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History of California yearly meeting of Friends Churches 1895-1955

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History of California yearly meeting of Friends Churches 1895-1955

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Content HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA YEARLY MEETING OF
FRIENDS CHURCHES 1895 - 1955
by
T. Eugene Coffin
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(Religion)
August 1956
UMI Number: EP65271
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T/tis thesis, written by
......... T.....£ugBna..Co£f in...... I |
under the guidance of h:Ls...Faculty Committee, 1
and approved by all its members, has been pre- j
sented to and accepted by the Faculty of the
Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
%c'tïî% Dean
D a te....... S e p te m b e r,...2956..
Faculty Committee
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION: OBJECTIVES AND METHODS
OF THE STUDY
No complete history of the movement of the ”people
called Quakers” to the west coast of the United States, and
particularly California, has ever been undertaken. Indi
vidual churches have appointed members to gather data
concerning the early beginnings of their particular group,
and in at least one instance a history of the several
churches in northern California was written in brief form.
With the rapid growth of the state, and consequently the
increased opportunities confronting the Friends churches,
it was felt that a history of California Yearly Meeting of
Friends would serve, not only as information, but inspira
tion and instruction for those now engaged in building new
Friends churches and revitalizing the older, long-estab
lished Meetings.
The problem of this paper is to define the theologi
cal structure of the Society of Friends at the time of a
westward migration on the part of large numbers from the
churches of Iowa and Kansas. A brief historical statement
will serve to give the basis of that theology and the
^concern” which impelled Friends to move west. The social
issues prevalent at the time will serve as a background to
the practicable application of their beliefs as problems
IV
were faced and worked out in a new environment.
The story of the organization of churches during
the land boom of the Whittier area will give insight into
the character of those who were involved. When diffi
culties arose in the areas of theology and organization,
the Quakers were equal to the challenge and able to make
what seemed to be an impasse a creative experience.
This study will include the story of the migration
of Friends to California, the organization of the first
churches in the State, the history of a few typical
churches in selected locations, the difficulties encoun
tered and the final establishment of California's Yearly
Meeting of Friends Church with her several Quarterly Meet
ings.
Material for such a history as outlined above has
been very limited. Only by searching the Minutes of Iowa,
Kansas, and California Yearly Meetings, reading the "Epis
tles” from various Yearly Meetings to one another, and
discovering accounts in the religious and secular journals
of the time, was it possible to collect the data for this
study. The generosity of Iowa, Kansas, and California
Yearly Meetings is gratefully acknowledged in making possi
ble such a study.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. FRIENDS MOVE WEST........................ 1
Historical Statement of the Society of
Friends .............................. 1
Characteristic Position of Friends as
They Moved West...................... 5
Organization Among Friends ............ 18
Membership......................... 20
II. NEW CHURCHES SPRING UP 1860-1895 22
Early Beginnings..................... 22
£1 Modeno............... 26
The Whittier Colony and the Whittier
Friends Church........... 30
Wildomar Friends Church .............. 35
Alamitos Friends Church .............. 36
A Sketch of Other Meetings Established
Before 1895 ......................... 3#
III. DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED AS FRIENDS MOVED
WEST ................... 42
The Land Boom of Whittier............. 42
The Temperance Tempest in Whittier ... 46
Doctrinal Difficulties ................ 4#
California Yearly Meeting Organized
March, 1895 ............. 57
vi
CHAPTER PAGE
IV. THE EXPANDING WORK OF FRIENDS.......... 65
Missionary Enterprises.............. 65
Other Concerns................... 72
Historical Sketches of a Few Churches ... 75
Los Angeles ...................... 75
B e l l ........... . ................ . 73
Berkeley .. .. . . . . . . . . 79
Berkeley Quarterly Meeting.... ......... 80
Present Status of Friends in California . . 83
V. SUMMARY .................................. 87
BIBLIOGRAPHY......... 91
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I. Membership in California Yearly Meeting
1 8 9 5 ................. 62
II. Membership and Contributions, California
Yearly Meeting April 1, 1949 84
III. Membership and. Contributions, California
Yearly Meeting April 1, 1955 85
CHAPTER I
FRIENDS MOVE WEST
I. HISTORICAL STATEMENT OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS
The Friends Society, generally called Quakers, |
arose in England about the middle of the seventeenth cen-
!
tury. George Fox, founder of the new religious movement, i
began his ministry in 1647. , j
i
As a result of the spiritual experience known as
the "Inward Light," the "opening" came to Fox,
That every man was enlightened by the Divine Light
of Christ, and I saw it shine through all; and that
they that believed in it came out of condemnation and
came to the Light of Life, and became Children of it;
but they that hated it, and did not believe in it,
were condemned by it, though they made a profession of
Christ. This I saw in the pure Openings of the Light,
without the help of any man, neither did I know where
to find it in the Scriptures, though afterwards,
searching the Scriptures, I found it.l
This great affirmation, which was a thing of first
hand experience to the early Friends, conflicted with the
Puritan disbelief in immediate revelation, and with current
doctrines of election and reprobation. Friends felt that
Christ was come to teach His people Himself, and to call
them away from the world’s ways and teachings to His own
living teaching. The indwelling life of Christ became to
^Journal of George Fox (London: Bent and Sons, Ltd.,
1694), p. 22. ^
2
Friends the supreme fact of religion.
The position of the Friends was the logical con
clusion of the Protestant Reformation, and marked the
culmination in the development of doctrine which had been
advancing by irregular stages for more than a century.
They proclaimed the truth that man’s salvation is a per
sonal matter between his own soul and God, and does not
depend upon the intervention of the church in any of its
offices, or by any of its officers, in the administration
of any rite, ordinance, or ceremony whatever. They ac
cepted the doctrines of the Apostolic Age of the church,
and distinctively emphasized the truth that the Holy Spirit
enlightens every soul to reveal its condition and make the
individual feel the need of a Saviour. They emphasized
the further truth that Christ’s promise to plant a new
life in the soul and abide there to give it Light, to feed
it with the bread of life and to lead it into all truth,
had become a practical reality, to be known and experienced
by every true believer. They proclaimed that the true
baptism is that of Christ Himself, who baptizes His people
with the Holy Spirit, and that the true communion is the
spiritual partaking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ
by faith, and that there is no form or degree of sacerdo
talism in the Christian Church.
The corollaries which flowed from this main propo
sition included a distrust of an instituted ministry, the
3
position of nonnecessity of all outward ordinances, the
views as to a worship of creaturely silence and spiritual
spontaneity, their encouragement of the ministry of women,
the nonconforming to the customs of the world and the
determination to make life a walking in the Light. In the
indwelling Light of Christ, the whole of life became
sacramental, penetrated with religion of the prophetic
type, which draws its strength and its vision from inter
course with God.
The clear and vigorous message as to the freedom and
the spirituality of the Gospel attracted multitudes of
people who had sought the truth in the endless disputations
of the time. They took the title of "Society" because it
was considered that the term church belonged to the whole
body of Christ, and that no portion of that body had a
right to assume to itself a name that implied any exclusion
of others. The practical aspects of the use of "Society"
instead of "Church" were found in the fact that the Izlaims
of the Established Church, totalitarian as they were, made
it necessary for Friends to identify themselves in another
way. In recent years, however. Friends have taken their
place in "God’s Denominational Garden," and many Yearly
Meetings now use the term "Church," The name "Friends"
was adopted in accordance with the declaration of the
Master: "Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command
4
you."^ For a time the members called themselves "Children
of Light," "Friends of the Way," and "Friends of Truth."
The term "Quaker" arose in I65O when one Justice Gervase
Bennett of Derby derided George Fox when Fox and a group
of Friends told the Justice and his court to "tremble
at the word of the Lord."^
Friends came to America soon after the body arose
in England. New England Yearly Meeting was established in
1671, or earlier; Baltimore in 1672; Virginia in 1673; and
joined Baltimore in 1845; Philadelphia in I68I; New York
in 1695, by New England; North Carolina in 1693; Ohio in
1813, by Baltimore; Indiana in 1821, by Ohio; Western,
including Indiana and Illinois, by Indiana in 1858; Iowa
in 1863, by Indiana; Canada in I867, by New York; Kansas
in 1872, by Indiana; Wilmington in 1892, by Indiana;
Oregon in 1893, by Iowa; and California in 1895, by Iowa.
As Friends moved westward and established meetings
in California there had already come into being a uniform
disicipline which developed from a Conference in Richmond,
Indiana, in I887. The "Pastoral System" with arranged
services, in contrast to the traditional meeting on the
basis of silence, had gained a great hold upon the Society.
^John 15:14.
^Journal of George Fox, p. 34.
5
Education became one of the leading "concerns" of Friends
and the "orthodox," evangelical group expanded rapidly in
missionary endeavor, building new "meetinghouses" for
churches, and enlisting youthful leadership to carry "the
message of Friends" to the "uttermost part of the earth."
II. CHARACTERISTIC POSITION OF FRIENDS
AS THEY MOVED WEST
The custom of Friends Yearly Meetings to exchange
epistles which are read in the session of the Yearly Meet
ing had preserved effectively the position of Friends in
theology, social concerns, and practice at the time they
began the push to the West. In these epistles are to be
found the expressions of deep spiritual experience, con
cerns for the welfare of others, and continued adherence
to the development of the pastoral system for Friends
meetings which have characterized the churches established
in California. The epistle from London Yearly Meeting of
the year 1890 reflects the feeling of the "parent" society
for her children everywhere.
To the Quarterly and Monthly Meetings of Friends in
Great Britain, Ireland and elsewhere; Dear Friends:
We salute you in the words of the Apostle "Grace and
peace be multiplied unto you, through the knowledge
of God, and of Jesus Christ."4
‘ *11 Peter 1:2.
Our meeting has been large, and its deliberations
have been marked throughout by harmony and brotherly
love. . . .We are afresh persuaded that the practical
Christianity into which we have been led, in the simple
following of Christ, is eminently adapted to commend
His truth and love to all classes around us.
From the earliest stages of the Christian’s life,
his privilege and joy to understand more and more of
the deep meaning of the truth, "Ye are not your own;
for ye are bought with a price."5 The solemnly re
peated utterance of the three chosen apostles (Peter,
John, and Paul) become to him a threefold assurance
of infinite live,--"Ye were not redeemed with cor
ruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish
and withoutJspot."b "He is the propitiation for our
sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins
of the whole world."7 "There is one God and one
Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave Himself a ransom for all."#
We are none of us Christians by nature. Our Lord
Himself has assured us "except a man be born again,
he cannot see the Kingdom of God."9 New affection,
new desires, new tastes must take the place of the
old.
Here, and here alone, is that liberty to be found
which is truly sacred, because it is of God, a liberty
not of self-willed independence, but of lowly subjec
tion to our Master’s law of righteousness and truth.10
The concern to keep worship "after the manner of
Cor. 6:19,20. Peter 1:18,19. |
7l John 2:2. Timothy 2:5. |
9john 3:3. !
l^The Epistle from the Yearly Meeting held in Lon
don, 1890, recorded in Kansas Yearly Meeting Minutes, 1891 !
TWIchTta7 Kansas: Headquarters Kansas Yearly Meeting, 1891)L
p. 90. I
Friends" from losing its vitality in the new world is ex
pressed in a paragraph from the same epistle.
Our duty as regards worship has been presented to
us at this time with peculiar impressiveness. We have
been reminded of our high privilege, as a religious
society, in having been called to bear a practical
witness to the truth on this great subject. Worship,
whether in public or in private, is not dependent on
ritual or ceremony, or upon presence of any humanly
appointed priest or minister. It may be without words;
as well as with words, but it must be in spirit and in
truth. He who is at once our Holy Sacrifice and High I
Priest hath gone into heaven now to appear our Mediator
and Advocate in the presence of God. He is our peace,
through whom alone we have access by one spirit unto
the Father. Through the immediate ministration of the
Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus fulfills His own gracious
assurance, "Where two or three are gathered together
in My name, there am I in the midst of them."11 We
have been earnestly invited to hold fast this truth
ourselves, but so to exhibit it in all our meetings
in faithfulness and spiritual power, that it may be
effectually brought home for the acceptance of others.
How many are there among the educated and intelligent
around who are weary and unsatisfied with the forms
and profession with which they have been familiar,
and who are still longing for rest to their souls.
It is in acting out these principles that the
life of the Christian becomes a hallowed ministry for
Jesus, and it is our fervent prayer that in such life
our dear Friends everywhere may prove their part in
the universal priesthood of believers. It is not the
few who may serve in an official capacity that enjoy
the exclusive privilege of being "priests unto God."12
In the true ideal of the Church of Christ, there is
no laity. All are called to a place in the "holy
priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptably
to God by Jesus Christ."13 May all be faithful to
their part in this ministry, that none may fall short
of the blessed reward.14
llMatt. 28:20. l^Rev. 1:6. 1^1 Peter 2:5.
l^Epistle from London Yearly Meeting, p. 100.
8
Thus, at the time of an evidence of missionary zeal
in the Society with its focal point to the west of the
Rockies, we find it fed from as far away as London by a
stream of deep well-defined spiritual experience. The
thrust of the whole movement seemed to come from a strong, i
evangelical faith with a world-wide vision.
A study of the reports made in I89O of the Meetings
on Ministry and Oversight of both Iowa and Kansas Yearly
Meetings, reveal the same emphases theologically as seen in
the London Epistle. The report of Iowa Yearly Meeting on
Ministry and Oversight is as follows:
¥e do not hesitate to express our conviction that
our church in the liberty it accords to all who are
called of God, whether male or female, to exercise
the gifts of the Spirit, is adapted to the work of
the spreading of the Gospel, Let us not be dis
couraged. God has opened and is opening before us,
at home and abroad, a wide door for service. We
have crossed the Jordan when He opens the way. We
have gone forth "blowing the ram’s horn," and while
in some sense the walls of Jericho have fallen,
let us remember God did it all.
Harmony with God is the basis of true harmony in
the Church, without which we will be crippled in
our work. Salvation comprehends both justification
and sanctification and the keeping power,of the
Lord, our Shepherd. It is all important that we
have a right experience and that we seek for ability
to live it out in daily life.
In speaking with those who are inquiring the way
of Salvation, let us be careful to instruct them in •
accordance with Scripture. There must be repentance
toward God before there can be living faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ. We should not urge them to |
claim salvation until they have repented and confessedj
9
to God their sins and renounced them.^^
This same theme is found in the report of Kansas
Yearly Meeting on Ministry and Oversight* It states that
the meeting opened under a solemn covering of the Divine
Spirit and that many hearts were exercised in earnest,
asking for the fullness of the blessing in store for those
attending. It seemed that the pressing concern of all was
for the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the enduement of
power from on high, to prepare for the session of the
Yearly Meeting and the coming year and for life. Â special
concern was felt for the Ministers of Kansas Yearly Meet
ing that they would be able to do God’s will perfectly.
It was further stated that the Scriptural doctrine should
not be substituted by traditions of men nor by visions
that seem to run parallel with them. The Ministry and
Counsel stated that none now are inspired to write Scrip
ture, but to expound it. The tendency to invalidate the
divinity of our Lord;,» and to advocate a second probation
will be prevented by keeping Scriptural doctrine, they
said, urging that all be able to answer the question asked
of the Disciple of our Lord, "Whom say ye that I am?" â
more pronounced swing to a creedal expression of faith is {
seen in the suggestion of the report that ministers are |
^^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting of Friends, 1890.
Minute 64(Qskaloosa, Iowa: Headquarters,"Towa Yearly Meet*
10
representatives of the church and,
In taking the privileges we also take the restric
tions of the Church and should be careful to support
the doctrines thereof; and, as the Gospel is many
sided, care should be exercised not to go out too
much on one line, but preach a full Gospel. Soundness
in Scriptural views implies harmony with the doctrines
of the Church.
From these excerpts, two trends are very evident.
As Friends prepared to explore new fields for service they j
sought to strengthen the Society by a renewal of the his- I
toric theological position which was clearly conservative, ;
and, second, to fortify the work by the "calling" of pas
tors to serve meetings which were made up of a few Friends ;
and many people of varied denominational or no religious
background.
Four major social concerns occupied the minds of
Friends before the turn of the century. One grew out of
the days of the "underground railroad" and the very ma
terial assistance given the Negro before and after the
Emancipation Proclamation. The concerns were developed and
carried out through the "Freedman’s Committee." Iowa
Yearly Meeting supported Hobson Normal Institute at Par
sons, Kansas, as the project of the Freedman’s Committee.
The report made by E. B. Mendenhall, the secretary-pro tern
in 1889, indicates that the work among the colored, both
^^Minutes of Kansas Yearly Meeting, 1890 (Wichita,
Kansas: Headquarters, Kansas Yearly Meeting')'^ pp. 67-68.
11
secular and religious, was expanding, and that the efforts
put forth through the Executive Committee and D, ¥• and
R. A. Bowles, Directors, were crowned with a great amount
of success. D. W. Bowles, in the written report to Yearly
Meeting, outlined the work of the school as follows:
Enrollment of students for the year 69, average
attendance 56, nearly all of whom are grown up to
young men and young women. They represent the states
of Kansas, Missouri, Colorado, Texas, Tennessee, and
Indian Territory. Class work during the year has run
through the whole course of study. To meet the in
creased demand for teaching force, R. A. Bowles, wife
of D. W. Bowles, did more schoolroom work than she
has heretofore done. Assistance also was dram from
the teacher’s training class. The unusual earnest and
thorough work of the students, the manifest apprecia
tion of their opportunities, together with their ef
forts to promote the best interests of the school are
peculiarly satisfactory. . .
Last commencement exercises were held in the open
house of Parsons {without cost to the school) and were
witnessed by about 500 citizens of the town and vi
cinity, who were highly pleased with the ability and
manner with which the students acquitted themselves,
as shown by the complimentary remarks published in
the daily paper. By the establishment of secular and
Sabbath schools in various localities by the students
during the past year, the influence of the school
has been widely extended. In recognition of the fact
that over a million of colored children of the south
are receiving no education, we may well hope that more
laborers may be sent into the suffering fields.^7
The total budget of the Hobson Normal Institute was
reported to the Yearly Meeting as being $739.15 for the
^^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting. 1889 (Oskaloosa,
Iowa: Headquarters, ïowa Yearly Meeting)^ p. 44.
12
year. Darius ¥. Bowles was apparently the leading spirit
in this concern for the education of the colored children
of the several states mentioned. The high esteem accorded
him is found in the minutes of the following year when his
death is reported to Iowa Yearly Meeting. Comments from
Friends in attendance show a deep appreciation for the
apparent self-sacrifice of Darius Bowles and his wife
Rebecca, for the sake of educating colored children. The
simplicity and economy with which they lived and operated
the school was remarkable. Their character was reflected
in the splendid management of the school and the deport
ment of the colored people who attended. The Yearly Meet
ing concurred in the feeling that Iowa Friends had bene
fited greatly in supporting the work as well as having a
large share in being instrumental in bringing souls to
Christ. The students of Hobson Normal Institute, upon the
death of D. ¥. Bowles, passed the following resolution:
Whereas, Divine Providence has removed our dear
teacher, Professor Bowles, from the scene of his
earthly labors, and the students who were under his
instructions are desirous of testifying their respect
and sympathy with the family, therefore, be it re
solved that by his death we have lost a beloved edu
cator, whose wise counsel, extensive information, and
courteous manner have won our greatest esteem and
admiration. . . .Resolved, that in our sorrow for
our teacher we find consolation in the belief that it
is well with him for whom we mourn.. Resolved, that
while we deeply sympathize with those who are bound
to our teacher by the nearest and dearest of ties,
we assure them with the hope of reunion where there
are no partings. . . .Resolved, that these resolutions
13
be given to the daily newspaper of this city for
publication.13
^%inutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1390, p. 14.
19Ibid.. p. 49.
It was men of the character of D. W. Bowles who
carried the concerns of Friends in social action into
successful operations. Hobson Normal Institute was a
testimony to the entire community that there were people
interested in the colored race, hot as those who were to
be regarded as servants, but as individuals whom God loved;
and who deserved an equal opportunity for education with
their fellow Americans.
Both Kansas and Iowa Yearly Meetings had active
committees on temperance. The work of temperance was
channeled through the several Quarterly Meetings and to
the local Monthly Meetings. Friends united their efforts
with the work of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union
in every community with good results. The purpose of the
committee in Iowa was expressed in the chairman’s report
in 1890.
It has been the purpose of the committee to teach
prohibition, supported by Bible authorities, pressing
upon the hearers the terrors of the law and the
advantages of grace, endeavoring to commit every
element of society to the support of true temperance,
which is absolute total abstinence and universal
prohibition.19
14
The result of this purpose was to be found in the
report that there was a commendable interest in temperance
and a great decrease in the drinking habits of the people
of the state as well as a very satisfactory decrease in
criminal court expenses in all counties heard from except
onë. That was Polk County, where there had been a 60 per
cent increase in population and a 25 per cent increase in
criminal court expenses. Resolutions adopted by Iowa
Yearly Meeting in 1890 recognized the "strength and sa
gacity" of the liquor manufacturers and expressed gratitude
to the legislators of the state for having passed the
prohibitory laws and then enforced them effectively.
Friends pledged themselves to united support of every law
ful and honorable means used for the suppression of the
liquor traffic and urged Congress to amend the revenue
laws of the United States so that no internal revenue
receipts would be issued liquor manufacturers and dealers
until the applicants had produced written evidence of their
having complied with the laws covering the sale:of intoxi
cating liquors. More will be noted later as to the influ
ence of Friends in curbing the activities of the liquor
interests as they moved to Whittier.
The Civil War, having been fought only twenty-five
years before, was still fresh in the memory of many
Friends, and the concern to bear testimony against war
15 I
was actively promoted through a Peace Committee in each
Yearly Meeting.
About 18 70, the Peace Association of Friends in
America was formed. This Association embraced the Yearly
Meetings of Hew York, North Carolina, Baltimore, Ohio, |
Indiana, Western Iowa, and Kansas. The plan of organisa- '
tion was the appointment of a standing committee by each ,
Yearly Meeting, and each of these committees appointed two ‘
of their number to constitute a National Executive Com
mittee, each Yearly Meeting making a small appropriation
annually for carrying on the work. The plan of work was
to establish a central office where a paper— the organ of
the Association— could be published and such books and
tracts on the subject of peace be written as funds would
allow. Every legitimate means to reach and mould public
opinion on the criminality of war and the blessings of
peace was sought after and used. Three thousand copies
per month of The Messenger of Peace, organ of the Associa
tion, were printed and distributed. The paper had been
published for twenty years by I89O and had done much to
win people to peace principles. During the year of I89O, |
however, The Messenger of Peace was united with the j
I
Christian Arbitrator, a Philadelphia publication, and was
then called The Christian Arbitrator and Messenger of
Peace.
16
Great quantities of peace tracts were printed and
distributed to children and adults. The approach to the
peace testimony was that the ministry of reconciliation
and peace was an integral part of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. If the peace testimony was left out of the preach
ing, the full Gospel had not been preached. In his report
as the Peace Committee chairman to Iowa Yearly Meeting,
Daniel Hill says:
Very few preach the full Gospel. They either
ignore the peace phase of it, which is a very promi
nent feature, or preach and teach the wrong side of
it. In this age may it not be safely said that in
all countries professedly Christian, the responsi
bility for future wars lies largely at the door of
the church. Even in our own beloved church there is
a large amount of indifference on this subject, and
quite a feeling that our efforts should be directed
to the conversion of sinners, and that when they are
converted, they will naturally become peace men and
women. But experience teaches that multitudes of men
who profess to be Christians do not hesitate to enter
the army, and engage in the slaughter of their fellow-
men. Hence, the necessity of special teaching on
this subject.20
The concern as expressed by Daniel Hill has been a con
tinuing one among Friends to the present time.
The American Indian has been much in the minds of
Friends throughout the history of the church in America.
I
The interest is reflected in the work of the Associated
Committees on Indian Affairs of several Yearly Meetings. |
j
The work was done by establishing Monthly Meetings of
J
17 I
Friends in Indian Territory and staffing those Meetings
with mission workers. In the report to Iowa, the Com
mittee on Indian Affairs stated that in I89O there were
three Monthly Meetings, eight Preparative Meetings, and |
fifteen meetings for worship in Indian Territory. In i
I
addition to the above, occasional meetings were held in
other neighborhoods. The total membership reported was
350 Indians and 225 whites. Seven Friends, with the wives ;
of six of them, and two women Friends who were teachers 1
were resident workers in the Monthly Meetings. Friends
supervised day schools supported by Government funds and
found the contact profitable for Christian Education.
James 1. Rhoads, Clerk of the Associated Committee on
Indian Affairs, reports to the Yearly Meeting as follows:
Probably at no period since the formation of the
Associated Committee in I869 has the general outlook
for the good of the Indian been so favorable. The
officers of the National Government, representing
the Indian Bureau, are able and interested in educa
tion, religion, and progress. An endeavor is being
made to reach all the Indian youth and to bring
them under the civilization influences of schools,
religion, and industrial training. From almost
every point of view the prospect is encouraging and
the call to Friends seems clear to enlarge their
work.21 I
The interest and concern of Friends for the American
Indian continues to the present writing, as will be seen in
a later chapter on the work of Friends in Los Angeles
^^Ibid.. p. 25.
la
County.
The influence of the *'Hicksite” division in Ameri
can Quakerism is still to be seen in the Friends movement
in California, for fresh signs of life are evident, espe
cially in philanthropic and educational direction. The
problems arising out of rival claims to original Quakerism
by various groups of Friends in the Golden State will be
discussed in a later chapter.
The opportunities for Friends in California are not
unlike those which Friends enjoyed at the rise of the move
ment. Some individual churches have sincerely set about
to meet the increasing challenge of large numbers of
earnest seekers after truth to whom the sacerdotal and
institutional forms of religion have little appeal, but
who long for a group fellowship that is penetrated by the
living Spirit of Christ.
III. ORGANIZATION AMONG FRIENDS
The Quaker movement had at first little organiza
tion. It depended mainly on group life and inspired lead
ership. General meetings of neighboring groups were held,
and each group had its local leaders, or "elders,* and
received occasional visits from "visiting Friends" or
"Publishers of Truth."
In any treatment of the Friends, frequent reference
19
is found in the terms "Yearly Meeting," "Quarterly Meeting"
"Monthly Meeting," "clerk," and "membership." The denomi
nation of Friends is composed of Yearly Meetings, the term
designating annual assembly for the purpose of fellowship
and business. Each Yearly Meeting is independent in the
transaction of its business, but a bond of union is main
tained by annual correspondence between them; by issuing
and receiving the credentials of ministers for special
service; by granting and receiving certificates of mem
bership in cases of removal; and by joint participation in
religious and benevolent enterprises. A Quarterly Meeting,
so-called because it convenes once a quarter, consists of
all members of the Monthly Meetings within its limits and
subordinate to it. The Quarterly Meeting has the power to
establish, divide, or discontinue a Monthly Meeting, or to
unite two or more Monthly Meetings. Through its represen
tatives to the Yearly Meeting, business is prayerfully
considered and recommendations forwarded to the Yearly
Meeting membership in attendance for action.
A Monthly Meeting, which meets for business once a
month, is an organization of one or more congregations,
and consists of all those persons who are entitled to be
recorded upon its list of members. One congregation of
members is called a "Meeting" or church. It is under the
supervision of ministers and elders as to its spiritual
20
interest, and of overseers as to the moral conduct of the
members. The business affairs of a congregation or "Meet
ing" are cared for by the regular officers and by such
committees as may be appointed by the Monthly Meeting.
California Yearly Meeting of Friends belong to the
body known as the "Five Years Meeting of Friends in Amer
ica," consisting of eleven Yearly Meetings which span the
continent.
The "clerk" is the presiding officer of the Meet
ing, and questions are not decided by voting, but by the
clerk recording "the sense of the Meeting" in a minute
that expresses the weight of spiritual judgment on the
matter in hand. The practical result is conservative and
unifying, for minorities are respected, and there is no
cleavage into parties.
Membership. For fifty years or more after the
founding of Quakerism there was no regular membership.
Those who were "grown in the Truth" were invited to sit in
the business meetings, and lists of such persons were kept.
In 1737, in connection with poor relief, a rule as to
settlement was set up by the London Yearly Meeting, which
incidentally directed "the wife and children to be deemed
members of the Monthly Meeting of which the husband or
father is a member, not only during his life, but likewise
after his decease, until they shall gain another settlement
21
elsewhere." Membership in the Society is now either by
"convincement" or "confession of Faith," by letter of
transfer from other Friends Meetings or other Christian
communion, or, in England, by birth if both parents are
Friends. Many American Friends churches give children,
on request of their parents, an associate membership.
CHAPTER II
NEW CHURCHES. SPRING UP 1860-1395
I. EARLY BEGINNINGS
j
Aquila H, Pickering of Chicago, Illinois, felt the I
desire to form a Friends Colony in California. He had
i
traveled twice to the Golden State during the years 1336 !
i
and 133?. Those were the days still filled with the
\
stories of the famous "Vigilantes," and undoubtedly he was
deeply impressed with the accounts of the years when lynch-
ings, cattle "rustling," horse stealing, and sheep killing |
were common events. Perhaps lynching could be considered
entertaining, but the other activities were economic.
Previous to his trips some Quakers had responded to i
the challenge "Westward HoJ" and were scattered throughout
the State, not knowing the whereabouts of other Friends.
Aquila Pickering visited a number of these Friends, and of I
his travels he writes:
The idea of forming a Friends Colony in California
was in one way impressed upon our minds and hearts by i
observing the need as well as the opportunity for j
educational and Gospel work as we traveled from place !
to place during a first and a recent visit. There I
seemed an open field which Friends might occupy and |
in so doing ought to exert a great influence for good, j
I
Many localities were without schools and churches, i
or so remote that attendance was difficult. The i
Sabbath was poorly observed, and on every hand in
temperance was spreading so rapidly that it was fast
23
becoming the common foe of the State. The need of
moral and Christian influence was everywhere apparent.
With such reflections as these in our minds and
with the thought that a strong community of Friends
would doubtless assist in bringing about much needed
reforms, it is not surprising that slowly but surely
the Holy Spirit sealed these convictions on our
hearts.
When we decided to act in obedience to what was to
us evidently Divine leading, we received the reward
of a settled peace and joy. A new faith sprang up
in our hearts that there would yet be a flourishing
Friends Church on the Pacific Coast. We spoke of
this to some of our friends and relation, an announce
ment was made through our church paper, and an inter
est was soon aroused. Throughout most of the year
1336 we were in receipt of many letters from different
states making inquiries about the proposed colony.
These questions were usually in regard to climate,
production, education, supply of water, etc. At the
request of several families we were to return to
California and make such a selection of a location
as we might think best.l
The prospect of a Friends Colony gave new zest and
interest to the struggling Friends meetings that had
already been established in the years previous to 133?.
In 1360, Robert Lindsay and wife, during the course of a
general visit in the United States, visited California and
found a number of Friends living in the central part of
the State. During the following decade, several Friends
traveling in the ministry made visits to California and
encouraged meetings for worship wherever they found
Friends settled.
F. Arnold and A. D. Clark, History of Whittier
(Whittier: Western Printing Corporation, 1932), p. 12.
24
The report of the Iowa Yearly Meeting of Ministers
and Elders reflects the interest and concern of Friends
everywhere for opportunities open to Friends in the far
West. It follows:
I
Under a sense of great responsibility resting upon I
us, we have at this time, with full unity, liberated
our beloved friends, Thomas Pinkham and Mary B. Pinkham^
his wife, to sojourn for a time in California, Oregon,
and Washington territory; and perhaps other places in
the far West, in the service of the Gospel. We have ,
also with like feeling of unity, liberated our dear |
friend, John S. Bond, for religious service in the
Gospel in California, Oregon, Washington territory, andj
other places in the far West, particularly in some
parts among the miners in the mountains,2
The first regularly established meeting was held at I
San Jose. William Hobson and his brothers, with some
other friends, had located there and a Monthly Meeting was
set up on February 13, 1873, subordinate to Honey Creek
Quarterly Meeting, Iowa. San Jose Meeting appears in the
section "New Meetings Established" in the Minutes of Iowa
Yearly Meeting of 1873 as follows: "A meeting for worship,
preparative and Monthly Meeting at San Jose, California,
in Honey Creek Quarterly Meeting."3 James Canney served ;
as the first clerk, and his wife, Jane M. F. Canney, was
the first minister of the Gospel to serve as pastor of !
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1873, Minute 38
(Oskaloosa, ïowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), p.
14.
3lbid.
25
Friends in California.
Apparently there had been considerable discussion
for some years as to a requirement of the book of Disci
pline that all ministers who expected to make a religious
visit west of the Rockies had to obtain the approbation of
the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and Elders to do so. With
the increased interest and number of visits to the far
West, Iowa Yearly Meeting faced up to the situation by the
action recorded in the following minute:
In consideration of the extension of our limits by
the establishment of a meeting at San Jose, California,
the proposition which has claimed our consideration in
previous years, to so amend our book of Discipline, j
that the ministers shall not be required to obtain the i
approbation of the Yearly Meeting of Ministers and
Elders in order to make a religious visit west of the
Rocky Mountains, was again introduced, and with entire
unanimity it was concluded--women’s meeting concur
ring— to expunge the words "West of the Rocky Moun
tains" on page 62, 15th line, of our book of Disci
pline. 4
In the year 1832, the small number of Friends living
in Pasadena and Sierra Madre commenced holding meetings in
their homes. The first service was held at the home of
William Sharpiess on the John Ball place, July 23, 1332.
Fifteen Friends attended. The following months saw a
considerable increase of Friends moving to Pasadena, and
by July, 1333, a place of worship was rented and a Sunday
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1373. Minute 23
(Oskaloosa, Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), p.
9.
26
School started. Springdale Quarterly Meeting of Iowa
was requested to establish a Monthly Meeting and Pasadena
Monthly Meeting of Friends was set up in March, 1334#
The Minute concerning the report to Iowa Yearly
Meeting about the new church follows: |
Also, a meeting for worship at Pasadena, Los i
Angeles County, California, held on First-days at *
10 o’clock, and a Monthly Meeting, at the same place, j
held the Seventh-day in each month. Smith James of i
Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California, has been - j
appointed correspondent of Pasadena Monthly Meeting.^ i
El Modeno
About the same time Pasadena Friends were organizing
another group settled in the Orange County village of El
Modeno. They had moved from Hesper Quarterly Meeting in
Kansas, and included the following who were listed as
representatives when Pasadena Quarterly Meeting began:
William Nicholson, William S. Morris, William E. Mills,
Mahion H. Newlin, Samuel D. Coffin, Elizabeth Newlin,
Naomi Hadley, and Margaret B. Smith. A Sunday School was
started in 1334, and a meeting for worship held in connec
tion with it. At first known as Earlham Monthly Meeting,
later El Modeno, it was established by Hesper Quarterly
Meeting, Kansas, in November, 1336. The Minute concerning
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1334 (Oskaloosa,
Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), pp. 10 and 12.
27
the establishment of the new Meeting is found in Kansas
Yearly Meeting Minutes of 1836 as follows:
Hesper Quarterly Meeting has authorized the estab
lishment of a Meeting for worship and a Monthly Meet
ing by the name of Modeno, to be held at Modeno in
Los Angeles County, California, on Fifty-day follow
ing the first Seventh-day in each month at 10 o’clock,
a.m.^
The organizing meeting was held in the little
building which had been rented, fitted up and used some
time before as Friends Meeting House. In the autumn of
1333, Abel, Cyrus and William C. Frazier settled on land
where the town of El Modeno now stands. In the summer of
1334, W. Burnett and Louisa Frazier came to add to the
number of Friends. A "Sabbath School" was organized and
held in private homes. In 1335, a small house was rented
for meeting and Sabbath School purposes, and later pur
chased for one hundred dollars.
Benjamin Cox of Argonia Monthly Meeting, Kansas,
and Mary M. Brown of Vermillion Monthly Meeting, Illinois,
were the first clerks. Jeremiah A. Grinnell, a minister,
with his wife, Jane, from Damascus Monthly Meeting, Ohio,
were in attendance at the first Monthly Meeting, having
been on a religious visit to the Pacific Coast, and decided
to stay to do pastoral work for a number of years. At the
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1336, Minute 24
(Oskaloosa, Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), p.17
23 I
second Monthly Meeting that was held a committee was ap
pointed to plan for the location and erection of a meeting i
house. The grounds were donated by some of the members
who had designed and partially arranged the same for a pub-j
lie park. A beautiful building was completed and dedicated
in the fall of 1337. Edward Silu of Bloomingdale, Indiana,
preached the dedication sermon. Very liberal subscriptions
were made by many who were not Friends, and a new bell was
donated by a Mr. Hewes, who owned a large tract of land ad
joining the town. But the architecture of the church
proved too weak for the combined weight of the large bell
and the force of a severe "Santana" wind ^ich struck the
community in December of 1337. The building was completely
wrecked. Friends rallied for the erection of another build
ing and while it was in progress, carried on the regular
services of the church in a rented room at an expense of
eight to ten dollars per month. The church, which is still
in use, was completed early in 1333, and membership
steadily grew as Friends sought the mild climate of south
ern California from many Eastern cities. When the "Land
Boom" was over, the financial circumstances of many in
El Modeno forced them to seek other places to live where
employment could be found. The Christian Workman, a
monthly paper which reported the work of Friends in Cali
fornia and published in 1397> indicated that El Modeno had
29
a membership of 120 in that year, and comments that a con
siderable number of Friends had moved away because of the
change in financial circumstances.
In November of 1387, Pasadena and Earlham Monthly
Meetings, feeling the need of a closer bond of fellowship, I
united in requesting the organization of a Quarterly Meet- |
ing by the concurrent action of Iowa and Kansas Yearly
Meetings. The request was granted, and appropriate minutes
I
from both"Yearly Meetings were received, Kansas releasing
Earlham (El Modeno) to join with Pasadena to form Pasadena
Quarterly Meeting under the care of Iowa Yearly Meeting.
Kansas Yearly Meeting’s action in this regard follows:
We are informed by Hesper Quarterly Meeting that
it is united in granting the request of Modeno (now
Earlham) Monthly Meeting, California, to join Pasadena
Monthly Meeting, California (a constituent of Iowa
Yearly Meeting) in constituting a Quarterly Meeting
to be held alternately at Pasadena and Modena (now
Earlham) on the third Seventh-day and following First-
day in the 2nd, 5th, 3th, and 11th months. The meet
ing of Ministry and Oversight to be held the day
preceding at 2 o’clock p.m., the said Quarterly Meet
ing to be a constituent of Iowa Yearly Meeting of
Friends and to be opened at Pasadena, in 11th month
next. The action of Hesper Quarterly Meeting herein
is approved by the Meeting, and our clerks are di
rected to furnish Modeno (now Earlham) Monthly Meeting
with a copy of this minute, and we appoint William
Nicholson, William E. Morris, William S. Mills, Ma hi en
H. Newlin, Samuel D. Coffin, Elizabeth Newlin, Naomi
Hadley, and Margaret B. Smith to express to said
Quarterly Meeting when it opens, either by personal/
presence or by correspondence, our unity and concur
rence in its establishment, and our earnest desire for
its prosperity in the truth as it is in Jesus. We are
informed that Iowa Yearly Meeting has united with the
above request.7
The following year Iowa Yearly Meeting received a
report from the committee appointed to attend the opening
of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting with the following minute
entered upon its records:
The committee to attend the opening of Pasadena
Quarterly Meeting report that it was opened as
directed, to good satisfaction.®
Also included in the statistical report of that year was
the information that the name of Earlham Monthly Meeting
was changed to that of El Modeno. Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting reported five meetings, twenty-five ministers,
722 members which included 275 additions, and 121 families
practicing daily family worship in 1333.^
The Whittier Colony and the Whittier Friends Church
Early in 1337, Aquila Pickering and his wife
traveled from Sacramento in the north as far south as San
Diego and from there to Ensenada, Lower California.
Friends were visited wherever possible, and the merits of
the various parts of the State discussed. The high prices
^Minutes of Kansas Yearly Meeting, 1337 (Wichita,
Kansas: Headquarters, Kansas Yearly Meeting), p. 7*
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1333 (Oskaloosa,
Iqwa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), p. 6.
^Ibid., p. 9 *
31
of land and other difficulties made the search a discourag
ing one. A three-month’s stay in Los Angeles proved more
fruitful, and after much consultation with local Friends,
the John M. Thomas ranch and Turnbull ranches were pur
chased.
We were driven to the ranch, the present site of
Whittier, and hope began to revive ; a second visit was
made with still more interest. From the first we were
favorably impressed with this beautiful situation; the
high ground sloping away from the Puente Hills from
which we could see the whole valley reaching toward
the south and west until our eyes rested upon the
ocean, some eighteen miles away. So pleased were we
that a council of Friends was called and a free inter
change of views expressed. It is but justice to the
members of our church then resident in California to
acknowledge the many courtesies received from them
and to now express our gratitude for the interest
shown in the enterprise. We believed that not only
ourselves but other Friends entered into the prospect
of establishing a colony with much prayer, seeking to
know the mind of the Master, and with a fervent desire
that our Heavenly Father’s blessing would rest with
the undertaking.lO
The first meeting of the early Friends in southern
California took place about May 1st, 1337, in the old barn
belonging to the ranch. A. H. Pickering declined to serve
as president of the company, owing to advanced age, to
gether with his business interests at home in Chicago; ac
cordingly Jonathan Bailey was elected president, and Hewey
Lindley, secretary, of the Pickering Land and Water Company^
At their first meeting, M. D. Johnson, Los Angeles
Arnold and Clark, pp. cit., p. 13.
32 I
City Treasurer, proposed and all present agreed that the
colony be named "Whittier," in honor of the Quaker poet.
Those who laid out the original plot of land and determined
much of the policy governing the colony included: John
Painter, Wm. V. Coffin, Dr. Fordyce Grinnell, and Eleazer
Andrews. John Greenleaf Whittier, when informed of the
naming of the city, wrote the following in response: j
I
"My Name I Give To Thee"
Dear Town, for whom the flowers are born,
Stars shine, and happy songbirds sing.
What can my evening give to Thy morn.
My winter to Thy Spring?
A life not void of pure intent
With small desert of praise or blame;
The life I felt, the Good I meant,
I leave Thee with my name.^^
The thought of persons other than Friends buying
up the land, or of the company entering into speculative
activity, was entirely foreign to the feelings of the
original group. Their only thought was to secure for other
Friends the economical advantages and privileges of the
colony. By October of the same year, two carloads of '
Quakers, among whom were two ministers, left Chicago for
Whittier to find streets laid out, some small houses built,
i
and a land "boom" in full swing. I
The enthusiasm to move west reached to every eastern!
11
Ibid., frontispiece.
33
and mid-western Yearly Meeting. Many who were in ill
health looked to the mild climate of California as an aid
to recovery. All caught the spirit of concern expressed
by the Pickerings for an educational and Gospel ministry
on the West Coast to help stem the tide of evil so appar
ently rampant.
To study the leaders in the movement westward is
to discover the character of the colony and church estab
lished on the Pacific Coast. Honesty and integrity, per
meated by a deep spiritual concern and ministry, served to
be the life-sustaining factors in the difficult days of
prosperity and depression. The "concern" grew to a wave
of enthusiasm for new service to render for the kingdom
of God. Colonization was getting into full swing in south
ern California by the fall of 133?, and one of the first
acts of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting was to establish two
churches of its own, namely, Whittier and Wildomar.
The establishment of the colony is inseparable with
that of the church at Whittier. Jonathan and Rebecca
Bailey moved to the ranch home purchased by the Pickering
Land and Water Company and determined that when Sunday
(First-day) arrived that an hour of worship should always
be observed in their home, if none were present but them
selves. The following Sunday, May 15, found them true to
their decision, but they had with them at the hour of
34
worship, William Strawbridge and Samuel Ralshouse, the
latter afterward becoming a member of the church. The
services were continued in the ranch house until other
facilities were provided.
The colony grew rapidly and in the summer of 1337
the town company built a substantial house of worship at a
cost of sixteen hundred dollars, and presented it to the
company of Friends worshiping regularly in Whittier. This
commodious new church was formally opened on the 14th day
of August, 1337, and the dedicatory sermon was preached
by Luther B. Gordon. The Sunday School, called "Sabbath
School," was organized on August 21st, 1337, with Cyrus
Lindley "Provisional Superintendent," and with a member
ship of thirty-six. Jonathan Pickering was Treasurer, and
Rilla J. Newby, Secretary. The next year the first super
intendent of the Sunday School, Ella C. Veeder, was
elected, with Drusella Cook as Secretary. Enrollment at
that time was seventy-six. The school continued to grow
under various leaders and from the first was one of the
strong factors in establishing Whittier Church. Whittier
Monthly Meeting of Friends was organized on December 10,
1337, with Cyrus Lindley as Provisional Clerk. The first
certificate of membership to the meeting was for Dr. Elias
Jessup and his family. On January 11, 1333, Cyrus 1. Dixon
and Esther A. Hiatt were appointed as clerks of the Monthly
35
Meeting, with Jonathan Bailey, Rebecca Bailey, Abigail
Borland, and L. M. Baldwin appointed elders. Kate Davis,
J. C. Hiatt, Hannah Thompson, and A. J. Coryell were asked
to serve as overseers. On November 10, 1333, a committee
with W. P. Briggs as chairman reported that the services
of Dr. Elias Jessup had been secured as the first pastor
of Whittier Friends Church. In a report printed in a
special pictorial addition of the Christian Workman,
issued in 1397, the following statement is made concerning ;
the Whittier Church:
On 6th March 14th, 1390, the services of Thomas
Armstrong of New Providence, Iowa, as pastor, has been
secured, and he has served faithfully in that capacity >
ever since. The meeting has grown steadily from the
first both in membership and spiritual power and now
has four outposts under its fostering case. The mem
bership now numbers 469* .
Wildomar Friends Church
Wildomar was a small community lying thirty-five
miles southeast of Riverside in San Diego County. It was
situated in a narrow valley to which a number of Friends
families moved in 1335. Among them were James Hirst, who
later moved with his family to Alamitos, and John Hixon,
Isaac Hampton, and Marchall Maris with their families.
There being no place to worship, the schoolhouse, still in
construction, was used to organize a Sunday School. The
^^Christian Workman, special issue, 1397, P- 9*
36
Sunday School was always followed by a service of prayer
and praise led by one of the members.
In the summer of 133?, the small company of Friends
had grown considerably with the addition of five more
Friends families, and the Wildomar Town Company donated
two lots to Friends, and a good church building was erected
in the fall. In November of 1337, the Monthly Meeting of I
Wildomar was established by Pasadena Quarterly Meeting,
having James Hirst and May G. Cooper as the first clerks.
Truman Cooper was the first minister in the village of
Wildomar and became the first pastor of the Friends Church.
The church was short lived, however, for the depres
sion which followed the land boom in southern California
caused many to move elsewhere and the work of the church
faded as the community became deserted.
Alamitos Friends Church
In 1376, Henry and Mary Ann Hansler, Friends from
Pelham, Ontario, Canada, moved to what was known as the
Alamitos District, near the small town of Garden Grove.
Correspondence with other Friends in Canada brought John
and Susan Beckett, with their niece, Effie, and Alfred and
Mercy Beckett and their three daughters to settle on ad
joining farms of forty acres each. Shortly after these
families had settled in the area, members of the Earlham
(El Modeno) Meeting visited them frequently. Out of these
37
friendly experiences the suggestion was made that a large
tent be secured from the Whittier Meeting, and evangelistic
services be held. The tent was placed in the location of
the present social hall of the church, and a successful |
series of meetings was held with Ella C. Veeder and Sadie i
Bond as preachers.
Workers from Whittier and El Modeno assisted greatly
in the services and the decision was made to build a church
"not larger than the neighborhood could pay f o r ;
Pledges were taken and labor was donated, and a church was
dedicated on September 9, 1391, with thirty-nine charter
members. Those who made up the charter membership in
cluded: pastor, Ella G. Veeder, Susan Beckett, John Beckett^
Mercy Beckett, Alfred Beckett, James Swayze, Effie Beckett !
Swayze, Paul Swayze, Grace Swayze (Morgan), Frank Pack,
Lucy Pack, Mary Ann Hansler, Esther Hansler Wiggin, Nellie
Hansler Miller, William Hansler, Rosa Hansler Newsom,
Julia Hansler Corner, Robert Hansler, Delilah Snow, Frank
Snow, William Snow, Minnie Snow, Alice Snow, Mary E. |
Nichols, Elmer Nichols, Carl Nichols, Ida Nichols Conner,
Wilford Nichols, S. Adelaide Gates, Clara Gates Huff, I
Lorin Gates, George Moore, Mollie Moore, Walter Moore, |
Fannie Moore, Clarence Burior, Eliza Louing, Nathan Mills, )
^^statement by Margaret Hansler Miller, personal
interview. Spring, 1954.
33
Florence Mills, Eva Mills, and Estella Mills Harper.
The first officers of the Monthly Meeting were:
James Swayze, Clerk; Nellie Hansler Miller, Recording
Clerk; Alfred and Mercy Beckett, John and Rhoda Carson,
Overseers; Alfred Newsom, Susan Beckett, Elders; John
Beckett, Frank Pack, and George Moore, Finance Committee;
William Hansler, Effie Swayze, Ella C. Veeder, and Lorin
Gates, Temperance Committee; Rosa Hansler, Frank Snow, and
Clara Gates, Book and Tract Committee.
The minute indicating the organization of Alamitos
Monthly Meeting was as follows:
A request for a Monthly Meeting to be held at
Alamitos, Orange County, California, was presented to
this meeting with the concurrence of Whittier Monthly
Meeting, Said meeting to be held on the Fourth Day
following the first Seventh Day in each month at
2 o’clock p.m. This meeting unites with the request.
To attend the opening of this meeting we appoint Thomas
Armstrong, Cyrus Lindley, Jane Grinnell, Ruth B.
Ridges, and Jeremiah Grinnell.
II. A SKETCH OF OTHER MEETINGS
ESTABLISHED BEFORE 1395
The first Friends Meeting at Long Beach was con
ducted by Mary M. Brown on February 2, 1333, and the two
following Sundays by Edward C. Siler of Bloomingdale,
^%inutes of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting, held at
Whit tier, California, August 15, 1891 (Whiftier, California;
Headquarters, Pasadena Quarterly Meeting). j
39
Indiana, who was visiting Friends churches in California
at that time. A number of Friends families settled in
Long Beach and several people of the community were con
verted in revivals so that Friends felt the need of regu- ^
lar pastoral leadership. Jeremiah Grinnell was called to i
be pastor in September, 1390. A request to be established
as a Monthly Meeting was forwarded to Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting, and in May, 1392, the request was granted.
Aquila Pickering’s vision of "an open field which
Friends might occupy and in so doing ought to exert a
great influence for good" was shared by other Friends.
In December, 1337, W. E. Mills, a minister from Kansas,
along with J. H. Thomas and James Williams families, moved
to the community known as Ramona in San Diego County. This
picturesque little town in the Santa Maria Valley, 1400
feet above sea level and thirty-five miles northeast of
San Diego, had two general stores, drug store, hotel and
shops, a weekly paper called The Sentinel, and a large,
"finely furnished" Toim Hall, library and reading room,
but no church. Upon arrival, W. E. Mills found a family
of Friends who had located in Ramona in 1333, Dr. Q. A. R.
Holton, his family, mother and sister. Immediately plans
were made to establish a church. A union or community
Sunday School and church were started with representatives
of a number of denominations attending regularly. W. E.
Mills was asked to act as pastor. In 1339, Rebecca Naylor
visited Friends in Ramona and held meetings for more than
a week. About a year later, Jeremiah Grinnell held a
series of meetings resulting in several conversions. The
young churches of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting were already
extending themselves for Earlham (El Modeno) granted
"preparative meeting" status to Ramona in 1391, and fos
tered the church until a regular Monthly Meeting was estab
lished by Pasadena Quarterly Meeting in July of 1392. The
name of the new church was Nuevo Monthly Meeting, changed
on September 7, 1395 to Ramona Monthly Meeting of Friends.
As has already been indicated, families figured
largely in the building of new churches in California.
In northern California, Addison W. Naylor and Rebecca, his
wife, with their children, Elmer, Olive, Jessie, and
Frank, moved to Berkeley, having spent one year in San
Diego, and two years in San Jose. Rebecca Naylor, a re
corded minister of Friends, found many opportunities to
preach, assist in mission work in Oakland, and finally to
help establish a Friends meeting in her home city. The
church met in the home of Joseph and Louisa Johnson with
twelve adult members and seven children. Following a
series of meetings held by Franklin and Mary Moon-Meredith,
a public hall was rented and a Sunday School organized with
worship service following. Rebecca S. Naylor was asked to
serve as pastor. Upon request to Pasadena Quarterly
41 I
Meeting, a Monthly Meeting was established in November,
1394.
Throughout the accounts of the establishment of
these first nine churches, two basic factors to their sue- :
cess must be noted. First, the spirit of evangelism in i
the early leadership, and, second, the church in the homes.
The core of the work was a "concern" for the spiritual
welfare of Friends and families in the community where
Friends moved. Frequent reference is made to evangelistic |
meetings being held by traveling Friends. In this connec
tion, the name of Jeremiah A. Grinnell must be mentioned.
He was closely associated with the early history of most
of the churches mentioned. In the preface to the Minutes
of California Yearly Meeting held in 1395, it is stated
that "he was a pioneer minister in nearly all of these
meetings, and it is largely due to his faithful ministry
and fatherly counsel that they were brought into exist
ence. "^3
^^Minutes of California Yearly Meeting, 1395
(Whittier, California: Headquarters, California Yearly
Meeting), preface.
CHAPTER III
DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED AS FRIENDS MOVED WEST
I. THE LAND BOOM OF WHITTIER
"To the South, nearer Los Angeles, Whittier was
another colony that profited from the boom," said Glen S.
Dumke, in his book, The Boom of the Eighties in Southern
California.^ and B. F. Arnold, early Quaker publisher,
described the land boom of 133? in Whittier as "The most
remarkable boom known to history," in his book, History of
Whittier.^
The origin of the boom had its inception in a rate
war between the two transcontinental railroad lines, the
Union Pacific and the Santa Fe, in their endeavor to per
suade homeseeker8 and tourists to visit the Pacific Coast.
The rate war waged so hotly that at one time tickets from
Kansas City to Los Angeles were sold for one dollar per
person. Trains were crowded to the guards and those who
were unable to obtain pullman accommodations made the best
of it by "sitting it out." Tourists, sightseers, and
^Glen S. Dumke, The Boom of the Eighties in Southern
California (Los Angeles: Anderson and Ritchie; the Word
Ritchie Press, 1944). 295 pp. ^
^B. F. Arnold and A. D. Clark, History of Whittier
(Whittier: Western Printing Corporation, 1932). 393 PP.
43
emigrants were not the only ones attracted by the rate
war* With them came the undesirables, men of no con
science, smooth "operators," professional land sharks.
E, A. Brimminstool, in his story which appeared
in the Los Angeles County Employee magazine, vividly de
scribes the "boom" under the caption "Them Was The Days."
A few descriptive passages follow:
All this (the rate war) in the mind of the average
frozen-up Easterner, created an intense desire to
view this earthly Eden, the paradise of the Pacific
Coast, and they started coming. . . .In the archives
of the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office are to be
found the outlines of the history of this great "boom."
It is a true, full, and correct record of the plots
of cities and towns, subdivisions, resubs, additions
and tracts which fill twenty large map books, the
record of that single year. . . .During the months of
March, April, and May, no fewer than thirteen town-
sites were plotted in the line of the Los Angeles and
San Bernardino railroad, and before the close of 188?
there were twenty-five in that vicinity. . . .So
eager were the buyers that the advertised day of sale
found a long line of men waiting to buy, and those
who held first place were offered big bonuses. The
second man in line was offered one thousand dollars,
and the fifth man five hundred dollars. The sale
aggregated two hundred eighty thousand dollars. Not
one in a hundred had seen the townsite and not one
in a thousand expected to occupy the land. . .
The magnitude of the Southern California real
estate boom (Los Angeles County) showed a total by
instruments filed of #98,084>162. A far greater num
ber of lots were sold on contract, and resold always
at an advance, reaching a sura total beyond computation
in millions. The men who blew the bubble were not
those of permanent residence and reputable character,
but were the fly-by-night speculators and sharks—
robbed their victims and then flew the coop.3
3Employees. Los Angeles County Employees magazine,
1932, as quoted by Arnold and Clark in History of Whittier.
44
The development of Whittier came at the height of
the boom and many Quakers were not immune to the excite
ment and its profits. The bubble burst in 1887, and the
depression which followed for seven years was the real
test for the hardiment and faith of Friends who came
"under the leading of the Lord."
The depression of those years presented a serious
problem. So little money was in circulation that there
was almost no business. What little there was confined
itself to barter and trade. Credit was unheard of for
there was nothing upon which to base it. The only way out,
as Friends saw it, was to pool their efforts, organize,
and set out orchards, erect a few buildings cooperatively,
and plant truck gardens in vacant lots and between tree
rows.
Through seven years of struggle, during which time
a town newspaper was born, Friends gradually pulled out of
the depression and established themselves as capable of
surviving difficult economic conditions. Orange groves
had been planted, a church built and flourishing, an
academy under the care of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting had
promise of being the coming college for Friends in Cali
fornia, and a church paper, The Christian Workman. ap
peared to weld the few Friends churches in California into
a meaningful fellowship. John Henry Douglas, Superintendent
of Iowa Yearly Meeting in 1890, sums up his impressions
45
of the churches on the West Coast after a visit in line
with his work for the Yearly Meeting. His report to the
Yearly Meeting sessions of 1890 included the following:
After making a tour of inspection to Tacoma,
Seattle, and so on, we went to San Jose, California,
where we received a warm welcome and we enjoyed a good
tabernacle revival which was greatly blessed in the
conversion of souls, and the building up and strength
ening of the church.
The church there is in a good, strong, healthy
condition. These dear Friends are worthy the confi
dence and encouragement of the Yearly Meeting. We
were very glad to find our dear valued brother,
Truman Cooper, alive, and able to attend most of the
day meetings, and occasionally at night; truly his son
is going down in unclouded brightness.
Our next work was in southern California, at
Pasadena, where we held a ten days meeting, which was
owned by the presence and power of God. It was a time
of deep concern and travail on our part that that
large church might be brought out into spiritual
power and influence and fill the place appointed here.
Friends here have suffered greatly from the "boom"
and other difficulties in the church. Quite a number
have resigned their membership, nearly all of whom
attended our meet. We believe all that meeting needs
is to settle down upon the Rock, and to come under
the humbling power of the Holy Ghost and become a
spiritual people seeking only the glory of God and the
salvation of man. There are many devoted Christians
in that meeting, both among the old and the young.
Much fruit appeared from our labors among both Friends
and members of other churches.
Whittier also received us with open arms and nearly
all were greatly built up on our most holy faith; they
have secured the services of our dear brother, Thomas
Armstrong, as pastor; the outlook is very encouraging.
Long Beach was visited. Garden Grove and El Modeno,
all of which are places of interest; we preached in
each place. At El Modeno we found a very interesting
company of Friends; our dear aged brother, J. A.
Grinnell, is pastor there; we were greatly blessed in
our work in a five day meeting. We very seldom see
more accomplished in the length of time in the
46
sanctification of believers, and the conversion of
sinners. The Word of God was quick and powerful on
every occasion. We left this dear people with high
hopes as to the future of the church there.
Our farewell Sabbath was at Whittier, a day never
to be forgotten by any who attended the service. The
heavens seemed to open to us and we were enabled to
see into the inner Sanctuary of God’s wondrous truth,
and He who walketh in the midst of the golden candle
sticks, and holdeth the stars in His right hand, was
present with both preacher and people. . . .We left
California much encouraged about the church and are
sure if Friends there keep under the power of God
through the baptism of the Holy Ghost, a good future
is before them. All are glad the awful "boom" is
over, and now settling down to legitimate lines of
industry, with a blessing of a kind Providence.
Our church in that land will be made strong and use
ful.4
II. THE TEMPERANCE TEMPEST; IN WHITTIER
The concern held by Friends in Iowa and Kansas to
stem the tide of the liquor traffic found ready expression
in the new venture in the West. Frances E. Willard, then
National and World President of the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union, visited California in I883 and organized
unions in Santa Ana, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los
Angeles. Friends figured prominently in the initial move
ment with Ella C. Veeder, first president of the Whittier
Union, taking a vigorous part in keeping the young town of
Whittier free of liquor. The Women’s Christian Temperance
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, General Superin
tendent’s Report, 1890 (Oskaloosa, Iowa: Headquarters,
Iowa Yearly Meeting), appendix pp. 7-8.
47
Union in the town started with sixteen members and soon
swelled to sixty. There was much for organized womanhood
to do for many temptations were a part of the life of an
unorganized community. The women soon established a read
ing room, organized the Loyal Temperance Legion, held
weekly meetings in the Friends church, and used the weekly
press for education and information. B. F. Arnold and A. D.
Clark, in their History of Whittier, tell of the enter
prising aggressiveness of the young Friends men and women
who were determined that no saloon would be established in
the new town. They write:
In the midst of the beginning of enterprises in
young Whittier, a mysterious whiteftent was erected,
and it was reported that a meat market was being es
tablished but it proved to be a saloon.
The honest town folks were aroused. The men visited
the proprietor and tried to get him to quit. The women
got out a petition and almost all signed it, asking the
man to quit, but he paid no attention. It was patron
ized by outside visitors. Ella C. Veeder, the presi
dent of the Union, gives this story: "A drunken man
hanging around the saloon annoyed the keeper much,
proving a good advertisement of what the business was
producing. The keeper declared, "He has damaged our
business a hundred dollars today." One day they tried
to drive him away but he was too far gone to care for
anything but booze. That night one of the saloon
keepers shot him dead in the saloon and then fled from
town and escaped. The town men were so enraged at this
deed that they came together the next morning for a
council. My home was next door to the tent and I
looked out of the window just as a hundred or more men
raised their hands in a vote to destroy the saloon.
They pulled down the tent and stacked it and its
belongings on an adjoining lot and burned them, later
smashing the bottles. A. Coryell and Cyrus Lindley,
leaders, were sued for the deed $30 0, which the women
and men paid, glad to get rid of the nuisance. But the
saloon men tried it again and again, locating two
other places. But the W. C. Tv U. tried the crusade
method of prayer and visitation in the saloons, and
after many harrowing experiences, the saloon was
banished, never to return, and one saloon keeper was
converted.5
III. DOCTRINAL DIFFICULTIES
Difficulties in maintaining the doctrinal positions
developed as Friends sought to do community work in the
area to which they moved. Such concern is seen in the
report of Dr. C. R. Dixon, Superintendent of Pasadena
Quarterly Meeting, to Iowa Yearly Meeting. His comment,
closing his report, follows:
I see more and more need of a sufficiently powerful
and efficient ministry to meet and overcome some forms
of opposition to the essential doctrines, not only of
our church, but, of greater import, the doctrines
certainly of the Christian religion on the subject of
original sin and the mission^of the Savior to meet the
demands in complete victory.®
The difficulties developed in two directions. First,
there were those who felt that the fundamental "holiness"
position of Friends must be protected against all taint of
"modernism" and "higher criticism," no matter what the
price. Second, there were those who felt that the pastoral
system had destroyed true "Quakerism" and that there should
^Arnold and Clark, op. cit.. pp. 103-104.
^Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, 1890 (Oskaloosa,
Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting), Appendix, p. $.
49 I
be a return to the "silent meeting" type of worship ex
perience and organization.
The most dramatic of the former difficulties is
illustrated by the experience of the Huntington Park |
Friends Church which was located near the "Training School |
for Christian Workers," and closely connected with students
and faculty of that school. j
The Training School for Christian Workers, which ^
was opened in March of 1900 in the home of Philenas B. ■
Hadley of Whittier, had in its constitution and by-laws the
requirement that each member of the "Training School Asso- j
elation," the sponsoring body, subscribe to the doctrinal
statement by signing his name to a copy of the same. The
doctrinal standard was outlined in each catalogue and has
remained unchanged through the years as follows:
DOCTRINAL STANDARD
The instruction in Pacific Bible College is entirely:
evangelical. The school stands firmly for the plenary !
inspiration of the Scriptures, their unity and invio
lable authority, their inestimable value as the true I
and supreme outward rule of faith and practice.
The School, therefore, holds and teaches:
1. The Trinity of the Godhead— Father:, , Son and
Holy Spirit, and the personality of each.
2. The Deity of Jesus Christ our Lord including
His Virgin Birth.
3. The Plenary Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.
4. The Fall of Man and his consequent total moral
depravity.
50
5. The Judgment of God upon the wilful sinner and
eternal punishment of the finally impenitent.
6. The Justification of Sinners through Faith in
Jesus Christ, Who, by His death and shedding of His
Blood upon the Cross becomes the Substitute for the
repentant sinner.
7. The Entire Sanctification of Believers through
the atoning Blood of Jesus Christ as a second definite
work of grace, evidenced by the Baptism of the Holy
Ghost•
8. The Imminent Premillennial Coming of Jesus
Christ our Lord.
9. The speedy evangelization of the world as the
supreme mission of the people of God in this age.’
In 1932, William Kirby, pastor of the Huntington
Park Friends Church, and closely associated with the
Training School for Christian Workers in Huntington Park,
led a movement in opposition to Whittier Quarterly Meeting
and California Yearly Meeting. He stated that "California
Yearly Meeting and Whittier Quarterly Meeting were shot
through with modernism, higher criticism, and infidelity."
He further implied that many ministers in the denomination
were "unsound" in their practising. William Kirby found
sympathetic listeners in the Huntington Park Monthly Meet
ing, some of whom were genuinely concerned about the
spiritual life of the Yearly Meeting, but not ready to join
a separatist movement. A letter from Arthur C. Stanley, a
^Catalogue. Pacific Bible College of Huntington Park>
California, 1944-1945 (Huntington Park, California: Pacific;
Bible College, 1945), pp. 8-9.
51
member of the committee appointed by Whittier Quarterly
Meeting Ministry and Oversight body to investigate the
Huntington Park situation, to the chairman of the commit
tee, George Taylor of Whittier, says, in part:
Certainly any minister or anyone else in the
church should be loyal to the Yearly Meeting and the
Quarterly Meeting of which we all form a part. You
found criticism and a spirit of disloyalty to these
higher meetings shown on both sides at Huntington Park
which makes a difficult situation to handle. We know
that the Huntington Park meeting has only partly con
curred with other meetings and with the higher meet
ings for several years. Mr. Kirby seems to be the
leader in disloyalty and admits that he is disloyal. ^
Also, the practice of church politics with Mr. Kirby
the leader in it sounds pretty bad.°
Arthur Stanley indicates in his letter a feeling of
dissatisfaction on both sides of the dispute at Huntington
Park Friends Church. William Kirby’s accusation of
modernism, higher criticism, and infidelity, is probably a
projection to the extreme of what people of the Huntington
Park church and Training School felt in varying degrees.
The report of the committee was given as follows:
To Whittier Quarterly Meeting on Ministry and Over
sight, called to meet at Bell on Saturday, October 8,
1932.
Your committee appointed to consider the matters
referred to you by Huntington Park Local Meeting on
Ministry and Oversight, report as follows:
We met at Whittier on September 13th, all members
being present except one, and discussed the situation
^Letter dated October 8, 1932, written by Arthur C.
Stanley.
52
so far as we knew it at that, and agreed to meet with
the Huntington Park Local Meeting on Ministry and Over
sight at such time as they might designate.
In accordance with their appointment we met at
Huntington Park with their local Meeting on Ministry
and Oversight, on September 20th, being in the meeting |
with them for about three hours. All our members
were present except two. t
After hearing a discussion of the whole matter by
members of their meeting, representing both sides of
the question, we are convinced: ;
1. That there was manifested, on both sides, a
spirit of criticism of the Yearly and Quarterly j
Meetings, and of other Friends, that cannot
fail to cause trouble in any church, and Trdiich
must be overcome if Huntington Park Meeting is
to fulfill its place and purpose in the world ;
2. That there is little, if any, possibility of
agreement in Huntington Park Meeting!so long as I
William Kirby remains in it. William Kirby
stated that he would resign if asked to do so
by the Monthly Meeting. Charges were made, and ;
were not disputed, that the recent Monthly Meet
ing at which he was asked to remain, was
"packed," and it was intimated that persons had
been received into membership without adequate
knowledge of Friends* doctrines and discipline
in order to build up a group favorable to
William Kirby.
The general attitude of these two groups seems to }
be that both are united in feeling that there are some i
serious doctrinal defections in our Quarterly and |
Monthly Meetings.' One group, including William Kirby, ;
feels that they should part company entirely with the
Quarterly Meeting. Among this group are some who have |
recently joined Friends, and who have little or no
feeling of loyalty to the Yearly Meeting. This group
appears to be in the majority in the Monthly Meeting.
The other group, which seems to hold the balance of |
power in the Meeting on Ministry and Oversight, and to |
be composed, mainly, of the older members of the meet- |
ing, wish to remain in the Quarterly Meeting, and to
try to remedy the conditions complained of, from withinJ
53
Concerning the particular charges against William
Kirby, these charges were read at the request of mem
bers of their meeting, and William Kirby was given
opportunity to answer them at the time, and also was
given liberty to write the Chairman further if he so
desired, but notified the Chairman that he had nothing
fut?ther to add at that time.
His replies are summarized herewith:
1. He had been charged with "dominating the busi
ness," "Members did not feel free when he was
present," so he decided to stay away.
2. This charge was denied. The denial was not
entirely satisfactory to his opponents. Appar
ently his explanation related to meetings held
since the complaint was lodged, and his oppo
nents felt that other occasions had not been
explained.
3-and 4* William Kirby narrowed this down to the
calling of the Monthly Meeting at which the
question of his remaining as pastor was to be
considered. It was stated that the Clerk of
the Meeting on Ministry and Oversight was asked
to call this meeting, but did not do so, there
fore he did. This explanation did not seem to
quite satisfy the other side who stated that
there were other occasions.
5. Does not remember stating that the Meeting on
Ministry and Oversight had "no authority,"
though he might have done so.
6. William Kirby explained that at the time of
this proposed visit he was sick in bed, and
did not feel able to receive the elders oh such
an errand (following the discussions that had
already taken place), but did say that he was
willing to receive them later on. The correct
ness of this statement was admitted by the elder
who went to arrange for the visit.
II and III. William Kirby stated that these
accusations are both correct, and that he still
feels the same way about them. He bases his
position upon his belief that there are wrong
beliefs and attitudes held by prominent members
54 I
of these bodies, and that it is his duty, as
pastor of Huntington Park Monthly Meeting to
guard his members against these wrong teachings !
and attitudes.
It is the judgment of this committee, that while
recognizing the sincerity of William Kirby in standing
for what he believes to be the truth, and the accept-
ableness of his ministry, the admitted fact that he |
is out of harmony with the Quarterly and Yearly Meet
ings, and is endeavoring to persuade other members of »
our Yearly Meeting to join with him against the Yearly
Meeting, coupled with the well-known fact that he has, j
on several occasions, by making false and misleading ;
statements concerning individuals in the church, is ;
evidence that he is unfitted for the station of
Minister in the Friends church, and we recommend to
Huntington Park Monthly Meeting that they request him
to seek other and more congenial affiliations.9
At another time in the year of this crisis the issue
of "Holiness" preaching was raised, stating that the reason!
for the Yearly Meeting attitude toward William Kirby was
based on his preaching the doctrine of Holiness. George
Taylor, in an editorial in the Pacific Friend of March,
1933, stated:
There are recognized "Holiness" preachers among
our meetings who are just as much opposed to the
attitude of the pastor of that meeting towards his
fellow ministers and the Yearly and Quarterly Meetings,!
as are any of those who may not be designated as
"holiness." The preaching of holiness does not enter
into the matter. ■
The question is really whether a pastor has the |
right to hold such a position in our Yearly Meeting andj
use it to foster disloyalty toward the Yparly and
Quarterly Meetings, and has now come to a place where
the courts may have to decide whether the Quarterly
Meeting has any authority over a Monthly Meeting. The j
9
Ibid.
55
Quarterly Meeting Committee and various other people
have been served with a restraining order preventing
them from taking any further action pending a hearing
on a petition for an injunction against them. We
understand that this order was secured without the
knowledge or consent of William Kirby and many of his
supporters who do not favor taking the matter into
court
The report in the May, 1933 issue of The Pacific
Friend states:
We regret exceedingly to report that efforts to
bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion, out of
court, have not been successful. The "Kirby group"
made an offer of a compromise, which the committee
considered and agreed to accept, with certain minor
stipulations, but before giving sufficient time for
this answer, that group secured a restraining order,
preventing us from taking further action. . • .As we
go to press we leam that the case has just come up
for trial and the injunction is dissolved by the court.
It should be stated that the "loyal group" at
Huntington Park, now numbering at least ninety-one,
have proceeded according to Scriptural and Disciplinary
rules throughout this matter. The committees have
met with scant courtesy from the "Kirby group," while
there is abundant evidence that the vdiole matter has
resulted from long continued presentation of false
accusations against the entire ministry of the Yearly
and Quarterly Meetings, resulting in a group of people,
most of whom are, doubtless, entirely honest in their
mistaken belief that the Quarterly and Yearly Meetings
are full of modernism, higher criticism, and infi
delity. This is another illustration of the havoc
that is wrought by "believing a lie."^^ '
The result of the difficulty and the final solution
to the problem is to be found in the Pacific Friend report
^^George Taylor, editorial in the Pacific Friend,
March, 1933.
^^The Pacific Friend, May, 1933 issue.
56
for June, 1933, which states:
finally, however, they signed up an agreement that
t'he Kirby group should take the Southgate property
and the chapel at Highway Highlands, and meet William
Kirby’s back salary, while the loyal Friends should
retain the Huntington Park property and the two resi
dences at Tujunga and assume the other indebtedness,
amounting to about #5
On Sunday, June 4, William Kirby opened the morning
service by reading a statement concerning his side of
the matter, and then asked those who stood with him
to quietly withdraw to the Training School, where an
independent organization (Evangelistic Tabernacle
Association) was publicly announced. About seventy-
five persons remained to arrange for the carrying on ^
of the work, and listened to a sermom by Albert Wright ,
of Whittier.
It should be noted that after seven or eight years
of pastoral work in which William Kirby had the full
cooperation of his entire membership, during the past
two years he lost that cooperation on the part of a
number of the most spiritual members of his meeting. *
Also, throughout this entire investigation, William
Kirby has never met the Quarterly Meeting’s committee
with any sign of friendliness, and scarcely with
ordinary courtesÿ. A committee such as those appointed
by the Quarterly Meeting, must consider the RIGHT of a |
question, and if they believe that the minority is in
the right, as they do in this case, they must take
measures to protect the minority. . . .In matters not
detailed in the Discipline, the Yearly Meeting’s
decision is supreme, and members who cannot accept its |
decision should withdraw, instead of staying in the
Yearly Meeting and influencing other people against
the Yearly Meeting.12
' The effect of the separation was felt quite gener- |
ally over California Yearly Meeting, singe many of the j
pastors, teachers, and missionaries had graduated from the
^^The Pacific Friend, June, 1933 issue.
57
Training School#
A group of Friends, not satisfied with the "pas
toral system" and "evangelical" character of western
Quakerism, felt the need of fellowship with like-minded
I
Friends. In the later 1930’s, the Pacific Coast Associa- |
tion of Friends was organized, bringing together several
groups which had formed under the pattern of the non
pastoral Meeting and on the basis of silent worship. ;
I
Chief concerns of the Pacific Coast Association include
the work of the American Friends Service Committee, the
Pacific Oaks Elementary School, and the development of
deeper fellowship in the Meeting for Worship.
IV. CALIFORNIA YEARLY MEETING ORGANIZED MARCH, 1895
In spite of many difficulties. Friends felt the
need of a fellowship that was state-wide. The first
general conference of Friends in California was held in
Long Beach during the week beginning August 14, 1892, and
just preceding the August sessions of Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting. The old Methodist Tabernacle, with its adjacent
living quarters, was rented for the occasion. In an ■
I
announcement of the conference, Ina Carter, entertainment j
committee chairman, is reported to have offered inducementsj
to attend as follows: i
Board $2.50 to $3*00 per week; furnished rooms $2.00
to $4.00 per week, unfurnished $1.00 to $2.00 per week;
58 I
tenting privileges, nearby free water, 70 centsvper
week; tent cottages, furnished #10.00 per month.
Friends from distant points will be entertained free
of cost.13
W. V. Coffin, general chairman of the conference
issued the following call, indicative of the good humor,
and sincere desire for Friends to get together:
If you have bought a piece of ground come to the
conference and go to see it afterward; if you have i
bought five yoke of oxen prove them by driving them '
to the conference; if you have married a wife come I
to the conference on your wedding tour and bring your |
wife with you.14 i
Two such conferences were held in Long Beach in
1892 and 1893, attended by Friends from all over California^
and by visitors from the East. Joseph Moore, President
of Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana, was guest of the
1893 Conference and contributed greatly to its success.
At the summer session of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting
held in 1892, the subject of the establishment of Cali
fornia YearifyMeeting was very seriously considered. At
the session in August 1893, petitions were authorized and
sent $0 both Kansas and Iowa Yearly Meetings, asking for |
the establishment of California Yearly Meeting at Long |
Beach in 1894. Iowa Yearly Meeting deferred the considera
tion of the request for one year. In the meantime.
^^Arnold and Clark, o£. cit., p. 282.
59
Pasadena Quarterly Meeting changed its request and applied
for the establishment of California Yearly Meeting at
Whittier in March of 1885. A friendly rivalry existed for
a time between Friends of Long Beach and Whittier concern
ing the final location for the sessions of California
Yearly Meeting. The request for holding it in Whittier
was granted and both parent Yearly Meetings appointed
official delegations with authority to attend and comply
with the request.
An interesting side light to this movement of
Quakers to the west is to be found in the visit W. V.
Coffin made to Eastern Friends Meetings in the interest of
raising money for California Yearly Meeting. He was dele
gated to make such a visit at the session of Pasadena
Quarterly Meeting held in August, 1894# He reports his
experience as follows:
Armed with proper credentials, I arrived at
Oskaloosa and met there Rufus Jones, Allen Jay,
Absalom Rosenberger, Dr. Wm. L. Pearson, and many
other Friends who were much interested in what was
going on in California. I took with me on that trip
a number of lantern slides showing some of the scenery
and the fine things produced in Southern California.
Eastern Friends balked at swallowing our stories of
tomato vines twenty feet high, sweet potatoes weighing
forty and fifty pounds, and two hundred pound pumpkins.
Even after they had seen the pictures, they swallowed
with difficulty. Several Whittier Friends received
letters from their former Eastern homes criticizing
them for stories of big things. One Friend, in reply
to such a letter, took no notice of the criticisms but
began his reply by saying, "When your letter came, I
was up on a ladder in my back yard gathering tomatoes."
Uncle Jonathan Bailey, the first man to become a
resident of the new town of Whittier, was the recipient!
of quite severe criticisms for some of the stories he
delighted in telling. He made no verbal response to
the criticisms but went down to the Orange County peat |
beds, where they grew big things, and got the biggest
pumpkins he could find, weighed them, and selected one ■
in the neighborhood of two hundred pounds* He boxed ;
that pumpkin and shipped it back to his critics by i
express, C.O.D. They immediately wired back, "Please |
send nothing more. We will believe anything you say :
in the future." !
Four Yearly Meetings were visited in that mission—
Iowa, Indiana, Western, and Kansas* The sum of #3500
was obtained. This sum was placed with the Treasurer
of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting.
At this time Founders Hall was in process of con
struction by the Trustees of Whittier Academy. The sug
gestion was made to the Quarterly Meeting that rather than
spend the money in a separate plant for Yearly Meeting
purposes, they join with the Academy trustees in completing
Founders Hall, and said trustees agreed to place all the
Academy buildings and conveniences at the disposal of the
Yearly Meeting for one week in the year that the meeting
should be held. This idea prevailed and a committee was
appointed With authority to cooperate with the Academy
trustees and to use as much of the money as necessary to
complete the auditorium and its approaches.
At its Fe|)ruary meeting in 1895, Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting, with the approval of the parent Yearly Meeting,
l^Report of W. V. Coffin, First Clerk, in Pacific
Friend, June, 1944, p. 3#
61
established Whittier Quarterly Meeting. This enabled them
to qualify for a Yearly Meeting with two Quarterly Meet
ings (See Table I).
March the 26th to April 1st, 1895, was a significant
and triumphant week for Friends in California. The dreams
and hopes of the Quaker colonists, as shown in Aquila
Pickering’s first expression of his "concern," were soon to
be realized; the hardships of pioneering by both the colo
nists and those who had preceded them by a quarter century
were forgotten as John Henry Douglas called for the singing
of "Jesus Lover of My Soul," after all assembled in the
auditorium of Founders Hall, Whittier Academy. Elwood
Scott of Oregon offered prayer, asking for Divine blessing
upon the task about to be undertaken.
There were ten delegations present representing as
many Yearly Meetings. Of these ten, two were the official
delegations from Iowa and Kansas. John D, Mills was head
of the Kansas delegation, and Cyrus Beade was head of the
Iowa delegation. When the opening devotions were ended
Cyrus Beade rose and spoke on behalf of the official dele
gation. He said:
It gives me great pleasure at this time to greet you
in the name of Iowa, Indiana, Western, Ohio, New
England, North Carolina, New York, Kansas, Oregon, and
Wilmington Yearly Meetings, These delegations met in
conference last evening and affected an organization
which directed that the extracts from the minutes of
TABLE I
MEMBERSHIP IN CALIFORNIA YEARLY MEETING 1895*
Membership
Pasadena
Quarterly
Meet ine
Whittier
Quarterly
Meeting Totals
Number of Members
559 643
1,202
Number of males
275
Number of females
284
Number of families
139
Number of families reading
Scripture daily 81
Number of ministers
13 12 25
Number of members using
tobacco 21 12
33
Number of members selling
tobacco
3 4 7
*Minutes of California Yearly Meeting, 1895 (Whittier^
California: Headquarters, California Yearly Meeting),
Appendix.
63
Pasadena Quarterly Meeting and Iowa Yearly Meeting be
read at this time.l®
The extracts were a request for a division of
Pasadena Quarterly Meeting and the establishment of Whittier
Quarterly Meeting, and the opening of California Yearly
I
Meeting; these requests having been granted by Iowa, and
concurred in by Kansas. The Book of Discipline of Iowa
Yearly Meeting was adopted temporarily as the Discipline '
of California Yearly Meeting. |
The clerks, of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting, being '
entirely familiar with all the steps thus far taken, were
made temporary officers, and presided until permanent
officers were elected as follows: William V. Coffin, pre
siding clerk; Charity Way, recording clerk; and Imelda
Tebbetts, reading clerk.
Of the occasion, the first clerk, William V. Coffin,
reports:
There were several other visiting Friends present
besides those belonging to the ten delegations. Forty-
three were present with credentials from their home
meetings. Of these, thirty-one were recorded ministers.'
Beside these we had many ministers of our own. These
all seemed to feel that the occasion was one in which
they should take some part, so we had plenty of preach-j
ing and lots of advice, but it was all in good spirit
so we got along in fine shape.
Transportation in and out of Whittier at that time
was limited to railroad travel by way of the branch
road which still comes in from south of Downey, and by
16
Arnold and Clark, op. cit., p. 281.
64
unpaved dirt roads so a railroad secretary was ap
pointed to assist our visitors in arranging their
transportation. The machinery of California Yearly
Meeting as an organized, working body was finally
completed and we come to the concluding minute, which
I desire to read. It was written by Charity Way. . .
The concluding minute read as follows: "We have
concluded the business coming before us. It is our
prayer that the issue of our deliberations shall be
the advancement of the Redeemer’s Kingdom. Grateful
for the wise and helpful counsel of our brothers and
sisters of other Yearly Meetings, also for their many
messages of love and admiration, thankful for the rich
blessings so bountifully bestowed by our Heavenly
Father, we do now adjourn to meet at this place at a
time to be determined later."f7
^^The Pacific Friend, June, 1944, p. 4
CHAPTER IV
THE EXPANDING WORK OF FRIENDS
I. MISSIONARY ENTERPRISES
During the Sunday afternoon Christian Endeavor
session of California Yearly Meeting in 1895, the concern
for missionary work became action when Anna Hunnicutt
offered herself for work in Alaska. She was accepted by
the newly formed Missionary Committee and began to make
plans to go to Alaska.
Since the Yearly Meeting was so recently organized,
no missionary work had yet been undertaken, but the way
opened for Anna Hunnicutt to work with the missionaries
to the Kake Indians on Kupreanoff Islands, in southeastern
Alaska, under the care of Oregon Yearly Meeting. Her sup
port was pledged by the Christian Endeavor Society of
California Yearly Meeting. Lizzie Morris (Gooden) of
Whittier felt led to accompany her and they left immedi
ately, stopping briefly at the Oregon Yearly Meeting ses
sions. Anna Hunnicutt went with the thought of finding a
place where California Yearly Meeting could have a mission
of its own in Alaska. Dr. Sheldon Jackson, United States
General Agent of Education in Alaska, responded to a re
quest for the suggestion of a distinct mission field for
California Friends. On his annual trip to Kotzebue Sound,
66
he contacted natives who regularly came to Cape Blossom
on the Sound to do their summer trading. They indicated
a desire for a missionary in the district and Jackson
referred the request to Anna Hunnicutt. She in turn
wrote California Yearly Meeting about the opportunity, and
after making a visit to the Yearly Meeting in 1897, the
decision was made to enter the field. Robert Samms, a
mission worker in Los Angeles, offered to go, and his in
tended wife, Carrie Rowe, signified her willingness to
accompany him. On May 12, 1897, Robert Samms and Carrie
Rowe were married, and sailed from San Francisco on June 9
with Anna Hunnicutt, taking with them material for finish
ing a log house, food, clothing and supplies for one year.
At the Yearly Meeting in 1897, !• H. Commack was appointed
Superintendent of Missions, and the following minute was
made :
The following resolution was presented by the
Women’s Foreign Missionary Society: Resolved that we
ask the Yearly Meeting to adopt the Kotzebue Sound
Mission as the mission field and that all money
received for that work pass through the hands of the
Yearly Meeting Missionary Board. The meeting unites
in adopting said mission work as suggested.^
Sixty-seven converts were reported in 1900, and 560
in 1 9 04. By 1949 there were ten churches with approximately
^Minutes of Califomia Yearly Meeting, 1897
(Whittier, California: Headquarters, California Yearly
Meeting), p. 43.
3,000 members, a training school for native pastors and
teachers, a mission airplane, and two missionary families.
That first session of California Yearly Meeting in
1895 brought together many other concerns which had been
accumulating during the formative periods of the church.
One was the need among the people of Mexican and Spanish
origin in southern California. The Women’s Foreign Mis
sionary Society of California Yearly Meeting assumed the
responsibility for the work after the Interdenominational
Spanish Society disbanded. Erwin and Margaret Taber were
engaged to give their full time to the work. A Spanish
Mission and Industrial Home was opened in 1909. The home
for girls was successful, and wcrk among Mexican people
resulted in the building of a church in Whittier and the
appointment of a Mexican pastor.
Friends found great opportunity for service among
the Japanese people. In Oakland, Mr. and Mrs. Takahashi,
formerly connected with a Friends school in Japan, started
work among their own people. In I9O3, Berkeley Friends
took an active interest and the group grew in size and
influence. Migration of some of those families to Long
Beach meant the start of a Japanese work there with the
Christian Endeavor assuming the responsibility. The
report of the Japanese committee in 1949 shows the resump
tion of church services in Norwalk after much sacrificial
service during the second World War and internment of the
66
Japanese, as well as three years of "relocation’ * aid to
those returning to southern California,
' Friends not only found their way north to Kotzebue
Sound, but also into Central America and to Guatemala and |
Honduras in particular. i
The attention of California Yearly Meeting was
first called to Central America as a mission field in the
report of the Missionary superintendent for the year ending
1902. Two young men are spoken of who had been for a short!
1
time in the Training School and had gone out, following
God’s will for them, to do colportage work in neglected
Guatemala. They were Thomas J. Kelly and Clark Buckley*
After laboring for a while Kelly returned for recruits
while Buckley went on with the work, and some time after,
literally laid down his life in his Master’s service. He
was found dead by the roadside with his pack of Bibles and ;
tracts. News of this did not reach the States until some
time after his death. Thomas Kelly visited various places,;
presenting the claims of the work, and five Friends made !
ready to return with him to Central America. These were
Esther Bond, Alice Zimmer, Charles Bodwell and wife, and
two small children, and Mida Lawrence, to whom Thomas Kelly
was married. This band visited most if not all the meet
ings in southern California belonging to the Yearly Meet
ing. When the rest went to the field, Thomas Kelly and
69
wife waited because of his failing health and he died soon
after. This hand went out without any organization back of
them, but received many donations as they left the States
in 1902.
In 1904, this work had recognition and approval of |
the Yearly Meeting Missionary Board, which stbod in an
advisory relation to it without pledging any support. |
Those in the field were just beginning to hold services in i
I
Spanish. The next year, Mrs. Bodwell and the children camei
home and Charles Bodwell did faithful and laborious col
portage work and hundreds received both the spoken and the
printed Word. About fifteen had publicly professed con
version. From the beginning the burden of the mission
program seemed to rest upon the Christian Endeavor Union
of the Yearly Meeting. In the minutes of the combined
session of the Board of Missions and Women’s Foreign Mis
sionary Society the following communication from the
Christian Endeavor Union appears:
Dear Friends, Greeting: For the past few years
some of our young people of California Yearly Meeting
have been looking for a field in which the Endeavorers
could work as a Union. As we followed the Master’s
leadings the open door presented was Guatemala, with
our two Spirit-filled workers, Esther A. Bond and
Alice C. Zimmer. At the Christian Endeavor session
at our last Yearly Meeting our Missionary Superintend
ent was instructed to take pledges for Guatemala and
when the amount reached $250 to ask the Yearly Meeting
Board of Foreign Missions to adopt the field and let
us be responsible for raising the required amount.
The Lord has now answered our prayers and has given us
more than we asked. We have pledges of $276 and two
70
societies yet to hear from. Yours for the million
and a half in dark Guatema:j.a.
(signed) Lucinda E. Wells
Superintendent of Missions
Dorothy N. Gammack
junior Superintendent
Ernest L. Gregory
President and Field
Secretary
The proposition of the Christian Endeavor Union was
fully discussed and the following communication was
relayed to the Union: "Resolved, that we congratulate
the Christian Endeavor and thank God that they have
succeeded in securing liberal pledges for the support
of the Guatemala field, and that this Board approves
the adoption of this field and recommends that Cali
fornia Yearly Meeting of Friends church assume that
field on behalf of the Christian Endeavor of the
Yearly Meeting, they becoming responsible for its ^
support without dropping their present engagements."-
At the Yearly Meeting sessions of 1906, R. Esther
Smith made known the "call of the Lord" that had come to
her to labor in Guatemala, and that she "had purpose of
heart to go." Her zeal for mission work in the past gave
promise of fruitful service in the new field. The Yearly
Meeting united in recommending to the Bible Schools of the
Yearly Meeting that they adopt R. Esther Smith as their
missionary and contribute to her support. This was done
and she was called the Children’s Missionary. In the fall
of 1 9 0 6, R. Esther Smith and Cora Wildman went to Central
America, the latter was to be supported by a company of
^Taken from the Minutes of the Joint Session of the
Board of Missions and Women’s Foreign Missionary Society of
California Yearly Meeting, November 9, 1905tWhittier, Cali-
fornia: Headquarters, California Yearly Meeting).
71
people at Long Beach known as Company A. The work had a
slow beginning, with the I9O6 report indicating forty-
four converts in four different places.
There follows a story of devotion, courage,
sacrifice, heartbreak, failures, success, overcoming
handicaps, and innumerable obstacles which would match any
missionary story of any age. The 1949 report shows the
fruit of organizing genius and sacrificial service of all
the missionaries who went south. Definite strides have
been taken to form an indigenous National Church; fourteen
Quarterly Meetings have been organized and the membership
of the National Church is close to 6,000. A staff of
eighteen missionaries plus seven children are on the field.
Two grade schools and the Berea Bible Training School are
functioning to capacity. A new venture in the reduction
of the Chorti Indian language to writing is under way. The
clinic is bringing the "healing streams" to the Guatemalan.
Eleven youth groups have been organized. The Mission Head
quarters are in Chiquimula, Guatemala, and the work ex
tends to the Republics of Honduras and El Savador.
Christian Endeavor has been identified with Cali
fornia Yearly Meeting since its beginning. Young people
have taken the lead in missionary enterprises and still
support one missionary full time, and provide funds for
additional personnel in both California and Central Americaj
Summer camps, conferences, conventions, and
72
interdenominational cooperation have continually uncovered
new springs of life in the youth of the church.
The Women’s Foreign Missionary Society carried on
missionary activities before the Yearly Meeting was organ
ized, having an interest in the mission at Ram Allah, j
Palestine, and the Spanish speaking people of southern '
California. Now, as the ’ ’United Society of Friends Women,’ ’:
the concern for missions is the same, giving full support |
to the Alaska mission, raising additional funds for missions
and missionaries in Central America, ’ ’outfitting" mis
sionaries, and contributing liberally to the home church.
II. OTHER CONCERNS
The men were not to be outdone by their sisters and
wives in the church. In 1926-27, the "Men’s Extension
Movement" was born as an auxiliary to the Evangelistic and
Church Extension Board. On the credit side of the ledger
for the men are the churches at Fresno, built by them in
1 9 2 6; Inglewood, in 1932; Midway City, in 1935; and Spring
Valley, in 1944. Starting in 1939, the summer camp at
Quaker Meadow was built by volunteer labor, as well as
several churches assisted in remodeling and expansion
programs. The most recent project has been the building
of the Friends Community Church in Azusa.
Quaker’s concerns were worked out effectively when
they came in contact with the world’s need. That was true
73
when Friends went as missionaries to use the "balm of
Gilead" in the healing of sin-sick souls. It is also true
in the work of the American Friends Service Committee, with
which California Yearly Meeting and West Coast Friends have
been vitally connected since its beginning in 1917. The
work of the American Friends Service Committee ranges
from relief and rehabilitation in war-damaged countries to
service in mental hospitals in the United States, and from
sponsoring self-help housing projects to maintaining close
touch with United Nations. The red and black star, symbol
of Quaker Service, can be found in Europe and Asia, Mexico,
Jamacia, and in many communities in the United States. A
regional office of the Service Committee is located in
Pasadena, California, and the interests of the Committee
are kept before Friends through Service Committees in local
meetings, and the Peace Board of California Yearly Meeting.
The development and growth of a Quaker society in
the West has depended largely upon the sterling qualities
of Christian manhood and womanhood which have made up the
leadership of this small but effective denomination. Edu
cation, temperance, evangelism, missions, youth work, peace
and humanitarian service became the major concerns of
Friends in California.
Proper education under suitable teachers was the
general topic of conversation whenever Friends got to
gether. After two unsuccessful attempts in 1667 and 1666__
74
to start a school for higher education, in April of I669
Whittier Academy held its first classes. Friends had
already been active in starting the public school for
elementary grades. The Academy met on the second floor
of the school building. By September of 1693, seventy-
five were enrolled, and Dr. W. V. Coffin as principal,
along with others, saw the realization of their dreams in
occupying the newly built Founders Hall. Whittier Academy
became Whittier College in I696, and by 1900 the prepara
tory department was dropped and the four-year liberal arts
College was ready to confer degrees on her graduates.
With an enrollment of over 1,100 in 1955, Whittier College
has taken a significant place in the education of Cali
fornia’s youth.
In 1 6 99, a concern was felt for a school dedicated
specifically to the training of Christian workers, and in
1900, Philena Hadley offered the use of her home for the
school. Later, it moved to Los Angeles, and then to
I - “
Huntington Park. The growth of the school was rapid and j
i
in fifteen months had former students on mission fields in :
Alaska, Cuba, Central America, and China. The name was |
changed from "Huntington Park Training School for Christian I
Workers" to "Pacific Bible College," and the site moved to |
Azusa in the spacious buildings of a former private girls
school in 1946.
75
Evangelism and extension was the spirit which went
hand in hand with the desire for adequate education. Op
portunities seemed to open wherever Friends traveled*
Levi Gregory, one time pastor of San Jose, led the exten
sion movement in the early days. He pioneered the church
in Oakland, California, assisted by Addison Naylor, and
served as its pastor for twenty-two years. Friends had
calls for establishing meetings for worship in twenty-five
new areas before the year 1916, and twice as many more
have come in the years to the present. The names of John
Henry Douglas, Thomas Armstrong, and Cyrus R. Dixon are
closely associated with the extension of the church. A
few historical sketches of typical churches started will
seem to point up other names of those who are as signifi
cant a part of the history of California Yearly Meeting of
Friends.
III. HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF A FEW CHURCHES
Los Angeles. A few scattered Friends in Los Ange
les held their first meeting for worship during 1695 in a
hall on Belmont Avenue, some distance west of the present
Hall of Justice. The pioneer band included Fred and Dora
Jones, William and Martha Denley, Leon Scheck and T. Hammer.
The first meetings were held in the hall on Belmont Avenue
and later in the Methodist Church South, then on South
76 I
Broadway. A short time later, John E. Coffin and wife,
William E. Cox and family, Eddy L. Brown, and others
united with the original group. Rooms were secured in the |
Temperance Temple^ and Charles E. Tebbetts served as pas
tor. For a short time, meetings were held in the law |
office of William E. Cox. It was about this time that
Josephine Marlatt took a leading part in the services held |
by this group.
The next move was to a storeroom on Downey Avenue, ;
East Los Angeles. Preston and Emma Mills were in charge of
the mission work at this new locality. Robert Sarams was
Superintendent of the Bible School. It was here that
Carrie Rowe was converted. Later, she married Robert
Samms and they went to the mission fields of Alaska.
The final steps to a permanent organization came
in the year 1696. William P. Brown and family had located
in the vicinity of Fourth Street and Fremont Avenue.
David and Rhoda M. Hare came a short time later and located!
in the same block. The Friends generally throughout the !
city thought permanent work should be started in this sec-
I
tion. Matilda Brown assisted by her husband and Cynthia
B. Stanley secured enough money, $100, to purchase from
the Board of Education a vacant school building on Figueroa
Street near Fourth. Here a Bible School was organized on
May 9, 1697* Two months later, Levi Gregory, Evangelistic
77
Superintendent of California Yearly Meeting, organized
a meeting for worship with Rhoda M. Hare, pastor, and
Matilda Brown, clerk and treasurer.
September 11, 1697, a Monthly Meeting was organized
with David Hare and Nettie C. Beeson (Brown) serving as
clerks. A group of Friends composed of Charles E.
Tebbetts, Eleazer Andrews, William P. Brown and wife,
David Hare and wife, constituted a committee that began
looking for a location for a permanent church. The lot
at the corner of Third and Fremont was their unanimous
choice, and was purchased for $790. The campaign for
subscriptions for the new building was led by Rhoda M.
Hare. On March 17, 1901, the completed building was
dedicated.
For a quarter of a century the church on the hill
at Third and Fremont ministered to the spiritual needs of
the community. It touched the lives of over a thousand
boys and girls and sent over a score of missionaries to
distant lands to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In 1925, feeling the need of a change of location,
a lot was purchased at 17th and Toberman Streets, and on
April 24 and 25, the existing building was dedicated.
David Henley was then pastor of the Meeting. In 1943,
during the pastorate of Moses T. Mendenhall, a parsonage
was erected on the south portion of the property.
78
The names of those who served as pastor of the Los
Angeles church include: Mahlon Perry, Wilfred Rountree,
Absalom Rosenberger, Edwin McGrew, Wallace Gill, Tillman
Hobson, R. Ernest Lamb, Clayton S. Brown, J. A. Morris
Kimber, Charles Descault, Eli S. Wheeler, Kenneth R.
Pickering, George Moore, Verl Lindley, and Russell A.
Gabier•
Bell. Friends began work in Bell, California, early
in 1 9 0 4, when B. F. Farquhar, assisted by his wife, parti
cipated in a union Bible school in the neighborhood, and
he preached occasionally. A committee of Whittier Monthly
Meeting, viewing the prospect at this point, was so much
encouraged that two of its members, William K. Green and
0. L. Jordan, advanced money to purchase a building, which
was removed to a centrally-located lot which B. F. Farquhar
and Lafayette Walker had secured in anticipation of this
action. Friends held meetings regularly, with B. F.
Farquhar serving as pastor. Alva H. Pearson and family
moved to Bell, followed by Alonzo Feeler and others, so
that by the year 1905, it seemed right to organize a
Monthly Meeting. On September 7, 1905, with thirty
charter members, Bell Monthly Meeting was organized by
Whittier Quarterly Meeting. William E. Mills, Naomi Cook,
and George Taylor were appointed by the Quarterly Meeting
to carry out the organization. William H. Feeler and
79
Charlotte M. Farquhar were chosen clerks; J. H. Clewett,
Eva S. Feeler, and Clara Whittenhall, elders; Seeburn D.
Williams, Uri Whittenhall, and 01eva Williams, overseers;
Alva H. Pearson, treasurer. In the summer of 1906 the
cheap building occupied was removed from the lot and one
of the tabernacle style was erected. The building was
dedicated in October of that year.
Berkeley. In November of 1694, Berkeley Monthly
Meeting was organized by Pasadena Quarterly Meeting. The
home of Joseph and Louisa Johnson on Cbanning Way was the
site of the first congregation. In 1697, the Meeting
moved to a hall in the Bailey Block on Shattuck Avenue,
near Dwight Way, where Friends worshipped together for
two years.
Addison and Rebecca Taylor felt a concern that
Friends should have a meeting house of their own, so,
upon learning that the First Presbyterian Church building
was available, negotiated for its purchase, and moved it
to the lot on Haste Street where worship services were held
for years. Rebecca Naylor served as the first pastor,
and resigned in 1901 to be followed by Herbert Cash. The
disastrous fire and earthquake in San Francisco in 1906
turned the Friends meeting houpe into a place for refugees
I
as they poured into Berkeley from across the bay. The work
/
of aiding the distressed lasted for many weeks, and gave
60
Friends a good opportunity to give comfort to those in
need, and to bring many souls into the Kingdom of God. In
a memorial to the service of Rebecca Naylor, the Berkeley
Meeting said:
Rebecca Naylor bebame Pastor Emeritus. Her days
were filled to overflowing with labors of love— one
who, like her Master, "went about doing good" until
she was called home in 1929. The fragrance of Mother
Naylor’s life will ever live in Berkeley Monthly
Meeting.^
Of Addison Naylor, the official Memorial of California
Yearly Meeting is quoted in part :
Addison Naylor was one fashioned very much after
the Man of Nazareth; a friend of the friendless; quick
to command; slow to criticize ; a Friend whose memory
enriches every other life.4
In 1 9 09, the church was again moved, this time to
its present location at the corner of Channing Way and
Fulton Street. The building was completely remodeled, as
well as the parsonage.
Berkeley Quarterly Meeting. A conference was held
at Berkeley in February, 1901, for the purpose of discuss
ing the advisability of requesting the establishment of a
Quarterly Meeting within the limits of San Jose, San
Francisco and Berkeley. After careful and prayerful
^Fiftieth Anniversary Observance of Berkeley
Quarterly Meeting. Berkeley Monthly Meeting Sketch, 1952.
A pamphlet.
'Ibid.
61
consideration, the conference was united in recommending
that these Monthly Meetings forward to Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting a request for a Quarterly Meeting.
Pasadena fully united with the Meeting and forwarded
it to California Yearly Meeting which endorsed the plan.
The three Monthly Meetings were directed by California
Yearly Meeting to make reports thereafter to the Berkeley
Quarterly Meeting. California Yearly Meeting appointed
Rhoda Hare, David Hadley, and Thomas Armstrong to come to
Berkeley to help in the organization.
In September of 1901, Friends from San Jose, San
Francisco and Berkeley met in Berkeley in the home of
Joseph and Louisa Johnson on Channing Way for the purpose
of organizing Berkeley Quarterly Meeting. Representatives
from San Jose were: William and Elvira Ward, Levi Gregory,
Lydia Gregory, and Sylvia Gregory; from San Francisco, Mary
Wood and Janet Erskine; from Berkeley, Lillie Trueblood,
Addison W. Naylor and Lucy Monroe* The following is an
excerpt from the minutes of that session:
The opening of the new Quarterly Meeting at
Berkeley on September 7, 1901, was an auspicious one.
Heaven seemed to smile on the event. • .and on us,
because of the cloud of prayer incense that had been
going up from hearts and homes. . .and then the coming
of the brethern from San Jose, San Francisco, Pacific
Grove, and, last but not least, those from southern
California, Thomas Armstrong and David Hadley (minis
ters) was an omen for good which was fully realized. . •
The first session was that of the Meeting of
Ministry and Oversight. . . .Levi Gregory, Rebecca
62 i
Smiley of Redlands, California, Nannie M. Arnold,
A. W. Naylor, William Ward of San Jose, and others
spoke words of gratitude and encouragement for the
work/ . • .At the afternoon session, the business of
the Quarterly Meeting was attended to. Robert C.
Root was appointed clerk; Sylvia Gregory, assistant
clerk; Frank L. Naylor, treasurer; and William E. |
Ward, correspondent. ■
Members of the different Christian Endeavor Socie
ties met at 7 p.m. and organized a Quarterly Meeting
Christian Endeavor Union, with J. J. Jessup, presi
dent ; Ralph Gregory, vice-president; Ellen Trueblood,
secretary; and Carrie Gordon, junior superintendent. . •
!
On the Whole, the meetings were greatly enjoyed by
those in attendance, and we trust and believe that the
new Quarterly Meeting will be one of the factors for
good, one that makes for righteousness in Central
California. The next meeting will be held in San
Jose in December.5
The Berkeley Quarterly Meeting sent as their first i
appointed representatives to California Yearly Meeting in
1902 the following; Levi Gregory, R. Esther Smith, Mary
Wood, Nannie M. Arnold, Rebecca S. Naylor, Ernest L.
Gregory, Effie Gregory, Robert C. Root, and Loretta E.
Breckenridge•
San Jose, the first meeting established in northern
California, was "laid down" or discontinued in 1920, many
of the members having moved to other locations in the State.
The San Francisco Meeting was established in 1901, but very
little is known of it beyond its participation in the first j
years of Berkeley Quarterly Meeting. Apparently its |
^Ibid.
83
membership was scattered during the earthquake and fire of
1906 and it did not continue to exist as a Meeting after
that time.
IV. PRESENT STATUS OF FRIENDS IN CALIFORNIA
Membership in California Yearly Meeting in 1949
was 6,057 (See Table II), and churches belonging to Cali
fornia Yearly Meeting in 1955 (See Table lU) include:
Capay Rancho Friends Community Church, Orland; Citrus
Heights Friends Church, Roseville; Gardenland Friends
Community Church, North Sacramento; Berkeley Friends
Memorial Church, Berkeley; Oakland Friends Community
Church, discontinued as of September, 1949; Denair Friends
Church, Denair; Fresno Friends Community Church, Fresno;
and Lindsay Friends Church, Lindsay. All of the above
belong to Berkeley Quarterly Meeting of Friends. Pasadena
Quarterly Meeting, the first one in California, now: in
cludes: Pasadena First Friends Church; Ramona Park Friends
Community Church, Alhambra; Los Angeles First Friends
Church; Arcadia Friends Church; Azusa Friends Church;
The Second Quarterly Meeting organized, Whittier, now
includes the following churches: Whittier First Friends
Church; East Whittier Friends Church; El Modena Friends
Church; Ventura Friends Church, Ventura; Yorba Linda
Friends Church; Granada Heights Friends Church, Whittier;
Montebello Friends Church. A fourth Quarterly Meeting
TABLE II
MEMBERSHIP AND CONTRIBUTIONS, CALIFORNIA YEARLY MEETING
APRIL 1, 1949*
Number Amount ;
Membership
1
Active members 4 647
Associate members 1 410
Total membership 6 057
;
Total enrollment, Sunday School 4 940
Total membership, youth groups
854
Total membership, Society of
Friends Women 1 101
Cont ribut ions
Contribution received from
Women’s Societies $ 13,076.00
Amount contributed to Men’s
Extension Movement 2,459.60;
Amount contributed to Church,
Service, and Missions 184,134.96:
*Minutes of California Yearly Meeting. 1949 (Whittier,:
California: Headquarters, California Yearly Meeting),
Appendix.
â5
TABLE III
MEMBERSHIP AND CONTRIBUTIONS, CALIFORNIA YEARLY
MEETING APRIL
1, 1955
Amount Number j
... 1
Membership
Active members
5,155
Associate members 1.760 1
Total
6,915 :
Total enrollment, Sunday School
6,363
Total membership, Youth Groups
1,171
Total membership, Society of
Friends Women
1,827
Contributions from Women’s
Societies $ 16,146.62
Contributions to Men’s
Extension Movement 6,466.69
Contributions to Church Service
and Missions 256,072.26
66
most recently organized (1953) unites the Inglewood
Friends Church, the Bell Friends Church, First Friends
Church of Long Beach, Alamitos Friends Church of Garden
Grove, and Midway City Friends Church. San Diego Quarterly
Meeting includes: First Friends Church, San Diego; Ramona
Friends Church; Sunnyside Friends Church; North Holtville
Friends Church; and Spring Valley Friends Community Church.
Inherent in the church is a deep spiritual insight
and concern, an integrity of character, and a vision of
new areas to explore both in the communities around the
church, the world, and the souls of men, that the "living
waters," added to those of many other denominations, may
bring life and peace wherever they flow.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY
The theological structure of the Society of Friends
at the time of the move westward was clearly evangelical*
There was a strict adherence to the "fundamentals of the
faith" with caution exercised at the point of departing
too far from center on either side. The difficulties
encountered while establishing the Yearly Meeting, and in
the intervening years, have stemmed, in most cases, from
individuals who sought to take advantage of the Friends’
emphasis on the liberty of the individual conscience and
bend other minds to their point of view. "Modernism" and
"fundamentalism" had their day in the Society, as repre
sented by the Huntington Park incident. The eventual
effect of the trouble was the discontinuance of the Hunt
ington Park Church, and the continued struggle of a small
group of churches under the banner of the independent
Evangelistic Tabernacle Association. In the main, however,
California Yearly Meeting kept a good balance between the
two extremes and has sought to weld the Society into an
effective witness to the adequacy of the Gospel of Christ
to meet all needs— intellectual and spiritual.
Contributing factors to the steadiness of the
Yearly Meeting in matters theological have been (1) the
66
adherence to the statement of Faith as found in Faith
and Practice which is the Discipline of California Yearly
Meeting, (2) the heritage of "right spirit" from the
founding Yearly Meetings of Iowa and Kansas, and (3) a
leadership dedicated to keep the Society of Friends open
to new "leadings” of the Holy Spirit, and new opportuni
ties for service in the growing State of California.
Special lines of service have come from the con
victions held by Friends. These include a positive wit
ness to the way of peace by sacrificial service in mental
hospitals, work camps in backward communities of the
world, and conferences to deal realistically with world
problems. Friends have steadily advocated justice toward
the American Indian and Negro, and have labored inde
pendently and as the representatives of government for
their benefit.
The need for pastoral leadership continues to be
apparent since all Friends meetings in California have the
opportunity of ministering to communities where very few,
if any. Friends are settling. The problem of indoctrina
tion in Friends practices, particularly with regard to
the "ordinances," is a major one at this time. Many
churches are organizing classes titled "What We Believe
and Why," giving opportunity for instruction and discus
sion on the particular subjects of Communion and Baptism.
89
Most all Friends meetings of California Yearly Meeting
include in a service of worship an "open” period, in
which worshippers are encouraged to participate "as the
Spirit may lead." A notable evidence of the effective- j
ness of the evangelical emphasis among Friends is the I
increase in the number of Sunday School attenders and
membership in the youth groups, as shown in Tables II and !
Ill, pages 64 and 6 5, respectively, for the years 1949
and 1955.
Where meetings have held to the non-pastoral
emphasis, membership has seemed to remain small and
limited to the older age groups, making a strong appeal
to college students, but having lesser influence and
challenge to children and high school young people. The
"pastoral" Friends meeting, to which California Yearly
Meeting is committed, is making progress in reaching
families of the communities in which the several churches
are located. Vigorous visitation and personal evangelism
projects are being undertaken and the results in increased
membership and support (see Tables II and III, pages 64
and 6 5, respectively) seem to give credence to the pas
toral system for Friends. Numbers cannot be the only
criteria, however, and the years to come will tell the
effectiveness of the classes on what Friends believe and
why they believe it.
The features found in traditional Quakerism and .
90
which are still a part of the Society in California
Yearly Meeting of Friends include an adherence to the
democracy of government in the church, with pastor and
people on the same plane of responsibility, a consistent
peace testimony, the recognition of gifts in the ministry
where they exist and properly provide for their exercise
and development as a sacred bestowal of the Head of the
Church, the inalienable privilege of the Christian to
"affirm” and not to "swear" in matters where judicial
oaths are called for, the sacredness of the marriage
relation, and the observance of the first day of the week
for the purposes of public worship.
With the large number of unchurched and religiously
indifferent people moving into California, the monbers of
the Friends churches feel the same compulsion of love and
concern which gripped Aquilla Pickering so many years
ago, to minister to the spiritual needs of those who are
living within the limits of each Friends Church. What
he said of the l660’s can still be said today. "The
Sabbath was poorly observed, and on every hand intemper
ance was spreading so rapidly that it was fast becoming
a foe of the State. The need of moral and Christian
influence was everywhere apparent."
Instead of a colony, the Society of Friends is now i
a church seeking to do the will of God with her sister |
denominations in California.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. BOOKS
Arnold, B. F., and A. D. Clark. History of Whittier.
Whittier, California: Western Printing Corporation,
1932. 393 pp.
Dumke, Glen S. The Boom of the Eighties in Southern Cali
fornia. Los Angeles: Anderson and Ritchie; the Word
Ritchie Press, 1944. 295 pp.
Faith and Practice of California Yearly Meeting of Friends
Ühurch. Whittier, California: V. A. Kennedy, 1949.
104 pp.
Guerney, John Joseph. Observation on the Distinguished
Views and Practices of Society of Friends. New York:
Friends Book and Tract Committee, 1666. 338 pp.
Hastings, James (ed.). "Confessions," Encyclopedia of
Religion and Ethics. Vols. Ill and IV. New York:
Scribner’s, 1951.
"Society of Friends," Encyclopedia of Religion
and Ethics. Vols. V and VI. New York: Scribner’s,
1951.
Journal of George Fox. London: Dent and Sons, Ltd., 1694.
Kelly, Thomas R. Testimony of Devotion. New York: Harper
and Brothers, 1941. 124 pp.
Penney, Norman (ed.). Journal of George Fox. Revised edi
tion. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1924. 348 pp;
The Bible.
B. PAMPHLETS
Christian Workman. Illustrated edition, special issue,
1 8 9 7. 10 pp. I
Historical Sketch of Missions of California Yearly Meeting !
of Friends, 1920. 35 pp.
Pacific Bible College Catalogue. 1944-1945. Huntington
Park, California.
Report of W. V. Coffin, first clerk, Pacific Friend,June,
1944.
The Pacific Friend. George Taylor, editor. Published in
Whittier, California. Issues Nov. 1927 - July, 1933.
93
G. MINUTES OF MEETINGS
Epistle from London Yearly Meeting, recorded in Minutes
of Kansas Yearly Meeting, 1^91. Wichita, Kansas:
Headquarters, Kansas Yearly Meeting.
Fiftieth Anniversary Observance of Berkeley Quarterly
Meeting of Friends, Berkeley Monthly Meeting Sketch, ;
1952. Whittier, California: Headquarters, Berkeley
Quarterly Meeting. '
Minutes of California Yearly Meeting, 1895 through 1953.
Whittier, California: Headquarters, California Yearly
Meeting. ;
Minutes of Joint Session of the Board of Missions and |
Women * s For eign Missionary Society of California
Yearly “ Meeting, November 9, 1905. Whittier, Cali
fornia: Headquarters, California Yearly Meeting.
Minutes of Iowa Yearly Meeting, i860 through 1890.
OskaToosa, Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa Yearly Meeting.
Minutes of lo^ Yearly Meeting, General Superintendent’s
Report, 1890. Oskaloosa, Iowa: Headquarters, Iowa
Yearly Meeting.
Minutes of Kansas Yearly Meeting, i860 through I89O.
' Wichita, Kansas: Headquarters, Kansas Yearly Meeting.
Minutes of Pasadena Quarterly Meeting, August 15. 1891.
Whittier, California: Headquarters, Pasadena Quarterly
Meeting.
E. PERSONAL INTERVIEW ■
Miller, Margaret Hansler. Personal interview, Spring,
1954.

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Creator Coffin, T. Eugene (author)

Core Title History of California yearly meeting of Friends Churches 1895-1955

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Master of Arts

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