the Universalist denomination, and settled as Pastor of a congregation at Minden, New York. Shortly afterward, he removed to Charleston, S. C., on account of failing health, and in about a year he returned to New York and took charge of the Fourth Universalist Church, and after a ministration extending over a period of about twenty months, he was succeeded by the celebrated Dr. Chapin, and in the following year he took the position he has since maintained, as an independent teacher, and organized a society known as the "Independent Christians," to which he continued to minister until the outbreak of Spiritualism in 1850.

In the year 1852 he joined the community at Mountain Cove, Vermont, and after a few months spent in investigation, he preached and lectured in the principal cities in the Union until 1855. At this time he is briefly described by a writer as follows: "In philosophy, a Platonist, in spiritual science agreeing with Swedenborg, and in sociology accepting the economi-

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cal review of Fourrier, he sought in these labors to turn the public interest in spiritualism in behalf of this larger and higher range of thought.

In 1855 he resumed his ministry among his friends in New York, and in 1857 he published " Arcana of Christianity," in which he says, "I inhale with equal ease and freedom the atmosphere of either of the three heavens, and am enabled to be present without the suspension of the natural degree of consciousness, with the angelie societies, whether of the ultimate, the spir- itual, or celestial degree," intimating thereby that he had the power of visit- ing heaven or hell. He states also in his works that he has visited these regions, and gives an account of his visits.

In 1858, he visited England, and traveling in various parts of the United Kingdom, lectured upon his peculiar religious views. In 1861 he returned to the State of New York and retired on a farm at Amenia, Duchess county. Here he was followed by a few friends who desired to realize a purer social life. As his spiritual family increased, he purchased property near the above mentioned village, organized a National Bank, engaged in milling and in other operations, and the little band grew into a society, and assumed the name which heads this article.

In 1866, Mr. Harris again visited Europe in the interests of the society, and in 1867 returned to New York, and purchased one thousand acres of land near Portland, Chautauqua county, and shortly afterwards bought all the neighboring farms for the benefit of the members of the society.

A number of prominent persons united with the society about this time, among whom we might mention a lady of considerable prominence in the English nobility, Lady Oliphant, and her son, Laurence Oliphant, M. P .; a number of distinguished Japanese also united with the brotherhood.

The society has no written creed, covenant, or form of government, and its several thousand members, who are scattered over Great Britain, India, Japan, and ti.e United States, it is claimed are held together simply by the principles of fraternal love, and by an inspiration working through internal respiration. They claim for this new breath, that it descends through the heavens from the Divine spirit, and that it replaces the former and natural mode of breathing by a respiration which is Divine-natural in fulfillment of the statement which Swedenborg alleges to have been made to him by the angels in the last century, that the existing order of Christendom was in its last stages, and should be followed by another resulting from a "new respiration breathed through the heavens by the Lord." They believe that inmostly God dwells with all men, but that personally and corporeally all are in relation with good and evil spirits. That self-love and self-indulgence corrupt and degrade the person till the divine likeness is effaced, and the man becomes a devil. That salvation is neither by natural progression nor philosophical self-culture, nor justifying faith, but that man only becomes free from his evils, and from the tyranny and inspiration of evils pirits, through

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self-renunciation and a life of unselfish labor for humanity; but that in this latter case both spirit and body may become regenerated and pure. They hold that God is two in one, infinite in fatherhood and motherhood, and that all who become angels find their counterparts and become two in one to eternity ; hence they recognize in marriage not only a pure ordinance but the symbol of the holiest of divine mysteries. Members of the society who hold real estate cultivate it on their own account. No property is held in common. They claim that the Christian church of the future will not be an ecclesiasticism, but a pure and free society, not communistic, but fra- ternal and co-operative.

Mr. Harris located here in 1875, and purchased four hundred aeres about a mile and a half notrh of Santa Rosa, where he has luilt several elegant buildings, and has brought the farm to a high state of cultivation. He has undoubtedly the most extensive library in California, and with a number of members of his society he spends his time in reading and contemplation. He is the author of a number of works, both of poetry and prose, and they exhibit the authorship of a mind of far more than ordinary power and cultivation.

In the Mountain Cove Journal, the organ of the society, of August 19, 1852, under the general heading of "Disclosures from the Interior," appeared, under the title of " God manifest in Creative Energy," the following account of the creation, which we cannot forbear publishing as we close this article :-

"1. In the beginning, God the Life, in God the Lord, in God the Holy Procedure, inhabited the dome, which, burning in magnificence primeval, and, revolving in prismatic and undulatory spiral, appeared, and was the pavilion of the Spirit; in glory inexhaustible and inconceivable, in movement spheri- cal, unfolded in harmonious procedure disclosive.

" 2. And God said, Let Good be manifest! and good unfolded and moral-mental germs, ovariums of heavens, descended from the Procedure. And the dome of diselosive magnificence was heaven, and the expanded glory beneath was the germ of creation. And the Divine Procedure imbreathed upon the disclosure, and the disclosure became the universe.

"3. And God called the Disclosing Firmament heaven, and the dis- closed creation he called earth.

" 4. And God said, Let Mechanical Procedure be ! and movement rythmical, harmonical, melodial, unfolded from the firmament. And the movement thereof in the moving creation was time.

" 5. And God said, Let there be space ! and the firmament was separated from the emanation, and the firmament, unmoved, appeared, and the emanation unfolded within the procedure. And the firmament is mani- fest Infinitude, and the emanation separated, is encompassed space.

"6. These are the generations of creation in the day that Jehovah

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God created the heaven and the earth; and behold, the creation was one earth, and the dome of disclosure one heaven.

"7. And God said, Let there be light! and the Divine Procedure unfolded a luminary unto the ethereal which divided the emanation from the firmament. And the intelligence was light.

"S. And God said, Let there be heat! and the breathing life thereof descended.

"9. And God said, Let there be movement of moving Energy! and life descended, interanimate, comprehending creation, and there was movement spherical from the heaven of disclosure.

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History of Sonoma County : including its geology, topography, mountains, valleys, and streams, Part 50

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. 4n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: San Francisco : Alley, Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1008

Author: Alley, Bowen & Co. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: San Francisco : Alley, Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1008