This Presbyterian Church was built in 1880 and our guess as to when this picture was taken is 1890 to 1900. The Presbyterian Historical Society informs us that the church remained active until 1920. Michael D. Peterson from the San Francisco Theological Seminary Library provides us with the following. "The church first appears in the statistics in 1885 under the San Jose Presbytery of the Synod of the Pacific. The first pastor was the Rev. Samuel Slocombe (serving as "stated supply" minister, that is, not the permanent minister)...Slocombe was an Englishman (possibly from Bristol) and was married to Jane Brake Kington of Bristol, the sister of Capt. James Cass, the pioneer settler of Cayucos".
It is interesting that Samuel Slocombe's name appears in some of his papers as Sidney Kington Slocombe. His naturalization record (1890) indicates "Samuel" so maybe that was what he preferred. His wife Jane was obviously a Kington widow but you wonder about Samuel's middle name. They seemed to prosper as Jane purchased 250 shares in the Producer Mining Company of Clear Creek Colorado and they bought 136 plus acres in the Cayucos area. This may have been purchased from James Cass.
The adobe building is of historical interest. According to Cayucos by the Sea--vol. 1, p.12, this was known as the Cooper Adobe named after an Indian inhabitant called Cupis. It was a store for Levi of San Francisco and a way station. The builder remains a mystery but an educated guess might be James McKinley since Felis and Olivera only held the land for a few years. The building is in rough shape when this photograph was taken (circa 1900). The church was demolished about 1935 to build the Cayucos Elementary School. The church had a cemetery that was unknown to anyone locally until grading commenced. The remains of these unknowns were removed to a cemetery in San Luis Obispo. |
