Hi: Did I send this last week? If so, I apologize. I used google and looked for: "Hinds" Covered wagon Iowa Regards Nan 71532.734@compuserve.com ========================================= 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]