Brethren By The Bay

There are few places like San Francisco. Simply hearing the city’s name conjures up visions of its charms. You can almost see the magnificent Golden Gate Bridge shrouded in fog, the beloved clanging cable cars, and the gorgeous skyline. With less than a million inhabitants, San Francisco certainly isn’t the largest city in California, but there’s little doubt that it is the most beautiful. An amazing natu­ral setting of steep hills surrounded by an incredible bay has stolen the hearts of many since Gaspar de Portola discovered the area 240 years ago.

During those years, San Francisco has earned another distinction: the California city with the most colorful history. San Francisco was born out of the Califor­nia gold rush, suffered the worst earthquake in American history, and is home to America’s most infamous prison: Alcatraz. The city itself has always had a scandalous side as well. From the lawless section of town known as the Barbary Coast in the nineteenth century to the Haight Ashbury district of the 1960s to its leadership in gay rights today, San Francisco has always been a city with a slightly wicked image.

But despite San Francisco’s image, the Truth has been alive in this bustling me­tropolis almost as long as the city has existed. In 1866, just 16 years after the city was incorporated, William Paine was or­dering Christadelphian magazines from San Fran­cisco.1Christadelphian Magazine, 1866.[/note]If he was a brother at this time (which he defi­nitely was by 1872), he was California’s first Christa­delphian. Two years later, George Inwood is also listed as ordering the magazine from San Francisco.3In 1872 Bro. and Sis. Tomkins and Bro. Pearson moved out west to San Francisco. The following was noted in the Christadelphian magazine at the time: “On his [Bro. Tomkins’] arrival he found out brother Payne [William Paine] and brother Cap. Higgins, and proposed meeting for the break­ing of bread. The proposal has been acted on by Bro. Payne and himself, and these two have been strengthened by the arrival of brother and sister Tomkins. A little pillar of the truth has been erected in this remote part of the world.” Thus the first ecclesia in California was formed in San Francisco in 1872, two years before another small California group, led by Bro. Robert Strathearn, would begin meeting near Santa Barbara. These two groups were the only brothers and sisters in California in these early years as Bro. Robert Roberts noted in a reply to Sis. Oriana Quinn’s enquiry to the Christadelphian magazine in 1875: “There are not many brethren in California. To locate in the vicinity of an [established] ecclesia is, we fear, an impossibility. There is a small company of believers in the neighborhood of Santa Barbara, Lower California. Also at San Francisco there are two or three.” Oriana’s father, Bro. J.C. Quinn would end up in San Diego, and be part of that city’s first ecclesia in 1877.4

William Clark and James Cheetham

Despite the distances and the difficulty of travel in those early years, there was contact between the Christadel­phians in Southern and Northern California. In 1874 Sis. Rosenberg’s husband, who would later become a brother and a member of the San Francisco Ecclesia, traveled from Santa Barbara to San Francisco to spend some time with Bro. Tomkins. Thirty-five-year-old Bro. William Clark, originally from Glasgow, Scotland, but lately living in Iowa, also visited around this time, stay­ing several months. He must have liked what he saw because he and his family soon moved to San Francisco.5In 1877, Bro. and Sis. Clark, Bro. and Sis. Tomkins, and Bro. R.C. Bingley were all living in San Francisco but were not fellowshipping each other, according to a personal letter written by Bro. Bingley.6The issue of fellowship was one that would plague the Bay Area brethren for many years.

By the time Bro. Bingley wrote his letter, Bro. Pearson had left the Truth (in 18747) and Bro. Paine had died (in 18758) so that the original lightstand in San Francisco had died out. In 1879 Bro. Clark wrote to Robert Roberts notifying him that he was forming an ecclesia in San Francisco.9Even then, the city’s image proved difficult to overcome as a Bro. and Sis. Faulk arrived from Aukland, N.Z. in 1880, but quickly moved on to Cleveland, Ohio, with Bro. Faulk declaring San Francisco to be “Sodom”.10

Others seemed to find the area more to their liking. By 1887 Bro. Peter Innes had become a member of the San Francisco Ecclesia.11Bro. Innes had previously im­migrated to Illinois from Scotland in 1837, and John Thomas and his family lived in Illinois with Peter Innes for a short time. In 1847 Mr. Innes accompanied Bro. Thomas on a speaking tour in Scotland and was baptized soon after.12

Bros. Clark and Innes attended the burial of Bro. John C. Quinn (who had ar­rived from San Diego just three weeks previously) in Stockton, California, in 1888, with Bro. Clark giving the remarks.13During the late 1800s, it was quite common for the brethren in San Francisco to get together with those in Stockton. Bro Clark also gave the address at the burial of Bro. Alva Bowden of Stockton (29 years old) in 1889.141889 was also the year 22-year-old Bro. James Cheetham arrived in San Francisco from England. As a member of the Sowerby Bridge Ecclesia prior to coming to America, James was described as “a useful and promising brother”.15He would go on to become the recording brother of the San Francisco Ecclesia for over 40 years.

By 1891 Bro. Cheetham was the only Christadelphian living in the city of San Francisco. The ecclesia, num­bering eight members (including Bro. Cheetham), had moved to Oakland, where Bro. and Sis. Clark were now living.16The meeting place moved again, this time to Berkeley, in 1893. Bro. Peter Innes died that same year.17

Now back in Oakland, the ecclesia recorded five baptisms in 1894. That same year, Bro. and Sis. Clark’s daughter, Sis. Lillie Clark, moved to Rochester, New York, to marry Bro. L.T. Wade. A welcome addition to the ecclesia occurred around this time when Bro. J.A. McCarl moved to Oakland from Portland, Oregon. Bro. McCarl was to become a leading speaker in the San Francisco Ecclesia.18

As the nineteenth century was coming to a close, the Truth appeared to be doing well in the Bay Area. In 1895 there were 27 members in the Oakland Ecclesia, which was likely the largest ecclesia in California at the time. Only Pomona, in Southern California, would have been anywhere near this size. Bro. Lyman T. Wade, M.D., and his wife joined the ecclesia, having moved to Berkeley, where he opened a medical practice. Bro. Wade sent information from Oakland about the baptism of a sea captain named Lars Furman in 1895.19By 1898 the ecclesia had grown to 35 members.20While it seemed as if things were going very well for the Bay Area brethren, a very sad event in Christadelphian history was about to occur in San Francisco.

Robert Roberts’ visit

In 1898, Bro. Robert Roberts, editor of The Christadelphian Magazine, planned to make a short stay in San Francisco on his way from Australia to Birmingham, England. This visit seems to have come about for a couple of reasons. Bro. Rob­erts wanted to stop in San Francisco because of a doctrinal issue that was caus­ing problems in the ecclesia at the time, but he may also have visited because of personal connections he had with at least four of the ecclesial members in the Bay Area. Bro. Clark was a relative, Bro. Cheetham was a good friend, and Sis. Cheetham had been taught the truth by Bro. Roberts. Unfortunately, not every­one whom Bro. Roberts knew in the ecclesia at the time held warm feelings for him. One brother in particular had a longstanding grievance, believing that back in 1867 Bro. Roberts had taken sole credit for a book that this brother had also worked on.21

It might be assumed that the doctrinal problem which brought Bro. Roberts to San Francisco was resurrectional responsibility since that issue was the main focus within the brotherhood at the time. In fact, though, the thorny issue that drew him to San Francisco was the belief some held that the Scriptures were not wholly inspired. This subject had caused a painful division among Christadelphians a few years before and was still making things difficult for the Bay Area brethren. One couple in particular had fully accepted the partial inspiration theory and were determined to press Bro. Roberts on the issue. The husband was the same brother who had been upset with Bro. Roberts about the book he had worked on some 30 years earlier.

Bro. Roberts arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday morning, September 21, 1898. That night he went to Bro. Cheetham’s home where several of the brothers and sisters had congregated, including the Bingleys and the McCarls. Bro. Roberts was asked to address the group on the partial inspiration question. He began to speak about the controversy by asking if the ecclesia would fellowship someone who believed in the partial inspiration of the Scriptures. Bro. Roberts’ presence at Bro. Cheetham’s home had been requested by the couple who were caught up in the false belief. The evening ended with the couple staunchly holding their posi­tion. Bro. Cheetham later remarked that Bro. Roberts left that evening upset by what had transpired. Despite the evening’s negative ending, Bro. Roberts agreed to speak the next night at Bro. Clark’s home across the bay in Oakland.

The Bible class at the Clarks’ proved to be a much more pleasant affair than what had transpired the night before at Bro. Cheetham’s. Bro. Roberts was asked by Bro. Clark to speak on the plan of God from the Creation to the Kingdom. The audience included a number of brothers and sisters and even a few interested visitors. Bro. Cheetham remarked later in the Christadelphian magazine that it was “one of the best lectures I ever heard him give”. It would be the last Bible talk that Robert Roberts would deliver this side of the Kingdom.

After class, the brethren escorted Bro. Roberts back to his room at the Cosmo­politan Hotel in San Francisco. They all rode the ferry across the bay and then walked to the hotel. Planning to leave the Bay Area for Vancouver, Canada, the next day, Bro. Roberts said good night and spoke of returning to San Francisco for a longer stay. Unfortunately, this was not to be.

Bro. Cheetham arrived early the next morning to take Bro. Roberts to the wharf where he was to board the ship that would take him to Vancouver. When he didn’t get a response to his rap on the hotel room door, Bro. Cheetham went looking for Bro. Roberts. Unable to find him elsewhere in the hotel, and finding the door unlocked when he returned, Bro. Cheetham entered the room. There he found Bro. Roberts lying on the floor, asleep in Christ.22

The death of Bro. Roberts was a tremendous shock not only to the brethren by the Bay, but also to the entire Christadelphian world. Their spiritual leader, who had given so much of himself in the advancement of the Truth, was so suddenly gone. Sadly, this was only the first of three shocks that would rock the early brothers and sisters in the San Francisco Bay Area over the next eight years.

Separation

As difficult as the controversy over partial inspiration had been for the brethren, an even more painful dispute was just over the horizon. A new controversy that was shaking the ecclesias worldwide was about to have a long-term effect on ecclesial life in the Bay Area. This new controversy, the resurrectional responsi­bility question, would soon come between the Bay Area brethren, resulting in a split in 1901. Bro. James Cheetham reported in The Christadelphian that year that the San Francisco Ecclesia had chosen to meet under the Birmingham Amended Statement of Faith and listed the names of the ten members in the ecclesia. Bro. William Clark was not among them. So began nearly 90 years of separation for the brethren by the Bay.

The new century had begun with the Bay Area Amended and Unamended ecclesias going their separate ways. The Amended Ecclesia was visited in 1901 by Bro. Henry Sulley (author of The Temple of Ezekiel’s Prophecy). Twelve brothers and sisters met with Bro. and Sis. Sulley for breaking of bread at the Cheethams’ home. Bro. Sulley reported later to The Christadelphian Magazine that Robert Roberts’ last effort for the Truth had not been in vain: “At this place, brother Roberts closed his eyes in sleep nearly two and a half years ago. His last effort for purity of doctrine was made here. It has borne fruit, but he knoweth it not… In consequence of the last interview which brother Roberts had with brethren in San Francisco, a number decided to associate only with those who faithfully uphold the truth that the Scriptures are inspired.” At Bro. Sulley’s suggestion, the ecclesia undertook a large preaching effort. Preaching would become one of the main priorities of the San Francisco ecclesias in the early part of the twentieth century.23

In 1903 the Amended ecclesia reported to The Christadelphian that it had a Sun­day school and mentioned the visit of Bro. A.D. Strickler. Bro. Strickler would be at the center of another controversy a few years later that would cause many of the Amended California ecclesias to join the Berean fellowship. The Amended ecclesia in the Bay Area, however, would remain in the Central fellowship. By 1904 there were 22 members and 18 Sunday school students in this ecclesia. The ecclesia seemed to be growing but more trouble lay ahead. In 1905 the ecclesia faced another division for an unspecified reason.24Just a year later the very ground under their feet would split.

Earthquake!

The 1906 earthquake left the Oddfellows Hall (where the Amended ecclesia met) in ruins. All of the brothers and sisters escaped injury, but their Bibles, hymn books, and ecclesial records were destroyed.25Bro. J.G. Caton’s letter to Bro. C.C. Walker, editor of The Christadelphian, gives a stunning picture of what it was like to be there when it happened:

Dear Brother Walker,

Great distress here. Things so sudden, and fire as quick. Main waterpipe burst, and so fires burned almost unchecked. Have had to dodge fire continuously; prolonged and severe. No communication. Wires down. All offices destroyed. Food being rushed in, and water. Troops and Marines; martial law. Much loss of life, and most traces destroyed by fire. Post office for outgoing mails started this morning. Still blasting buildings to check fire. We are thankful to God for His mercies to us, that we and other brethren are spared. Things are in a state of chaos at present. We are sending mail by courtesy of strangers, and military post. Our meeting-place is a mass of ruins, and all have lost something. Brethren Baldwin and Cheetham, with their families, are safe. T. and sister E. E. Anderson are safe. My room burnt up — saved some. Sister Anderson’s home burnt — saved some.

With kind regards and brotherly love, Yours in hope, G. Caton.

The difficult years

In 1907 the Amended ecclesia struggled to get back on its feet after the earthquake. They were meeting every other week in Oakland at the home of the McCarls. The ecclesia continued to be torn by division, but they also continued to preach the Word. The ecclesia held three debates with a Mr. Matlock in 1907, the Truth be­ing represented by Bros. J. A. McCarl and A.W. Baldwin.26In 1911, Bros. McCarl and Baldwin again represented the Bay Area Christadelphians in a debate, this time against the Millennial Dawn group.27In 1910 the ecclesia began placing Bro. Roberts’ book Christendom Astray in a number of public libraries including Ba­kersfield, Visalia, Spreckles, Turlock and Oakland.28 Two years later, the placement of this excellent explanation of the Truth led to the baptism of Claus Buliman. In 1912, Bro. J.T. Irwin from the Pomona Ecclesia in Southern California lec­tured in San Francisco to over 40 visitors.29

The preaching efforts by the Amended ecclesia continued in the 1920s. In 1921 the ecclesia held a public lecture that at­tracted 50 visitors.30At about this time, my grand­mother, sis. Rosamond Cheetham (Bro. and Sis. James Cheetham’s daugh­ter), and my grandfather, Bro. Howard Wade (Bro. and Sis. William Clark’s grandson) fell in love and married. Howard was in the Unamended fellowship and Rosamond in the Amended fellowship and neither of them was willing to change. Both families were unhappy with the unwise situation in which the two newlyweds were out of fellowship with each other. Naturally, there was concern that under these conditions Howard and Rosamond’s marriage wouldn’t last. A few years later, however, Howard left the Unamended fellowship for the sake of their children, and the marriage lasted over 50 years until my grandfather fell asleep in Christ in 1973. 31

Things were not working out as well for the Bay Area brethren. A new split oc­curred in the Amended ecclesia in 1922, when eight brothers and sisters living in San Francisco apparently created a Berean Amended ecclesia.32There were now two Amended ecclesias in the Bay Area, one in Oakland (Central fellowship) and one in San Francisco (Berean) and one Unamended ecclesia in San Francisco. It was during this time that the Bay Area brethren were again visited by an editor of The Christadelphian Magazine, when Bro. C.C. Walker toured California in 1927 in an unsuccessful effort to heal the rift between the Berean and Central fellowships in the state.33

The 1920s saw a Berean-Central split in the Amended community, but on the Unamended side the Advocate and Fraternal Visitor groups were able to rec­oncile. Hoping to continue the success of that effort, the Unamended ecclesia made an attempt to reunite with the Central ecclesia in 1923. The ecclesia sent Bro. Cheetham, recording brother of the Amended ecclesia, a letter requesting his attendance at their Bible class on the subject of fellowship. This endeavor did not produce reunion, but in 1941 there was a new joint attempt to put an end to their division. Efforts by brethren in both ecclesias did lead to a local reunion, but it appears to have been short-lived.34

While the local reunion effort ultimately failed, the success of the Berean-Central reunion in North America in1953 gave new impetus to continuing efforts for a Bay Area reunion. The San Francisco Unamended ecclesia and the Albany and Ukiah Amended ecclesias began reunion discussions. In the years leading up to these discussions, the Unamended ecclesia remained in San Francisco while the Amended ecclesia had moved several times, meeting first in Walnut Creek, then in Albany, and later in the Concord-Lafayette area. The Bay Area ecclesias were encouraged by several regional agreements in North America during the 1960s and released the following statement: “Five years of frequent discussion and conference between the Arranging Brothers of the Concord-Lafayette area and the San Francisco area have shown our complete and mutual agreement in understanding of all doctrinal principles essential for salvation.” However, the ’60s would end without reunion due to questions about fellowship practices.

The 1970s saw both the Amended and Unamended ecclesias move to new loca­tions. The Amended ecclesia in Lafayette-Concord, with about 25 members, relocated north of the City of San Francisco to San Rafael in Marin County, and chose the name San Francisco (also known as Marinwood) Ecclesia. In 1973 the Unamended ecclesia, with about 50 members, moved a few miles south of San Francisco to the city of Belmont.

Belmont Ecclesia, 1974

It was in the 1980s that real progress began to be made toward uniting the brethren by the Bay. The decade began with the Belmont Ecclesia adopting a Statement of Position relating to Resurrectional Responsibility and Fellowship Matters, which it sent to the Marinwood Ecclesia and also to the Unamended ecclesias in Northern California. A number of reunion meetings were held in the early 1980s which included serving board members of the two ecclesias, members of the Unamended and Amended reunion committees, and Bro. Don Styles, editor of the Tidings Magazine. Next, the serving brethren of the Unamended San Fran­cisco Ecclesia began to work together with brethren from Southern California to frame a regional proposal that would allow as many Amended and Unamended ecclesias in California to join together as possible. A Basis for Unity in California was presented in 1988 to the West Coast Central Reunion Committee and representatives of the arranging boards of the Central ecclesias. This was followed in 1989 with an open letter to all Unamended ecclesias in North America. The letter was signed by the Belmont, Mendocino (Ukiah), Mariposa, and Merced Ecclesias; it outlined their beliefs and practices and their desire to reunite with the Central brethren.

Reunion

The groundwork had been laid to bring an end to 90 years of separation. On Dec. 15, 1991, the ecclesia in Belmont sent a formal request to the ecclesia in Marin­wood, the Tidings Magazine, and The Christadelphian Magazine, seeking accep­tance in mutual fellowship by the Marinwood Ecclesia and other Central ecclesias throughout the world. When this request was accepted, the Bay Area brethren were once again united, watching and waiting for the return of our Lord.

By becoming part of the Central community, the four formerly Unamended eccle­sias in Northern California have benefited greatly from fellowship with brethren in both Northern and Southern California as well as the rest of the world. The long sought-after reunion has also led to growth for the now united Bay Area ecclesias. In June 2009, the San Francisco Peninsula (formerly known as Belmont) Ecclesia purchased a hall in Redwood City, the first permanent home for a Bay Area ecclesia in the 140 years of Christadelphian presence in the area. Tackling the work which this project requires has brought the brethren of the San Francisco and the San Francisco Peninsula Ecclesias even closer together.35

While San Francisco is a stunning city, the beauty of the fellowship that has been restored between the brethren by the Bay far surpasses all the physical beauty the area possesses. The unity that now exists between them took many years to work out but has led to abundant blessings for those who were affected by it. May these brethren continue to work together as one until the day that Christ returns and makes us all one, even as he and his Father are one.

  1. Christadelphian Magazine, 1868.
  3. When the first Christadelphian in Southern California, Sis. Jane Rosenberg, was being baptized near Santa Barbara in 1870, there appears to have already been California Christadelphians 400 miles up the coast in San Francisco.

    In 1866, the same year that William Paine was ordering Christadelphian magazines in San Francisco, 30-year-old Joseph George (J.G.) Tomkins and his 28-year-old wife were baptized in Birmingham, England. A year later they emigrated to Rochester, New York, and then to North Attleboro, Massachusetts, where J.G. taught George Pearson the Truth.2Christadelphian Magazine, 1866, 1867

  4. Christadelphian Magazine, 1877.
  5. Christadelphian Magazine, 1874.
  6. Personal letter from R.C. Bingley to W.A. Harris, Dec. 13, 1877.
  7. Christadelphian Magazine, 1874.
  8. Christadelphian Magazine, 1875.
  9. Christadelphian Magazine, 1879
  10. Christadelphian Magazine, 1880
  11. Christadelphian Magazine, 1887
  12. Christadelphian Magazine, 1893
  13. Christadelphian Magazine, 1888
  14. Christadelphian Magazine, 1889
  15. Christadelphian Magazine, 1889
  16. Christadelphian Magazine, 1891
  17. Christadelphian Magazine, 1893.
  18. Christadelphian Magazine, 1894
  19. Christadelphian Magazine, 1895
  20. Christadelphian Magazine, 1898
  21. My Days and My Ways, Robert Roberts: An Autobiography, Chapter 34
  22. Christadelphian Magazine, 1899
  23. Christadelphian Magazine, 1902
  24. Christadelphian Magazine, 1905
  25. Christadelphian Magazine, 1906
  26. Christadelphian Magazine, 1907
  27. Christadelphian Magazine, 1911
  28. Christadelphian Magazine, 1910
  29. Christadelphian Magazine, 1912
  30. Christadelphian Magazine, 1921
  31. Personal letter from Betty Hensley to the author, Jan., 2007
  32. Christadelphian Magazine, 1922
  33. Christadelphian Magazine, 1928
  34. Documents of the San Francisco Christadelphian Ecclesia, June, July, 1941
  35. The San Francisco Area Ecclesial Division and History, Bro. Robert Sleeper, 2009