Arnold Crompton

Thomas Starr King's career took him from Boston to San Francisco in 1860, where he became known as "the minister who 'saved California to the Union.'" At times he was actually in danger of being assassinated, but stuck to his beliefs and continued to spread them. In addition to serving his urban congregation, he rode the circuit, delivering sermons to many small mining towns in Northern California, fighting to usher California into the Union as a non-slave state. He was also a tireless worker for charities as varied as The Mercantile Library Association, The Ladies' Seamen's Friend's Society, and the United States Sanitary Commission, which was a forerunner of the American Red Cross. It is truly amazing what this man achieved in his short thirty-nine years, for he died on March 4, 1864.… (meer)