Emmanuel Episcopal Church
235 South Church Street Grass Valley, California
Pen and watercolor by local artist Loana Beeson
This framed picture hung in my grandfather's house for many years. This is the church he and his family grew up in.
Grass Valley United Methodist Church
236 South Church Street Grass Valley, California
Pen and watercolor by local artist Loana Beeson
This framed and matted picture was a wedding present from the artist to my husband and I in June of 1981. This is the church I grew up in.
Emmanuel Church first opened its doors for worship on August 1, 1858. The Carpenter Gothic style building was built on land donated by the Gold Hill Quartz Mining Company and many pioneer families regularly worshiped there. Directly across the street was the Methodist Episcopal Church which was formed in 1852 and began as a house with several additions before the grand new church was built in 1872. The steeple which housed the church bell was 125 feet tall. Cornish families worshiped there as they had done in their Cornish Chapels back in England.
The 1872 church building.
This church burned in a spectacular fire in August of 1936. Luckily, Emmanuel Church, which was directly across the street, did not catch fire. The worry was the steeple would fall outward but it eventually fell back into the church itself and the entire church was gone in less than an hour.
This week's writing prompt is Worship.... I am not focusing on just one ancestor this week, but rather a place that has influenced my family since the 1800's. When I think of Church street (or more specifically South Church street) in Grass Valley, California I am reminded of the role it has played in my family history and in my continuing faith.
Church street was so named because of the five original churches built on the quiet dirt road just one block up from Mill street, which was the heart of town. The Congregational Church (built by pioneers in 1853) was on the corner of Church and Neal streets. St. Patrick's Parish Church (1855) was located at the intersection of Church street and Chapel street. The African Methodist Episcopal Church (1854) was also located on Church street until 1894. Even though my family did not worship at these other three churches, St. Mary's Academy, next door to St. Patrick's, was where Uncle Jack took commercial classes as a young man and my grandfather took choral classes. Their Norwegian father John Hartwig Hansen was involved in drama productions there to learn to speak English. My mother took piano lessons there from Sister Mary James. The building now houses the Grass Valley Museum where the Burrows family cradle is located.
My great great grandparents Alexander Burrows and Elizabeth Jane Hurd Burrows attended the Emmanuel Church on Church street with their growing family in the late 1800's. This is my great grandmother's original Baptism certificate from 1895 and her later confirmation card from 1899.
There are only three documents that have Clara's name written as Clara Vere de Vere: Her graduation diploma and these two religious records. She was named after Clara Vere de Vere in the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem!
The next generation also worshiped at Emmanuel:
Vere Burrows Hansen with her boys (l-r) Robley, Harold and Jack
Harold was my grandfather.
Clara Vere Burrows married John Hartwig Hansen and together they had three boys: Jack, Robley and Harold (the youngest). Vere made sure the boys were baptized and eventually confirmed in the Emmanuel Church. The above picture was taken around 1912 and was found in Vere's photograph album.
My grandfather's confirmation card from 1922.
The Methodist Church across the street was built by Cornish miners who came to Grass Valley to work in the gold mines. The church was heavily influenced by the preaching and music of John and Charles Wesley and became known for the Cornish Carol Choir, Pasty Bake Sales and the Cornish Fair (all of which continue on to this day).
My other great grandmother, Emma King Hayes VanDuzer, was a resident of Grass Valley from a young age when her parents immigrated from Cornwall to Grass Valley. They were staunch Methodists who had previously worshiped in the small Methodist Chapel on East Hill in St. Austell, Cornwall. After living in San Francisco, Nana later made Grass Valley her permanent home with her daughters. She was very involved in the church and was a very active member there for the rest of her life. She was known for heading up committees, singing in the choir, sewing drapes for Wesley Hall, and for her flower arrangements. She started the "Friendly Club" and the quilting group. Her daughters Dorothy, Fran and Margaret (Betty, my grandmother) were life long members as well.
The new Methodist Church was dedicated on Palm Sunday, 1939. The architecture style was California Mission Revival. All the solid oak pews with their red velvet cushions came from the Temple Methodist Church in San Francisco. The pipe organ came from a theater in Chicago.
My grandfather Harold Hansen (of Emmanuel Episcopal Church) recorded his "life story" later in life, and told how Emma VanDuzer cornered him on Mill Street one day to ask if he could help with Easter music at the Methodist Church. My grandfather had a beautiful tenor voice and sang at other churches in the area as well as in San Francisco. He crossed the street to attend choir practice at the Methodist Church, met Betty (who was a soprano), and "took a shine to her from the start". They were married on July 2, 1939. They were my grandparents.
Jack Hansen, Harold Hansen and Betty Hayes Hansen , Dorothy Hayes in the new Methodist Church July 2, 1939. Jack and Harold grew up in the Emmanuel Church, Betty and Dorothy grew up in the Methodist Church. Nana made sure Grandma and Grandpa stayed Methodist....
Margaret "Betty" Hayes Hansen (my grandmother) July 2, 1939. The beautiful walnut woodwork is still in the church.
My Dad's family came to Grass Valley in 1947 (a little later than my pioneer relatives on my Mom's side....). My Grandmother (Nino) was raised in the Catholic faith but decided the Catholic ritual and teaching were not for her. She attended Emmanuel Episcopal Church for quite awhile, because she liked the priest. She then switched to the Methodist Church across the street after the Episcopal priest left. Nino helped my sister and I memorize the Lord's Prayer at a very early age. Her mother, Nonna, belonged to the Methodist Church in San Francisco where she worked in the church kitchen and was loved by all. When she died new kitchen equipment was purchased in her memory and a plaque was placed designating the space as "The Caterina Brondolo Memorial Kitchen". Nonna attended the Methodist Church in Grass Valley when she visited Nino. Nonna was known to have a constant conversation with her Jesus who could help her with anything at all.
My Dad went to the youth group at the Methodist Church and later joined the Methodist Youth Movement at University of the Pacific in Stockton. Both my Dad and Mom attended UOP, which was founded in 1851 by three Methodist ministers. When he and Mom were married, the Methodist Church became our family's place of worship, and our second home on Sundays. My sister and I would often spend the night with either Nana or Grandma and Grandpa and go to church the next morning with our quarters ready for the collection plate.
Dale and Margaret (Hansen) Boothby with Tersilla Boothby (Nino) in Wesley Hall after their wedding. June 25, 1961
In front of the Methodist Church at my parent's wedding June 25 1961
I recognize: Nonna, Dottie, an unknown couple, Nino, Little Mary, Aunt Dena, Uncle Frank and ? Little Mary's husband?
Growing up in the this church gave me many happy memories. Worshiping with a large congregation of people who truly loved the Lord and each other, singing hymns from the red hymnal (especially at Christmas and Easter) and hearing my own grandparents sing in the choir every Sunday will always stay with me. Seeing the flowers my Nana and Auntie Dot placed on the altar every spring also comes to mind. I can still smell the daphne and the daffodils. Sunday school songs and stories, Youth Group and Vacation Bible School. Church potlucks and picnics. Hearing both my Mom and Dad play two piano duets during the service. Playing in the handbell choir while my Mom directed.
Later on my husband and I were married in this church, as were my sister and her husband. My Dad's funeral was held here with standing room only. In fact, many family weddings, baptisms and funerals were held in both churches on Church street over the many years.
June 28, 1981
Methodist Church Grass Valley, California
The large "Christ" window in the front of the church. This is the view I had every Sunday growing up. Photograph taken May 21, 2023.
I still visit the Methodist Church with Mom (who still attends) on occasion. I love just sitting in the pews and meditating on the beautiful stain glass windows that all tell a story. The church my husband and I attend now with our children and grandchildren is nothing like the church I grew up in. It has no stain glass, no wood pews with a smooth patina and history, no altar flowers, no homey feel. The music is loud and the service is presented in multimedia. Change is inevitable. But, the preaching is solid and from the Gospel. In the end, that's what matters the most. I still have my lasting faith which was handed down from all my relatives worshiping on Church Street.
References:
The Church With the Golden Past; A History of the Grass Valley United Methodist Church. By Don Alexander and Dorothy Peavy October, 2006
