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gether too limited. It was not a month before listeners stood at the doors and windows. The people eagerly testified their joy and gratitude at the presence of an ordained minister of the gospel among them, to perform those rites, which, except in the efforts of a few individuals, had been unheard since they left their far-off homes. Captain Thomas, of the English brig "Laura Ann," then in port, had for two or three Sabbaths been reading the service of the Episcopal church and a sermon to a few whom his example had induced to public worship. Previously, a Mr. Anthony, a Methodist, had once or twice addressed some of the people, who had been called together by public notice. A prayer-meeting had been held for several months before the discovery of the gold by two or three members of different churches, in the counting-house of a pious merchant, among whom was Mr. Thomas Douglas, of New London, Con., who subsequently taught the public-school on the plaza. But beyond these, and perhaps a missionary, who had touched here on his way to Oregon, or a chaplain of the army or navy, who may have once or twice held public service, there had been nothing of the kind prior to Mr. Hunt's arrival. One of the earliest results of this gentleman's labors was the more general observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest. Many who had opened their stores as on other days, closed them, and the example shamed some whom it did not otherwise influence. the first Sunday in January, 1849, the first sacrament of the Lord's Supper was administered to twelve communicants of five or six different denominations. The scene was a rare and novel one. Men and women gathered together to do homage to their common Maker, and thought not of cavilling about creeds and forms; but forgot sectarian jealousies in the promptings of that innate spirit through which they sought to do what was right and consistent with those dictates of honor and justice that made them men above brutes. Despite all its vices, this city has one proud boast over more puritanic communities, that its people have always been ready to render unto every man his own, and to aid their suffering fellows, unasked, and unasking whether they be Christian or Jew, Catholic or Protestant, Pagan or Believer.

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For about four months Mr. Hunt was alone in the State, until the steamship California,-which reached San Francisco February 28th, 1849,-brought four missionaries from New York, who soon seconded his endeavors; viz., Rev. O. C. Wheeler, a Baptist, who located in San Francisco, but is now at Sacramento; Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge, an old-school Presbyterian, who proceeded to and still resides at Benicia, where he organized the first church in the State; Rev. J. W. Douglass, newschool Presbyterian, who first resided at San José, but now edits and publishes "The Pacific," a religious paper, in San Francisco; and Rev. S. H. Willey, of the same persuasion as the latter, who landed at Monterey, and remained there a year and a half, having officiated as chaplain to the convention that framed the State Constitution. He was the second clergyman in the State, having left the steamer on the 23d of February.

During the ensuing spring and summer other ministers arrived. Rev. Albert Williams, who had reached the city in the steamship Oregon, on the 1st of April, 1849, after preaching a few times in the public school-house on the plaza, organized on the 20th of May the first Protestant ecclesiastical society in the city, and second in the State only to that at Benicia. This was the "First Presbyterian Church," and it had originally but six members; viz., W. W. Caldwell, from the Second Presbyterian Church, at Newburyport, Mass.; Dr. George F. Turner, of the Missionary Church, at Mackinaw, Mich.; Frederick Billings, of the First Congregational Church, at Woodstock, Vt.; Sarah B. Gillespie, of the Presbyterian Missionary Church, at Macao, China; Margaret A. Geary, of the Presbyterian Church, at Johnstown, Pa.; and Ann Hodghton, of the Missionary Church, at Valparaiso, Chili. The first named two were elders. Messrs. Bezer Simmons, Elihu Woodruff and Hiram Grimes were the first trustees.

This little congregation selected a lot as the site of their place of worship, on the west side of Dupont street, between Pacific street and Broadway, upon which they erected a large tent, which had been the marquee of a military company in Boston ; and in it during the remainder of the dry season of 1849, they statedly held their meetings. It was plainly, but neatly furnished with matting, pulpit, seats and seraphine, and afforded

accommodations for about two hundred persons. In the summer of 1849, Mr. Alfred DeWitt, a member of the congregation, very generously, upon his personal responsibility, ordered for its use a church edifice from New York. The correspondents and

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Presbyterian Church, destroyed by fire June 22d, 1851.

friends of Mr. De Witt assumed the labor of procuring the plan and execution of the building; and by their own donations, jointly with an appropriation from the funds of the Church Extension Committee of the General Assembly, they forwarded it entire in its materials and work, including pulpit, seats, lamps, and a fine-toned bell, as a donation, exclusive of the freight, to the congregation. It was designed by J. Coleman Hart, architect, of New York, and was of the early Gothic style of architecture. It was thirty-five feet wide, by seventy-five feet in

depth, with a vestibule of eleven feet in front, and could seat eight hundred persons. Pending its arrival, a period of about one year, the congregation worshipped for the most part in its tent on Dupont street, and in the superior court-room (city-hall, corner of Pacific and Kearny streets), and the adjoining councilchamber, into which a communication had been opened to accommodate the increased number of members. On the arrival of the building, in the fall of 1850, the present site on the west side of Stockton street, near the corner of Broadway, was secured and the church erected; the whole expense, including lot and freight, being about sixteen thousand dollars.

On Sunday, January 19th, 1851, the church was dedicated in the presence of a crowded auditory, by Rev. Albert Williams, its pastor, assisted by Rev. Messrs. Prevaux and Hinds. A remarkable prosperity attended the society during the time of its occupancy of that church edifice; but five months only were permitted to the congregation to remain in "its holy and beautiful house." The sixth great fire, June 22d, 1851, totally destroyed the building; and in that sweeping desolation, which involved very many of the citizens in extreme losses, its members suffered heavily, and were much scattered by the overwhelming calamity. In this emergency they availed themselves of the best accommodations which could be had at the time, in the room occupied by the superior court, in the St. Francis Hotel, where they regularly worshipped until the present church, a plain and unpretending building, was erected and ready for use (Sunday, October 12th, 1851), on the site of the first edifice, and designed only as a temporary structure. The society has rapidly recovered its strength, and has enrolled at present one hundred and sixtyseven communicants; and the Sabbath-school, which from the time of its formation has been connected with it, numbers one hundred and fifty teachers and pupils in usual attendance.

Although this was the first society organized, it had not the first building erected in San Francisco for religious worship. Rev. O. C. Wheeler, one of the passengers in the "California," in February, 1849, organized on the 24th of June following, the "First Baptist Church" of the city; and shortly afterwards they erected a spacious and commodious building in Washington

street, between Dupont and Stockton streets. The society has grown as large and influential as any in the city, and has a numerously attended Sabbath-school and Bible-class attached to it. On the departure of its originator for Sacramento, Rev. B.

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Brierly was appointed their pastor, and still conducts divine worship. A second church of this persuasion, and almost as numerously attended, has been established in Pine street, near Montgomery, under the pastoral charge of Rev. Wm. Rollinson.

Mr. Hunt, of whose early labors we have already spoken, completed the organization of a society, the "First Congregational Church," in July, 1849, which at present meets for divine service at the corner of Dupont and California streets. This was the third in point of date, and the fourth sprang into existence in the same month. The latter was the Trinity Church, Episcopalian, organized by the Rev. S. F. Mines, who subse

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