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Volume 058-4 - October 2004 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin October 2004
as fourteen hundred; and up to the present time only
two men have suffered the death penalty at the hands
of the constituted authorities, while nearly all the rest
have escaped without any punishment. In our state, ten
times more men have been hung for mule stealing than
for murders, and yet there have been more men killed
than mules stolen.
In the summer of 1856 Brierly and eight other California
clergymen were asked to mediate a bitter fight between
angry factions of the Nevada City Baptist church who had
gone to court over which group owned the building. The
committee published its opinion one day before the church
was destroyed in a city-wide fire. The victors began to rebuild in the fall of 1856, but heavy rains delayed the work
until April 1857, when the effort was resumed. Three years
later, the building was still unfinished, and services were
being held at the courthouse when Brierly arrived and
delivered his first sermon at Nevada City on April 29, 1860.
After he had been preaching for several weeks a new effort
was begun to finish and fit up the church for his use.
During the weeks that he had been preaching he had attracted a large audience, many not members of the church,
who were anxious that he should remain permanently in
Nevada City. There were few of the Baptist denomination
living in the town at that time, not enough to support a minister. It may have been friends of Brierly who donated the
funds necessary to finish the church.
The problems that plagued the Baptists were not unique
to their congregation. On August 28, 1853, the first Baptist
Church was established at Nevada City. Two early pioneer
Baptist workers in California, the Reverend Osgood C.
Wheeler and the Reverend Myron Newell, were present
when eighteen members of that denomination met and
Newell became the first minister. Newell was in poor
health, and remained only seven months, during which
services were held in the Congregational Church on the
corner of Main and Church streets. :
The Reverend J. M. Winn, who succeeded him, served
three months, beginning in March 1854, when he began
conducting services at Dramatic Hall on Broad Street. Winn
was replaced by Reverend O. B. Stone, who began a series
of lectures at Temperance Hall in July 1854. In August
work began on a building at the corner of Spring and Pine
streets on land donated by Zeno Philosopher Davis, who
also was the first subscriber, giving $50 for the building.
On October 15, 1854, the church was dedicated, with the
regular services of the Congregational Church omitted that
morning so their congregation could attend the dedication.
When the church burned less than two years later, Reverend
Stone wrote that the brethren were not discouraged and
would soon erect another building. Like the first, it was to
be 32 feet wide and 56 feet long.
After Brierly replaced Stone in 1860, the building was
completed and dedicated on January 13, 1861, by his
friend, the Reverend Osgood C. Wheeler. On November 8,
1863, when a fire burned almost the same entire area as in
1856, the Baptist church was saved.
Perhaps Brierly will be remembered in Nevada County
most for the eloquent discourse he gave at the funeral of <™
Henry Meredith. When nine Paiute Indians rescued two
young Indian women and killed five of the white men who
were holding them near a pony express station east of Carson City, a posse was formed at Virginia City to pursue and
punish the Indians. The 105 volunteers rode into an ambush
near Pyramid Lake, and many were killed, including
Meredith, a recent and popular resident of Nevada City.
Below: The Nevada City Baptist church as built
in 1854. Right: The rebuilt church, begun in 1856,
was not completed until December 1860.