Hi: I used google and found more on Rev. T. W. Hinds whose covered wagon journey journal has been mentioned previously. I am pasting the articles below. Darlene, who mentioned this journal on the Hinds message board has now joined this list so this will be of interest to her. Is this T.W. HInds a relative of her Hugh Howe Hinds who had a copy of this journal? Hugh Howe's father was born in England. This Rev. T.W. Hinds is born in England. Wonder what the connection is? Darlene, if you decide to type his journal into a .doc or text file - it should be sent in a file to Steve Williams of the California Pioneer Project at: Steve Williams, CA Pioneer Project wjb@lightspeed.net You can visit the CA Pioneer Project at: http://www.cagenweb.com/cpl/ I would also like to send it to this list - a bit at a time - it would be interesting reading for our list members. Reminder: I have pasted several separate T.W. Hinds findings below. Regards Nan 71532.734@compuserve.com ========================================= Found at: http://www.fccsantacruz.org/History/begin.html In the Beginning... In 1851 there were only two Congregational churches in all of California--one in San Francisco and one in Sacramento--and one in the process of organizing in Nevada City. When under the leadership of Thomas Hinds a Congregational church was officially recognized in the spring of 1852 it became the fourth such formed in the state. The succinct story of the first move toward organization is told in two paragraphs in the Otto-Taylor Historical Manual of 1897: "In June, 1851, under the leadership of the Rev. T. W. Hinds, who had just become a resident of Santa Cruz, services were held in the Union House, and in July in a grove near the residence of Mr. Imus, and afterwards in a rented building located on Front Street. In 1852 a meeting was held to consult as to the organization of a church. After some delay this organization was completed, with the Apostle's Creed as its doctrinal standard, March 14, 1852, with T. W. Hinds as minister, and the following persons as members: Mr. and Mrs. Case, Mrs. Greenwood, T. L. Andrews, D. C. Stone, Nelson Taylor, Charles Collins and James M. Cutler. The Rev. D. A. Dryden, pastor of the Methodist Church in Santa Cruz preached the sermon at the organization service, and both churches celebrated the Lord's Supper together. April fourth of the same year Nelson Taylor was chosen Deacon. "This was the first Congregational Church organized in this town and in the country roundabout. Except for the illness of Mr. Hinds and the removal of most of the members from town, this Church would have continued unto the present time. Yet the seed was sown, and a few years afterward, September 13, 1857, the present church was organized with twelve members." Thus it seems that First Congregational Church could just as easily claim 1852 as its birth year as 1857. And indeed the subject of different organizational dates had long been a matter of friendly controversy in the church and elsewhere in the early 1900s. In the history of other old churches, lapses of continuous services of worship and well formulated boards and committees seem to have been habitual in their early years and yet many use their initial start as the official date of organization. In 1951, during the Rev. Ed Cunningham's pastorate, there was considerable discussion as to whether to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church in 1952 or 1957. No formal vote was taken but the concensus was that the latter date should be observed. -- [material adapted from A Century of Christian Witness: History of First Congregational Church Santa Cruz, California 1857-1963] ================================== Found at: http://www.fccsantacruz.org/History/Hinds.html The Rev. Thomas W. Hinds Thomas W. Hinds was born in London, England in December of 1818, the son of Joseph Hinds, a moderately wealthy man who is identified as a wafer maker (probably a maker or seller of fine writing papers). Joseph Hinds was a staunch Anglican who intended his son should succeed him in business after obtaining a thorough education. However, young Thomas William asked, in lieu of patrimony, to be allowed to study theology. His request was granted and he entered the University of Glasgow which was then considered to provide the best training available to "dissenters." He became a dissenting minister of the Congregational sect. His education included a stay in France where he studied that language in depth. He met and married his wife Jane Isabella Johnson while serving a church at St. Bees on the coast of northern England. He then served a church in or near Chester and during this time his first child, Alfred Joseph was born. After the death of his father, probably in late 1845, Hinds left the ministry to assume management of his father's affairs in London. His daughter Amelia Isabelle was born during this period. Unfortunately the business did not flourish under his leadership and in 1847 he and his family emigrated to the United States where they settled in Farmington, Iowa. Hinds entered the mercantile business and erected a brick building which bore his name. A third child, William J., was born in 1849. For reasons that have not survived in the family history but apparently not because of gold fever, in May of 1850 the Hinds family and four other men, set out for California in ox-drawn covered wagons. During the journey, which was full of beauty as well as great hardship, Jane died and the bereaved and beleagured family finally arrived in California in September. Upon arriving in San Francisco Hinds turned at once to the few church leaders there and accepted humble tasks related to the pioneer Christian movement in that city. He found work as a Bible agent and preacher, later acting as traveling correspondent for the "Pacific," a denominational paper which is still being published today. In the fall of 1851 he moved to Santa Cruz and was instrumental in organizing the Santa Cruz Congregational Church, of which he became minister in 1852. It seems never to have been his intention to attain wealth. He never attempted to do more than earn a modest living, serving the community in any ways that he could. In Santa Cruz he remarried and his name and that of his second wife Marietta was recorded by the church as "Charter Member" in 1857. He also officiated in the Methodist Church in the absence of the regular pastor. From 1855 to 1860 he conducted a private school, then retired from public life due to failing health. In 1866 he became blind and from this time until his death on November 11, 1970, he was cared for by his daughter, Amelia. -- [material adapted from A Century of Christian Witness: History of First Congregational Church Santa Cruz, California 1857-1963] ============================================== Found at: www.canvocta.org/newsletter/TTapr02.htm DIARY QUOTES... from Shann Rupp ~ "Grass is so scarce that a whipperwill would starve if he should chance to come this way." Jacob S. Hayden, 1852 "We though[ t ] how our old associates in the states were strutting about the homes in ruffled shirts and laces boots- while we poor devils were driving oxen up the Rocky Mountains, with the dust flying so thickly that we could scarcely see and not a d --d bit of Bourbon to quench our thirst." Jacob S. Hayden , 1852 "10 new graves in one place and 12 in another and 21 in another and 2 in another. Olde death has bin busily employed here of late." George Miller, 1852 "The only wood to be got for fuel was willow, and to make a fire with this when soaked with wet and it raining all the time was sufficient work for the most patient philosopher." T. W. Hinds, 1850 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Found at: http://www.fccsantacruz.org/History/begin.html In the Beginning... In 1851 there were only two Congregational churches in all of California--one in San Francisco and one in Sacramento--and one in the process of organizing in Nevada City. When under the leadership of Thomas Hinds a Congregational church was officially recognized in the spring of 1852 it became the fourth such formed in the state. The succinct story of the first move toward organization is told in two paragraphs in the Otto-Taylor Historical Manual of 1897: "In June, 1851, under the leadership of the Rev. T. W. Hinds, who had just become a resident of Santa Cruz, services were held in the Union House, and in July in a grove near the residence of Mr. Imus, and afterwards in a rented building located on Front Street. In 1852 a meeting was held to consult as to the organization of a church. After some delay this organization was completed, with the Apostle's Creed as its doctrinal standard, March 14, 1852, with T. W. Hinds as minister, and the following persons as members: Mr. and Mrs. Case, Mrs. Greenwood, T. L. Andrews, D. C. Stone, Nelson Taylor, Charles Collins and James M. Cutler. The Rev. D. A. Dryden, pastor of the Methodist Church in Santa Cruz preached the sermon at the organization service, and both churches celebrated the Lord's Supper together. April fourth of the same year Nelson Taylor was chosen Deacon. "This was the first Congregational Church organized in this town and in the country roundabout. Except for the illness of Mr. Hinds and the removal of most of the members from town, this Church would have continued unto the present time. Yet the seed was sown, and a few years afterward, September 13, 1857, the present church was organized with twelve members." Thus it seems that First Congregational Church could just as easily claim 1852 as its birth year as 1857. And indeed the subject of different organizational dates had long been a matter of friendly controversy in the church and elsewhere in the early 1900s. In the history of other old churches, lapses of continuous services of worship and well formulated boards and committees seem to have been habitual in their early years and yet many use their initial start as the official date of organization. In 1951, during the Rev. Ed Cunningham's pastorate, there was considerable discussion as to whether to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the church in 1952 or 1957. No formal vote was taken but the concensus was that the latter date should be observed. -- [material adapted from A Century of Christian Witness: History of First Congregational Church Santa Cruz, California 1857-1963]