Excerpts from a sermon preached by the Reverend Herbert I. Oberholtzer, Rector of St. Paul's Church, at the convocations of Oakland and San Francisco (including Marin) in November, 1930.
Jesus emphasized the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, the two constituent elements of the family of God. In any true family life the members of the family must cooperate for the family's fullest life. . . . In the writing of St. Paul, we find the recurrent terms "fellow helpers, fellow laborers, fellow workers" appearing over and over again.
* * * * * * So in the Kingdom of God, the family of God, we must seek to become "fellow helpers, fellow workers, fellow laborers;" not only workers with God but workers together with God.
. . . Distracted by our individualities, our group consciousness, our parochial and denominational difference, our racial and national antipathies, there is one place where we may become one family -- around the person of Jesus Christ. As we lift Him up and realize our oneness in Him, we more and more realize that we are fellow-workers with Him and we become more and more workers together with Him and we sink all our personal differences, group animosities, racial and national antipathies into our common task of developing the family of God and making our Kingdom of Heaven a reality upon this earth. So "We then, as fellow-workers with Christ beseech you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
THE BEGINNING
In the beginning, Marin County was a paradise of beauty populated only by flocks of wild fowl, herds of elk and a goodly number of grizzly bears all living in a benign environment. The Miwok Indians had a good life living off the land, choosing from the seasonal bounty that a good earth offered them. There were only a few visitors down through the centuries, including Sir Francis Drake, who landed here in 1579. Then the Russians moved down the coast from Alaska and founded a supply base at Fort Ross in 1812. The Spanish, who were in power at that time, began to be worried about Russian intrusion into California. There was already a problem at Mission Dolores in San Francisco with the Indian converts. They were dying in large numbers which the Franciscan Brothers thought was due to the unhealthy climate in San Francisco. The proximity of the Russians and the decline in the Indians' health were the spurs that prompted the founding of the Mission San Rafael in 1817. The Mission was very short lived; it was the first to be secularized in 1834. At this time, the Mission lands were sold and the Indians who had been Christianized dispersed. A small village had grown up around the Mission and in 1850 when the new County of Marin was formed in the fledgling state of California, San Rafael was named the county seat. The only substantial house in town, the adobe built by Timothy Murphy became the first courthouse. San Rafael at this time was struggling to survive. It was a hard place to get to and there was no particular reason to stay once you arrived.
One local wit wrote the following description of San Rafael in 1867:
San Rafael is in the United States. It is bounded by the Turnpike Road and the Red Hill. Its principal stream is the Arroyo running through Short's Addition, emptying itself in Mahon's marshland. Its principal products are onions, tow-headed children, scandal, bad whiskey, balky horses and wild ducks. The inhabitants are peaceably inclined when they are sober, but when elevated by artificial means stand from under. Every man in the place is of the opinion that he is the person who has caused San Rafael to attain its present prosperity. We have two churches wherein divine services are held semi-occasionally.
By 1867, the ruins of the Mission San Rafael had been torn down and a little chapel had been built to provide the services of the Catholic Church. The other denominations were struggling to gather a congregation and held their services wherever they could find a place to accommodate them.
The first mention of an Episcopalian service in the Marin Journal was in July, 1864 when services were held in the schoolhouse. Prospects for an Episcopal Church in San Rafael did not appear too promising. Bishop Kip, whose picture starts this chapter, said in the sermon he gave at the Consecration of St. Paul's:
The services of this day bring to my remembrance hours in the distant past. Years ago, I was accustomed to come to this place to hold services when the church was almost entirely unknown. One lady striving to start a Sunday School, and a small schoolhouse was the only place in which our service could be held. It seemed almost hopeless to expect the formation of a parish, or the erection of an edifice of worship.
The meager beginnings that Bishop Kip spoke of he later attributes to a Mrs. Fairfax. This would be Ada Fairfax, the wife of Charles Snowden Fairfax for whom the town of Fairfax is named. The first vestrymen were also leading citizens of the town: Sidney V. Smith, Henry McCrea, Thomas H. Hansen, J.D. Walker, John Saunders, Upton M. Gordon and Doctor Alfred W. Taliaferro.
The vestry searched for a rector and was successful hiring the first rector, the Reverend William Henry Dyer. He wrote of his early experience in San Rafael, in the rainiest of winters in 1868, in February, regular services were commenced in the County Court Room, upstairs in the old adobe built for the Roman Catholic Mission. About forty Protestants, one-half Episcopalians, made up our average congregation.
In May of 1868, the vestrymen and the new rector went to San Francisco to the Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of California. St. Paul's Church was admitted in union with the Convention on May 6, 1868.
The rector and vestry then turned their attention to a building for their weekly services. The rector wrote, "In the fall, vestrymen collected here in two weeks time $1,100, and with $100 in trade, paid $1200. for a church lot." This was the original site of the church on Fourth and E Streets next to the public cemetery. They bought the lot from Mr. Angellotti; it was ninety feet wide and one hundred fifty feet deep. Mr. Dyer wrote that in "November [we] removed to the Masonic Hall, which we found a much more suitable place to worship God."
By 1869 there were twenty-five communicants. The Sunday School had grown to forty-two with six teachers. The church building fund had been raised to $250. The Reverend Dyer wrote; "This Spring, Wright and Saunders, Architects, presented us a plan for a church." Collections were called for and subscriptions raised to build. The church was opened on the 10th of October. Its cost, including furniture, was about $5,000, of which $2,000 was borrowed.
The Marin Journal described the opening services in this manner:
The church just completed was formally opened for divine services on Sunday last. The services were conducted by Revs. Dyer, Phelps and Bush, the latter named preaching the sermon. Services were omitted at the places of worship of the Methodists, Baptists and Presbyterians, these congregations united at St. Paul's. . . . The building just completed is of the Gothic style of architecture, 25 x 46 feet of wood with spire and vestry, and is situated on the southwest corner of Fourth and E Streets, adjoining the public cemetery. The interior of the building is finished with California redwood and Oregon white pine, oiled and varnished. There are twenty-four pews in two rows with a wide aisle between. The exterior of the building is painted light drab. The building was built by W.A. Boyd of this place under contract.
San Rafael was beginning to grow and became known as a summer resort by the 1870's. The old Courthouse was built in 1872, which gave an air of prosperity to the little town. The Reverend Dyer describes the economic upturn in his letter to the Pacific Churchman of July, 1870:
Half the buildings in San Rafael have been built within the last two years and population increased from 500 to 900. Baptist, Presbyterian and Methodist services are held regularity, and the Roman Catholics are ready to build a fine church. Instead of forty Protestant worshipers in one congregation, we may now report an aggregate of one hundred fifty divided among four churches . . . . The Lord's work progresses here in an amazing manner.
He concludes:
We feel in San Rafael, as in other places, that religion needs to penetrate deeper into the hearts and lives of its professors.
The Reverend Mr. Dyer resigned as rector of St. Paul's in December of 1870.
Historically speaking, the era in which St. Paul's was founded was a time of turmoil and strong feelings about the Civil War and its outcome. The church in San Rafael -- as all the churches in California -- was made up of immigrants from both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. It was the avowed practice of the Episcopal Church in California to stay aloof from questions raised by the Civil War. There was an effort to exclude references to political events from sermons and the rector was to promote peace and goodwill among the opposing factions. The church was struggling for its existence in an atmosphere that was not always friendly. The clergy tried to knit a family of God together, rather than lose members by appealing to any one political persuasion.
In 1870, the Reverend Joseph W. Lee became rector of St. Paul's. In 1871, St Paul's Church was formally incorporated in the State of California. The Reverend Lee was faced with removing the debt remaining on the church building. The church could not be consecrated until debt was paid. The Reverend Lee was instrumental in paying off the debt and allowing the consecration of the church. The date was set for Sunday, July 18, 1872. Those in San Francisco wishing to attend the consecration must leave San Francisco at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday by ferry and return Monday morning. On the great day, Bishop Kip, Doctor Lyman of Trinity Church in San Francisco, the rector, J. W. Lee, and members of the vestry processed down the aisle. The request for consecration was read by Senior Warden Sidney V. Smith. The actual consecration service was performed by the Bishop, the sentence of Consecration read by the Rector. Morning prayer followed, read by the Rector and Doctor Lyman and the sermon preached by the Bishop, who then administered Holy Communion. The Bishop stated: "This church is the result of earnest labor and faith. . . . A strong congregation has been gathered and there is no obstacle now in the way of future prosperity and increase."
When Mr. Lee left to sail back east, the Reverend Thomas Brotherton became the interim rector officiating on Sundays. The new rector, George H. Ward, arrived in April of 1875. The next rector was William Nixon, who took over in January 1877. In 1878, building began for the Sunday School--a building to be called the Guild Hall-- at a projected expense of $1,945. A large portion of this sum was donated by Mrs. Mary Ellen Butterworth. This woman was a saint, according to the eulogy written by the Reverend Stoy in 1884:
She made her life one continual ministry, religious, domestic, social and charitable, using wealth for the glory of God and the promotion of human happiness. Her good works like her faith, her love and her religious devotion, were unceasing.
A stained glass window was dedicated to a remembrance of her life and remains on the south side of the nave.
The Reverend Nixon resigned in August of 1880.
The Guild Hall (1879)
