Ewer, Ferdinand C. (Ferdinand Cartwright), 1826-1883

Originally from Nantucket, Mass., Ewer came to Calif. in 1849 and became a journalist and the publisher of Calif.'s first literary monthly, The Pioneer. In 1858, he became an Episcopalian minister and led the congregation at Grace Episcopal Church in San Francisco for two years. In 1860, Ewer moved to New York, where he was pastor at St. Ann's Church, Christ Church, and founded the parish of St. Ignacius.

Ferdinand Cartwright Ewer was born on May 22, 1826, in Nantucket, Massachusetts. He moved with his family to New York in 1834 but attended a boarding school near Boston beginning in 1836. He was interested in religious studies from an early age, and was baptized into the Episcopalian Church in 1843. The following year he entered Harvard, where he showed a particular aptitude for mathematics and science. Following his graduation in 1848, Ewer considered a career as a teacher or engineer, but instead departed for San Francisco in 1849. In California he worked as editor of several failed newspapers and was a reporter for The Alta Californian until 1852. In 1853 he began work as a warehouse clerk, which supported him while he worked on a monthly magazine, The Pioneer. He married Sophia Mandell Congdon in 1854. Around this time he was actively involved in the founding of the public school system in San Francisco, served on the Board of Education, and taught high school mathematics. He also found a renewed interest in religion, and was ordained a priest in 1858. In 1860 he departed for New York to preach at St. Ann's Church for Deaf Mutes, and in 1862 he was made rector of Christ Church in New York City, although he resigned in 1871 and spent most of the rest of his life running the St. Ignatius Parish. Despite continued illnesses, he accepted an invitation to preach in Montreal, where he died on October 10, 1883.

According to a Boston, Mass. newspaper of January 26, 1849, The Pacific Company purchased the York to sail from Boston on February 20 to San Francisco with up to 30 "associates" at $1,000 each. The ship was to serve as home in California for 2 years. The ship arrived in San Francisco on Sept. 16, 1849.

Ferdinand Cartwright Ewer was born in Nantucket, Mass., and graduated from Harvard in 1848. While in San Francisco he was a journalist and eventually became the rector at Grace Church in San Francisco. He returned east in 1860 where he continued to serve in the Episcopal Church.