"William Taylor," engraved frontispiece for Seven Years' Street Preaching in San Francisco…, 1857. Larger.
American emigration to California was ever motivated by dreams of wealth and a better life. But though many emigrants left behind the congregations of home, Eastern churches didn't wait long before sending their missionaries.
William Taylor was one such, a preacher who arrived in San Francisco in 1849 determined to buck the gambling, profanity, and drinking in order to bring the spiritually deprived to a better life. But first, as he recalls in his 1858 book California Life Illustrated, he had to get their attention.
Said I, "Gentlemen. . . there is no true American but will observe order under the preaching of God's word anywhere, and maintain it if need be. We shall have order, gentlemen."
"Your favorite rule in arithmetic is the rule of 'loss and gain.' In your tedious voyage around the Horn, or your wearisome journey over the plains, or your hurried passage across the Isthmus, and during the few months of your sojourn in California, you have been figuring under this rule: losses and gains have constituted the theme of your thoughts and calculations. Now I wish most respectfully to submit to you a question under your favorite rule. I want you to employ all the mathematical power and skill you can command, and patiently work out the mighty problem. The question may be found in the 26th verse of the 16th chapter of our Lord's Gospel of St. Matthew. Shall I announce it? "What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
Every man present was a "true American" for that hour. Perfect order was observed, and profound attention given to every sentence of the sermon that followed.
Taylor's spirited sermons made him famous in San Francisco. He later traveled all over the world before returning to California to retire.
California Husbands Meeting their Wives
From Seven years' street preaching in San Francisco, California; embracing incidents, triumphant death scenes, etc., 1857. Read OnlineDownload PDF
"Phineas Sprague (American Steamship, 1857-1876)," watercolor by Erik Heyl, 1857. Larger.
Jet plans, automobiles, and commuter trains all help to keep us united with friends and family. In Gold Rush California, it was passenger ships that reunited loved ones long apart.
Methodist preacher William Taylor was never too busy to condemn Gold Rush era gamblers, drunkards, and sailors. However, in this journal excerpt, he leaves off sidewalk preaching to chronicle the long-awaited rendezvous of couples aboard the deck of the steamer Panama.
Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1852. . . About four thousand persons crowded down Long Wharf to witness her arrival. Quite a company of anxious wives, who had come to join their husbands, stood on deck, looking out to catch in the distance the joyful recognitions of those they loved. One simple-hearted, beautiful little woman, getting a glimpse of her husband in the crowd, clapped her hands, and danced for very gladness. One man rushed on deck, and threw both arms round his wife, as though he would run right away with her, and then, with arms around each other, they walked 'abaft' in the greatest glee, not seeming to be conscious that anybody was in sight of them. Nearly all that met embraced and kissed each other, some laughing and some weeping, amid the cheering of the multitude. A Mrs. Gardner, who had less of youthful fire than many, but I should say not less of genuine affection, was quietly seated on deck, waiting the arrival of her husband. The old gentleman took off his hat when he got within a few feet of her, and with his venerable bald head bared, approached her with an air of dignified affection which I cannot describe.
"William Taylor," frontispiece for California Life Illustrated, 1857. Larger.
California is the land of dreams. Unfortunately some California dreams can become nightmares—especially the dream of owning a home.
The missionary evangelist William Taylor, presaging contemporary concerns about buying a house, suggests a rather unorthodox way to get a Bay Area home.
The question now was, "What shall we do at the end of the month?" Some said, as the Missionary Society had sent us there, they would be bound to support us. I replied that the Missionary Society never had, and never could, support a man at California rates; that my rent alone for a year would be about five thousand dollars, to say nothing of other expenses; that the society, moreover, was in debt; and that I never expected to draw on them for a dollar while in California. I said to the brethren that if nothing better opened I would take my ax and wedge and go to the redwoods, fifteen miles distant across the bay, and get out lumber for a house, and build it myself. They said I could not do it but could suggest no other way of getting a house.
Sent to California as a missionary by the Methodist Episcopal church in 1849, with California Life Illustrated, William Taylor also become an important chronicler of California life.
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