Rev. Thomas Fraser (1820–1903): Influential Presbyterian Minister

Rev. Thomas Fraser

Plot 14B, Lot 22

Rev. Thomas Fraser, D.D., was one of the most influential Presbyterian missionaries on the Pacific Coast, a man of tireless energy whose labors spanned more than half a century and left a permanent mark on the church in the American West.

Born in Dalkeith, Scotland, in 1820, Fraser came to the United States in 1825 with his father, the Rev. Thomas Fraser, Sr., a Presbyterian clergyman who became pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Schenectady, New York. Raised in a family steeped in Presbyterian tradition, young Fraser pursued a classical education, graduating from Union College in 1842. He studied theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, completing his course in 1845, and was ordained the following year by the Presbytery of New York.

Fraser’s early ministry took him to the Midwest and South. He served congregations in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Arkansas, where he became pastor of the first Presbyterian church in Little Rock. In 1859, newly married to Julia Beebe, he traveled west to California. Settling first in Santa Rosa, he began preaching wherever he could find a pulpit—often in borrowed Baptist and Methodist churches.

First Presbyterian Church, Santa Rosa

His efforts soon bore fruit. By the early 1860s, Fraser helped organize Presbyterian congregations in Santa Rosa, Two Rock, Bloomfield, and Tomales, extending his reach to Valley Ford and Bodega Corners. In July 1862, at the request of thirteen dedicated men and women, Fraser formally organized the Old School Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa. For years, he supplied pulpits across Sonoma County, often alternating Sundays between Santa Rosa and outlying communities. His father even spent the winter of 1867–68 in Santa Rosa, continuing his son’s ministry while Fraser pursued broader mission work.

Beyond Sonoma, Fraser’s impact was immense. In 1867 he was appointed Synodical Missionary for the Synod of the Pacific, a vast territory stretching from Mexico to British Columbia and from the Rockies to the Pacific. For fifteen years he traveled thousands of miles, founding congregations wherever he went. By his own estimate, he organized no fewer than seventy-five churches, though some later accounts place the number closer to one hundred. Few men did more to plant Presbyterianism in the American West.

Fraser was also active in higher education. In 1887, at the age of sixty-seven, he was appointed Professor of Systematic Theology at the San Francisco Theological Seminary. Though he initially resisted the move of the seminary from San Francisco to San Anselmo, he embraced his duties with vigor and taught for five years. Known as an acute and logical thinker, Fraser combined a deep piety with intellectual clarity, training a new generation of Presbyterian ministers.

He was equally unafraid to voice his convictions on civic matters. During the Civil War, his Santa Rosa sermons were noted for their stirring support of the Union. Later in life he was among the first Western clergy to publicly denounce the “free silver” movement, addressing a gathering of ministers in San Francisco with characteristic candor.

First Presbyterian Church in Oakland

In 1893, Fraser relocated to Oakland, where he spent his final decade. Though officially retired, he continued to preach as an evangelist and to encourage the churches he had founded. His home at 916 Myrtle Street became a place of study, counsel, and quiet reflection.

Rev. Thomas Fraser died on October 25, 1903, at the age of eighty-three, after a brief illness with pneumonia. His passing was mourned across the Pacific Coast, where he was remembered as a pioneer preacher, a builder of churches, and a father of Presbyterianism in the region.

Rev. Thomas Fraser from obituary

He was survived by his daughter, Julia Fraser, herself active in church work, and by a stepson, Charles W. Beebe. His funeral was held at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, a fitting resting place for a man who had devoted his life to planting and nurturing congregations across the West.

The legacy of Rev. Thomas Fraser endures in the many churches he organized, the students he trained, and the generations of worshippers who benefited from his vision, energy, and steadfast faith. 

Sources: History of the San Francisco Theological Seminary (1907), San Francisco Call, History of Sonoma County (1880), Find a Grave, Harvey Hansen Collection (Santa Rosa church photo)