a successful theatrical manager, and his wife had achieved fame as a stage dancer of exceptional talent, she having been the inventor and original interpreter of the beautiful terpsichorean movement known as the fire dance.

THOMAS STARR KING. To understand, even in a slight degree, the character of the one man all of California remembers with love, reverence and gratitude, Thomas Starr King, one must go back to the brilliant record of his life before his blessing California with his presence. For he had already won more than the usual honors accorded a man before coming here.

Born in New York City, December 17, 1824, of English and German ancestry, the son of a poor Universalist minister, his early boyhood was a struggle, not only for himself but his family. The death of his father compelled him at the age of fifteen years to take up the burden of supporting the five younger children and his mother. He had always displayed a refinement of character, an eagerness for learning rarely seen in those days. His last instructor, Joshua Bates, described him as "slight of build, with golden hair, a most winning smile and always actuated by the earnest desire to do what was best and right."

Fortunately, his mother was well educated and most ambitious for her talented son, and read with him and for him the masters, Shakespeare, Grote's History of Greece, Dante, Plutarch and many others, thus laying the foundation for the true culture he afterward possessed. Soon, aided by men who perceived his genius even then, he was soon filling the pulpits of many churches. It was said of him: "He is a rare, sweet spirit, with the gift of tongues and the grace of God in his heart." And all this time he was also, in turn, a clerk, a schoolmaster and a bookkeeper, and studying also metaphysics and theology. Soon the great men of the pulpits and lecture platform were welcoming him as an equal. King could then speak Greek, Hebrew, French and German, and he always spoke the purest. English.

In 1846 he was installed as pastor of the First Universalist Church of Charlestown, the church of which his father was pastor when he passed on. In two years the "boy preacher" was called to the Hollis Street Unitarian Church in Boston, and saved it from disaster, remaining there eleven years in building it up. At that time he had to speak always from notes. He was also becoming a popular writer and lecturer, lecturing from Boston to Chicago, and always more than holding his own against such great men as Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Ward Beecher and others.

He preached his last sermon in Boston on March 25, 1860, one of the East's most brilliant, learned preachers, lecturers and writers. At the breakfast reception given him in New York, 300 of the most brilliant men. of the day were in attendance. One closed his speech with the words: "Happy soul; a benediction wherever he goes; the angel of the church. whom Boston sends to San Francisco."

And to San Francisco came the man of whom it was written: "No heart

ever ached because of him until he died." To a San Francisco strongly Southern, to a California aptly termed: "A secession rendezvous." The customhouse of San Francisco was known as "The Virginia Poor House," and for some time a miniature man of war in the office of the United States marshal, named "Jeff Davis," bore the flag of the Confederacy. California was absolutely in the control of the democrats, which meant men from the South. It is all well known history, the fight in California against the extension of slavery, the bitter fight for and against secession, and back of all this turmoil, the dream of a Pacific empire separate from the states, a dream fostered by governors, senators and congressmen. Into this bitter conflict, in this most critical hour, came the patriot preacher, all unknowingly, the man of the hour, Starr King.

His fame had preceded him, and he was called at once to the lecture platform as well as to his pulpit. From the first he pleaded for a united country, a glorious land from the Sierras to Maine, his central theme always the greatness of the Union, "One and undividable." Always striving to show how great the privilege of being an American, he faced the forces of disloyalty and disunion. He was plunged at once into a community where everything was still in the making. History states that he "took the people out of the hands of disloyal politicians, lifted them up to the level of his own ardent soul, and not only saved the state for the Union, but indelibly imprinted his own generous and magnanimous spirit on its forming life." All know the effect of Starr King's appeal to the voters of California in the presidential election of 1860, and also in the election of Leland Stanford one year later, as the first republican governor of California.

Then came his war work, and by reading all the histories, papers and documents of that time it is evident that King was the man that did more than any other to keep California in the Union. His was the vision of a restored, peaceful and majestic America. For this he gave himself to a real martyrdom, to herculean labors, virtually giving his life for the cause of freedom. This he knew, for he said that if he had time to do so he would break down, that he was beginning to look old.

If only that matchless eloquence, that rare golden voice could have. been preserved. But, as he said in his lecture on Webster: "Alas for the perishableness of eloquence. It is the only thing in the higher walks of human creativeness that passes away. Saint Peters is a perpetual memorial and utterance of the great mind of Angelo; the Iliad is as fresh today as twenty-five centuries ago, but great oratory, the most delightful and marvelous of the expressions of mortal power, passes and dies with the occasion."

Many books have been published giving the life and history of Starr King, as he was popularly known, the Thomas having been dropped. One of the best is "Starr King in California," by William Day Simonds, but all give testimony to the fact that in Starr King the Union cause was incarnate, that he saved California from secession. The preacher patriot did more than this. At the King memorial service held in Boston, April 3, 1864, it was summed up thus: "As a philanthropist, Starr King raised for

the most beneficent of all charities, the most munificent of all subscriptions." And this for the cause he loved and fought for, the United States Sanitary Commission funds. Fitzhugh Ludlow said: "Starr King was the Sanitary Commission of California." He made it his mission to raise money rapidly for our suffering soldiers, traveling night and day, the principal factor in the raising of $1,235,000 in the face of the worst agricultural condition California has ever known. This work is well depicted in "Lights and Shadows of the Pacific Coast," by S. D. Woods. His experiences amidst all these activities did not prevent his being known as "The First Pulpit Orator in America and without doubt no superior in the world."

The unhappy condition of the Chinese awakened his sympathy and he went earnestly to work to secure them such civic rights as belong to industry. In private charities he was tireless. Multitudes in distress sought him, an already heavily burdened man, and always they found that rare sympathy and aid which helped while it did not pauperize them.

Yet Starr King did not come to California in any capacity but that of a preacher of liberal Christianity and to build up the church which had called him here. While occupying that pulpit, a gift came to him he had ardently wished for, the ability to speak extempore, and he cast aside manuscripts and never wrote another sermon or lecture. This was to him, with his great gifts and temperament, of inestimable value. So great grew the throngs to hear him preach that the church could not hold one-third of them, and so, on December 3, 1862, the cornerstone of a larger and more beautiful church was laid. In front of this church his body now rests, taken from its first interment in the Geary Street Cemetery, and it is the mecca today for thousands of tourists and residents who honor and love his memory.

He insisted upon his right to discuss great questions of the day and of the nation and state in his pulpit. Many burning subjects he handled, and it but added to his popularity. Above all, was that rarely, radiant personality, always charming, yet how persuasive; and that other great gift, genial kindly humor; a most amusing and entertaining story teller also. He always made the discovery of science and the beauties of nature serve his need as a teacher of morals and religion. His faith was so clear, so wonderfully beautiful, that he made religion a real, glad message to his people.

When he passed on, a young man of only forty years, the San Francisco Bulletin voiced the feeling of the people when it said "that the news of his death had startled the community, shocked it like the loss of a great battle, or tidings of a great public calamity. No other man on the Pacific Coast would be so much missed. San Francisco had lost one of her chief attractions, the state its noblest orator, the country one of its ablest defenders."

As he lay dying, he said: "I see a great future before me," and his last words were as he lay waiting with unclouded mind: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

The whole city mourned. The Legislature adjourned for three days. and all the courts adjourned; the national authorities fired minute guns in the bay and all the flags in the city and on the ships hung at half mast,

including foreign consuls and ships. In American history no private individual has been so honored by the Federal Army and foreign nations.

One of the giant trees of the Mariposa bears his name; a proud dome of the Yosemite is named Starr King. On October 27, 1892, a handsomely impressive monument was dedicated in Golden Gate Park to his memory, with the inscription: "In him eloquence, strength and virtue were devoted with fearless courage to truth, country and his fellow men." Hon. Irving M. Scott, in the dedicatory address, voiced the sober verdict of history: "He was the most potent factor in effecting the determination. of California in the course she pursued," when speaking of how he saved California to the Union. As late as 1913 the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for a bust of Starr King to be placed in the national capital at Washington. To many he is a hero also.

A minor earthquake shook the city the day he died, and it was said: "Even the earth shudders at the thought that Starr King is dead."

Of the hundreds of poetical tributes two will always live, that of the dear companion of his San Francisco life, Bret Harte's "A Pen of Thomas Starr King," and one by Whittier. One poet said: "If I were a pagan I would raise altars to him."

Brief as was his life, it was not one of the tragedies of unfulfillment. He was indeed a star which shone upon the blackest of nights, a guide and a beacon, giving forth that spark of heavenly fire he held within, foregleams of the mercy that he knew would save the greatest sinners.

B. R. HOLLIDAY was one of the gallant and ventursome pioneers who gained title to being a "Forty-niner" in California, where he remained to do effective work in connection with civic and material development and progress and where he continued to maintain his home until his death. He was a leader in popular sentiment and action, was one of the foremost citizens of Martinez, Contra Costa County, and in his death, which here occurred on the 11th of August, 1911, there passed away another of the sterling California pioneers whose broad vision and well ordered efforts were potent in the early upbuilding of California and its institutions.

In the year 1849, which marked the discovery of gold in California, Mr. Holliday made the long and hazardous journey across the plains to the New Eldorado. He made the nine months' journey with ox team, in company with M. R. Barber and the latter's family, and for the long period of sixty-two years he continued to be associated with development and progress in Contra Costa County, where he was influential in public affairs and where he won impregnable place in popular confidence and

esteem.

Mr. Holliday was born in Kentucky, December 22, 1823, a son of Hiram Holliday, who was of Scotch and English lineage and of staunch American Revolutionary ancestry. He was young at the time of the family removal to Illinois, in the pioneer period of the history of that great commonwealth, and there he was reared to adult age, his educational advantages having been such that he made himself eligible for pedagogic

service and was, as a young man, a teacher in the schools at Springfield, the capital city of Illinois.

Mr. Holliday was about twenty-seven years of age when he arrived in California, and for a few months thereafter he was engaged in the hotel and mercantile business in Martinez of Contra Costa County. He then established his residence at Martinez, the present attractive county seat city, and he was a prominent figure in the early development enterprises here, as well as in public affairs of governmental order. He worked in Moraga Valley with M. R. Barber, getting out lumber for building purposes. He helped survey the water front of Martinez, and it is interesting to record that later, in association with Napoleon Bonapart Smith, a Mexican war veteran, he assisted in verifying, by testimony, the right and title of the City of Oakland to her water front.

Mr. Holliday was a stalwart republican and was influential in its councils and campaign activities in California for many years. He was a delegate to many party conventions and served on the county committee of his party in Contra Costa County, as well as on other important committees. He was deputy county treasurer for some time, served as public administrator, and for many years gave able administration in the office of justice of the peace. He and one other citizen deeded to Martinez the land for the present beautiful Protestant cemetery here. He was one of the venerable and revered pioneer citizens of Contra Costa County at the time of his death, his wife having preceded him to eternal rest.

At La Fayette, Contra Costa County, in August, 1855, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Holliday to Mrs. Janie A. (Hardy) Holliday, who was born in Pennsylvania but reared and educated in Wisconsin. She went to California in the year 1853, by way of the Isthmus of Panama. She was a daughter of Dr. William Hardy, Doctor Hardy having been one of the pioneer exponents of agricultural industry in the Alhambra Valley of Contra Costa County and having endured his full share of the labors and hardships incidental to such pioneer enterprise. Ancestors of the doctor were patriot soldiers in the War of the Revolution, the family lineage. tracing back to English origin. In conclusion of this memoir is entered brief record concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Holliday:

Mary J. was born at Martinez, in the year 1856, and here she still maintains her home. Her first husband was Thomas W. Scott, of Oregon, and the two children of this union are Maude Leona, who is the wife of Joseph E. Tarwater, of Martinez, and Charles Carter Scott, who likewise resides in this city. Mrs. Scott later became the wife of George Gillpatrick, who was engaged in the meat-market business and who owned a large part of the land on the site of the City of Richmond, Contra Costa County. Since the death of her second husband Mrs. Gillpatrick has maintained her home at Martinez, where for the past seventeen years she has been the efficient and popular librarian of the Martinez Free Reading Room and Library Association, with her daughter, Mrs. Tarwater, as her substituteassistant. Charles Hiram, second of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Holliday, resides in the City of Oakland and is now living retired. William