Our programmes were of the highest order, the voices pure and full
without this abominable tremolo which is unknown to a person who knows
how to sing correctly and naturally. Occasionally we had the
assistance of some of the singers and players from San Francisco, who
came for the summer outing, and they thought it great sport to add
their gifts when called upon to help the country girls and boys, but
they did not get far in their fun before they found they would need
all their knowledge and do their best or else let the seaside talent
outstrip them. We were called upon from time to time during my stay
from 1864 to help different denominations in their work. Old folks'
concerts, sacred concerts, fairs and donation parties were the usual
efforts of those early days. There were no other places of amusement.
Sometimes, at rare intervals, there was a show of some kind in Otto's
Hall, a place that would hold 250 people. Whoever they were, they
could not give as much pleasure as our own home talent, consequently
they were not encouraged to repeat the visit. Mr. Blake continued his
business successfully, I supposed, until towards the close of the year
1868. He became despondent and I could see trouble was brewing. He
never brought his business home, so I was ignorant of anything in
regard to its standing. In early years he had much to do with mining
stocks and still held some that he thought would be profitable. The
four years we were in Boston he held much stock and that was one
reason we left, so he could be nearer and in touch with the rise and
fall of the market. I was not aware of all this, and when the crisis
came I was unprepared for the result. The money he made in the store
went to keep up the margins, and changes in the market. At last the
door of his store was closed and we were penniless and saw no way out
of it.
I being always hopeful, it was for me to raise the drooping spirits
and advise means of action. I left for San Francisco with the younger
boy and Mr. Blake remained with the elder to straighten out his
affairs as well as possible. I took my sewing machine with me and
intended to retrieve the family fortune with my voice and my needle. I
came to the home of Mrs. John Clough, a friend, on Third street,
between Market and Mission. Her husband was a fine tenor singer and I
knew she would help me get something to do. I was there but a few
weeks when the Lyster Opera Troupe came from Australia and began
singing at the old Metropolitan theater on Montgomery street. I was
one of the 300 members of the Handel and Haydn Society, which was
called upon by Mr. F. Lyster for voices for the chorus. A leading
contralto and a soprano were in the troupe. Mrs. Cameron and I were
chosen after the voices were tried and accepted. I had no trouble as I
had studied the choruses of most of the familiar operas. I also knew
many of the contralto arias, like Perlate de Amour in Faust and other
contralto numbers of the different operas that we gave. I was engaged
at $20 per week, which seemed to me a fabulous sum, for I was without
any means. These were strenuous days, sometimes fourteen hours in the
theatre a day, singing one opera and practicing a new one. I was not
unhappy as I was doing something to help along the good work of
regaining our footing and I worked willingly, but the operas of Norma,
Les Huguenots, Faust, Aida were heavy and required long rehearsals,
the theater was damp and cold and sometimes I wished myself out of it.
After singing in ten heavy operas I caught cold and was obliged to
stop, much to the disappointment of Mr. Lyster, as he had hoped to
take me with the troupe. But I was too ill and besides my sons were
too small to leave them behind, so I canceled my engagement and closed
my career in opera.
Before I recovered, Mr. Blake had settled as best he could and left me
to go to Reno, where his stocks were, to see if anything could be
saved at all. When he returned after three months' absence I had
taken the upper part of the house at the corner of O'Farrell and
Stockton streets, and with what furniture I still possessed I started
to rent rooms. I had also gotten the choir position as alto in St.
Patrick's church on Market street, on the lot where the Palace Hotel
now stands. While employed there a church was being built on Mission
street, where it now stands. When the basement of the new church was
finished the congregation was moved to Mission street, and we
worshiped in the basement until the main church was finished. I had
one room left to rent where I was on O'Farrell street when one day, to
my surprise on answering the bell, Mr. William Kitts of the opera
troupe called to rent a room. He was a splendid bass singer and I was
greatly surprised to see him, as I had supposed he had left with the
company. He wished to rest for a year. He had never seen America and
would remain until the troupe returned in another year. He was as fine
a man as he was a singer; in fact, all the principals of the troupe
were fine people. They were Madam Lucy Escott, the soprano; Henry
Squires, tenor; Mr. Baker, the lyric tenor, with a most beautiful
voice; and Mr. Kitts, the basso profundo. Before these people went
away I sang many times with them in concert. They gave a sacred
concert in Pacific Hall, on California street, in 1869. We sang the
Trio, te Prago, Escott, Blake, Squires for one number. Madam was so
pleased with my singing she kissed me and gave me her copy of the song
after writing her name on it. Mr. Squires said it was by far the best
combination for the trio that he had ever made. The first time I ever
sang this trio was in 1859 in Tremont Temple with Louisa Adams,
soprano, Edwin Bruce, tenor, and myself, contralto. Miss Adams was a
prima donna of that time. I had always received great praise for my
work in this trio.
I remained a year in the house on O'Farrell street, and as I knew I
could do better with more rooms I moved into a two-story house on
Powell street, near the corner of Broadway, when Mr. Kitts went to
Australia. Mr. Blake had returned from Reno and was employed at Main &
Winchester's on Sansome street. Mr. Goodwin, the furniture dealer,
furnished the house with $1,100 worth of furniture and I began to help
lessen the burden already so heavy. Youth was in my favor, being now
thirty-four years old. The children were at school and I still held my
church position and began to sing at concerts and entertainments. My
rooms were filled with the best of roomers and my house brought me in
$65 over my rent which was also $65 a month. I had no piano and no
place for one, as the children and I slept in the kitchen. I had given
up every available room to make the house pay. Mrs. Dr. Howard
permitted me to use her piano, so after the work was done I was
obliged to walk nine blocks to practice each day. When I thought
everything was going all right Mr. Blake began to act strangely. The
failure had affected him more than he let me know, and he was so
stunned by the blow that he had plunged us into poverty and it weighed
so on his mind that Dr. H.L. Baldwin advised a sea voyage. So we wrote
to his brother who was in Melbourne to expect him on a certain ship.
All was favorable and he sailed away the latter part of 1869. His
brain was softening and there was no hope for him if he remained.
After weeks of sailing he arrived safely in Melbourne. He so far
recovered that he was able to accept a position as expert in the
Omnibus railway office which he filled for one year and a half. In the
meantime I had been able to pay for all the furniture, through my
roomers and singing and sewing, but the large house was too much for
me, with sewing until twelve at night, and I concluded to take a
smaller house and called on Mr. George Lamson, the auctioneer. He was
Nance O'Neil's father and she was then a little girl. I selected what
furniture I needed for the house on Washington street and he sold the
rest. Four of the best roomers went with me to the new house, so I was
sure I'd not fail for awhile at least.
[Illustration:
Church of the Advent
San Francisco, 1880
Rev. H.D. Lathrop, Rector
Father Stockman's Roman Catholic Church
San Bernardino, 1888
Calvary Episcopal Church
Santa Cruz, 1864
Rev. Giles A. Easton, Rector
Pilgrim Congregational Church
East Oakland, 1893