The time
was appointed for holding the first religious service looking to the church organization.
In the afternoon of the second Sunday, the 13th of Mav, I conducted divine worship in the
Public School House, in the presence of a goodlv number of persons, and preached my first
sermon preparatory to the proposed church organization.
On the following Sunday, the 20th of May, 1849, after
devotional exercises and a sermon, I proceeded to the formal church organization.
A written petition was placed in my hands, requesting
that the petitioners be constituted in a church relation, to be known as the First
Presbyterian Church of San Francisco, under the authority of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church of the United States.
The petitioners and original members were the
following:
W.W. Caldwell, from the Second Presbyterian Church, Newburyport, Massachusetts;
George F. Turner, from the Mission Church of Makinaw;
Frederick Billings, from the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, Vermont;
Mrs. Sarah B. Gillespie, from the Presbyterian Mission Church, Macao, China;
Mrs. Margaret A. Geary, from the Presbyterian Church of Johnstown,
Pennsylvania; and
Mrs. Ann Hodgton, from the Mission Church, Valparaiso, Chile.
