The next priest to come to St. Paul's was the Reverend Henry Stoy. He came from Portland,Oregon in October, 1880 and stayed for twelve years. The first priority after arrival was to acquire a parsonage or rectory for St. Paul's. Mr. Stoy had a son and two daughters; the first mention of a family man as a priest at this parish. Fund-raising for the rectory began right away. The women of St. Paul's put on concerts and held fairs to raise the money. Some of the wealthy parishioners opened their homes for these affairs. Meanwhile, the rector lived in rented quarters.
Mr. Stoy had been heavily involved with Diocesan affairs in Oregon and carried this interest over to the Diocese of California. He gave lectures for the edification of the community. He served as priest for the little chapel started by Alfred Todhunter in 1881 in conjunction with his school in San Anselmo.
Local and national affairs and movements must have affected the little church in San Rafael. The Temperance Movement was gaining strength in this country. The neighboring Episcopal Church in Petaluma had some parishioners of a temperance outlook who asked their rector to substitute grape juice for wine in the communion service. The rector refused. When this group asked the vestry to fire the rector or they would leave the church, the vestry refused, although the group contained some very wealthy parishioners. There was no such surge of temperance feelings in San Rafael, however. In 1881 the horror and sadness over the assassination of President Garfield was felt even in far-away California. Memorial services were held at St Paul's and other churches in the community. In Mr. Stoy's sermon he took for his text Proverbs 10:25; "As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation."
In 1884, there was news that an organ had been purchased and would be in place for Christmas services. The next event to cause excitement was the purchase of a rectory at Fourth and Shaver Streets, and Mr. Stoy and his family moved in the day before Thanksgiving. The family had a lot to be thankful for that year.
By 1886, San Rafael was becoming aware of its image and was working at upgrading the look of the town to reflect its status as the County seat. At this time sidewalks became an important issue. The Marin Journal reported that the sidewalk in front of the Episcopal Church was a model for the rest of the town. In 1887, a concert was held to raise money for a stone wall on Fourth Street in front of the church property. This was to replace the picket fence that was in constant need of repair. The Diocesan report for that year show the congregation had 323 members with five Sunday School teachers and sixty students. There were 800 volumes in the Sunday School library.
The beauty of the church building was enhanced in 1887 by the donation of a stained glass window by William Babcock in memory of his first wife, Helena. The window was made in New York by James T. Lawder. The next year another window was added, a memorial to the late Doctor Alfred V. Taliaferro. This window was made in Munich, Germany and paid for by subscriptions raised among the many friends and admirers of the good doctor, the first physician in San Rafael and a well-known character. It was said that when he passed the collection plate, if a parishioner did not put in enough cash, he would stand there and shake the collection basket until the embarrassed person would dig deeper in his pockets. A year later another stained glass window, given in memory of Mary Ellen Butterworth, was donated by her daughter, Mrs. Sidney V. Smith.
The parish gave a concert and garden party in 1891 that raised an astonishing sum of $800 for street improvements and repairs to the church and rectory. The rector himself placed a notice in the Marin Journal to thank all those who attended for their generous support.
The clergy and laity of the Northern Convocation of the Pacific met at St . Paul's in February, 1892 with Bishop Nichols in attendance. It was a good session and general approval was expressed by all who attended--Mr. Stoy and St. Paul's were warmly complimented.
Tragedy struck the Stoy family that year when Anna, Mr. Stoy's daughter, committed suicide. It was a great shock to the family and to the community. After the funeral, Mr. Stoy and his other daughter, Molly, left for the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) to try to recover from their grief. There was a great outpouring of love and concern for the rector whom everyone loved and admired. But Mr. Stoy was completely devastated by his daughter's death, and when parishioners learned he was planning to leave St. Paul's, they collected a "significant purse" for a parting show of affection. Mr. Stoy went to live with his son in Portland, Oregon but returned often to San Rafael to visit and share special occasions with his friends in the county. Friends gave the lovely brass pulpit in his memory when he died in 1908.
The Reverend Ernest Hartmann of New York preached his first sermon at St. Paul's in October, 1892. His first undertaking was to pay off the mortgage on the rectory which he accomplished by 1894. His next endeavor was to have the organ overhauled, and in appreciation, the choir grew to such a number seating was no longer adequate.
Mr. Hartmann issued a pamphlet in 1893 called The Guild Chronicle. Published in the Marin Journal, it gave reports of various organizations flourishing at St. Paul's. It mentions St. Elizabeth Circle, a branch of the Daughters of the King. In their report, they mention raising money for such things as repairing the organ and buying hymnals. They also sent handmade items to several charities in San Francisco.
The Junior Auxiliary, it was reported, was begun by Miss Stoy to interest young people in mission work. They raised considerable money for missions. The Sunday School superintendent reported an average of 92 students with eight teachers, an organist and a librarian. The crux of the report was a call for more teachers to fill the need for training young minds in Christ's ways.
St. Mary's Guild was formed in 1891 for the purpose of performing parish and charitable works under the direction of the rector. This guild reported charitable contributions to needy families, the purchase of new bibles and prayer books for the church, and gifts of needed items to the Armitage and Maria Kip Orphanages in San Francisco. The honorary members of St. Mary's provided the means and the working members contributed their labor.
St. Paul's had a branch of the Women's Auxiliary founded in 1887. They were a branch of a national organization founded in 1872 to let the women of the church do what they could in their own way for the missionary work of the church. Money, boxes of clothing and other necessities were sent to needy missions around the country. They also reported the system of having honorary and working members. This Chronicle tells in their own words what the women of St. Paul's were doing for the church in the 1890's. Then, as now, the women taught the young, repaired what was broken, fed and clothed the needy, and did the knitting and sewing. They raised the money for what was needed locally and also sent what they could to allow the work of the church to spread throughout the world.
Although it is quite clear from the "Chronicles of the Guild," the women of the church were all participants in the life of the church, when the Diocese of California was petitioned to admit women as delegates to the Convention of 1904, the answer was "no". To quote the Chancellor of the Diocese, "The term 'laymen' in this connection was clearly intended to signify laymen and does not therefore include 'laywomen.'"
In 1895, the church was enlarged by an addition designed by William Curlett, a very popular architect of the time. The entrance of the building was changed to one side. The new addition would accommodate 190 more people and cost $1,870.
Added at the same time was the rose window. Herman Oelrichs, a wealthy resident of San Francisco and New York, gave the window. He was not a member of St. Paul's, but was friends with several members of the vestry. A mystery has always surrounded this gift, but one elder member of the congregation recalled that the gift was the result of a bet between Mr. Oelrichs and his friends on the vestry. Mr. Oehichs lost and St. Paul's gained a beautiful rose window. No confirmation of this story has been discovered, but the gift was generous.
The Reverend Mr. Hartmann's health began to fail in 1896 and the next year he suffered a hemorrhage of the larynx. In November he was ill with pneumonia. At Christmas, Mr. Hartmann was still confined to his bed, but celebration of Christ's birth was kept. "Loving hands had decked most beautifully with flowers and Christmas greens and berries the walls and chancel" and "showed that love and woman's heart and hands had done the work." Evans was the choir director, and the boys choir attracted much notice in the Marin Journal: "Their action, conduct, dress, singing were all perfect." The writer seemed quite surprised that these local boys had been tamed into a church choir.
Substitute clergy continued to fill in for Mr. Hartmann. The Reverend Charles Hitchcock from the Selbome School was the visiting priest in 1898. Mr. Hartmann died in February 1898, and his funeral was held at St. Paul's with Bishop Nichols presiding and other clergy from the area participating. The pallbearers were the vestry members: William Sale, S.P. Moorhead, Dr. W. 0. Howitt, George M. Pinckard, T.S. Bonneau and Vincent Neale. Mrs. Hartmann returned to New York with her young son. This boy was to become the father of St. Paul's long-time parishioner, Ernest Hartmann, who was named for his grandfather.
The music at St. Paul's continued to attract the attention of the newspapers. The parish had two choirs: a quartet at the Morning Prayer Service, and a vested choir with Mr. Evans as Choir Master singing at the Evening Prayer Service.
Mr. Wyllis Hall served as interim rector until he was officially made rector. The Reverend Mr. Hall began his ministry by asking for a new rectory. It was decided to remove the old rectory and build a new one. The old rectory was sold to Mr. William Vaning and moved to the south side of Fifth Street between C and D Streets. Mr. Hall remained at St. Paul's until 1903, when he resigned because of poor health. He continued to live in San Rafael, boarding with one of his daughters until his death in May, 1908 at the age of seventy.
The Reverend Charles Hitchcock, an Englishman, took over as rector in 1904. Charles Hitchcock came to San Rafael to take over as headmaster of the Selborne School, a private boys college preparatory school. The school burned in 1899 and Mr. Hitchcock and his family barely escaped with their lives. Loyal friends and students persuaded him to rebuild--which he did--the new Hitchcock Military Academy was built on Grand Avenue. This school, together with the Tamalpais Military Academy, also in San Rafael, helped fill the pews of St. Paul's with military cadets in uniform. This in turn must have attracted the young ladies of the town to put in an appearance at church. Mr. Hitchcock was only rector for one year, but he continued to fill in and was always available for sermons or to assist at special occasions. He continued as headmaster of Hitchcock Military Academy until 1911 when he retired.
It is interesting when looking back over history to point out that some of the practices we take for granted are really innovations of the 20th Century. One of the new practices is the Every Member Canvass and the pledge envelopes we put in the offering collection. When St. Paul's started back in the 1860's, the common way to pay the rector's salary was to charge pew rents. The wealthiest parishioners sat at the front of the church and could see and hear the service better than anyone else. A movement began in the Episcopal Church in the 1870's to have "free churches". This meant that the members of the congregation could sit where they liked regardless of their financial contribution. No alternative way of paying the clergy was suggested at this time, however, so pew rents continued to be the main source of income at St. Paul's well into the 20th Century. Even with pew rental there was a shortage of funds at times.
In the recollection of Mr. R. H. Menzies of his many years at St. Paul's, he states:
At the time I became Treasurer some forty years ago, the parish was almost wholly supported by pew rents and when, as was not infrequently the case, I lacked sufficient funds to meet the rector's salary, it had become the custom that I should call on four wealthy members of the Vestry, Messrs. Babcock, Boyd, Butler and Evans, and state my case-- when the invariable reply was, "All right, Robert, here is my quarter," and a corresponding check was handed me. I suppose it was some five years after this that I had the temerity to propose pew rents be abandoned and name plates removed, and was very promptly sat upon. Still I persisted and finally a compromise was arrived at under which it was understood pew holders would continue to sit where they always had, but the name plates would be removed. However, when, as sometimes happened, an outsider wandered into the fold and sought the first convenient seat, there were at times sighs of annoyance but never, to my knowledge, was any more noticeable objection raised. . . .
Note to our readers: Here we must slightly interrupt our chronological history to jump from 1905 to 1908. The Reverend Ernest Bradley served as rector of St. Paul's twice; the first period ended in 1908 when he was succeeded by the Reverend Griffin M. Cutting. Father Cutting served until 1920 when Mr. Bradley returned. To keep the story of Mr. Bradley together, we are relating the history of Father Cutting's period here.
FATHER CUTTING'S LECTURES
The Reverend Griffin Marshall Cutting signed the service book at St. Paul's for the first time for Holy Communion at 8:00 a.m. on April 18, 1909. Father Cutting had not only an imposing name but also a rather noteworthy background in travel and church duties in foreign lands. He had been rector of a large boys' school in Egypt, thus had close pastoral connections with the Hitchcock Military Academy while he was in San Rafael. The Marin Journal often announces the topics of his lectures--sometimes on "Oxford," "English Cathedrals with Fifty Stereoptical Slides," "Rome, Ancient and Modern," "Shakespeare Country" or "Paris".
In those days when information (and inspiration) were often obtained from "lectures," we find newspaper announcements for subjects such as: "How We Obtained Our Bible," and "The Natural Person of the One in Whom We Believe." Father Cutting evidently continued to educate the parish and the community on such subjects as "The Organization of Labor in its Relation to the Christian Religion," "Trade Unions," "Industrial Peace--Open or Closed Shop," and "The Unemployed". This was a time when organized labor was undergoing a bloody struggle such as the Haymarket Riots in Chicago in 1910 (the aim of which was a ten hour working day), and all these topics were controversial.
The Marin Journal also listed the topic of each sermon to be preached the following Sunday. Two of those listed were "Is Church Going Worthwhile?" and "Is Prayer in Agreement with Science?"
The newspaper also related perish activities including in 1911 "The Busy Bee Club". One announcement is for an entertainment on a Saturday afternoon which included dialogues and recitations. The twenty-five cent admission would benefit an Orphan Fund. The Busy Bees were ten little girls under the age of twelve. They supported an orphan of the Presbyterian Orphanage in San Anselmo (Sunny Hills) in the sum of $60 per year for board and clothes for their protegee. At another time their entertainment was billed as "Living Pictures" --tableaux behind a borrowed gold frame. The newspaper reports, "flooded by a tinted light thrown from the Reverend Cutting's lantern" (stereoptican).
While the little girls were supporting their orphan, the older members of the parish were collecting for the Chinese Famine Fund or for Armenian Sufferers.
On October 20, 1918 the service book notes, "Epidemic of Influenza. Church closed by order!" It was re-opened on Thanksgiving Day, when at 11:00 Holy Communion the church attendance was noted as "Full." Thousands of people both in the United States and in Europe died in the Great Influenza Epidemic during 1918 and 1919.
Attendance was noted as "Full" again on November 9th, 1919 for a service to "Welcome Home Soldiers."
The ecclesiastical pattern of Father Cutting's services noted in the service book would indicate he was from the "High Church" tradition. He had services of "Intercessions" and, on Easter Eve, "Self-Examination" (Confession?). Also he celebrated a Holy Communion at midnight on Christmas Eve-- not a popular time in the "Protestant" Episcopal Church of the United States.
To sum up, Griffin M. Cutting from the notes of the service book and newspaper accounts, he seems to be a man of erudition and sophistication who was very "au courant" in his thinking on social and religious trends of his time.
The only mention of Mrs. Cutting is in announcements of their vacation plans for a month at Bolinas or to Lake Tahoe.
The last entry of his rectorship is on January 3, 1920 for the Holy Communion at 11:00 a.m. with attendance noted as "good."
St. Paul's after 1895 Improvements
