The History of:                                 

                                                         ST. STEPHEN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH 1867

 

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, at the corner of Pismo and Nipomo Streets, was the first Protestant church in San Luis Obispo County. St. Stephen's mission was founded in 1867 under the guidance of William Ingraham Kip, first Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. The first group of Episcopalians met and elected church officers August 21 un­der the Rev. C.H. Hoge, a wandering Episcopal priest.

 

Eight years passed before a church building was erected. During the time church and Sunday School were held in pri­vate homes and public buildings. The first building, twen­ty by sixty feet, was constructed mainly of local materi­als. Most of the original structure still stands and has been incorporated into a larger plant. The original archi­tecture, locally known as a "Carpenter Gothic" gem, has been preserved. Various additions and furnishings were ad­ded to the plant in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. Between 1922 and 190 ,the cathedral glass windows were replaced by memorial windows of stained glass making the small church one of the most beautiful in the central coast.

 

 

                                                                                       Preface

The information from the original Church record books was extracted onto 4"x6" cards by Lynn Wiech (Assistant Reference Librarian for the San Luis Obispo County Library) in the period 1978-85. In 1992 the SLOCGS photocopied the cards onto 8.5"x14 pages, which are shelved at the Society Atascadero Library. The dates of these record books are:

Vol.1: about 1870-1893

Vol.2: 1894-1914 Vol.3: missing Vol.4: missing

Vol.5: 1927-1948 (Marriages only)

Vol.6: 1914-1943 (including Marriages for 1926)

Vol.7: 1943-1950

 

Data from these assembled cards were then computerized, alphabetized, and printed in the form presented here. Since there were almost 7000 names and a number of different extractors worked on the cards, there may be some minor variations in interpretation. Exact proofreading was not done. Sample photocopies (slightly reduced) of some of the original cards follow this preface.

 

Those who helped in preparing this report were:

Computer work:

Cheryl Hoffman

Joan Hayes

Ray Miklas

Shirley Smith

Cleone Van Westen

Norm Maxwell        

 

Copying:

Joan Hayes

Judy Chambers

Sylvia Anderson

Kay Hoover

Leona Schroeder

Jean James

Carol Ferrari

June, 1995

 

The above information was included in our St Stephens Episcopal Church Publication in 1995.

The San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society is going to discontinue publishing this information for sale.

 

The document is being donated by the SLO Genealogical Librarian’s as an online resource.

 

It is unknown if the original Records exist. The information that was transcribed to 4 x 6 cards and photo-copied are in the SLO Genealogical Library – These are being scanned to jpeg images. The transcribed information is available for a Donation to SLOCGS. Please contact the Genealogical Librarian.

 

The entire publication of 73 pages has been scanned to a fully searchable pdf File.  The File can be found Here

 

The information included is as follows:

Surname, Given Name, Date and Event [Events are coded – definition below]

 

The codes [as near as I can determine] are:

 

Bir = Birth

Dea = Death

Spon = Sponsor

Marr = Marriage

Wit = Witness

Bur = Burial

Conf = Confirmation or Confirmed

Comm = Communion

Bap = Baptism

Res = ?

List = ?

Rmvd = Removed

 

Site Updated: 19 October 2006

Martha A Crosley Graham

Rights Reserved – 2006